By this stage, fleet destroyers had become general-purpose screening ships whose torpedoes could threaten cruisers and larger vessels. The 36 Crickets concentrated on intercepting torpedo boats approaching the United Kingdom. Their classification admits different interpretations: they can be viewed as torpedo boats themselves or as vessels retaining the original torpedo-boat-destroyer mission. A suggested connection with the World War II Fairmile D boats concerns their operational culture as coastal fighting craft. Building the class also demonstrated the Royal Navy's capacity to produce such small combatants in quantity.
Notable Point · 36:48-38:30
The Cricket class and coastal torpedo-boat defence
The small Cricket class retained the original local-defence purpose, intended to meet hostile torpedo boats approaching the British coast.