MODERN WAR VESSELS OF THE UNITED STATES. 175 



others again, like the Chicago, Newark, Baltimore, and San Fran- 

 cisco, are designed for purposes of general utility, such as protect- 

 ing our mercantile interests abroad, the one feature emphasized 

 being endurance, with those of speed, protection, and armament 

 very fairly developed. Our gunboats of the Yorktown and Machias 

 types are miniature cruisers, except that speed has been sacrificed 

 to enable them to carry heavy batteries ; at present they are con- 

 structed entirely of steel, although many fruitless efforts have 

 been made to adopt in this class the style of construction known 

 as composite that is, all the parts of steel as is customary, except 

 the outer covering of the hull, which is formed of wood planking 

 coppered instead of steel plating. This system has been most 

 earnestly and ably advocated by Chief Naval Constructor Philip 

 Hichborn, and has formed the subject of special reports by him 

 to the Navy Department, but the wording of the congressional 

 appropriations has been such as to preclude its adoption. 



The advantages to be gained are cheapness and ease of main- 

 tenance, freedom from fouling and consequent ease of propulsion, 

 with the ability to keep the sea for long periods without being 

 docked. All vessels of war are in a certain sense compromises 

 between speed, endurance, protection, and armament ; no one fea- 

 ture can be largely developed without corresponding sacrifices in 

 the development of the others : for example, if great speed is re- 

 quired, it entails machinery of great power and weight with a 

 large supply of coal ; the weights, therefore, of the other main 

 features must necessarily be reduced in order to emphasize that of 

 speed ; therefore, when Congress has appropriated for a certain 

 type of vessel and fixed the limit of cost, a very careful study of 

 all existing vessels of the desired type is made by the designing 

 staff of the construction department, the particular requirements 

 of the service are considered, the features to be emphasized deter- 

 mined, and the results embodied in a carefully prepared design. 

 It is a very usual custom, and perhaps a natural one, for the 

 press, when the design is made public, to compare it with some 

 similar vessel of a foreign navy whose conditions of service are 

 very dissimilar, sometimes to the seeming disadvantage of the 

 proposed vessel, especially when such criticism may have been 

 suggested by private builders who desire greater latitude in 

 certain directions, and the general public may receive the im- 

 pression that the best has not been attained ; but to those who 

 know the care and study given to the preparation of the design 

 in view of the service required, and are able to comprehend 

 fully its military value, the conclusion is very different. Tak- 

 ing, then, our battle-ships, we find the highest representative in 

 the Iowa (Fig. 1), now building at the Messrs. Cramp's, which 

 has a displacement of 11,250 tons, and carries a battery of four 



