The torpedo cruiser Scout (length 220 feet, beam 54 feet, depth of hold 19 feet; displacement 1430 tons) built by Messrs. James and George Thomson, Clydebank, for the British Government was launched on the 30th of July 1885. In designing the Scout and six somewhat larger vessels of the same class which Messrs. Thomson also had in the course of construction, the officers of the Admiralty had in view as their special object the production of small vessels capable of attaining a high rate of speed, and able to keep the seas for a considerable length of time.