In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in the late 19th century 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 rammed enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes, and later designs launched self-propelled Whitehead torpedoes. They were created to counter battleships and other slow and heavily armed ships by using speed, agility, and the power of their torpedo weapons. A number of inexpensive torpedo boats attacking en masse could overwhelm a larger ship's ability to fight them off using its large but cumbersome guns. An inexpensive fleet of torpedo boats could pose a threat to much larger and more expensive fleets of capital ships, albeit only in the coastal areas to which their small size and limited fuel load restricted them.
An attack submarine or hunter-killer submarine is a submarine specifically designed for the purpose of attacking and sinking other submarines, surface combatants and merchant vessels. In the Soviet and Russian navies they were and are called "multi-purpose submarines". They are also used to protect friendly surface combatants and missile submarines. Some attack subs are also armed with cruise missiles mounted in vertical launch tubes, increasing the scope of their potential missions to include land targets.
Boat building is the design and construction of boats and their systems. This includes at a minimum a hull, with propulsion, mechanical, navigation, safety and other systems as a craft requires.
E-boat was the Western Allies' designation for the fast attack craft of the Kriegsmarine during World War II. The most popular, the S-100 class, were very seaworthy, heavily armed and capable of sustaining 43.5 knots, briefly accelerating to 48 knots.
The United States' S-class submarines, often simply called S-boats, were the first class of submarines with a significant number built to United States Navy designs. Others of this class were built to contractor designs.
The Musto Skiff is a single-handed sailing skiff with a length of 4.55 m. It features a trapeze, asymmetrical spinnaker, wings and low weight and achieves speeds of over 20 knots, which makes it one of the fastest single-handed sailing boats.
Collanmore Island is an island in Clew Bay, County Mayo, Ireland.
A missile boat or missile cutter is a small, fast warship armed with anti-ship missiles. Being smaller than other warships such as destroyers and frigates, missile boats are popular with nations interested in forming a navy at lower cost. They are similar in concept to the torpedo boats of World War II; in fact, the first missile boats were modified torpedo boats with the torpedo tubes replaced by missile tubes.
The Glénan islands are an archipelago located off the coast of France. They are located in the south of Finistère, near Concarneau and Fouesnant, and comprise nine major islands: Saint-Nicolas, the Loc'h, Penfret, Cigogne, Drenec, Bananec, Brunec, Guiriden and Guéotec. In addition, there are over a dozen smaller islets as Quignénec, Brilimec or Kastell Bargain. Île aux Moutons, halfway to the continent, is considered to be a part of the archipelago. Administratively, the islands belong to the commune of Fouesnant.
The Hobie Cat is a small sailing catamaran manufactured by the Hobie Cat Company. Hobie's line of products ranges from surfboards to catamaran sailboats to kayaks and stand-up paddle boards, though the Hobie Cat Company is most famous around the world for its catamarans. Hobie also designed a very successful monohull, the Hobie 33.
The Comet dinghy is a 16-foot-long (4.9 m), two-person, one-design class, racing sloop.
The Laser 4000 is a well known racing dinghy crewed by two persons. Its one-design weight-equalised system enables physically differing sailors to compete on a level playing field. It is most popular in Europe, particularly the UK, France and Italy.
Sailing has been one of the Olympic sports since the Games of the I Olympiad, held in Athens, Greece, in 1896. Despite being scheduled in the first Olympic program, the races were canceled due to severe weather conditions. Apart from the 1904 Summer Olympics, sailing has been present in every edition of the Olympic Games.
Les Glénans is a French sailing school, operating as a non-profit organization. Most of its instructors are volunteers. It was founded in 1947 by Philippe and Hélène Viannay, who had been involved with the French Resistance during World War II. Its first site was the Glénan archipelago, about 10 nautical miles (20 km) off the coast of southern Brittany. Among its first boats was a 12-meter Bermudian cutter called Sereine, which is now a French listed monument and still sails after having been entirely refurbished in 2005.
Sailing/Yachting is an Olympic sport starting from the Games of the 1st Olympiad. With the exception of 1904 and the canceled 1916 Summer Olympics, sailing has always been included on the Olympic schedule. The Sailing program of 1948 consisted of a total of five sailing classes (disciplines). For each class seven races were scheduled from 3–12 August 1948 Torquay/Torbay, on England's south coast.
Fouesnant is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-western France. Fouesnant is bordered to the south by the Baie de La Forêt.
The Frisian Solar Boat Challenge is a 137 miles (220 km) solar boat race.
The term Salcombe Yawl refers to a small sailing dinghy restricted class native to Salcombe in South Devon, and also to the traditional sailing vessel from the area upon which that class was based, with a 200-year history. The current class of vessel has about the size of a Merlin Rocket, that is 4.88 metres (16.0 ft) and about 180 have been built of which 80% are still in use. It is built traditionally by hand from mahogany, and is clinker built. The centre plate is cast iron, but more recent Yawls have bronze plates. While it is rigged as a ketch with the mizzen ahead of the rudder post, the label yawl is probably derived from a corruption of the word yole, meaning a small inshore fishing boat. Designers, work within the class restrictions, adding innovations to each vessel. It is raced in two classes depending on the age of the boat. A newly built boat in 2009 would cost £40,000 while a second hand vessel would be half of that. There is a glassfibre derivative with aluminium spars called a Devon Yawl. The mould for this was taken from a 1968 Salcombe Yawl and because of the nature of its construction is a one-design. There are approximately 300 Devon Yawls and they are built both in the UK and USA.
The Vidyut-class missile boats of the Indian Navy were an Indian variant of the Soviet Osa I class.
