Pathfinder carried only two 18-inch torpedo tubes despite displacing nearly 3,000 tons. A later designer might have expected a much heavier torpedo battery on a ship of that size. The constraint was her triple-expansion machinery, which weighed a great deal for the power it produced. Much of the design's weight budget went into the machinery needed to keep pace with destroyers.
Notable Point · 8:12-8:48
Heavy machinery squeezed Pathfinder's torpedo armament
Triple-expansion machinery consumed enough of Pathfinder's weight budget to limit a nearly 3,000-ton scout cruiser to two torpedo tubes.