§ During the year 1887–88 all the first class torpedo boats (20 in number, from 125 to 150 feet in length) have been completed, and a considerable amount of experience has been obtained with boats of the various types on actual service.
§ At the close of 1887–88 we shall possess 80 first class torpedo boats and 63 second class boats, of which latter 12 are built of wood and 51 of steel.
§ It is contemplated to order 6 first class torpedo boats, and 10 second class boats in 1888–89.
§ The decision of the Board contained in my statement of last year, by which they determined to discontinue the building of torpedo boats for sea-going purposes and to substitute vessels of a much larger displacement, was amply justified by the experiments of the past year. A squadron of 24 first class boats was commissioned for purposes of exercise and tactics in the Channel. The cruise was of great value in testing the detailed fittings and equipment of the boats, comparing the different types, and in giving experience to officers and crews in the management of torpedo boats and their machinery; and the benefits arising there from were fully manifested when 33 torpedo boats were subsequently commissioned for service during the Naval Manœuvres of August 1887. These two cruises, however, confirmed the previous opinion of the Board, that this class of boat, although doubtless of great value for the protection of ports and their vicinity, are not well suited to accompany fleets at sea, and in bad weather would be a source of anxiety. The result of these experiments has been confirmed by the manœuvres elsewhere of torpedo boats of foreign nations.