The torpedo boat destroyers Boxer (length 200 feet, beam 19 feet) built by J. I. Thornycroft and Company, Chiswick, and the Contest (length 208 feet, beam 19 feet) built by Laird Brothers, Birkenhead, were launched in the same week. The Boxer was launched on the 28th of November 1889, and the Contest was launched on the 1st of December in the same year.