Torpedo-boat doctrine and unreliable engines

What non-French purchases would make the hypothetical 1880s navy's procurement particularly unsuccessful?

The joke proposes Austrian or Hungarian torpedo boats under Jeune École doctrine, with unreliable engines undermining the choice.

The deliberately bad procurement scenario proposes replacing ironclads with torpedo boats under Jeune École ideas. Buying those boats from Austrian and Hungarian suppliers is presented as an additional problem because their engines are criticized as unreliable in this period. The humor depends on a practical mismatch: adopting a doctrine centered on small attack craft while choosing boats unable to operate reliably.