Question: Which country used small and fast naval ships designated to carry torpedoes into battle during the First World War?

full_context: Document 1: Torpedo boat: A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs rammed enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes, and later designs launched self-propelled Whitehead torpedoes. They were created to counter battleships and other slow and heavily armed ships by using speed, agility, and the power of their torpedo weapons. A number of inexpensive torpedo boats attacking en masse could overwhelm a larger ship's ability to fight them off using its large but cumbersome guns. An inexpensive fleet of torpedo boats could pose a threat to much larger and more expensive fleets of capital ships, albeit only in the coastal areas to which their small size and limited fuel load restricted them.
Document 2: Italian R-class submarine: The R-class or "Romolo"-class submarine was a group of submarines built for the Royal Italian Navy ("Regia Marina Italiana") during World War II. They were designed as blockade running transport submarines for transporting high-value cargo from Europe to Japan and vice versa. Axis-occupied Europe lacked strategic materials such as tungsten, tin and some commodities such as rubber.
Document 3: Grillo-class tracked torpedo motorboat: The "Grillo"-class was a class of torpedo armed motorboats in service with the "Regia Marina" (the Royal Navy of Italy) during the First World War. The notable feature of these vessels was that each was equipped with a pair of spiked continuous tracks, intended to allow them to climb over harbour booms and attack enemy shipping at anchor. In 1918, two attempts to use them to penetrate Austro-Hungarian harbour defences both ended in failure.
Document 4: List of battleships of Italy: Starting in the 1890s, the Italian "Regia Marina" (Royal Navy) began building a series of modern battleships. Early designs were marked by their small size, light armor, and high speed compared to contemporary foreign counterparts. The first pre-dreadnought battleship design, the "Ammiraglio di Saint Bon" class , was constrained by budgetary limits imposed by the legislature. Two ships were ordered by the class's namesake, Admiral Simone de Pacoret Saint Bon, though the design was also influenced by Benedetto Brin, who replaced di Saint Bon as naval minister after his death. Brin designed the next pair of battleships, the "Regina Margherita" class . These ships were larger than the preceding class, and were intended to challenge the Austro-Hungarian "Habsburg"-class battleship s then under construction. Brin himself died during the construction process. Vittorio Cuniberti designed the next class of small pre-dreadnoughts, the "Regina Elena" class , which were the fastest battleships in the world at the time of their completion. These ships all served in the Italo-Turkish War of 1911–12, where they were primarily used to provide naval gunfire support for the Italian ground troops, as the Ottoman Navy largely confined itself to port.
Document 5: Bomb vessel: A bomb vessel, bomb ship, bomb ketch, or simply bomb was a type of wooden sailing naval ship. Its primary armament was not cannons (long guns or carronades)—although bomb vessels carried a few cannons for self-defence—but mortars mounted forward near the bow and elevated to a high angle, and projecting their fire in a ballistic arc. Explosive shells (also called "bombs" at the time) or carcasses were employed rather than solid shot. Bomb vessels were specialized ships designed for bombarding (hence the name) fixed positions on land. In the 20th century, the same role was carried out by battleships, cruisers, destroyers, and the purpose-built World War I- and II-era monitors.
Document 6: Go-fast boat: A go-fast boat is a small, fast boat designed with a long narrow platform and a planing hull to enable it to reach high speeds.
Document 7: List of monitors of World War II: A monitor is a class of relatively small warship that is lightly armoured, often provided with disproportionately large guns, and originally designed for coastal warfare. The term "monitor" grew to include breastwork monitors, the largest class of riverine warcraft known as river monitors, and was sometimes used as a generic term for any turreted ship. In the early 20th century, the term "monitor" included shallow-draft armoured shore bombardment vessels, particularly those of the Royal Navy: the "Lord Clive"-class monitor s carried guns that fired the heaviest shells ever used at sea and saw action against German targets during World War I. Two small Royal Navy monitors from the First World War, "Erebus" and "Terror" survived to fight in the Second World War. When the requirement for shore support and strong shallow-water coastal defence returned, new monitors and variants such as coastal defence ships were built (e.g. the British "Roberts"-class monitor s). Allied monitors saw service in the Mediterranean in support of the British Eighth Army's desert and Italian campaigns. They were part of the offshore bombardment for the Invasion of Normandy in 1944. They were also used to clear the German-mined River Scheldt by the British to utilize the port of Antwerp. The German, Yugoslav, Croatian, Romanian, Hungarian and Czech armed forces operated river monitors that saw combat during World War II.
Document 8: Arrow-class patrol boat: The Arrow class is a series of fast patrol/assault speed boat constructed by the Sri Lanka Navy for use by its littoral warfare units, the elite Special Boat Squadron (SBS) and the Rapid Action Boat Squadron (RABS). The boat is capable of achieving high speeds and is highly maneuverable, meeting the requirements of these units in small boat operations. Armed with an autocannon or automatic grenade launcher as its primary weapon system and with multiple machine guns, the Arrow boats provides relatively high firepower despite its small size. It is also used by the navy for inshore monitoring operations.
