- published: 25 Jun 2016
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In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from the response of navies to the threat posed by the torpedo boat. Growing from earlier defensive developments, the torpedo boat destroyer (TBD) first appeared as a distinct class of warship when HMS Havock and HMS Hornet were commissioned into the Royal Navy in 1894. By the time of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, TBDs 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.
Prior to World War II, destroyers were light vessels with little endurance for unattended ocean operations; typically a number of destroyers and a single destroyer tender operated together. After the war, the advent of the guided missile allowed destroyers to take on the surface combatant roles previously filled by battleships and cruisers. This resulted in larger and more powerful destroyers more capable of independent operation.
Well you can step right up You ladies and gents,
You'll get a front row seat without paying a cent,
It's the signs of the tine and
the writing on the wall,
Tell of innocent bloodshed and the things
that will befall.
Don't miss the end of the world
It's the greatest show on earth,
Most everybody's got their tickets
And they'll really get their moneys worth,
"Destroyers,
destroyers of the world"
Rumors of war and of drastic Changing weather,
Earthquakes And famine reign on the earth forever,
Prophets of old and their warnings to the earth,
Telling All mankind boldly every since its birth.
Men of the planet lust for death and power,
Nuclear warfare wills the final hour,
If you live by the sword and hasten its wrath,
Then you'll die by the sword and feel it thrash