torpedo boat

noun

torpedo boat

(formerly) a small high-speed warship designed to carry out torpedo attacks in coastal waters

An Americanism dating back to 1800–10

During a night operation in the Solomon Islands in 1943, the patrol torpedo boat he commanded was rammed by a Japanese destroyer.

The ugliest of these was a small torpedo boat which stopped us before we were out of the English Channel.

Then we cut across the Solent towards Southsea, watching the weird evolutions of a 35-knot torpedo-boat.

One of the most remarkable of these little steamers is a torpedo-boat built for the United States navy.

It was dusk, but light enough to see an unfamiliar craft, a torpedo-boat in fact, moored to stakes at one side.

Some ships of this description can spurt up to 25 knots—not so long ago considered a high speed even for a torpedo boat destroyer.

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