Faster torpedo boats broke the Forbins' visual command model

Early French torpedo boats could make about 19 knots, so the Forbins' nominal 20 knots initially appeared adequate. Within a few years imported and domestic boats reached 23.5, 25, and eventually 29 knots, while the cruisers' troublesome machinery could not sustain even their designed maximum indefinitely. Before radio, command depended on flags and other visual signals, which required the leader to remain close enough for orders to be seen and understood. The boats could slow to preserve formation, but a full-speed attack carried them beyond the cruiser's effective control and made them a weapon launched without reliable recall. The analogy is English Civil War-era cavalry: a powerful Royalist charge could dissipate when horsemen pursued the baggage train, while disciplined Parliamentary cavalry could be recalled and used again. Tactical speed without matching command-and-control speed can make a force less reusable and therefore less strategically valuable.