Destroyers

Destroyers were small, fast, and produced in enormous numbers. Originally developed to defend the fleet against torpedo boats, by World War II they had become true maritime multi-tools: escorting capital ships and convoys, screening against submarines and aircraft, and launching their own torpedo attacks.

Lightly built and almost unarmored, destroyers relied on speed and agility for survival. Their depth charges and, later, sophisticated sonar and radar made them the primary anti-submarine weapon of the Allied navies during the Battle of the Atlantic.

Cheap and quick to build, destroyers were expendable in a way capital ships never were — and they were present in virtually every naval action of the war.