The Royal Navy built more torpedo boats and torpedo-using vessels than France, despite the prominence of the Jeune École in French naval politics. German buyers obtained early boats from British firms, including Thornycroft and Yarrow. Even France considered British purchases. Political enthusiasm for a technology therefore gives an incomplete picture of which country could build and export it in quantity.
Notable Point · 30:27-35:13
British yards led torpedo-craft production and supplied Germany
French doctrine made torpedo boats politically prominent, but British yards built more of them and supplied early German purchases.