Spanish warship Destructor

From the invention of the self propelled torpedo in 1866, through the 1870s and 1880s, the rapidly improving cheap and fast torpedo boat was presenting a rising threat to major warships. Coastal escort vessels of increasing size and capability were already in use to provide protection to battleships from these short range torpedo boats. Following his study of the situation, Fernando Villaamil advised the minister for the navy that what was needed was a new type of an enlarged torpedo gunboat that was fast enough and powerful enough to be able to intercept and destroy torpedo boats, have the range and seaworthiness to escort capital ships on long voyages, and be able to attack enemy battleships with torpedoes as part of a fleet action. These specifications became the basis of the torpedo boat destroyer class, later known as the destroyer class, a concept that was quickly adopted by other navies.

The Spanish Navy asked several British shipyards to submit proposals capable of fulfilling these specifications. In 1885 it chose the design submitted by the shipyard of James and George Thomson of Clydebank, near the Yarrow shipyards. The vessel was laid down at the end of the year, launched in 1886, and commissioned in early 1887.

Destructor displaced 348 long tons (354 t), and was equipped with triple-expansion engines generating 3,784 horsepower (2,822 kW), for a maximum speed of 22.6 knots (41.9 km/h),^[7] which made her one of the faster ships in the world in 1888.^[8] She was armed with one 90mm (3.5 in) Spanish-designed Hontoria breech-loading gun,^[2] four 57 mm (2.2 in) (6 pdr) Nordenfeldt guns, two 37 mm (1.46 in) Hotchkiss revolving cannons and two 15-inch (381 mm) torpedo tubes.^{[failed verification][7]} The ship carried three Schwartzkopff torpedoes per tube.^[2] She was manned by a crew of 60.^[7] On her maiden voyage, Destructor established a record after steaming from Falmouth to Ferrol in 24 hours.^[4]

In terms of gunnery, speed and dimensions, the specialised design to chase and destroy torpedo boats with her guns, and attack capital ships with torpedoes, and her high seas capabilities, Destructor is widely considered the first torpedo-boat destroyer ever built,^[9][10][11] and was described as such by British naval engineer Sir William Henry White.^[12] Destructor is thought to have influenced the design and concept of later destroyers developed by the British Royal Navy.^[13][14] Further developments followed the pattern of the Havock class, built in 1893. The aim of the new destroyer design was not only to neutralize the torpedo boat as an effective weapon, but also to replace it as a faster and more reliable torpedo-carrying warship.^[15]