to the invention of the self-propelled torpedo in the 1860s. A navy now had the potential to destroy a superior enemy battle fleet using steam launches to drop torpedoes. Fast boats armed with torpedoes were built and called torpedo boats. By the 1880s, these had evolved into little ships of 50-100 tons, fast enough to evade enemy picket boats, but still weighed a lot.

One response to the torpedo boat threat was the building of faster and more heavily-gunned picket boats called "catchers". At first, the danger to a battle fleet was considered only to exist when at anchor, but as faster and longer range torpedoes were developed, the threat extended to cruising at sea. As catchers were then needed to escort the battle fleet at sea, they neededthe same seaworthiness and endurance, and as they necessarily became larger, they became officially designated "torpedo boat destroyers", soon contracted to destroyer in English. The anti-torpedo boat origin of this type of ship is retained in its name in other languages, including French (contre-torpilleur), Italian (cacciatorpediniere), Spanish (cazatorpedero), Polish (kontrtorpedowiec), Czech (torpédoborec), Greek (antitorpiliko,αντιτορπιλικό) and so on.

Once destroyers became more than just catchers guarding an anchorage, it was realised that they were also ideal to take over the role of torpedo boats themselves, so they were fitted with torpedo tubes as well as guns. At that time, and even into World War I, the only function of destroyers was to protect their own battle fleet from enemy torpedo attacks and to make such attacks on the battleships of