Sumner-class destroyer had a displacement of 2200 tons, while the Arleigh Burke class has a displacement of up to 9600 tons, thus growing in size almost 340%. ==Origins== The emergence and development of the destroyer was related to the invention of the self-propelled torpedo in the 1860s.
The first seagoing vessel designed to launch the self-propelled Whitehead torpedo was the 33-ton in 1876.
She was armed with two drop collars to launch these weapons, these were replaced in 1879 by a single torpedo tube in the bow.
By the 1880s, the type had evolved into small ships of 50–100 tons, fast enough to evade enemy picket boats. At 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.
Four torpedo reloads were carried. A number of torpedo gunboat classes followed, including the Grasshopper class, the , the and the – all built for the Royal Navy during the 1880s and the 1890s. Fernando Villaamil, second officer of the Ministry of the Navy of Spain, designed his own torpedo gunboat to combat the threat from the torpedo boat.
The task of escorting merchant convoys was still in the future. ===Early designs=== An important development came with the construction of HMS Swift in 1884, later redesignated TB 81.
At , while still not fast enough to engage enemy torpedo boats reliably, the ship at least had the armament to deal with them. Another forerunner of the torpedo boat destroyer was the Japanese torpedo boat (Falcon), built in 1885.
Designed to Japanese specifications and ordered from the Isle of Dogs, London Yarrow shipyard in 1885, she was transported in parts to Japan, where she was assembled and launched in 1887.
By the end of the 1890s torpedo gunboats were made obsolete by their more successful contemporaries, the torpedo boat destroyers, which were much faster. The first example of this was , designed by Nathaniel Barnaby in 1885, and commissioned in response to the Russian War scare.
In 1885 the Spanish Navy chose the design submitted by the shipyard of James and George Thomson of Clydebank.
The Yarrow shipyards, builder of the parts for Kotaka, "considered Japan to have effectively invented the destroyer". The German aviso , launched in 1886, was designed as a "torpedojäger" (torpedo hunter), intended to screen the fleet against attacks by torpedo boats.
(Destroyer in Spanish) was laid down at the end of the year, launched in 1886, and commissioned in 1887.
Designed to Japanese specifications and ordered from the Isle of Dogs, London Yarrow shipyard in 1885, she was transported in parts to Japan, where she was assembled and launched in 1887.
(Destroyer in Spanish) was laid down at the end of the year, launched in 1886, and commissioned in 1887.
Some authors considered her as the first destroyer ever built. She displaced 348 tons, and was the first warship equipped with twin triple-expansion engines generating , for a maximum speed of , which made her one of the faster ships in the world in 1888.
In her trials in 1889, Kotaka demonstrated that she could exceed the role of coastal defense, and was capable of accompanying larger warships on the high seas.
By the end of the 1890s torpedo gunboats were made obsolete by their more successful contemporaries, the torpedo boat destroyers, which were much faster. The first example of this was , designed by Nathaniel Barnaby in 1885, and commissioned in response to the Russian War scare.
Four torpedo reloads were carried. A number of torpedo gunboat classes followed, including the Grasshopper class, the , the and the – all built for the Royal Navy during the 1880s and the 1890s. Fernando Villaamil, second officer of the Ministry of the Navy of Spain, designed his own torpedo gunboat to combat the threat from the torpedo boat.
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. Before 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.
In 1892, the Third Sea Lord, Rear Admiral John "Jacky" Fisher ordered the development of a new type of ships equipped with the then novel water-tube boilers and quick-firing small calibre guns.
Two tube mountings (later on, multiple mountings) were generally found amidships. Between 1892 and 1914 destroyers became markedly larger: initially 275 tons with a length of for the Royal Navy's first of torpedo boat destroyers, up to the First World War with long destroyers displacing 1000 tons was not unusual.
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, of 1899.
My clothes (uniform) cover nothing but a skeleton, and my bones are full of rheumatism." In 1898, the US Navy officially classified , a long all steel vessel displacing 165 tons, as a torpedo boat.
In common with subsequent early Thornycroft boats, they had sloping sterns and double rudders. The French navy, an extensive user of torpedo boats, built its first torpedo boat destroyer in 1899, with the 'torpilleur d'escadre'.
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, of 1899.
1, in 1902 and by 1906 there were 16 destroyers in service with the US Navy. ===Subsequent improvements=== Torpedo boat destroyer designs continued to evolve around the turn of the 20th century in several key ways.
They were originally developed in the late 19th century 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".
