Denver class cruiser
USS Denver at the North Atlantic Fleet review in 1905
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| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Denver class |
| Builders: | Various |
| Operators: |
 United States Navy
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| Preceded by: | Columbia class |
| Succeeded by: | St. Louis class |
| Built: | 1900-1905 |
| In commission: | 1903-1929 |
| Completed: | 6 |
| Lost: | 1 |
| Scrapped: | 5 |
| General characteristics (as built) | |
| Type: | Protected Cruiser |
| Displacement: | 3,200 long tons (3,251 t) |
| Length: | 308 ft 10 in (94.13 m) |
| Beam: | 44 ft (13 m) |
| Draft: | 15 ft 9 in (4.80 m) |
| Installed power: |
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| Propulsion: | 2 × screws |
| Speed: | 16.41 knots (30.39 km/h; 18.88 mph) (trial) |
| Range: | 2,200 nmi (4,100 km; 2,500 mi) at 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Complement: | 19 officers and 308 enlisted |
| Armament: |
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| Armor: |
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The Denver-class cruisers were a group of six protected cruisers in service with the United States Navy from 1903 through 1929. Authorized by Congress in 1899 as part of the naval buildup touched off by the Spanish-American War, they were designed with peacetime duties on foreign stations and tropical service in mind, specifically patrolling Latin America and the Caribbean. However, they had insufficient armament, armor, and speed for combat with most other cruisers. Thus, they were also called "peace cruisers" and were effectively gunboats. They were intended to augment the Montgomery class in these roles.
The as-built main armament was ten 5 in (127 mm)/50 caliber Mark 5 rapid firing (RF) guns, arranged one each fore and aft and the remainder in casemates along the sides; the hull was cut away to allow ahead and astern fire from the end casemates. Secondary armament was six 6-pounder (57 mm (2.2 in)) RF guns, two 1-pounder (37 mm (1.5 in)) RF guns, and four .30 caliber (7.62 mm) machine guns, possibly the M1895 Colt–Browning machine gun.
Armor protection was very light. The protective deck was 2 1⁄2 in (64 mm) on the slopes, 5⁄16 in (8 mm) in the flat middle, and 1 in (25 mm) at the ends. The 5-inch gun casemates had 1 3⁄4 in (44 mm) armor.
The engineering plant included six coal-fired Babcock & Wilcox boilers supplying 275 psi (1,900 kPa) steam to two vertical triple-expansion engines, totaling 4,700 ihp (3,500 kW) for 16.5 knots (30.6 km/h; 19.0 mph) as designed. On trials Galveston achieved 16.41 knots (30.39 km/h; 18.88 mph) at 5,073 ihp (3,783 kW). The low design speed relegated these ships to the gunboat role or commerce raiding against slower merchant ships. The ships normally carried 467 tons of coal for a service range of 2,200 nmi (4,100 km; 2,500 mi) at 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph); this could be increased to 675 tons.
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