Editing Destroyer (section)

===Subsequent improvements===
[[File:Yarrow plan.png|thumb|right|Builders' plans for the British {{sclass|Charger|destroyer|4}}, built 1894–95]]
Torpedo boat destroyer designs continued to evolve 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 {{ship||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|1899|6}} of 1899. This was the first turbine warship of any kind, and achieved a remarkable {{convert|34|kn}} on sea trials. By 1910, the turbine had been widely adopted by all navies for their faster ships.<ref name=ast/>

The second development was the replacement of the torpedo boat-style turtleback foredeck by a raised forecastle for the new {{sclass2|River|destroyer|2||1903}}s built in 1903, which provided better sea-keeping and more space below deck.

The first warship to use only [[fuel oil]] propulsion was the Royal Navy's TBD {{HMS|Spiteful|1899|6}}, after experiments in 1904, although the obsolescence of coal as a fuel in British warships was delayed by oil's availability.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Anon. |title=The British Admiralty&nbsp;... |journal=Scientific American |volume=91 |issue=2 |year=1904 |url=https://archive.org/stream/scientific-american-1904-07-09/scientific-american-v91-n02-1904-07-09#page/n0/mode/2up |issn=0036-8733}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Dahl |first=E.J. |title=Naval innovation: From coal to oil |journal=Joint Force Quarterly |issue=Winter 2000–01 |year=2001 |url=http://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a524799.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161022194856/http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a524799.pdf |archive-date=22 October 2016 |pages=50–6|url-status=live |access-date=14 February 2017}}</ref> Other navies also adopted oil, for instance the USN with the {{sclass|Paulding|destroyer|4}} 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 {{fraction|1|4}} to {{fraction|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 tube mountings (later on, multiple mountings) were generally found amidships.

Between 1892 and 1914, destroyers became markedly larger; initially 275&nbsp;tons with a length of {{convert|165|ft|m}} for the Royal Navy's first {{sclass|Havock|destroyer|4}} of TBDs,<ref>Lyon p. 53</ref> up to the First World War with {{convert|300|ft|m|adj=on}} long destroyers displacing 1,000&nbsp;tons was not unusual. Construction remained focused on putting the biggest possible engines into a small hull, though, resulting in a somewhat flimsy construction. Often, hulls were built of [[high-tensile steel]]<ref name=ast/> only {{cvt|1/8|in}} thick.

By 1910, the steam-driven displacement (that is, not [[Planing (sailing)|hydroplaning]]) torpedo boat had become redundant as a separate type. Germany, nevertheless, continued to build such boats until the end of World War I, 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 [[motor torpedo boat]].