One criticism of Tirpitz's naval policy is that it encouraged a miniature Royal Navy, with Germany acquiring ship categories because Britain had them. Torpedo boats sat lower in the prestige hierarchy, so senior personalities paid less attention to their exact design choices. That neglect gave designers room to tailor light craft to German operational needs. Support for building torpedo boats did not require copying British destroyers feature for feature.
Notable Point · 21:06-21:58
Low prestige gave torpedo-boat designers room to diverge
Because torpedo boats were not prestige assets, their designers had more freedom to suit German needs instead of copying the Royal Navy feature for feature.