In naval terminology, a destroyer
is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, short-range but powerful attackers (originally torpedo boats, later submarines and aircraft).
Before World War II, destroyers were light vessels without the endurance for unattended ocean operations; typically a number of destroyers and a single destroyer tender operated together. During and after the war, larger and more powerful destroyers capable of independent operation were built, particularly as cruisers ceased to be used in the 1950s and 60s.
At the dawn of the 21st Century, destroyers are the heaviest surface combatant ships in general use, with only four nations (the United States, Russia, France and Peru) operating the heavier class cruisers and none operating battleships [1] or true battlecruisers. [2] Modern destroyers, also known as guided missile destroyers, are equivalent in tonnage but vastly superior in firepower to cruisers of the World War II era, capable of carrying nuclear missiles.
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DESTROYER TICKETS
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Early history
The emergence and development of the destroyer, up until World War II, was related to the invention of the self-propelled
torpedo in the 1860s. A navy now had the potential to destroy a superior enemy battle fleet using steam launches to drop torpedoes. Fast boats armed with torpedoes were built and called
torpedo boats. By the 1880s, these had evolved into small ships of 50-100 tons, fast enough to evade enemy picket boats.
At first, the danger to a battle fleet was considered only to exist when at anchor, but as faster and longer range torpedoes were developed, the threat extended to cruising at sea. In response to this new threat more heavily-gunned picket boats called "catchers" were built which were used to escort the battle fleet at sea. They needed the same seaworthiness and endurance, and as they necessarily became larger, they became officially designated "torpedo boat destroyers", soon contracted to destroyer in English. The anti-torpedo boat origin of this type of ship is retained in its name in other languages, including
French (
contre-torpilleur
),
Italian (
cacciatorpediniere
),
Portuguese (
contratorpedeiro
),
Polish (
kontrtorpedowiec
),
Czech (
torpédoborec
),
Greek (
antitorpiliko
,
a?t?t??p?????
) and so on.
Once destroyers became more than just catchers guarding an anchorage, it was realized that they were also ideal to take over the role of torpedo boats themselves, so they were fitted with torpedo tubes as well as guns. At that time, and even into
World War I, the only function of destroyers was to protect their own battle fleet from enemy torpedo attacks and to make such attacks on the battleships of the enemy. The task of escorting merchant convoys was still in the future.
An important development came in 1884 with
HMS Swift
,
[3] a large torpedo boat with six 47 mm quick-firing guns and three torpedo tubes. While still not fast enough to engage torpedo boats reliably, she at least had the armament to deal with them.
The Japanese
Kotaka
(
Falcon
) of 1885 was "the forerunner of torpedo boat destroyers that appeared a decade later".
[4] Designed to Japanese specifications and ordered from the London
Yarrow shipyards in 1885, she was transported in parts to Japan, where she was assembled and launched in 1887. She was armed with four 1-pounder (37 mm) quick-firing guns and six
torpedo tubes, reached 19 knots (35 km/h), and at 203 tons, was the largest torpedo boat yet. In her trials in 1889,
Kotaka
demonstrated that she could go beyond a role of coastal defense, and was capable of following larger ships on the high seas. The Yarrow shipyards, builder of the parts for the
Kotaka
, "considered Japan to have effectively invented the destroyer".
[5]
Almost immediately after the order of
Kotaka
was placed,
Fernando Villaamil, second officer of the Ministry of the
Navy of Spain where he was put in charge of developing the concept of a new ship designed to combat torpedo boats,
[6] placed an order for a large torpedo gunboat in November 1885, with the British builder James and George Thompson, of
Clydebank, not far from where the Yarrow shipyards would move from London twenty years later. The ship, named
Destructor
(literally
Destroyer
), was laid down at the end of the year, launched in 1886, and commissioned in 1887. Her displacement was 380 tons, and she was armed with one 90 mm
Hontoria guns, four 57 mm
Nordenfelt guns, two 37 mm
Hotchkiss cannons and 3 Schwarzkopf torpedo tubes. Her complement was 60 men. In terms of gunnery, speed (22.5 knots in trials) and dimensions, the specific design to chase torpedo boats and her high seas capabilities,
Destructor
is widely considered the first torpedo-boat destroyer ever built.
