torpedo-boat destroyer

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun A large, heavily armed torpedo boat used in combat especially against other torpedo boats, notably in the early 1900s.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• A larger, swifter, and more powerful armed type of torpedo boat, originally intended principally for the destruction of torpedo boats, but later used also as a more formidable torpedo boat.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun small destroyer that was the forerunner of modern destroyers; designed to destroy torpedo boats