cruiser of the first class.
The design submitted by the builders of the Reina Regente was
accepted, and the vessel was contracted to be built in June of last
year. The principal conditions of the contract were as follows.

The ship to steam at a speed of 201/2 knots for four runs on the mile
and for two hours continuously afterward. She was further to be
capable of steaming for six hours continuously at a speed of 181/2
knots, without any artificial means of producing draught. She was also
to be capable of steaming a distance of at least 5,700 knots for 500
tons of coal, at some speed over 10 knots, to be chosen by the
builders. Over the length of her machinery and magazine spaces she was
to have a sloping deck extending to 6 ft. below the water line at the
side, and formed of plates 43/4 in. thick. This deck was to extend to
about 1 ft. above the water line, and the flat part to be 3-1/8 in.
thick. Beyond the machinery and magazine spaces, the deck was to be
gradually reduced to 3 in. thick at the ends. This deck is intended to
protect the vitals of the ship, such as boilers, engines, powder
magazines, steering gear, etc., from the effects of shot and shell,
but the floating and stability maintaining power of the ship was to be
dependent upon a similar structure raised above this protective deck
to a height of about 5 ft. above the water.

This structure is covered by a water tight deck known as the main deck
of the ship, on which the cabins and living spaces are arranged. The
space between the main and protective deck is divided, as may be seen
by reference to the protective deck plan, into many strong, water
tight spaces, most of which are not more than about 500 cubic feet
capacity. The spaces next to the ship's side are principally coal
bunkers, and may, therefore, exclude largely any water that should
enter. The first line of defense is formed inside these coal bunkers
by a complete girdle of coffer dams, which can be worked from the main
deck. These it is intended to fill with water and cellulose material,
and as they are also minutely subdivided, the effects of damage by
shot and consequent flooding may be localized to a considerable
extent. The guns of the ship are to consist of four 20 centimeter
Hontorio breech loading guns on Vavasseur carriages, six 12 centimeter
guns, eight 6 pounder rapid firing, and eight or ten small guns for
boats and mitrailleuse purposes, four of which are in the crow's nests
at th