The twin-screw torpedo cruiser El Destructor was fitted with triple-expansion engines operating with steam supplied by marine locomotive boilers capable of producing 3,800 horsepower with an air pressure of two and a quarter inches of water gauge in the stokehold. The El Destructor was fitted with a bow rudder and Thomson and Biles' 'Patent Sternway Manoeuvrer' to increase manoeuvrability at high speeds and was considered to be faster, more manoeuvrable and better armed than the Scout or the Grasshopper.