Why small fast craft suited early gas turbines

The physical conversion from an aero engine to a marine turbine shows the work required to adapt gas turbines for naval service. Reducing machinery weight to a third or half for the same power could transform a small craft's speed and tactical potential. A speculative wartime example imagines extremely fast steel-hulled gunboats using their momentum to ram German E-boats, with the fictional HMS Thunder Child as the comparison. British trials began with small vessels, generated experience with the machinery, and led into a later patrol-vessel generation that was also sold to Norway. Compact patrol craft were a natural testing ground because power density was the technology's strongest early advantage.