One attempt to solve this issue was with the launching of the four Barracouta-class cruisers in 1888, themselves enlarged and faster versions of the torpedo gunboat HMS Curlew.

Powered by two coal-fed three-cylinder vertical triple-expansion engines producing 3,000 indicated horsepower (2,200 kW), the Barracoutas reached a maximum speed of 16.5 knots (30.6 km/h; 19.0 mph).

[1][2] While the Barracoutas were intended for service aboard, the Navy wanted even faster ships to serve in the Home Fleet or in the Mediterranean.

To reach the top speed of 19.5 knots, six locomotive boilers fed by 140 tons of coal supplied two three-cylinder vertical triple expansion engines that turned two propellers.

Unable to fulfill their original purpose, the ships were reassigned as dispatch vessels, operating at a more manageable speed of 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph) and functioned as the British counterbalance to the French Forbin class.