U.S. Navy Destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable warship of long-endurance intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. They were originally developed in the late 19th century as a defense against torpedo boats, and by the time of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, these torpedo boat destroyers (TBD) were “large, swift, and powerfully armed torpedo boats designed to destroy other torpedo boats.” Although the term destroyer had been used interchangeably with the terms “TBD” and “torpedo boat destroyer” by navies since 1892, the term torpedo boat destroyer had been generally shortened to simply “destroyer” by nearly all navies by the First World War.