R, S, and V/W classes become a design laboratory

The R, S, and V/W families supplied much of the destroyer force inherited by the interwar Royal Navy. Major features such as armament were standardized while builders varied hulls, machinery, and arrangements. The R-class example divides 62 ships into 39 standard Admiralty vessels, 11 modified Admiralty vessels, five Thornycroft vessels, and seven Yarrow vessels. Large orders allowed the navy to compare those approaches without depending on a single experimental ship. The V/W family mixed flotilla leaders with ordinary destroyers and delivered 67 ships against 107 planned. Experience from Harwich Force, Dogger Bank, and convoy operations shaped development before all the lessons of Jutland were available. More aggressive employment encouraged heavier guns and the move from 18-inch to 21-inch torpedoes.