HMS Swift, larger destroyers, and earlier Flower-class sloops

Battenberg's interest in flotilla defence points toward larger destroyers able to force their way past enemy light cruisers and launch torpedoes at capital ships. North Sea weather made that requirement more demanding, because smaller response forces could be trapped in harbour. HMS Swift offered an example of the size and speed wanted for such duties. Her 34-knot performance also suited escorting the proposed 28-knot fast battleships. The single 6-inch gun fitted forward in her 1917 refit illustrates the armament a large destroyer could carry. Smaller V-class destroyers would still be mass-produced, with more large destroyers supplementing them. Flower-class sloops might also be ordered earlier under Battenberg.