In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or carrier battle group and defend them against a wide range of general threats. They were conceived in the late 19th century as a defense against torpedo boats, and by the time of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, these "torpedo boat destroyers" (TBDs) were "large, swift, and powerfully armed torpedo boats designed to destroy other torpedo boats". Although the term "destroyer" had been used interchangeably with "TBD" and "torpedo boat destroyer" by navies since 1892, the term "torpedo boat destroyer" was generally shortened to simply "destroyer" by nearly all navies by the First World War.

Destroyer
HMAS Hobart, the lead ship of the RAN's Hobart class of destroyers
Classification	Watercraft
Industry	Arms
Application	Naval warfare
Inventor	Fernando Villaamil
Invented	1887 (139 years ago) (1887)

Before World War II, destroyers were light vessels with little endurance for unattended ocean operations;^{[citation needed]} typically, a number of destroyers and a single destroyer tender operated together.^{[citation needed]} After the war, destroyers grew in size. The American Allen M. Sumner-class destroyers (from 1943) had a displacement of 2,200 tons, while the Arleigh Burke class (from 1991) has a displacement of up to 9,600 tons, a difference of nearly 340%. Moreover, the advent of guided missiles allowed destroyers to take on the surface-combatant roles previously filled by battleships and cruisers. This resulted in larger and more powerful guided-missile destroyers more capable of independent operation.^{[citation needed]}

At the start of the 21st century, destroyers are the global standard for surface-combatant ships, with only two nations (the United States and Russia) officially operating the heavier cruisers, with no battleships or true battlecruisers remaining. Modern guided-missile destroyers are equivalent in tonnage but vastly superior in firepower to cruisers of the World War II era, and are capable of carrying nuclear-tipped cruise missiles. At 510 feet (160 m) long, a displacement of 9,200 tons, and with an armament of more than 90 missiles, guided-missile destroyers such as the Arleigh Burke class are actually larger and more heavily armed than most previous ships classified as guided-missile cruisers. The Chinese Type 055 destroyer has been described as a cruiser in some US Navy reports due to its size and armament.

Many NATO navies, such as the French, Spanish, Dutch, Danish, and German, use the term "frigate" for their destroyers, which leads to some confusion.^{[citation needed]}