ce in naval
shipbuilding. The most serious delays, however, have been in the work
upon armored ships. The trouble has been the failure of contractors to
deliver armor as agreed. The difficulties seem now, however, to have
been all overcome, and armor is being delivered with satisfactory
promptness. As a result of the experience acquired by shipbuilders and
designers and material men, it is believed that the dates when vessels
will be completed can now be estimated with reasonable accuracy. Great
guns, rapid-fire guns, torpedoes, and powder are being promptly
supplied.

The following vessels of the new Navy have been completed and are
now ready for service: The double-turreted coast-defense monitor
_Miantonomoh_, the double-turreted coast-defense monitor _Monterey_,
the armored cruiser _New York_, the protected cruisers _Baltimore_,
_Chicago_, _Philadelphia_, _Newark_, _San Francisco_, _Charleston_,
_Atlanta_, and _Boston_, the cruiser _Detroit_, the gunboats _Yorktown_,
_Concord_, _Bennington_, _Machias_, _Castine_, and _Petrel_, the
dispatch vessel _Dolphin_, the practice vessel _Bancroft_, and the
dynamite gunboat _Vesuvius_. Of these the _Bancroft_, _Machias_,
_Detroit_, and _Castine_ have been placed in commission during the current
calendar year.

The following vessels are in process of construction: The second-class
battle ships _Maine_ and _Texas_, the cruisers _Montgomery_ and
_Marblehead_, and the coast-defense monitors _Terror_, _Puritan_,
_Amphitrite_, and _Monadnock_, all of which will be completed within one
year; the harbor-defense ram _Katahdin_ and the protected cruisers
_Columbia_, _Minneapolis_, _Olympia_, _Cincinnati_, and _Raleigh_, all
of which will be completed prior to July 1, 1895; the first-class battle
ships _Iowa_, _Indiana_, _Massachusetts_, and _Oregon_, which will be
completed February 1, 1896, and the armored cruiser _Brooklyn_, which
will be completed by August 1 of that year. It is also expected that the
three gunboats authorized by the last Congress will be completed in less
than two years.

Since 1886 Congress has at each session authorized the building of one
or more vessels, and the Secretary of the Navy presents an earnest plea
for the continuance of this plan. He recommends the authorization of at
least one battle ship and six torpedo boats.

While I am distinctly in favor of consistently pursuing the policy we
have inaugurated of building up a thorough and efficient Navy, I c