At the beginning of the 21st century, destroyers are the heaviest surface combatant vessels in general use, with only two nations (the United States and Russia) operating cruisers and none operating battleships.Although there are currently no active battleships in any navy the United States navy still maintains two Iowa-class battleships, and could reactivate one or both if necessary though unlikely. Modern destroyers are equivalent in tonnage but drastically superior in firepower to cruisers of the World War II era, capable of carrying nuclear missiles able to destroy cities in a very small volley.

Genesis of the destroyer

While normally a small, short-range boat of this sort would be easily destroyed long before getting into range, they could be operated within a fleet with larger ships as long as the fleet was close to base. In this case the defending force had to choose which set of targets to attack: the larger ships which they were built to counter, or the smaller torpedo boats which were charging in to attack. Yet this one-two punch cost almost nothing to the attacker, as the small torpedo boats were very inexpensive.

The world's navies recognized the need for a counter weapon and developed the torpedo boat destroyer. The basic idea was to have a screen of ships that were as fast as the torpedo boats, but armed with guns instead of torpedoes. They would operate at a distance from the main fleet of capital ships to keep the torpedo boats from ever getting into torpedo firing range.

However it was clear even at the time that this concept had problems of its own. The ship would indeed be capable of holding off an attack by torpedo boats (which typically have no guns of their own), but while operating away from the fleet they would be easy targets for any other capital ship. Thus they were often given torpedoes of their own.

Another problem was that the torpedo boats were short ranged and thus easy and cheap to produce. However the destroyers had the problem of needing to operate as a screen for the fleet. This required them to have the speed and range of the battleships, so destroyers were often much larger than the boats they were designed to counter.

First designs

Almost immediately after the order of the Kotaka was placed, Fernando Villaamil of the Spanish Navy also placed an order for a torpedo boat destroyer in November 1885, with the British builder James and George Thompson, of Clydebank, not far from the Yarrow shipyards. The ship, named Destructor, was laid down at the end of the year, launched in 1886, and commissioned in 1887, thereby becoming the first torpedo boat destroyer to be completed. Her displacement was 380 tons, and she was equipped with triple expansion engines generating 3,800 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 57 mm Nordenfeldt cannon, two 37 mm Hotchkiss guns and 3 Schwartzkopff torpedo tubes. Her complement was 60 men.

The next effective design of torpedo boat destroyer, with the range and speed to keep up with battleships, was the Havock class of two ships of the Royal Navy, developed in 1892 under the newly appointed Third Sea Lord Rear Admiral "Jackie" Fisher, and launched in 1893. The Havock had a 240 tons displacement, a speed of 27 knots (50 km/h), and was armed with a single 12-pounder (76 mm) gun, three 6-pounders (57 mm), and three 46 cm torpedo tubes.

The United States commissioned its first destroyer, USS Bainbridge, Destroyer No. 1, in 1902 and by 1906 there were 16 destroyers in service with the Navy.

The torpedo boat destroyer later on took over the role of the smaller torpedo boats, performing torpedo attacks on fleets, such as the devastating Japanese attack on the Russian fleet in Port Arthur at the opening of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, and attacks in the Pacific theatre of World War II.

World War I

The threat evolved by World War I with the perfection of the submarine. In general, the submarine, or U-boat, of the era was nothing more than a submersible torpedo boat. This change allowed the submarine to hide from the guns of the destroyers and close to firing while underwater. This led to an equally rapid destroyer evolution during the war, which was quickly equipped with depth charges and sonar for countering this new threat.

At the end of the war the state of the art was represented by the British V and W class destroyer.

Inter-War

Anti-submarine sensors included sonar (or ASDIC), although training in their use was indifferent. Anti-sub weapons changed little, and ahead-throwing weapons, a need recognized in WWI, had made no progress.

World War II

Post war

Some World War II-vintage ships were modernised for anti-submarine warfare, and to extend their service lives, to avoid having to build (expensive) brand-new ships. Examples include the US FRAM I programme and the British Type 15 frigates converted from fleet destroyers.