[7] [8]
The Spanish
Destructor
is thought to have influenced the designation and concept of later destroyers developed by the British Navy.
[9] [10]
Shortly afterwards, Britain began experiments with the
Rattlesnake
class 'torpedo boat catcher', a class of 17 large torpedo boats - the first precursors of destroyers to be built as a class, rather than as single ships. On tests,
Rattlesnake
proved to be marginally faster than torpedo boats, but not fast enough to be decisive.
The first ships to bear the formal designation "Torpedo boat destroyer" (TBD) were the
Havock
class of two ships of the
Royal Navy, developed in 1892 under the newly appointed
Third Sea Lord Rear Admiral "Jackie" Fisher, and launched by Yarrows in London in 1893.
Havock
had a 240 tons displacement, a speed of 27 knots (50 km/h), and was armed with a single
12-pounder (76 mm) gun, three 6-pounders (57 mm), and three 46 cm torpedo tubes. She also had the range and speed to effectively travel with a battle fleet.
The French navy, an extensive user of torpedo boats, built its first destroyer in 1899, with the
Durandal
-class 'torpilleur d'escadre'.
The
United States commissioned its first destroyer,
USS Bainbridge
, Destroyer No. 1, in 1902 and by 1906 there were 16 destroyers in service with the US Navy.
Pre World War I
Destroyer design evolved around the turn of the 20th century in several key ways. The first was the introduction of the
steam turbine. The spectacular unauthorized demonstration of the turbine powered
Turbinia
at the 1897 Spithead Navy Review, which, significantly, was of torpedo boat size, prompted the Royal Navy to order a prototype turbine powered destroyer,
HMS Viper
of 1899. This was the first turbine warship of any kind and achieved a remarkable on sea trials. By 1910 the turbine had been widely adopted by all navies for their faster ships.
The second development was the replacement of the boat-style turtleback foredeck by a raised
forecastle, which provided better sea-keeping as well as more space below deck.
The British experimented with oil propulsion for the
Tribal class of 1905 but switched temporarily back to coal for the later
Beagle
class in 1909. Other navies also adopted oil, for instance the USN with the
Paulding
class of 1909.
In spite of all this variety, destroyers adopted a largely similar pattern. The hull was long and narrow, with a relatively shallow draft. The bow was either raised in a forecastle or covered under a turtleback; underneath this were the crew spaces, extending 1/4 to 1/3 the way along the hull. Aft of the crew spaces was as much engine space as the technology of the time would allow: several boilers and engines or turbines. Above deck, one or more quick-firing guns were mounted in the bows, in front of the bridge; several more were mounted amidships and astern. Two torpedo tube mountings (later on, multiple mountings) were generally found amidships.
Between 1890 and 1914 destroyers became markedly larger: initially 300 tons was a good size, but by the start of the First World War 1000 tons was not unusual. However, construction remained focused on putting the biggest possible engines into a small hull, resulting in a somewhat flimsy construction. Often hulls were built of steel only 1/8in thick.
By 1910 the steam-driven displacement (i.e. not
hydroplaning) torpedo boat had become redundant as a separate type. Germany nevertheless continued to build such torpedo boats until the end of WW1, although these were effectively small coastal destroyers. In fact Germany never distinguished between the two types, giving them pennant numbers in the same series and never giving names to destroyers. Ultimately the term
torpedo boat
came to be attached to a quite different vessel - the very fast hydroplaning motor driven
MTB.
Life on early destroyers
Early destroyers were extremely cramped places to live. In the
Havock
-class no crew member could ever get undisturbed rest, with officers sleeping on cushioned chairs around the wardroom instead of beds. Spray and condensation made life miserable. The first British class to have separate cabins for officers, or a heating stove for the captain, was the
River class of 1902.
