Torpedo Destroyer

The torpedo boat destroyer was born as a specialist hunter, purpose-built to run down and sink the torpedo boats that threatened anchored battleship fleets. Larger, faster, and more heavily armed than the craft it hunted, it outpaced torpedo boats and outgunned them with quick-firing medium artillery. But the destroyer quickly evolved beyond this narrow role: by the First World War it escorted battle fleets, laid mines, fired its own torpedo salvos at capital ships, and hunted submarines with depth charges. The destroyer's thin hull — designed for speed, not protection — made it a greyhound that died quickly when hit by anything heavier than its own armament. HMS Acasta's torpedo hit on Scharnhorst before being sunk remains one of the war's finest examples of the type's aggressive spirit. In the game the destroyer excels against submarines and torpedo boats, combining speed and torpedo armament, but is overwhelmed by heavy warships.