Destroyers had to protect capital ships, merchant traffic, carriers, and home waters while also patrolling the Channel. They were light forces expected to fight aircraft, submarines, torpedo boats, and opposing destroyers while retaining torpedo attack and mine-warfare duties. Massed torpedo attacks gave these small ships a way to threaten much larger opponents. The 1930 London Naval Treaty allowed only 16 percent of permitted destroyer tonnage in ships above 1,500 tons, while leaders could reach 1,850 tons. Those rules shaped later large destroyers such as the Tribal class, but the prototypes ordered in the mid-1920s predated them.
Chapter · 2:39-5:02
Why the Royal Navy needed pre-Tribal destroyers
Royal Navy destroyers had to cover fleet escort, trade protection, home waters, and several forms of light-force combat. The 1930 London Naval Treaty shaped the larger classes that followed, while the experimental ships ordered in the mid-1920s predated its limits.