Early Destroyer tactics and engagements
The destroyer's initial purpose was to protect against torpedo boats, but navies soon appreciated the flexibility of the fast, multi-purpose vessel that resulted. Vice-Admiral Sir Baldwin Walker laid down for the Royal Navy:
[11]
- Screening the advance of a fleet when hostile torpedo craft are about
- Searching a hostile coast along which a fleet might pass
- Watching an enemy's port for the purpose of harassing his torpedo craft and preventing their return
- Attacking an enemy fleet
The destroyer's first major use came in the devastating Japanese attack on the Russian fleet in
Port Arthur at the opening of the
Russo-Japanese War in 1904. Three destroyer divisions attacked the Russian fleet in port, firing a total of 18 torpedoes, and severely damaging two Russian battleships.
World War I
thumb
While capital ship engagements were scarce in World War I, destroyer units were almost continually engaged in raiding and patrol actions. The first shot of the war at sea was fired on
5 August 1914 by a destroyer of the 2nd Flotilla,
Lance
, in an engagement with the German auxiliary
minelayer Königin Luise
. The first British naval casualty was
Amphion
, the light cruiser leading the 3rd Flotilla, which ran into a mine laid by
Königin Luise
.
Destroyers were involved in the skirmishes that prompted the
Battle of Heligoland Bight, and filled a range of roles in the
Battle of Gallipoli, acting as troop’s transports and fire support vessels, as well as their fleet-screening role. Over 80 British destroyers and 60 German torpedo-boats took part in the
Battle of Jutland, which involved pitched small-boat actions between the main fleets, and several foolhardy attacks by unsupported destroyers on capital ships. Jutland also concluded with a messy night action between the German High Seas Fleet and part of the British destroyer screen.
The threat evolved by
World War I with the development of the
submarine, or
U-boat. The submarine had the potential to hide from gunfire and close underwater to fire torpedoes. Early-war destroyers had the speed and armament to intercept submarines before they submerged, either by gunfire or by ramming. Destroyers also had a shallow enough draft that torpedoes would find it difficult to hit them.
The desire to attack submarines underwater led to rapid destroyer evolution during the war, which were quickly equipped with strengthened bows for ramming,
depth charges and
hydrophones for identifying submarine targets. The first submarine casualty to a destroyer was the German
U-19
, rammed by
Badger
on
29 October 1914. While
U-19
was only damaged, the next month
Garry
successfully sank
U-18
. The first depth-charge sinking was on
4 December 1916, when
UC-19
[12] was sunk by
Llewellyn
.
The submarine threat meant that many destroyers spent their time on anti-submarine patrol; once Germany adopted
unrestricted submarine warfare in January 1917, destroyers were called on to escort merchant
convoys. US Navy destroyers were among the first American units to be dispatched upon the American entry to the war, and a squadron of Japanese destroyers even joined Allied patrols in the Mediterranean. Patrol duty was far from safe; of the 67 British destroyers lost in the war, collisions accounted for 18, while 12 were wrecked.
At the end of the war the state-of-the-art was represented by the British
W class.
Inter-war
right
The trend during World War I had been towards larger destroyers with heavier armaments. A number of opportunities to fire at capital ships had been missed during the War, because destroyers had expended all their torpedoes in an initial salvo. The British
'V' & 'W' classes of the late war had sought to address this by mounting six torpedo tubes in two triple mounts, instead of the four or two on earlier models. The 'V' and 'W's set the standard of destroyer building well into the 1920s.
leftThe next major innovation came with the Japanese
Fubuki
class or 'special type', designed in 1923 and delivered in 1928. The design was initially noted for its powerful armament of six five-inch (127 mm) guns and three triple torpedo mounts. The second batch of the class gave the guns high-angle turrets for anti-aircraft warfare, and the oxygen-fueled 'Long Lance'
Type 93 torpedo. The later
Hatsuharu
class of 1931 further improved the torpedo armament by storing its reload torpedoes close at hand in the superstructure, allowing reloading within 15 minutes.
Most other nations replied with similar larger ships. The US
Porter
class adopted twin five-inch (127 mm) guns, and the subsequent
Mahan
class and
Gridley
class (the latter of 1934) increased the number of torpedo tubes to 12 and 16 respectively.
