During his Presidential Address to Section G of The British Association Captain Noble observed that torpedo boats were one of the great triumphs of the engineering industry. He illustrated his claim by comparing two first-class torpedo boats with the 90-gun ship Caesar and the first-rate man-of-war the Duke of Wellington. A first-class torpedo boat (length 135 feet, beam 14 feet, displacement 88 tons; trial speed 24 knots) fitted with 1,400 horsepower engines built by Yarrow and Co. of Poplar, developed the same horsepower as the 90 gun ship Caesar, and a slightly larger torpedo boat (length 147 feet 6 inches, beam 14 feet 6 inches; trial speed 26 knots) fitted with 1,500 indicated engines built by Thornycroft for the Spanish Government developed slightly less power than the first-rate man-of-war the Duke of Wellington.