During the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, the commander of the Imperial Japanese Navy torpedo boat destroyer Akatsuki described "being in command of a destroyer for a long period, especially in wartime...
rendering them unbearably hot in tropical regions." ===Early combat=== The torpedo boat destroyer's first major use in combat came during the Japanese surprise attack on the Russian fleet anchored in Port Arthur at the opening of the Russo-Japanese War on 8 February 1904. Three destroyer divisions attacked the Russian fleet in port, firing a total of 18 torpedoes.
1, in 1902 and by 1906 there were 16 destroyers in service with the US Navy. ===Subsequent improvements=== Torpedo boat destroyer designs continued to evolve around the turn of the 20th century in several key ways.
Other navies also adopted oil, for instance the USN with the of 1909. In spite of all this variety, destroyers adopted a largely similar pattern.
Often hulls were built of [steel] only 1/8 in thick. By 1910 the steam-driven displacement (that is, not hydroplaning) torpedo boat had become redundant as a separate type.
When initially ordered by Romania in 1913, the Romanian specifications envisioned three 120 mm guns, a caliber which would eventually be adopted as the standard for future Italian destroyers.
Two tube mountings (later on, multiple mountings) were generally found amidships. Between 1892 and 1914 destroyers became markedly larger: initially 275 tons with a length of for the Royal Navy's first of torpedo boat destroyers, up to the First World War with long destroyers displacing 1000 tons was not unusual.
The first shot of the war at sea was fired on 5 August 1914 by , one of the 3rd Destroyer Flotilla, in an engagement with the German auxiliary minelayer . 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 transports and as fire-support vessels, as well as their fleet-screening role.
The first submarine casualty to a destroyer was the German , rammed by on 29 October 1914.
The first depth-charge sinking was on 4 December 1916, when was sunk by HMS 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.
The 'V' and 'W's set the standard of destroyer building well into the 1920s. The two Romanian destroyers and , on the other hand, had the greatest firepower of all destroyers in the world throughout the first half of the 1920s.
This was largely due to the fact that, between their commissioning in 1920 and 1926, they retained the armament that they had while serving in the Italian Navy as scout cruisers (esploratori).
Anti-submarine weapons changed little, and ahead-throwing weapons, a need recognized in World War I, had made no progress. ===Later combat=== During the 1920s and 1930s, destroyers were often deployed to areas of diplomatic tension or humanitarian disaster.
The French had long been keen on large destroyers, with their of 1922 displacing over 2,000 tons and carrying 130 mm guns; a further three similar classes were produced around 1930.
In addition, they retained their two twin 457 mm torpedo tubes as well as two machine guns, plus the capacity to carry up to 50 mines. The next major innovation came with the Japanese or 'special type', designed in 1923 and delivered in 1928.
This was largely due to the fact that, between their commissioning in 1920 and 1926, they retained the armament that they had while serving in the Italian Navy as scout cruisers (esploratori).
In addition, they retained their two twin 457 mm torpedo tubes as well as two machine guns, plus the capacity to carry up to 50 mines. The next major innovation came with the Japanese or 'special type', designed in 1923 and delivered in 1928.
The French had long been keen on large destroyers, with their of 1922 displacing over 2,000 tons and carrying 130 mm guns; a further three similar classes were produced around 1930.
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.
Anti-submarine weapons changed little, and ahead-throwing weapons, a need recognized in World War I, had made no progress. ===Later combat=== During the 1920s and 1930s, destroyers were often deployed to areas of diplomatic tension or humanitarian disaster.
The later 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 adopted twin five-inch (127 mm) guns, and the subsequent and es (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 prompted the French to produce exceptional destroyer designs.
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.
The 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.
This changed from the Type 1936 onwards, which mounted heavy guns.
Realizing the need for heavier gun armament, the British built the of 1936 (sometimes called Afridi after one of two lead ships).
The British built a series of destroyers (the to ) which were about 1,400 tons standard displacement, had four guns and eight torpedo tubes; the American of 1938 similar in size, but carried five guns and ten torpedo tubes.
As of 1939, when the Second World War started, their artillery, although changed, was still close to cruiser standards, amounting to nine heavy naval guns (five of 120 mm and four of 76 mm).
These ships had the size and displacement of the original torpedo boat destroyers that the contemporary destroyer had evolved from. ==Post-World War II== Some conventional destroyers were completed in the late 1940s and 1950s which built on wartime experience.
These ships had the size and displacement of the original torpedo boat destroyers that the contemporary destroyer had evolved from. ==Post-World War II== Some conventional destroyers were completed in the late 1940s and 1950s which built on wartime experience.
Examples include the US FRAM I programme and the British Type 15 frigates converted from fleet destroyers. The advent of surface-to-air missiles and surface-to-surface missiles, such as the Exocet, in the early 1960s changed naval warfare.
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