The new Grasshopper class torpedo gunboats were specially designed for sea-going torpedo service and were considerably larger than the first-class torpedo boats in service at that time, being 200 feet by 20 feet by 13 feet deep, whilst their displacement with a mean draught of 8 feet was 450 tons. Armament, four torpedo tubes, one forward, one aft, and one on each broadside, gun armament included a breech-loading 4-inch gun and four three-pounder rapid- firing guns in addition to the machine guns normally carried by torpedo boats.