The Missile Age

Modern destroyers

In the US Navy, destroyers operate in support of carrier battle groups, surface action groups, amphibious groups and replenishment groups. The destroyers currently in use by the US Navy are the Arleigh Burke-class. Destroyers (with a DD hull classification symbol) primarily perform anti-submarine warfare duty while guided missile destroyers (DDGs) are multi-mission (anti-submarine, anti-aircraft, and anti-surface warfare) surface combatants. The relatively-recent addition of cruise missile launchers has greatly expanded the role of the destroyer in strike and land-attack warfare. As the expense of heavier surface combatants has generally removed them from the fleet, destroyer tonnage has grown (a modern Arleigh Burke-class destroyer has the same tonnage as a World War II light cruiser). Arleigh Burke is billed by her builders, the Bath Iron Works, as ton-for-ton the most powerful warship in history.

The Royal Navy currently operates 8 ships of the Type 42 class. The destroyers (as well as frigates) are, as always, the workhorses of the fleet, the former optimised for air defence and the latter for surface and subsurface warfare. They are equally at home in large task groups or on independent operations which may include sanctions enforcement, humanitarian relief or anti-drug patrols. British destroyers (of recent times) have an average displacement of around 5000 tonnes, and are armed with a mixture of guns and missiles including 114 mm (4.5 inch) Mk 8 guns, Sea Dart Missiles, 20 mm Close range guns, Vulcan Phalanx close in weapons system (CIWS), anti submarine torpedo tubes.

The Canadian Navy currently operates the Iroquois-class destroyers, a class of four helicopter-carrying, anti-aircraft, guided missile destroyers. Launched in the 1970s, the Iroquois's were the first all gas turbine powered military ships, using two turbines for cruise power, and another two fast starting "boost" turbines for speeds of up to 29 knots (54 km/h) (such an arrangement is known as COGOG). The design was a major inspiration for the US's later Spruance-class ships. They were originally fitted out for anti-submarine warfare, but the entire class underwent major retrofits as a part of the Tribal Class Update and Modernization Program, or TRUMP, in the 1990s. These refits had the effect of re-purposing the ships for air-defence, and the ships are now referred to as area air-defence destroyers.

The Russian Navy and the People's Liberation Army Navy of China operate the Sovremenny-class, a class of large multi-purpose missile destroyers. They are powered by pressure-fired boilers, making them capable of speeds in excess of 30 knots. Their armament consists of 8 SS-N-22 Sunburn anti-ship missiles, launchers for SA-N-7 Gadfly anti-air missiles and two AK-130 twin-barreled 130mm automatic naval guns which can fire laser-guided shells. While they also carry 533mm torpedo tubes and RBU-6000 rocket launchers for use against submarines, their primary mission is to attack surface ships. Their anti-aircraft missiles have a surface attack mode, and both the 130mm guns and the torpedoes are useful against ships at close range.

Future destroyers

The current Royal Navy Type 42 destroyers are to be replaced by the new Type 45 Daring-class from 2006 onwards. A class of 8 ships is envisaged, with an entire programme budget of £6 billion. Displacing around 7,200 tons, they will be equipped with the UK variant of the Principal Anti-Air Missile System (PAAMS) and BAE SAMPSON radar. Design and construction of the first ships is split between BAE Systems and Vosper Thornycroft under the overall project management of BAE systems. The ships are assembled at Scotstoun, by BAE Systems Naval Ships. HMS Daring, the first of her class, was christened by Sophie, Countess of Wessex, and launched on the Clyde on 1 February 2006.

The $5.2 billion CADRE (Command & Control and Air-Defence Capability Replacement) project is meant to replace Canada’s Iroquois-class destroyers whose primary role shifted to area air-defence after TRUMP refits in the 1990s. Although the area air-defence capability had not previously existed, the Canadian Navy now regards “wide area air defence” as part of Canada’s core naval capabilities. When the project began, Canadian Navy destroyers were expected to need replacing by 2005, they are now expected to serve until 2010. There was some work on a replacement design, known to Navy-watchers as the Province-class destroyers, but this was confined largely to studies of a much-improved multi-function three dimensional phased array radar system being developed in conjunction with the Dutch and German navies, known as APAR. Current speculation is that the ships themselves would be similar to a "stretched" Halifax-class frigate.

See also

• List of destroyer classes
• United States Navy 1975 ship reclassification

Notes