The Jeune Ecole shifted from explosive-shell craft to the torpedo boat: a cheap hull firing a still cheaper weapon might sink an expensive capital ship. Advocates treated French naval success in the Sino-French War as validation. The Chinese naval forces had committed personnel and ambitious modernization efforts, but remained a heterogeneous force with limited supporting infrastructure. Success against them was poor evidence for a doctrine intended to defeat the much stronger Royal Navy of the 1880s.
Chapter · 6:36-9:21
Torpedo boats promise a cheap battleship killer
The torpedo gave small craft a plausible way to threaten battleships, but French success against China was poor evidence for war against the Royal Navy.