In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or carrier battle group and defend them against a wide range of general threats. They were originally conceived in 1885 by Fernando Villaamil for the Spanish Navy as a defense against torpedo boats, and by the time of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, these "torpedo boat destroyers" (TBDs) were "large, swift, and powerfully armed torpedo boats designed to destroy other torpedo boats". Although the term "destroyer" had been used interchangeably with "TBD" and "torpedo boat destroyer" by navies since 1892, the term "torpedo boat destroyer" had been generally shortened to simply "destroyer" by nearly all navies by the First World War.
A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs were steam-powered craft dedicated to ramming enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes. Later evolutions launched variants of self-propelled Whitehead torpedoes.
Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft was a German shipbuilding company, located in the harbour at Kiel, and one of the largest and most important builders of U-boats for the Kaiserliche Marine in World War I and the Kriegsmarine in World War II. The original company was founded in 1867 but went bankrupt and was bought out by Friedrich Krupp. Krupp was very interested in building warships and in the time before the First World War built a number of battleships for the Kaiserliche Marine, including SMS Posen, SMS Prinzregent Luitpold, SMS Kronprinz, and SMS Sachsen. A total of 84 U-boats were built in the shipyard during the war. After the war it returned to the normal production of yachts and transports.
At the outbreak of the Second World War Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine had 21 destroyers in service, while another one was just being completed. These 22 vessels – comprising 3 classes – had all been built in the 1930s, making them modern vessels. Including that final pre-war vessel, a further 19 were brought into service during the war and more were captured from opposing navies, including the Italian Navy after the Italian Armistice with the Allies in 1943.
The German V1-class torpedo boats was a class of 26 large torpedo boats in service with the Imperial German Navy, Reichsmarine, Kriegsmarine and Royal Hellenic Navy in the early 20th century.
Italian torpedo boat Premuda was a 1916 Type Large Torpedo Boat of the Imperial German Navy during World War I. Built as SMS V116 she was the first ship of her class to be launched.
The French destroyer Amiral Sénès was a 1916 Type Large Torpedo Boat of the Imperial German Navy during World War I. Built as SMS S113 she was the first ship of her class to be laid down, but the second and final ship of her class to be launched.
A torpedo cruiser is a type of warship that is armed primarily with torpedoes. The major navies began building torpedo cruisers shortly after the invention of the locomotive Whitehead torpedo in the 1860s. The development of the torpedo gave rise to the Jeune École doctrine, which held that small warships armed with torpedoes could effectively and cheaply defeat much larger battleships. Torpedo cruisers fell out of favor in most of the great power navies in the 1890s, though many other navies continued to acquire them into the early 1900s.
The German large, or ocean-going, torpedo boats and destroyers of World War I were built by the Imperial German Navy between 1899 and 1918 as part of its quest for a “High Seas” or ocean-going fleet. At the start of the First World War Germany had 132 such ships, and ordered a further 216 during the conflict, 112 of which were actually completed. Of these, 55 were lost during the war, 50 were interned on 23 November 1918 under the terms of the Armistice, and subsequently scuttled at Scapa Flow on 21 June 1919. Of the survivors, 32 were included in the post-war Germany navy, 36 were surrendered to Allied powers in 1920, and the remainder were scrapped in 1921.
Z32 was a German Type 1936A (Mob) destroyer, which was completed in 1942 and which served with the 8th Destroyer Flotilla of the Kriegsmarine during the Second World War. She fought in the Battle of the Bay of Biscay against HMS Glasgow and HMS Enterprise, alongside the German 8th Destroyer Flotilla and the 4th Torpedo Boat Flotilla. She mainly operated from German-occupied French Atlantic ports, escorting blockade runners and U-boats, and was sunk during the Battle of Ushant on 9 June 1944.
The Schichau class consisted of 22 torpedo boats built for the Austro-Hungarian Navy between 1885 and 1891. The class was one of the first torpedo boat classes built for the Austro-Hungarian Navy, and they were initially powered by steam from a single locomotive boiler and were armed with two 37 mm (1.5 in) Hotchkiss guns and two 356 mm (14 in) torpedo tubes. The entire class was reconstructed between 1900 and 1910, when they received two Yarrow boilers and a second funnel.
Torpedo boats had been operated by the Imperial German Navy from the very beginning. The "Imperial Navy" existed between 1871 and 1919. In 1870 there had been 14 tugboats and harbour vessels and 7 rowing boats, which had been armed with spar torpedoes to protect the Elbe and Weser during the Franco-Prussian War.
A type commander in the Kriegsmarine was a permanently assigned administrative officer in the organization of the Kriegsmarine which oversaw the development, deployment, and in some cases operational activities of the various classes of German naval vessels. Due to cross jurisdiction with the Navy group commanders, who tactically commanded all vessels at sea, some type commanders were little more than ceremonial officers who held a title with little authority. Others, such as Karl Dönitz who commanded the German U-boat force, exercised near total independence and held enormous authority, both operationally and administrative.
SMS G7 was a V1-class large torpedo boat of the Imperial German Navy. She was built by the Germaniawerft shipyard at Kiel between 1911 and 1912, completing on 30 April 1912.
SMS V3 was a V1-class torpedo boat of the Imperial German Navy. The ship was built by AG Vulcan, completing in 1912. She served in the First World War with the German High Seas Fleet, taking part in the Battle of the Heligoland Bight in 1914 and the Battle of Jutland in 1916. She was retained by the post-war German Navy and was stricken in 1929 and scrapped.
SMS G102 was a G101-class large torpedo boat operated by Imperial German Navy during the First World War. The ship was ordered for the Argentine Navy from the German shipyard Germaniawerft as the San Luis, but was still under construction at the start of the war and was seized by Germany.
SMS G10 was a V1-class large torpedo boat of the Imperial German Navy. She was built by the Germaniawerft shipyard at Kiel between 1911 and 1912, completing on 28 August 1912.
The Type 119Zerstörer 1 class was a class of 6 destroyers by the West German Navy. They entered service in 1958, with the last one being decommissioned in 1982.