The Admiralty wanted ships fast enough to catch foreign torpedo boats, powerful enough to destroy them, and cheap enough to buy in numbers. HMS Havoc and HMS Hornet followed in 1893, with Hornet's water-tube boilers giving her a speed advantage. Their success prompted orders for six more boats and then another thirty. The nominal 27-knot design soon faced foreign boats reaching 31 knots, pushing the next requirement toward 30. Fleet maneuvers encouraged confidence that the destroyer had defeated the torpedo-boat threat. The early role depended chiefly on gunnery, and some boats reduced their torpedo armament to save top weight before offensive torpedo work became more prominent.
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Havoc, Hornet, and the first torpedo-boat destroyers
Havoc and Hornet established a fast, gun-armed answer to torpedo boats and quickly triggered higher speed requirements.