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All navies of the nienteenth century followed essentially the same path of development . They had started the century as sailing fleets composed of ships of the line , whose might was measured in the number of cannon carried (e.g. 74-gun ships of the line) , and of lesser sailing vessels such as frigates who had subsiduary or seperate duties in wartime .
As the century progressed steam-power became a viable option in sailing ships , initially as a subsiduary propulsion method . The warships themselves developed to cope with this . By the time of the first ironclads (literally wooden-hulled ships equipped with iron armour cladding) a mix of steam and sail propulsion had become the norm .
In these early ironclads there was initially little distinction via gun-size or ship-size ,so that widely different vessels with the same intended purpose could both be classified as battleships . As these vessels became the mainstay of modern navies the component ships tended to classify as battleships , with a definite function in fleet engagements , cruisers (taking over from the frigate) with a role in trade interdiction and scouting , and gunboats which could vary greatly in size but whose main role was connected to land operations , perhaps in fire-support or in forcing an opening for marines.
There was never complete uniformity in any of this as different countries and different navies developed their own ideas as to the pursuit of war on the seas . The French were foremost in the development of the torpedo boat , small quick vessels armed with torpedoes and initially hailed as the death of the battleship. The U.S.A. in comparison initially invested in a large fleet of monitors , shallow-draught craft which could be seen as a mixture of gunboat and small battleship , having coastal defence as their primary aim .
No development was ever in a vacuum. The development of torpedo boats in large numbers brought about the birth of the torpedo-boat-destroyer (initially shortened to tbd , but later termed 'destroyer') whose role was to take out the enemy's torpedo baots before they could get in range of the main battlefleet . By the end of the nineteenth century the types of vessels available to the major navies had in a way divided between two different roles .
On the one hand were the ships intended to form part of the battlefleet - the battleships , armoured cruisers , protected cruisers , light cruisers and destroyers . On the other hand were the ships intended to play a support role , either in coastal protection or for coastal assault - the coast defence battleships , the gunboats and for most navies now including their torpedo boats which were deemed unable to operate in a fleet battle. The Japanese proved an exception to this , having their torpedo boats accompany the battlefleet , but for most navies the destroyer was largely coming to play the role of the earlier torpedo boats , being fast and armed with torpedoes to be fired against major targets , as well as with guns of around the 3" and 4" calibre to take out their opponents.
In the early years of the twentieth century major navies underwent another serious change. With the development of the dreadnought battleship in 1906 Britain opened up a new phase in naval construction. Having on average double the number of main guns than pre-existing battleships , as well as superior speed and armour , the development of the Dreadnought made all extant battleships obselete ~ at least in so far as that they could not hope to go one-to-one on any dreadnought battleship . Several nations , Russia included (but also Japan and France) initially changed designs already underway to attempt to include some of these advantages in ships whose construction had already been ordered - the outcome was so-called semi-dreadnoughts , who had a mixed battery of main guns , were superior to exisiting battleships (now deemed pre-dreadnoughts) but clearly weak compared to newer dreadnought designs.
There was no choice for any navy if it intended to remain a major force in the world but to adopt the dreadnought standard and develop battleships to this higher concept . The waters were further muddied by the (again British) invention of the battlecruiser , basically a development of the armoured cruiser to dreadnought standards , where a fast but lightly-armoured warship was equipped with guns roughly equating to battleship calibre. At a stroke this design threatened to invalidate all armoured cruisers in existence by being able to catch and destroy them , and by virtue of their speed by allowing the battlecruisers to flee any superior dreadnought force which might attempt to intervene. Most of the major navies of the world followed the British lead by dropping the construction of armoured cruisers and putting in motion plans for the building of battlecruisers.
By the outbreak of the First World War fleet make-up had largely come to consist of dreadnought battleships , with ever-increasing gun-size , for the main battlefleet , supported by battlecruisers in a scouting role , with light forces consisting of light cruisers and destroyers intended both as scouting forces and to attack poorly-defended heavy units , although in practice most of their engagements would be against their own kind attempting similar manoevres.
One final note - the development of submarines . Although conceived in the nineteenth century and even employed on occasion no viable vessel of this type had come into being before the start of the twentieth century . It is generally accepted that the American-built Holland submersibles are the fore-runner of the modern submarine . Many countries , including Russia , first acquired submersibles by purchasing off-loaded American vessels . In the Russo-Japanese War (of which much more later) Russia was the first country in modern times to attempt to utilise submarines in an offensive role . By 1914 they had become a major factor in most countries' navies , though the exact role they would play in wartime was yet to be decided .