In the Mediterranean, the Italian Navy's building of very fast light cruisers of the
Condottieri
class prompted the French to produce exceptional destroyer designs. The French had long been keen on large destroyers, with their
Chacal
class of 1922 displacing over 2,000 tons and carrying 130 mm guns; a further three similar classes were produced around 1930. The
Le Fantasque
class of 1935 carried five guns and nine torpedo tubes, but could achieve speeds of , which remains the record speed for a steamship and for any destroyer. The Italians' own destroyers were almost as swift, most Italian designs of the 1930s being rated at over , while carrying torpedoes and either four or six 120 mm guns.
Germany started to build destroyers again during the 1930s as part of Hitler's rearmament program. The Germans were also fond of large destroyers, but while the initial
Type 1934 displaced over 3,000 tons, their armament was equal to smaller vessels. This changed from the Type 1936 onwards, which mounted heavy 150 mm guns. German destroyers also used innovative high-pressure steam machinery: while this should have helped their efficiency, it more often resulted in mechanical problems.
Once German and Japanese rearmament became clear, the British and American navies consciously focused on building destroyers that were smaller but more numerous than those used by other nations. The British built a series of destroyers (the
A Class to
I Class) which were about 1,400 tons standard displacement, had four guns and eight torpedo tubes; the American
Benson
class of 1938 similar in size, but carried five guns and ten torpedo tubes. Realizing the need for heavier gun armament, the British built the
Tribal class of 1936 (sometimes called "Afridi" after one of two lead ships). These ships displaced 1,850 tons and were armed with eight guns in four twin turrets and four torpedo tubes. These were followed by the
J Class and L class destroyers, with six guns in twin turrets and eight torpedo tubes
Anti-submarine sensors included
sonar (or ASDIC), although training in their use was indifferent. Anti-submarine weapons changed little, and ahead-throwing weapons, a need recognized in World War I, had made no progress.
Operations in the inter-war period
During the 1920s and 1930s destroyers were often deployed to areas of diplomatic tension or humanitarian disaster. British and American destroyers were common on the Chinese coast and rivers, even supplying landing parties to protect colonial interests.
World War II
Main articles: British World War II destroyers, German World War II destroyers, Italian World War II destroyers, Japanese World War II destroyers
By
World War II the threat had evolved once again. Submarines were more effective, and
aircraft had become important weapons of naval warfare; once again the fleet destroyers were ill-equipped for combating these new targets. They were fitted with new
anti-aircraft guns,
radar, and
forward-launched ASW weapons, in addition to their existing light guns, depth charges, and torpedoes. By this time the destroyers had become large, multi-purpose vessels, expensive targets in their own right rather than expendable vessels for the protection of others; moreover, they were one of the most sunk kinds of ships even though they were mass produced. This led to the introduction of smaller and cheaper specialized anti-submarine warships called
corvettes and
frigates by the
Royal Navy and
destroyer escorts by the
USN. A similar programme was belatedly started by the Japanese (see
Matsu class destroyer). These ships had the size and displacement of the original torpedo boat destroyers that the contemporary destroyer had evolved from.
Post-war
Some conventional destroyers were completed in the late 1940s and 1950s which built on wartime experience. These vessels were significantly larger than wartime ships and had fully automatic main guns, unit Machinery, radar, sonar, and antisubmarine weapons such as the
Squid mortar. Examples include the British
Daring
class, US
Forrest Sherman
-class, and the Soviet
Kotlin-class destroyers.
Some World War II-vintage ships were modernized for anti-submarine warfare, and to extend their service lives, to avoid having to build (expensive) brand-new ships. Examples include the US
FRAM I programme and the British
Type 15 frigates converted from fleet destroyers.
The missile age
The advent of
surface-to-air missiles and
surface-to-surface missiles, such as the
Exocet, in the early 1960s changed naval warfare.
Guided missile destroyers (DDG in the US Navy) were developed to carry these weapons and protect the fleet from air, submarine and surface threats. Examples include the Soviet
Kashin-class, the British
County class, and the American
Charles F. Adams
-class.
