Under the 1893–1894 Naval Programme, the British Admiralty placed orders for 36 torpedo-boat destroyers, all to be capable of 27 knots (50 km/h; 31 mph), the "27-knotters", as a follow-on to the six prototype "26-knotters" ordered in the previous 1892–1893 Estimates.

As was typical for torpedo craft at the time, the Admiralty left detailed design to the builders, laying down only broad requirements.

[1][2] The three ships, Banshee, Contest and Dragon were all ordered on 7 February 1894 to be built by Laird at Birkenhead.

Banshee and Dragon were deployed to the Mediterranean in 1896 and remained there for the rest of their service lives, until coming home in 1911 to be paid off; Contest spent her whole service life in Home waters.

Along with the similar Ferret-class torpedo boat destroyers built under the 1892-1893 Programme, they were all disposed of in 1911/1912.