 In 1916 the Admiralty commissioned a new type of fast torpedo-carrying motor launch which Thorneycroft constructed secretly in its Platt's Eyot facility.Four new boat sheds were constructed on the island, probably in the same year (though the date is disputed by some), to a design by Augustine Alban Hamilton Scott.They were built using the Belfast truss system, developed during the First World War to roof wide structures such as aircraft hangars.