The U.S. Navy's 1897 coastal-strategy problem

Brassey's 1897 Naval Annual describes an American programme of battleships, torpedo boats, and shallow-draught vessels. Battleships with a normal draught of 23 feet and an extreme draught of 25 feet were an improvement, but they still could not use enough Gulf of Mexico harbours. The Naval War College regarded artificial channel deepening as an inadequate solution. It recommended that future warships draw no more than 23 feet with their maximum coal supply aboard. The Secretary of the Navy recommended three battleships of this kind and twelve torpedo boats. Access to operating bases shaped the proposed ships as directly as their weapons.