Germany retained the torpedo-boat line alongside destroyers more extensively than other navies in this comparison. The original progression ran from torpedo boats to torpedo-boat destroyers, with many services shortening the latter name to destroyers. German practice continued to distinguish oceangoing torpedo boats from smaller coastal craft. Schnellboote, also called S-boats and known in British usage as E-boats, belonged to that smaller fast-craft category. The distinction helps explain why a German torpedo boat could resemble what another navy called a small destroyer.
Notable Point · 2:22:44-2:23:42
Why German torpedo boats could resemble small destroyers
The retained German torpedo-boat category explains a naming distinction that ship size alone can obscure.