Document 9: Spica-class torpedo boat: The "Spica" class were a class of torpedo boats of the Regia Marina (Royal Italian Navy) during World War II. These ships were built as a result of a clause in the Washington Naval Treaty, which stated that ships with a tonnage of less than 600 could be built in unlimited numbers. Thirty-two ships were built between 1934 and 1937, thirty of which entered service with Italy and two which were transferred to the Swedish Navy in 1940. Although commonly referred to as torpedo boats, the "Spica" class were similar in design to destroyer escorts (their design was influenced by the "Maestrale"-class destroyer then in development) and were intended for anti-submarine duties, although they often had to fight aircraft and surface forces as well. The two units in Swedish service were classed as destroyers until 1953, when re-classified as corvettes; twenty-three vessels were lost during World War II.
Document 10: Italian cruiser Coatit: Coatit was a torpedo cruiser of the Italian "Regia Marina" built in the late 1890s. She was the second and final member of the "Agordat" class . The ship, which was armed with twelve 76 mm guns and two 450 mm torpedo tubes, was too slow and short-ranged to be able to scout effectively for the fleet, so her career was limited. She saw action during the Italo-Turkish War in 1911–12, where she provided gunfire support to Italian troops in North Africa. She also caused a minor diplomatic incident from an attack on retreating Ottoman soldiers in Anatolia. "Coatit" was part of an international fleet sent to Constantinople when the city appeared to be at risk of falling to the Bulgarian Army during the First Balkan War. In 1919, she was converted into a minelayer and was sold for scrap in 1920.
Document 11: Submarine chaser: A submarine chaser is a small and fast naval vessel that is specifically intended for anti-submarine warfare. Although similar vessels were designed and used by many nations, this designation was most famously used by ships built by the US. Many of the US World War I sub-chasers found their way to friendly powers by way of Lend-Lease in World War II.
Document 12: Italian cruiser San Marco: The Italian cruiser "San Marco" was a "San Giorgio"-class armoured cruiser built for the Royal Italian Navy ("Regia Marina") in the first decade of the 20th century. She was the first large Italian ship fitted with steam turbines and the first turbine-powered ship in any navy to have four propeller shafts. The ship participated in the Italo-Turkish War of 1911–12, during which time she supported the occupations of Benghazi and Derna, the island of Rhodes, and bombarded the fortifications defending the entrance to the Dardanelles. During World War I, "San Marco"' s activities were limited by the threat of Austro-Hungarian submarines, although the ship did participate in the bombardment of Durazzo, Albania in late 1918. She played a minor role in the Corfu incident in 1923 and was converted into a target ship in the first half of the 1930s. "San Marco" was captured by the Germans when they occupied northern Italy in 1943 and was found sunk at the end of the war. The ship was broken up and scrapped in 1949.
Document 13: Bliss–Leavitt Mark 8 torpedo: The Bliss–Leavitt Mark 8 torpedo was the United States Navy's first 21-inch by 21-foot torpedo. Although introduced prior to World War I, most of its combat use was by PT boats in World War II. The torpedo was originally designed in 1911 by Frank McDowell Leavitt of the E. W. Bliss Company and entered full mass production in 1913 at the Naval Torpedo Station in Newport, Rhode Island. It was deployed on destroyers and battleships during World War I and cruisers built in the 1920s. All US battleships and most cruisers had their torpedo tubes removed by 1941. The Mark 8 remained in service through World War II on older destroyers, primarily the "Wickes" and "Clemson" classes. It also equipped PT boats early in World War II, but was replaced by the Mark 13 torpedo on most of these in mid-1943.
Document 14: Aerial torpedo: An aerial torpedo, airborne torpedo or air-dropped torpedo is a naval weapon, a torpedo, that an aircraft—fixed-wing aircraft or helicopter—drops in the water, after which the weapon propels itself to the target. First used in World War I, air-dropped torpedoes were used extensively in World War II, and remain in limited use. Aerial torpedoes are generally smaller and lighter than submarine- and surface-launched torpedoes.
Document 15: List of ships sunk by submarines by death toll: Self-propelled torpedoes dramatically increased effectiveness of submarine warships. Initial scouting patrols against surface warships sank several cruisers in the first month of World War I. Incidental encounters with merchant ships were handled by signalling the ship to stop and sinking the ship after removing the crew in accordance with international law. After unrestricted submarine warfare began in February 1915, any ship might unexpectedly sink rapidly from heavy underwater hull damage inflicted by torpedoes. Many large ships sank unknown to friendly forces, and the submarines which sank them were too small to rescue more than a few survivors. Heavy personnel casualties continued through World War II, and there have been a few later sinkings.
ground_truth: Italy