CHAPTER XV
DESTROYERS
Except for the submarine the most prominent craft during the war has undoubtedly been the destroyer.
All warships are in one sense destroyers, since it is their prime duty to destroy other ships, so why should one particular kind of boat be given this name specially? Like many other of the terms which we use it is an abbreviation, a mere remnant of a fully descriptive title. "Torpedo Boat Destroyer" is what these ships are called in the Navy List.
Even that full title, however, only tells us what their original purpose was: it leaves us very much in the dark as to the many various functions which they perform.
The invention of the torpedo called for the construction of small boats whereby the new weapon could be used to best advantage, and so we got our torpedo boats. They in turn called forth another boat whose duty it was to run down and destroy them, and in that way we get our destroyers. From that bit of naval history we can almost see for ourselves what the characteristics of the destroyers must be. They have to be bigger than the torpedo
boats, but as the latter were quite small the destroyers, though larger, are still comparatively small craft, latterly of about one thousand tons. Then they have to be very fast, in order to be able to chase the others and, finally, they need one or two guns, comparatively small so as not to overburden the ship and yet large enough to dispose of anything of their own size or smaller.
Unquestionably, their greatest feature is their speed. They are the fastest ships afloat, rivalling even a fairly fast train. Some of them can exceed forty miles an hour. They are very active and nimble, too, being able to turn in a comparatively small circle. For warships, too, they are cheap, so that a commander can afford to risk losing a destroyer when he would fear to risk another vessel. For all purposes except the actual hard-hitting they are the most useful weapon which the commander of the fleet possesses.
When the main fleet puts to sea a whole cloud of these smaller craft hover round looking for submarines or for the surface torpedo boats which might try to attack the large ships under cover of darkness, while keeping a sharp look-out, too, for mines or any other kind of floating danger, and thus they screen the more valuable ships.
Likewise do they convoy merchant ships sometimes, especially through waters believed to be infested with submarines. They also sally forth on little expeditions of their own, knowing that they can fight any craft equally speedy and show a clean pair of heels to any heavier ships, while by adroit