Torpedo Boats

Torpedo boats were very small, lightly armed, fast vessels designed to carry torpedoes and attack at close range, usually in combat against much larger opponents. They were first developed at the dawn of the invention of torpedoes as an inshore craft to counter battleships and other large, heavily armed warships. They would utilise swarm tactics to overwhelm capital ships’ defences and inflict potentially critical damage with their powerful torpedoes. In response, many navies developed “torpedo boat destroyers”, later simply “destroyers” to protect capital ships against the threat posed by these vessels.

However, destroyers would later change and grow in role and size to become effective replacements for these early torpedo boats. Instead, the latter was developed into the Motor Torpedo Boats and MAS boats of the First and Second World Wars. They would be responsible for the sinking of battleships and cruisers and many daring operations during the war years.

Famously, U.S. President John F. Kennedy served onboard a PT boat during World War Two. The concept for these vessels evolved into the Fast Attack Craft and missile boats of the Cold War and modern era and the likeness of “torpedo boats” would never be seen again, being entirely replaced by these new vessels, although the function of these new vessels remains the same.