§ The policy of the Board in regard to the smaller vessels of the Navy was last year fully explained, but it may be as well to briefly recapitulate.
§ The magnitude and variety of our trade and commerce, and the overwhelming proportions of our sea-going tonnage as compared to that of any other country, impose upon the Navy of this country active duties abroad of a very exceptional character. The functions thus discharged by our Fleet are a national necessity, and the benefits derived from the adequate performance of this work are ubiquitous and shared in by foreign nations. Yet the dangers which threaten our commerce in war time so differ from those against which they are guarded during peace, that it is no easy matter to make the whole of our Navy equally available and efficient for the discharge of both duties. Vessels of light draught and small displacement can, to a certain extent, be utilized for both purposes, provided they are armed with the most effective of modern guns and have a certain speed. Their number must, however, be curtailed, otherwise too large a proportion of our naval expenditure will he absorbed in vessels whose employment and utility during war must be confined to a very limited sphere of action.
§ The Board, finding it necessary to replace the obsolete gunboats and ships now serving abroad, determined to build a limited number of gunboats of an exceptionally powerfully type in order that they might be able to fulfil the conditions I have described.
905§ Nine additional gunboats have therefore been ordered. They are practically identical with the vessels of the "Pheasant" class; but in order to provide for the 4 per cent. "margin for contingencies" ordered by the Board, they have been made 1 foot broader and about 50 tons greater displacement than the "Pheasant."
§ The Board's decision on this matter was arrived at in full view of the circumstances attending the sad loss of the "Wasp," so far as those circumstances can over be known. Having carefully reconsidered all the particulars of her design in comparison with the corresponding particulars for preceding classes of gunboats, whose performances during a period of 30 years have been found most satisfactory, the Board reached the conclusion that the "Wasp" was in all features affecting seaworthiness and safety far superior to the gunboats which preceded her; and that there was no reason for modifying the design of the "Pheasant" and "Magpie" classes.
§ The opinion of the naval members of the Board, after a full and exhaustive inquiry into the subject, is recorded in the Appendix.
§ These gunboats will be substituted for the various types and classes of gun vessels and gunboats now in commission, none of which it is proposed to reproduce.