Destroyers: An Illustrated History of Their Impact by Eric W. Osborne

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A step forward in reducing the cost came in 1856 when Henry Bessemer devised a new furnace to produce steel from iron. By the early 1860s, the price of steel consequently dropped to the point that it was being used in limited quantities on warships. Variations in the quality of the steel produced from Bessemer’s process, however, hindered its widespread employment. In 1865, this problem was surmounted by a new smelting process developed by Frenchman Pierre Martin, who created a furnace based on an 1857 design by German inventor Sir William Siemens for a gas furnace.

The collision ripped the bottom out of the hull, and the vessel was deemed a total loss. Cobra had an existence that was of greater brevity. Weeks after the demise of Viper, Cobra encountered heavy seas two hours after leaving port. The result was that the ship buckled amidships and broke in half with the loss of most of its crew. The loss of both ships was entirely unrelated to the introduction of the 37 38 DESTROYERS turbine, but their brief careers, particularly that of Cobra, called into question the British practice of speed as the ultimate consideration for destroyers at the expense of structural integrity.

The former produced what many scholars identify as the world’s first destroyers. These were Havock and Hornet, which were both laid down in 1892 and completed in 1894. They measured 185 feet by 18 feet, 6 inches by 7 feet, 3 inches and displaced 275 tons. The principal armament consisted of one 12-pounder gun mounted aft and three 3-pounder guns distributed throughout the rest of the ship. These guns were of a relatively new, quick-firing type. The concept stemmed from an 1881 British Admiralty advertisement for a gun that could fire an unprecedented 12 shots per minute.