duty, like gunboats, were not built for high speed. The French unprotected cruiser Milan (1885) was distinct in appearance and role, with the recognition that cruisers were more useful as scouts and commerce raiders if they were faster than ironclad battleships. In the 1880s and 1890s fast, small unarmored cruisers could also be listed as “avisos”, “dispatch boats” (if the ship was fast enough to be useful for carrying messages, in the era before wireless), or “torpedo cruisers” (a term derived from “torpedo gunboats”, again the distinction being mainly of larger size). Different contemporary reference works may use more than one of these terms for the same ship. Decline All of these terms faded from use because the design of these ships became obsolete. By World War I, there was no need to produce unprotected cruisers since fast light cruisers could be given not only protective decks but side armor (over the pre-dreadnought era, effective armor could be made thinner with less weight due to advances in steelworking technology). The speed and firepower difference between even a small light cruiser and a gunboat had made these categories permanently distinct. Wireless technology had eliminated message-carrying roles, and specialized torpedo craft were made much lighter and faster (destroyers). When discarded terms such as “sloop”, “frigate” and “corvette” were used again, it was for small anti-submarine convoy escort craft. Peace cruisers The U.S. Navy continued to use unprotected cruisers for a few years after World War I, often referring to them (and to obsolete protected cruisers and some large gunboats without cruiser features) as peace cruisers due to their use in major policing and diplomatic roles. See also List of unprotected cruisers of Germany References Notes Bibliography Jane's Fighting Ships 1905–1906 (and other editions) Cruisers Ship types