Noted historian Norman Friedman provides the first detailed study of the Royal Navy's destroyer from its predecessors from the 1880s to the 1930s, and its use in both World Wars. He shows how the Royal Navy developed the torpedo and its surface carrier, the destroyer, as both an offensive and defensive naval weapon. Friedman also discusses the influence the British exerted on foreign navies, including the American and Japanese fleets, destroyer design and tactics, and the British use of U.S.-supplied destroyers during World War II. The book is profusely illustrated with hundreds of photographs and drawings by A.D. Baker III and Alan Raven.