Spanish warship Destructor

Destructor was a 19th-century Spanish naval vessel. She was a large torpedo gunboat and a precursor of the destroyer type of vessel. The Spanish Navy officer Fernando Villaamil was its designer.

Genesis

In the 1880s there was a need to counter the threat posed by the new fast torpedo boats giving rise to a new type of torpedo boat which would have greater autonomy, so as to be capable of escorting the larger ships on long voyages.

The Spanish government asked several British shipyards to submit proposals and designs and finally chose in 1885 the design submitted by the shipyard of Mssrs. James and George Thomson of Clydebank, not far from the Yarrow shipyards. She was laid down at the end of the year, launched in 1886, and commissioned in 1887.

Characteristics

Her displacement was 348 tons, and she was equipped with triple expansion engines generating 3,784 HP (2.8 MW), for a maximum speed of 22.6 knots (42 km/h). She was armed with one 90 mm Hontoria cannon, four 57mm (6-pdr) Nordenfeldt cannon, two 37mm (3-pdr) Hotchkiss guns and 5 15in Schwartzkopff torpedo tubes. Her complement was 60 men.

In terms of gunnery, speed (22.5 knots in trials) and dimensions, the speciallised design to chase torpedo boats and her high seas capabilities, "Destructor" is widely considered a very important example in the evolution of the "destroyer" class of ships. [ [http://www.quarterdeck.org/100th/DDs.htm#prof From an article about the American "Greyhounds"]
*Quote:"Torpedo boats were considered a major threat and the navies of the world set out to defend against them. In 1884 Capitan de Navio Fernando Villaamil was appointed the second officer in the Ministry of the Spanish Navy and was tasked with the design of a new class of warship intended to fight the then new torpedo boats. Once he reached a conclusion, he chose the J & G Thomson shipyards in Clydebank, Scotland, to build the new vessel. On January 19, 1887, the DESTRUCTOR, the first torpedo boat destroyer, was turned over to the Spanish Navy, with great expectations from the European naval community. Twenty-four hours after leaving Falmouth England, the DESTRUCTOR reached the Spanish coast, making 18 knots through a stormy Bay of Biscay. The ships new design and functions were so different from any past man-of-war, many thought it couldn’t survive at sea. In one day the doubts about the vessel's seaworthiness were answered forever, and her designer and commander had every reason to feel proud."] The Spanish "Destructor" is thought to have influenced the design and concept of later destroyers developed by the British Navy. [Lion, page 18: "J&G Thomson's 1892 design for a TBD is, not unsurprisingly, somewhat reminiscent of their "Destructor" built for the Spanish Navy."] [Lion, page 66: "It was already (J&G Thomson Clydebank shipyard), when asked to tender for TBDs for the Royal Navy, building trasatlantics liners and cruisers to the navy, and had built an interesting torpedo vessel under the prophetic name of "Destructor" ("Destroyer") for Spain. Its first design (for the British navy in 1892) was cleary a successor of the "Destructor"."]

Notes

References

* Cheseneau, R & Kolesnik, E (Eds): "Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860-1905", Conway Maritime Press, 1979. ISBN 0-85177-133-5

* "The First Destroyers": Lion, David , Chatham Shipshape Series, London, 1997.