Modern destroyers
The
Royal Navy currently operates 7 ships of the
Type 42 class with HMS
Southampton
reducing to extended readiness in 2008. The destroyers (as well as frigates) are, as always, the workhorses of the fleet, the former optimized for air defense and the latter for surface and subsurface warfare. They are equally at home in large task groups or on independent operations which may include sanctions enforcement, humanitarian relief or anti-drug patrols. British destroyers (of recent times) have an average displacement of around 5000 tonnes, and are armed with a mixture of guns and missiles including 114 mm (4.5 inch) Mk 8 guns,
Sea Dart Missiles, 20 mm Close range guns, Vulcan Phalanx close in weapons system (CIWS), and anti submarine torpedo tubes. These ships are due to be replaced by the new
Type 45 or
Daring
-class destroyers which will displace roughly 7,200 tonnes. A class of 6 ships is envisaged. They will be equipped with the UK variant of the
Principal Anti-Air Missile System (PAAMS) and
BAE Systems SAMPSON radar. The ships are assembled at
Scotstoun, by
BVT Surface Fleet. HMS Daring, the first of her class, was launched on
1 February 2006.
The Italian navy (
Marina Militare) currently operates 2 each of the
Luigi Durand de la Penne
and
Orizzonte
-class of destroyers.
The
Canadian Navy currently operates the
Iroquois
-class destroyers, a class of four
helicopter-carrying, anti-aircraft,
guided missile destroyers. Launched in the 1970s, the
Iroquois
were the first Canadian all
gas turbine powered military ships, using two turbines for cruise power, and another two fast-starting "boost" turbines for speeds of up to 29 knots (54 km/h) (such an arrangement is known as
COGOG). Previously the Soviet Navy had used all-gas turbine propulsion on their Kashin class destroyers of the 1960s but the Iroquois were the first to be built to this scheme either in Canada or in the US. The design of the Iroquois was a major inspiration for the US's later
Spruance
class ships. They were originally fitted out for
anti-submarine warfare, but the entire class underwent major retrofits as a part of the Tribal Class Update and Modernization Program, or TRUMP, in the 1990s. These refits had the effect of re-purposing the ships for air-defense, and the ships are now referred to as area air-defense destroyers.
The
Indian Navy operates three
Delhi
-class destroyers. These ships are armed with
Kh-35 missiles, which have a range of 130 km, in the anti-ship role. They will be replaced by the
Brahmos cruise missiles. Shtil (AKA
SA-N-7 Gadfly) system is installed to counter airborne threats. The
Barak point-defense missile system has been installed in
Delhi
and will soon be installed in the other two ships of its class. These destroyers also carry the
RBU-6000 rockets in the anti-submarine role and are provided with five 533 mm torpedo launch tubes that can launch the SET-65E, Type 53-65 torpedoes. The destroyers have the capability to carry two Sea King helicopters. The
Delhi
-class will be augmented by the new
Kolkata
-class destroyers, the first of which was launched in March 2006.
The Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy has recently commissioned a number of new modern destroyers in addition to the four
Sovremenny
-class. Three new classes were launched since 2003, known as the
Luyang,
Luyang II and
Luzhou
-class. The latter two are armed with long range air defense missiles, the indigenous HQ-9 and the Russian S-300 respectively. It has been speculated that once the PLAN has been satisfied with one of the two designs (either the 052C or 051C), it would be selected for series production as the next generation of advanced air defense destroyers for China.
In the
US Navy, destroyers operate in support of
carrier battle groups, surface action groups, amphibious groups and replenishment groups. The destroyers currently in use by the US Navy are the
Arleigh Burke
-class. Destroyers (with a DD
hull classification symbol) primarily perform anti-submarine warfare duty while
guided missile destroyers (DDGs) are multi-mission (
anti-submarine,
anti-aircraft, and anti-surface warfare) surface combatants.
