Destructor was a 19th-century Spanish warship. She was a fast ocean-going torpedo gunboat

Torpedo gunboat

In late 19th-century naval terminology, torpedo gunboats or, in north European usage, torpedo cruisers, were a form of gunboat armed with torpedoes and designed for hunting and destroying smaller torpedo boats...

 and a precursor of the destroyer

Destroyer

In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...

 type of vessel. Destructor was the first warship classified as a "destroyer" at the time of her commissioning. Her designer was a Spanish Navy officer, Fernando Villaamil

Fernando Villaamil

Fernando Villaamil was a Spanish naval officer, remembered for his internationally recognized professionalism, for being the designer of the first destroyer warship in history and for his heroic death in the naval Battle of Santiago de Cuba of the Spanish-American war, being the highest ranking...

, commissioned by the Minister of the Navy, Vice-Admiral Manuel Pezuela.

Genesis

During the 1860s, 70s and 80s the rapidly improving, fast and cheap torpedo boat

Torpedo boat

A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval vessel 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 large, slow and...

s were presenting an escalating threat to major warships. Escort vessels were already in use to provide protection for battleships but it was decided that what was needed was a new type of enlarged torpedo boat, capable of escorting larger ships on long voyages and also able to attack enemy battleships as part of a fleet action.

The Spanish Navy asked several British shipyards to submit proposals capable of fulfilling these specifications. In 1885 it chose the design submitted by the shipyard of James and George Thomson of Clydebank

Clydebank

Clydebank is a town in West Dunbartonshire, in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. Situated on the north bank of the River Clyde, Clydebank borders Dumbarton, the town with which it was combined to form West Dunbartonshire, as well as the town of Milngavie in East Dunbartonshire, and the Yoker and...

, near the Yarrow

Yarrow Shipbuilders

Yarrow Limited , often styled as simply Yarrows, was a major shipbuilding firm based in the Scotstoun district of Glasgow on the River Clyde...

 shipyards. She was laid down at the end of the year, launched in 1886, and commissioned in 1887.

Characteristics

She displaced 348 tons, and was equipped with triple expansion engines generating 3784 HP, for a maximum speed of 22.6 knots (44.3 km/h), which made her one of the faster ships in the world by 1888. She was armed with one 90 mm (3.5 in) Spanish-designed Hontoria

Hontoria

Hontoria is one of 28 parishes in Llanes, a municipality within the province and autonomous community of Asturias, in northern Spain.-Villages:* Cardoso * Hontoria* Villahormes...

 breech-loading

Breech-loading weapon

A breech-loading weapon is a firearm in which the cartridge or shell is inserted or loaded into a chamber integral to the rear portion of a barrel....

 gun, four 57 mm (2.2 in) (6-pdr) Nordenfeldt

Thorsten Nordenfelt

Thorsten Nordenfelt , was a Swedish inventor and industrialist.Nordenfelt was born in Örby outside Kinna, Sweden, the son of a colonel. The surname was and is often spelt Nordenfeldt, though Thorsten and his brothers always spelt it Nordenfelt, and the 1881 Census shows it as Nordenfelt...

 guns, two 37 mm (1.5 in) (3-pdr) Hotchkiss

Hotchkiss et Cie

Société Anonyme des Anciens Etablissements Hotchkiss et Cie was a French arms and car company established by United States engineer Benjamin B. Hotchkiss, who was born in Watertown, Connecticut. He moved to France and set up a factory, first at Viviez near Rodez in 1867, then at Saint-Denis near...

 cannons and two 15 inches (38.1 cm) Schwartzkopff torpedo tubes. The ship carried three torpedoes per tube. She was manned by a crew of 60. On her maiden voyage, Destructor established a record after steaming from Falmouth

Falmouth, Cornwall

Falmouth is a town, civil parish and port on the River Fal on the south coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It has a total resident population of 21,635.Falmouth is the terminus of the A39, which begins some 200 miles away in Bath, Somerset....

 to El Ferrol in 24 hours.

In terms of gunnery, speed and dimensions, the specialised design to chase torpedo boats and her high seas capabilities, Destructor is widely considered the first torpedo-boat destroyer ever built, and was described as such by British naval engineer Sir William Henry White

William Henry White

Sir William Henry White was a prolific British warship designer and Chief Constructor at the Admiralty....

. The Destructor is thought to have influenced the design and concept of later destroyers developed by the British Navy. Further developments followed the pattern of the Havock class

Havock class destroyer

The Havock class was a class of torpedo boat destroyer of the British Royal Navy. The two ships, and , built in London in 1893 by Yarrow & Company, were the first TBDs to be completed for the Royal Navy, although the equivalent pair from J.I...

, built in 1893. The aim of the new destroyer design was not only to neutralize the torpedo boat as an effective weapon, but also to replace it as a faster and more reliable torpedo-carrying warship.