Editing Destroyer (section)

===Torpedo gunboat===
{{Main|Torpedo gunboat}}
[[File:HMS Spider.png|thumb|HMS ''Spider'', an early model of torpedo gunboat]]
The first vessel designed for the explicit purpose of hunting and destroying torpedo boats was the [[torpedo gunboat]]. Essentially very small cruisers, torpedo gunboats were equipped with torpedo tubes and an adequate gun armament, intended for hunting down smaller enemy boats. By the end of the 1890s, torpedo gunboats were made obsolete by their more successful contemporaries, the TBDs, which were much faster.

The first example of this was {{HMS|Rattlesnake|1886|6}}, designed by [[Nathaniel Barnaby]] in 1885, and commissioned in response to the [[Panjdeh Incident|Russian War scare]].<ref name="L&W">{{cite book |last=Lyon & Winfield |title=The Sail and Steam Navy List|chapter=10|pages=82–3}}</ref> The gunboat was armed with torpedoes and designed for hunting and destroying smaller [[torpedo boat]]s. Exactly {{convert|200|ft|m}} long and {{convert|23|ft|m}} in beam, she displaced 550 tons. Built of steel, ''Rattlesnake'' was unarmoured with the exception of a {{fraction|3|4}}-inch protective deck. 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 ''Grasshopper'' class, 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 the 1880s, the [[Chilean Navy]] ordered the construction of two {{sclass|Almirante Lynch|torpedo gunboat|4}} torpedo gunboats from the British shipyard Laird Brothers, which specialized in the construction of this type of vessel. The novelty is that one of these ''Almirante Lynch''-class torpedo boats managed to sink the ironclad {{ship|Chilean ironclad|Blanco Encalada||2}} with self-propelled torpedoes in the [[Battle of Caldera Bay]] in 1891, thus surpassing its main function of hunting torpedo boats.

[[Fernando Villaamil]], second officer of the Ministry of the [[Spanish Navy|Navy of Spain]], designed his own torpedo gunboat to combat the threat from the torpedo boat.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.spanamwar.com/Vilamil.htm|title=Capitan de Navio Fernando Villaamil, 1898|website=www.spanamwar.com|accessdate=18 December 2022}}</ref> He asked several British shipyards to submit proposals capable of fulfilling these specifications. In 1885, the Spanish Navy chose the design submitted by the shipyard of James and [[George Thomson (shipbuilder)|George Thomson]] of [[Clydebank]]. {{ship|Spanish warship|Destructor|1886|2}} (''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.<ref>"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|0-313-25971-2}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Polmar|first1=Norman|title=Navy's Most Wanted™: The Top 10 Book of Admirable Admirals, Sleek Submarines, and Other Naval Oddities|last2=Cavas|first2=Christopher|publisher=Potomac Books|year=2009|isbn=978-1597976558|pages=44}}</ref>

[[File:Contratorpedero Destructor (en 1890).svg|thumb|Spanish warship [[Spanish warship Destructor|''Destructor'']] in 1890, the first destroyer ever built]]

She displaced 348 tons, and was the first warship<ref>{{Cite book|title=The illustrated history of ships|last=Cornwell|first=Edward Lewis|publisher=Crescent Books|year=1979|isbn=0517287951|pages=150}}</ref> equipped with twin [[triple-expansion engine]]s generating {{convert|3784|ihp|0|abbr=on}}, for a maximum speed of {{convert|22.6|kn|km/h}},<ref name=dest>{{Cite web|url=https://accounts.google.com/v3/signin/identifier?dsh=S-200562420%3A1671362468167974&continue=https%3A%2F%2Fsites.google.com%2Fsite%2Fsites%2Fsystem%2Ferrors%2FWebspaceNotFound%3Fpath%3D%2Frlmbuquesdeguerra%2Fcontratorpedero-destructor&followup=https%3A%2F%2Fsites.google.com%2Fsite%2Fsites%2Fsystem%2Ferrors%2FWebspaceNotFound%3Fpath%3D%2Frlmbuquesdeguerra%2Fcontratorpedero-destructor&passive=1209600&service=jotspot&flowName=WebLiteSignIn&flowEntry=ServiceLogin&ifkv=AeAAQh4ygN8Myw04e4GrFy_UtXYT1uUliIutQB9C-gLkpfx-kFM_8r6fQa48u2dDzkqfuZMdxSVh|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100226031523/http://sites.google.com/site/rlmbuquesdeguerra/contratorpedero-destructor#prof|url-status=dead|title=Google Sites: Sign-in|archivedate=26 February 2010|website=accounts.google.com|accessdate=18 December 2022}}</ref> which made her one of the faster ships in the world in 1888.<ref>Illustrated Naval and Military Magazine: A monthly journal devoted to all subjects connected with Her Majesty's land and sea forces, 1888, v 9, page 280</ref> She was armed with one {{convert|90|mm|in|adj=on|abbr=on}} Spanish-designed [[Hontoria]] [[Breech-loading weapon|breech-loading]] gun,<ref name="Bernie2">Fitzsimmons, Bernard: ''The Illustrated encyclopedia of 20th century weapons and warfare.'' Columbia House, 1978, v. 8, page 835</ref> four {{convert|57|mm|in|adj=on|abbr=on}} ([[QF 6 pounder Nordenfelt|6-pounder]]) [[Thorsten Nordenfelt|Nordenfelt]] guns, two {{convert|37|mm|in|adj=on|abbr=on}} (3-pdr) [[Hotchkiss et Cie|Hotchkiss]] cannons and two {{convert|15|in|cm|adj=on}} [[Schwartzkopff torpedo]] tubes.<ref name=dest /> The ship carried three torpedoes per tube.<ref name="Bernie2"/> She carried a crew of 60.<ref name=dest />

In terms of gunnery, speed, and dimensions, the specialised design to chase torpedo boats and her high-seas capabilities, ''Destructor'' was an important precursor to the TBD.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.quarterdeck.org/100th/DDs.htm#prof|title=The Destructor -100 Years|website=www.quarterdeck.org|access-date=2019-04-28|archive-date=2021-02-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210226160934/http://www.quarterdeck.org/100th/DDs.htm#prof|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Bernie2"/>