The relatively-recent addition of
cruise missile launchers has greatly expanded the role of the destroyer in strike and land-attack warfare. As the expense of heavier surface combatants has generally removed them from the fleet, destroyer tonnage has grown (a modern
Arleigh Burke
-class destroyer has the same tonnage as a
World War II light cruiser).
Arleigh Burke
is billed by her builders as ton-for-ton the most powerful warship in history.
The Russian Navy and the People's Liberation Army Navy of the
People's Republic of China operate the
Sovremenny
class, a class of large multi-purpose missile destroyers. They are powered by pressure-fired boilers, making them capable of speeds in excess of . Their armament consists of 8
SS-N-22 Sunburn anti-ship missiles, launchers for
SA-N-7 Gadfly anti-air missiles and two
AK-130 twin-barreled 130 mm automatic naval guns which can fire laser-guided shells. While they also carry 533 mm torpedo tubes and
RBU-6000 rocket launchers for use against submarines, their primary mission is to attack surface ships. Their anti-aircraft missiles have a surface attack mode, and both the 130 mm guns and the torpedoes are useful against ships at close range.
Future destroyers
The last US Navy
Spruance
-class destroyer in service,
USS Cushing
, was decommissioned on
September 21 2005. The
Zumwalt
class are planned to replace them; on
November 1,
2001, the US Navy announced the issuance of a revised Request for Proposal (RFP) for the Future Surface Combatant Program. Formerly known as DD 21, the program will now be called
DD(X) to more accurately reflect the program purpose, which is to produce a family of advanced technology surface combatants, not a single ship class. DD(X), also called
Zumwalt
class, is much larger than traditional destroyers, being nearly three thousand tons heavier than a
Ticonderoga
-class cruiser (c.12,500 tonnes, larger than most
heavy cruisers from the World War II era). It will potentially employ advanced weaponry and an all-electric
Integrated Power System; however, the construction programme was subsequently reduced to just two vessels, and there is currently only funding for three in total. With the retirement of the
Spruance
class, the Navy began commissioning an advanced variant of the
Arleigh Burke
class with expanded ASW capabilities, the
Arleigh Burke
Flight IIA, beginning with
USS Oscar Austin
. As of 2006, 22 of these vessels are in service, with at least seven more under construction.
The $5.2 billion Command & Control and Air-Defense Capability Replacement project is meant to replace Canada’s
Iroquois
class destroyers whose primary role shifted to area air-defense after TRUMP refits in the 1990s. Although the area air-defense capability had not previously existed, the Canadian Navy now regards “wide area air defense” as part of Canada’s core naval capabilities. When the project began, Canadian Navy destroyers were expected to need replacing by 2005, they are now expected to serve until 2010. There was some work on a replacement design, known to Navy-watchers as the
Province
class destroyers, but this was confined largely to studies of a much-improved multi-function three dimensional
phased array radar system being developed in conjunction with the
Dutch and
German navies, known as
Active Phased Array Radar. Current speculation is that the ships themselves would be similar to a "stretched"
Halifax
-class frigate.
See also
- List of destroyer classes
- United States Navy 1975 ship reclassification
Notes
- Although there are currently no active battleships in any navy the United States navy still maintains two Iowa
-class battleships, and could reactivate one or both if necessary though unlikely.
- Although the Russian Kirov class are sometimes classified as battlecruisers due to their displacement they are more accurately described as large missile cruisers.
- Torpedo Boats
- ''Kaigun: Strategy, Tactics, and Technology in the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1887-1941''
- ''The Origins of Japanese Trade Supremacy: Development and Technology in Asia from 1540 to the Pacific War''
- Biography of Villaamil
- From an article about the American ''Greyhounds''
*Quote:
''Torpedo boats were considered a major threat and the navies of the world set out to defend against them. In 1884 Capitan de Navio Fernando Villaamil was appointed the second officer in the Ministry of the Spanish Navy and was tasked with the design of a new class of warship intended to fight the then new torpedo boats. Once he reached a conclusion, he chose the J & G Thomson shipyards in Clydebank, Scotland, to build the new vessel. On January 19, 1887, the DESTRUCTOR, the first torpedo boat destroyer, was turned over to the Spanish Navy, with great expectations from the European naval community. Twenty-four hours after leaving Falmouth England, the DESTRUCTOR reached the Spanish coast, making {{convert|18|kn|km/h|0}} through a stormy Bay of Biscay. The ships new design and functions were so different from any past man-of-war, many thought it couldn’t survive at sea. In one day the doubts about the vessel's seaworthiness were answered forever, and her designer and commander had every reason to feel proud.''
