Two of 35-metre torpedo boats had been lost From the French Navy. One of these had foundered in bad weather in the Atlantic, and the other was lost in a calm Mediterranean sea. Built in haste under the administration of the then Minister of the Navy, Admiral Aube insufficient care had been taken in relation to stability. This fault had been rectified in the vessels being built for the French Navy. The old boats had a great tumblehome and the forecastle was very high and long, with the object of raising the torpedo tubes as high as possible above the surface of the water. The new boats had no tumblehome, and the forecastle had been shortened, and was now only the length of the torpedo tube. Its shape had also been modified, having been given a considerable slope, which was capital protection against the sea.