Editing Torpedo boat (section)

==Torpedo boat destroyers==
{{Main|Destroyer}}
[[File:HMS Spider.png|thumb|HMS ''Spider'', an early model of [[torpedo gunboat]]]]
The introduction of the torpedo boat resulted in a flurry of activity in navies around the world, as smaller, quicker-firing guns were added to existing ships to ward off the new threat. In the mid-1880s there were developed [[torpedo gunboat]]s, the first vessel design for the explicit purpose of hunting and destroying torpedo boats. Essentially very small [[cruiser]]s, torpedo gunboats were equipped with torpedo tubes and an adequate gun armament, intended for hunting down smaller enemy boats.

The first example of this was {{HMS|Rattlesnake|1886|6}}, designed by [[Nathaniel Barnaby]] in 1885.<ref name="L&W">{{cite book |last=Lyon & Winfield |title=The Sail and Steam Navy List|chapter=10|pages=82–83}}</ref> The gunboat was armed with torpedoes and designed for hunting and destroying smaller torpedo boats. She was armed with a single [[BL 4 inch naval gun Mk I - VI|4-inch/25-pounder breech-loading gun]], six [[QF 3 pounder Hotchkiss|3-pounder QF guns]] and four {{convert|14|in|mm|adj=on}} torpedo tubes, arranged with two fixed tubes at the bow and a set of torpedo dropping carriages on either side. Four torpedo reloads were carried.<ref name="L&W"/>

A number of torpedo gunboat classes followed, including the {{sclass|Grasshopper|torpedo gunboat|4}}, the {{sclass|Sharpshooter|torpedo gunboat|4}}, the {{sclass|Alarm|torpedo gunboat|4}} and the {{sclass|Dryad|torpedo gunboat|4}} – all built for the [[Royal Navy]] during the 1880s and the 1890s. In 1891, a Chilean {{sclass|Almirante Lynch|torpedo gunboat|4}} torpedo gunboat managed to sink the ironclad {{ship|Chilean ironclad|Blanco Encalada||2}} with a torpedo at the [[battle of Caldera Bay]] during the [[Chilean Civil War of 1891]]. This marked a milestone in naval history, as it was the first time an ironclad warship had been sunk by a [[Robert Whitehead (engineer)#The first torpedo|self-propelled torpedo]].

[[File:HMS Havock (1893).jpg|thumb|{{HMS|Havock|1893|6}} the first modern destroyer, commissioned in 1894]]
In the late 1890s, torpedo boats had been made obsolete by their more successful contemporaries, the [[torpedo boat destroyers]], which were much faster. The first ships to bear the formal designation "torpedo boat destroyer" (TBD) were the {{sclass|Daring|destroyer (1893)|4}} of two ships and {{sclass|Havock|destroyer|4}} of two ships of the [[Royal Navy]], ordered from Yarrows in 1892 by Rear Admiral [[John Fisher, 1st Baron Fisher|Jackie Fisher]].<ref>{{cite book|title=The British Destroyer|author=Captain T.D. Manning|publisher=Putnam and Co|year=1961}}</ref> These were basically enlarged torpedo boats, with speed equal to or surpassing the torpedo boats, but were armed with heavier guns that could attack them before they were able to close on the main fleet.<ref>Lyon pp. 8–9.</ref>

{{HMS|Daring|1893|6}} and {{HMS|Decoy|1894|6}} were both built by [[Thornycroft]]. They were armed with one [[QF 12 pounder 12 cwt naval gun|12-pounder gun]] and three 6-pounder guns, with one fixed 18-in torpedo tube in the bow plus two more torpedo tubes on a revolving mount behind the two funnels. Later the bow torpedo tube was removed and two more 6-pounder guns added instead. They produced {{convert|4,200|hp|kW|abbr=on}} from a pair of Thornycroft water-tube boilers, giving them a top speed of 27 knots, giving the range and speed to travel effectively with a battle fleet.<ref>{{cite book|last=Lyon|first=David|title=The First Destroyers|year=1996|publisher=Caxton Editions |isbn=1-84067-364-8}}</ref>

After the [[Russo-Japanese War]], these ships became known simply as [[destroyer]]s. Destroyers became so much more useful, having better seaworthiness and greater capabilities than torpedo boats, that they eventually replaced most torpedo boats. However, the [[London Naval Treaty]] after World War I limited tonnage of warships, but placed no limits on ships of under 600 tons. The French, Italian, Japanese and German Navies developed torpedo boats around that displacement, 70 to 100 m long, armed with two or three guns of around 100&nbsp;mm (4&nbsp;in) and torpedo launchers. For example, the [[Royal Norwegian Navy]] {{sclass|Sleipner|destroyer|2}}s were in fact of a torpedo boat size, while the Italian {{sclass|Spica|torpedo boat|2}}s were closer in size to a [[destroyer escort]]. After World War II they were eventually subsumed into the revived [[corvette]] classification.

The [[German torpedoboats of World War II|Kriegsmarine torpedo boats]] were classified ''Torpedoboot'' with "T"-prefixed hull numbers. The classes designed in the mid-1930s, such as the [[Torpedo boat type 35]], had few guns, relying almost entirely upon their torpedoes. This was found to be inadequate in combat, and the result was a "fleet torpedo boat" class ([[Elbing-class torpedo boat|''Flottentorpedoboot'']]), which were significantly larger, up to 1,700 tons, comparable to small destroyers. This class of German boats could be highly effective, as in the action in which the British cruiser {{HMS|Charybdis|88|6}} was sunk off Brittany by a torpedo salvo launched by the {{sclass|Elbing|torpedo boat|2}}s T23 and T27.