Torpedo boats prompted quick-firing guns and the torpedo-boat destroyer. Adding defensive weapons helped increase the size of battleships during the period of French Jeune École enthusiasm. A torpedo-boat destroyer could also launch its own torpedo attack. Other navies therefore enlarged their craft to counter British destroyers, which in turn needed more size and power. A new defensive vessel could restart the same competitive growth it was intended to manage.
Chapter · 1:05:44-1:07:51
Threat diversity restarts the small-craft arms cycle
Torpedo-boat destroyers became threats in their own right and helped drive another cycle of larger ships.