Destroyers Case Study

Destroyers are small warships that are lightly armed, protected and are capable of high speed. The ship type was still relatively new at the opening of the WWI and had resulted in from the newly developed self-propelled torpedo. Over the next decade the major maritime powers had constructed fast boast armed with the new weapon. Battleships were thought to be particularly vulnerable to this new weapon so the new torpedo brought about the idea that small and inexpensive vessels can damage the world's most heavily armed and armored warships.

In 1893, Great Britain produced an answer in the Havock, the first modern torpedo-boat destroyer. Torpedo-boat destroyers were essentially enlarged torpedo boats that carried light guns and torpedoes. They were to hunt down and destroy enemy torpedo boats before they could launch their weapons. Development in all maritime nations yielded many improvements over the first torpedo-boat destroyers. By World War I, there were more of these warships (known by this time simply as destroyers) than of any other ship type in the world's navies.

WWI demonstrated the importance of destroyers. Destroyer construction in Italy led France to respond, because the French believed the Italian as the main naval competitor in the Mediterranean. France built large vessels that began a trend toward "super destroyers" in the world's navies. Great Britain and Japan returned to destroyer production in the late 1920s; the United States did not initiate new construction until the early part of the next decade. Germany, although restricted by the Treaty of Versailles after World War I, began building new vessels at the same time as the United States.

This continually increases in production and the increase of the ship's size lead to a change in the original mission of the destroyers. As their appearance changed so did their roles. Destroyers became superior in all respects to the torpedo boats, because they were designed to destroy. As a result the naval powers stopped the production of the torpedo boats in favor of the new and more powerful destroyers. The destroyers assumed the offensive role while retaining the role of defending against torpedo attacks launched by enemy destroyers.

Destroyers became much more deadly with the new invention: depth charges. The new device became and integral part of the destroyers' weaponry and marked the beginning of the destroyers' anti-submarine role.

Depth charges became far more effective through the inception of hydrophones and then it's improvement: sonar. These devices could detect the presence of submerged submarines. Sonar turned the destroyers into the ultimate submarine killer. Destroyers' new role was maybe it's most important yet. Their new role was a result of the threat posed by the submarines. Destroyers became protective escorts not only for battles fleets but also for troop transports and allied