Were early US pre-dreadnoughts really coastal-defence ships?

Should early US pre-dreadnoughts be included because they were more like coastal-defence ships than oceanic battleships?

Many had coastal limitations, but congressional requirements made them coastal battleships rather than a deliberately separate coastal-defence type.

The answer accepts that many early US battleships were effectively restricted to coastal work, but treats that outcome as a product of congressional design requirements rather than the navy's preferred operational concept. Their limitations made them coastal in practice without creating a deliberately separate ship type. Congress produced those coastal characteristics by design, while the Navy received them by accident. That distinction separates these ships from the purpose-built coastal-defence categories consciously developed by other navies.