How destroyers escorted seagoing monitors

How could a destroyer escort a slow monitor?

The destroyer stayed near a seagoing monitor and intercepted threats; river monitors generally had to rely much more on their own protection.

A destroyer could remain close to a monitor and aggressively drive off anything that approached. The arrangement applies primarily to seagoing monitors operating where an escort can maneuver around them. River monitors work in confined waters and therefore cannot depend on the same screen. Modern river craft such as armored gunboats inherit more of the self-protection burden that the escort assumed at sea.