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![]() ![]() The antitorpedo boat origin of this type of ship is retained in its name in other languages, including French ( contre-torpilleur), Italian ( cacciatorpediniere), Portuguese ( contratorpedeiro), Czech ( torpédoborec), Greek ( antitorpiliko, αντιτορπιλικό), Dutch ( torpedobootjager) and, up until the Second World War, Polish ( kontrtorpedowiec, now obsolete). They needed significant seaworthiness and endurance to operate with the battle fleet, and as they inherently became larger, they became officially designated "torpedo-boat destroyers", and by the First World War were largely known as "destroyers" in English. 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. By the 1880s, the type had evolved into small ships of 50–100 tons, fast enough to evade enemy picket boats.Īt first, the threat of a torpedo-boat attack to a battle fleet was considered to exist only when at anchor, but as faster and longer-range torpedo boats and torpedoes were developed, the threat extended to cruising at sea. She was armed with two drop collars to launch these weapons these were replaced in 1879 by a single torpedo tube in the bow. The first seagoing vessel designed to launch the self-propelled Whitehead torpedo was the 33-ton HMS Lightning in 1876. Cheap, fast boats armed with torpedoes called torpedo boats were built and became a threat to large capital ships near enemy coasts. A navy now had the potential to destroy a superior enemy battle fleet using steam launches to fire torpedoes. The emergence and development of the destroyer was related to the invention of the self-propelled torpedo in the 1860s. Origins Fernando Villaamil, credited as the inventor of the destroyer concept, died in action during the Battle of Santiago de Cuba in 1898. ![]() Some NATO navies, such as the Canadian, French, Spanish, Dutch, and German, use the term " frigate" for their destroyers, which leads to some confusion. The Chinese Type 055 destroyer has been described as a cruiser in some US Navy reports due to its size and armament. At 510 feet (160 m) long, a displacement of 9,200 tons, and with an armament of more than 90 missiles, guided-missile destroyers such as the Arleigh Burke class are actually larger and more heavily armed than most previous ships classified as guided-missile cruisers. Modern guided-missile destroyers are equivalent in tonnage but vastly superior in firepower to cruisers of the World War II era, and are capable of carrying nuclear-tipped cruise missiles. This resulted in larger and more powerful guided-missile destroyers more capable of independent operation.Īt the start of the 21st century, destroyers are the global standard for surface-combatant ships, with only two nations (the United States and Russia) officially operating the heavier cruisers, with no battleships or true battlecruisers remaining. Moreover, the advent of guided missiles allowed destroyers to take on the surface-combatant roles previously filled by battleships and cruisers. Sumner-class destroyers had a displacement of 2,200 tons, while the Arleigh Burke class has a displacement of up to 9,600 tons, a difference of nearly 340%. īefore World War II, destroyers were light vessels with little endurance for unattended ocean operations typically, a number of destroyers and a single destroyer tender operated together. Although the term "destroyer" had been used interchangeably with "TBD" and "torpedo boat destroyer" by navies since 1892, the term "torpedo boat destroyer" had been generally shortened to simply "destroyer" by nearly all navies by the First World War. They were originally conceived in 1885 by Fernando Villaamil for the Spanish Navy as a defense against torpedo boats, and by the time of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, these "torpedo boat destroyers" (TBDs) were "large, swift, and powerfully armed torpedo boats designed to destroy other torpedo boats". Larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or carrier battle group and defend them against a wide range of general threats. In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable, long-endurance warship intended to escort The Italian Caio Duilio, belongs to the Horizon-class of Franco-Italian designed first-rate frigates. The destroyers of the US Navy's Zumwalt-class, pictured here sailing with a Litorral combat ship (LCS) are the longest and heaviest destroyers currently in service. For other uses, see Destroyer (disambiguation). ![]()
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