How shipbuilding capacity kept destroyer development moving

Destroyer technology changed during World War I, so equipment available later in the conflict cannot simply be assumed available at its beginning. Britain set performance requirements and asked builders how they would meet them. Its shipbuilding capacity supported continued research and development while producing more destroyers than its counterparts. France lacked the capacity to turn its own wartime experience into a new construction programme. The Japanese imports were fast and nimble, but their triple-expansion engines belonged to an older stage of machinery development. They could maintain a good cruising speed, though they could not sustain top speed for as long as turbine-powered ships.