cruiser Chicago, 1st steel warship in U.S. Navy

dispatch boat USS Dolphin, also served as the 2nd presidential yacht, built by John Roach, photo from Presidential Transportation

USS Despatch, of wood, 1st presidential yacht, from Presidential Transportation

Chet Arthur 1881-5

• appoints Wm. Chandler, Rodgers Board
  
• Navy Act of 1883 - ABCD ships
  
• Gun Foundry Board 1883
  
• Navy Act of 1885 - 30 new steel ships
  

Naval War College

• by Stephen Luce at Newport 1884
  
• A.T. Mahan - capital ship theory
  
• Naval War College

Benjamin Harrison 1889-93

• "Billion $ Congress" - T. Reed, N. Aldrich
  
• appointed Benjamin Tracy - "Blue Water" admirals
  
• crises: Chile, Italy, Samoa
  
• Tracy idea to name battleships after states and cruisers after cities, to gain popular support for the Big Navy
• Squadron of Evolution sent around world
  
• First Annual Report Dec. 1889 - "a fighting force"
  
• Eugene Hale and Charles Boutelle on Maine, Lodge of MA, Joseph Hawley of CT ("you cannot negotiate without a gun")
• Navy Act of 1890 - from Boutelle's House Naval Affairs Committee, to build 3 "first-class" battleships with range of 5000 miles
• "sea-going coast-line battleships" of 10,000 tons: Indiana, Massachusetts, Oregon
  
• 2 fleets to replace "distant stations"
  

Grover Cleveland 1893-96

• pro-Mahan strategy of Hilary Herbert
• political reasons