The British and French Governments had both purchased torpedo despatch boats in the hope that these vessels (the British Scout (length 220 feet, beam 34 feet, draught 11 feet; displacement 1,500 tons; estimated speed 16 and a half knots) and the French Bombe (length 223 feet, beam 29 feet 2 inches; displacement 1,268 tons; speed 17 knots) would be an effective compromise between a sea-going torpedo boat and an unarmoured cruiser - combining the torpedo armament, speed and lightness of construction of the former with the artillery armament and seaworthiness of the latter. The prototype for these vessels was the Blitz (length 245 feet, beam 32 feet 6 inches, draught 13 feet 6 inches; displacement 1,382 tons; speed 16.3 knots) designed in 1879 by Herr Dietrich, Chief Constructor of the German Navy and launched in 1882. In 1885 the British Navy had only 25 first-class torpedo boats (engines; 500 indicated horsepower; average displacement 33 tons) whilst France had 22 boats (engines; 1000 indicated horsepower; average displacement 44 tons), Italy had 40 first-class boats (the smallest of which displaced 35 tons) and Germany had 35 boats (average displacement 65 tons).