- "Under the influence of Fernando Villamil (1845-1898), Spain in 1886 produced the
first torpedo boat destroyer." Kern, Robert & Dodge, Meredith: ''Historical dictionary of modern Spain, 1700-1988.'' Greenwood Press, 1990, page 361. ISBN 0313259712
- Lion, page 18: ''J&G Thomson's 1892 design for a TBD is, not unsurprisingly, somewhat reminiscent of their "Destructor" built for the Spanish Navy.''
- Lion, page 66: ''It was already (J&G Thomson Clydebank shipyard), when asked to tender for TBDs for the Royal Navy, building transatlantic liners and cruisers to the navy, and had built an interesting torpedo vessel under the prophetic name of "Destructor" ("Destroyer") for Spain. Its first design (for the British navy in 1892) was clearly a successor of the "Destructor".''
- Brett, Bernard: "History of World Sea Power", Deans International (London) 1985. ISBN 0-603-03723-2
- ''U-Boats Destroyed'', Paul Kemp (1997), ISBN 1 85409 515 3
References
- Although there are currently no active battleships in any navy the United States navy still maintains two Iowa
-class battleships, and could reactivate one or both if necessary though unlikely.
- Although the Russian Kirov class are sometimes classified as battlecruisers due to their displacement they are more accurately described as large missile cruisers.
- Torpedo Boats
- ''Kaigun: Strategy, Tactics, and Technology in the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1887-1941''
- ''The Origins of Japanese Trade Supremacy: Development and Technology in Asia from 1540 to the Pacific War''
- Biography of Villaamil
- From an article about the American ''Greyhounds''
*Quote:
''Torpedo boats were considered a major threat and the navies of the world set out to defend against them. In 1884 Capitan de Navio Fernando Villaamil was appointed the second officer in the Ministry of the Spanish Navy and was tasked with the design of a new class of warship intended to fight the then new torpedo boats. Once he reached a conclusion, he chose the J & G Thomson shipyards in Clydebank, Scotland, to build the new vessel. On January 19, 1887, the DESTRUCTOR, the first torpedo boat destroyer, was turned over to the Spanish Navy, with great expectations from the European naval community. Twenty-four hours after leaving Falmouth England, the DESTRUCTOR reached the Spanish coast, making {{convert|18|kn|km/h|0}} through a stormy Bay of Biscay. The ships new design and functions were so different from any past man-of-war, many thought it couldn’t survive at sea. In one day the doubts about the vessel's seaworthiness were answered forever, and her designer and commander had every reason to feel proud.''
- "Under the influence of Fernando Villamil (1845-1898), Spain in 1886 produced the
first torpedo boat destroyer." Kern, Robert & Dodge, Meredith: ''Historical dictionary of modern Spain, 1700-1988.'' Greenwood Press, 1990, page 361. ISBN 0313259712
- Lion, page 18: ''J&G Thomson's 1892 design for a TBD is, not unsurprisingly, somewhat reminiscent of their "Destructor" built for the Spanish Navy.''
- Lion, page 66: ''It was already (J&G Thomson Clydebank shipyard), when asked to tender for TBDs for the Royal Navy, building transatlantic liners and cruisers to the navy, and had built an interesting torpedo vessel under the prophetic name of "Destructor" ("Destroyer") for Spain. Its first design (for the British navy in 1892) was clearly a successor of the "Destructor".''
- Brett, Bernard: "History of World Sea Power", Deans International (London) 1985. ISBN 0-603-03723-2
- ''U-Boats Destroyed'', Paul Kemp (1997), ISBN 1 85409 515 3