Montgomery-class cruiser

Class overview
*USS Montgomery* (C-9)**
Name:	Montgomery-class unprotected cruiser
Builders:	Columbian Iron Works and Dry Dock, Baltimore; City Point Iron Works, Boston
Operators:	United States Navy
Preceded by:	Cincinnati class
Succeeded by:	Columbia class
Cost:	$612,500–$675,000 each
Built:	1890–1894
In commission:	1893–1919
Planned:	3
Completed:	3
Scrapped:	3
General characteristics
Type:	Unprotected cruiser
Displacement:	2,000 tons
Length:	257 ft (78 m)
Beam:	37 ft (11 m)
Draft:	14 ft 6 in (4.42 m)
Installed power:	6 × steam boilers 2 × vertical triple expansion engines 5,400 ihp (4,000 kW)
Propulsion:	2 × screws
Speed:	18 knots (33 km/h)
Range:	3,280 nmi (6,070 km; 3,770 mi) at 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement:	20 officers, 228 enlisted men
Armament:	As built: 2 × 6 in (152 mm)/35 caliber Mark 3 rapid fire (RF) guns (one ship, either Detroit or Montgomery) 8 × 5 in (127 mm)/40 caliber Mark 2 RF guns 6 × 6-pounder (57 mm (2.2 in)) RF guns 2 × 1-pounder (37 mm (1.5 in)) RF guns 1 × Gatling gun 3 × 18 in (457 mm) torpedo tubes
Armor:	Protective deck: ⁵⁄₁₆ in (8 mm) on the flat; ⁷⁄₁₆ in (11 mm) on the slope Conning tower: 2 in (51 mm) "Woodite" (cellulose) packed cofferdam: 3 ft 11 in (119 cm) height; no inner bottom

The Montgomery-class cruisers were three unprotected cruisers built for the United States Navy in the early 1890s. They had a thin water-tight protective deck, and also relied for protection upon their coal bunkers, cellulose packing, and numerous compartments. Roomy accommodations were provided for officers and crew, these cruisers being mainly intended for long cruises on distant stations.

Known initially as cruisers Nos. 9, 10, and 11, the Montgomery-class cruisers were authorized by an Act of Congress approved September 7, 1888.

As the U.S. Navy began to rebuild its fleet with steel-hulled vessels to keep pace with the advance of naval technology in the 1880s, it explored a wide range of conceptual designs. One of these was the "peace cruiser," a barely-armored vessel that amounted to a large gunboat, and in the 1888 naval appropriations bill, Congress set aside money to build three such vessels.

In May 1889, the Department of the Navy invited proposals for the construction of three cruisers of about 2,000 tons displacement each, at a cost of not more than $700,000 each. When the bids were opened on August 22 of that year, Bath Iron Works and William Cramp & Sons submitted bids that were over the limit fixed by Congress in the act of September 1888, and it was decided to re-advertise for proposals. The revised terms reduced the required speed from 18 knots to 17 knots and set a premium for increased speed at $23,000 lor each quarter-knot in excess of the required speed of 17 knots; a penalty of $25,000 was set for every quarter-knot short of the required speed and in case of failure to develop and maintain a speed of 16 knots for four hours straight, the vessels could be rejected. The time fixed for completion was also extended from two years to two years and six mouths.

Bath resubmitted a bid, Cramp and Sons dropped out, and other bids were received from the Union Iron Works of San Francisco, N.F. Palmer, Jr. & Company of New York (representative of Delaware River Shipbuilding and of Quintard Iron Works, who made Marblehead's machinery),Columbian Iron Works of Baltimore and Harrison Loring, owner of City Point Iron Works of Boston.

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Wikipedia