The torpedo boat tender was a type of warship developed at the end of the 19th century to help bring small

torpedo boat A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs were steam-powered craft dedicated to ramming enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes. Later evolutions launched variants of ...

s to the high seas, and launch them for attack. During the Turko-Russian war in 1877, the Russians requisitioned 19 trade vessels to convert them as torpedo boat tenders. '' Velikiy Knyaz Konstantin'' was the first historical vessel in this new ship class. She was captained by

Stepan Makarov Stepan Osipovich Makarov (, ; – ) was a Russian vice-admiral, commander in the Imperial Russian Navy, oceanographer, member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and author of several books. He was a pioneer of insubmersibility theory (the ...

, who was major naval engineer, early practitioner of

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such ...

usage and the author of concept of torpedo boat tender. On 14 January 1878, Makarov performed the first successful attack by self-propelled torpedoes in history. The Turkish ship ''Intibah'' was destroyed by torpedo boats launched from ''Velikiy Knyaz Konstantin''. In 1878, the

British Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

commissioned the ''Hecla'' as a torpedo boat tender,Naval Warfare, 1815-1914 By Lawrence Sondhaus p.125
/ref> followed by HMS Vulcan (1889). The 1896 French ship ''Foudre'' was a torpedo boat tender, before it was converted to a seaplane carrier. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the type evolved and in the US adopted the designation of motor torpedo boat tender (AGP, or "Patrol Craft Tender", according to the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

hull classification system).

Gallery

File:Torpedoe boat tender Foudre.jpg, The 1896 torpedo boat tender ''Foudre'' File:Lagorio Konstantin-Intibah.jpg, A painting by Lev Lagorio of the first successful attack by self-propelled

torpedoes A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such ...

: The Turkish ship ''Intibah'' is destroyed by

s from the Russian torpedo boat tender '' Velikiy Knyaz Konstantin'' File:La Foudre tending torpedo boats bf 1923.jpg, ''Foudre'' tending

torpedo boats A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs were steam-powered craft dedicated to ramming enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes. Later evolutions launched variants of ...

Notes

References

* Randier, Jean 2006 ''La Royale'', Editions Babouji {{ISBN, 2-35261-022-2 Navies Russian inventions Warships Torpedo boats