The torpedo cruiser Scout (length 220 feet, beam 34 feet) was fitted with two pairs of 26-inch by 46-inch by 30-inch stroke 1600 indicated horsepower horizontal marine engines operating at 150 revolutions per minute with steam supplied at 120 pounds per square inch by four 10 feet by 18 feet Navy boilers in two separate boiler rooms. Built by J and G Thomson at Clydebank, the Scout was armed with four 5 inch guns, six Nordenfelt machine guns and eleven torpedo launching tubes, ten of these were mounted on the upper deck and there was one under-water torpedo tube in the bow.