Unprotected cruiser or armed merchant ship?

Late nineteenth-century navies had to decide whether purpose-built unprotected cruisers were worth buying. Merchant ships taken up from trade offered another way to fill the role, an approach used to some extent by the United States Navy. That option shifted costs into mobilization because the navy still needed weapons, ammunition, and plans to convert suitable ships quickly. The Spanish-American War illustrates why those weapons and munitions had to be ready when merchant ships were mobilized. The closing exercise asks which missions justify either choice.