Cincinnati-class cruiser

USS Cincinnati
Class overview
Name:	Cincinnati class
Builders:	New York Navy Yard Norfolk Navy Yard
Operators:	United States Navy
Preceded by:	USS Olympia (C-6)
Succeeded by:	Montgomery class
Cost:	$1,100,000 each
Built:	1889–1894
In service:	1894–1920
In commission:	1894–1919
Planned:	2
Completed:	2
Scrapped:	2
General characteristics
Type:	Protected cruiser
Displacement:	3,183 long tons (3,234 t) (standard) 3,339 long tons (3,393 t) (full load)
Length:	305 ft 9 in (93.19 m)
Beam:	42 ft (13 m)
Draft:	18 ft (5.5 m)
Installed power:	6 × steam boilers 2 × vertical triple expansion engines 10,000 ihp (7,500 kW)
Propulsion:	2 × screws
Speed:	19 knots (35 km/h)
Range:	8,652 nmi (16,024 km; 9,957 mi) at 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement:	312
Armament:	As built: 1 × 6 in (152 mm)/40 caliber gun 10 × 5 in (127 mm)/40 caliber guns 8 × 6-pounder (57 mm (2.2 in)) guns 2 × 1-pounder (37 mm (1.5 in)) guns 1 × Gatling gun 4 × 18 in (457 mm) torpedo tubes
Armor:	Deck: 2.5 in (64 mm) (slope) 1 in (25 mm) (flat) Conning Tower: 2 in (51 mm) Gun Sponsons: 4 in (102 mm)
General characteristics (1903)
Installed power:	8 × Babcock & Wilcox boilers 2 × vertical triple expansion engines 8,500 ihp (6,300 kW)
Propulsion:	2 × screws
Speed:	18 knots (33 km/h)
Armament:	11 × 5 in (127 mm)/40 caliber guns 8 × 6-pounder (57 mm (2.2 in)) guns 2 × 1-pounder (37 mm (1.5 in)) guns 1 × Gatling gun

The Cincinnati-class cruisers were two small protected cruisers built for the United States Navy in the early 1890s. They were smaller and more lightly armed and protected than most previous US cruisers, and were intended for commerce raiding. They may also be referred to as Raleigh-class cruisers, as Raleigh was launched and commissioned prior to Cincinnati.

The Cincinnati-class cruisers were authorized by an Act of Congress approved on 7 September 1888, in the same bill with New York, Olympia and the Montgomery class.

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 design concepts. Among the approaches to the protected cruiser design was that of a small and fast commerce raider. Thus, in the 1888 naval appropriations bill, Congress set aside money to build five such vessels, two Cincinnati class of 3,000 tons and three Montgomery class of 2,000 tons.

In May 1889, the Department of the Navy invited proposals for the construction of two cruisers of about 3,000 tons displacement each, at a cost of not more than $1,100,000 each. William Cramp and Sons was the only shipbuilder to respond, but with a bid in excess of the limit; the Department of the Navy exercised an option in the appropriation bill to construct the cruisers in its own yards; Cincinnati was built at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, while Raleigh was built at the Norfolk Navy Yard.

The as-built main armament of the ships was one 6 in (152 mm)/40 caliber gun on the forward deck and ten 5 in (127 mm)/40 caliber guns (two side-by-side on the aft deck, the remainder in sponsons along the sides). Secondary armament was eight 6-pounder (57 mm (2.2 in)) rapid fire guns, two 1-pounder (37 mm (1.5 in)) rapid fire guns, along with one Gatling gun and four 18 in (460 mm) torpedo tubes. Along with Olympia and the Montgomery class, these were among the first US Navy ships to carry 5-inch guns.

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Wikipedia