"Most of them were completed before I was ordered to their supervision; but I lost no time, after entering upon the duty, in calling the attention of the contractors to this important consideration, an observance of which would not have added more than one per cent upon the cost of construction. "In altering these vessels so as to make them available for war purposes, the most simple, expeditious, and economical plan would be to razee them, or cut off their upper decks and cabins forward and abaft the wheel-houses; not by tearing them to pieces and defacing the costly ornamental work, which, though of no value to the Government, still need not be destroyed. "The razeeing should be effected by sawing the top timbers, and cutting off by sections the whole of the upper dock, excepting the space between the wheel-houses, thus leaving the greater part of the main deck exposed and for the accommodation of the armament, and enough of the sides above that deck to answer for bulwarks and side-ports. "Below, it would only be necessary to remove the state-rooms not wanted for the accommodation of the officers, and convert the after-hold and fore and main orlops into magazines, store-rooms, shot and shell lockers, etc., etc. "According to my calculation, the cost of the conversion of either of the before mentioned vessels, exclusive of armaments, repair of machinery and ordinary repair, would not, or certainly _ought_ not, exceed, for steamers of the first class, $20,000, and for those of the second class, $15,000; and it could be readily done for this at any of our navy yards, provided that _useless_ alterations were not made. "It should be taken into view that those mail steamers, if called into service as war vessels, would be considered as forming an auxiliary force to the regularly constructed ships, and hence the impolicy of expending much money on them. The requisites of sound hulls and powerful engines, with efficient armaments, should alone be considered, leaving superfluous ornament out of the question. "The armaments of the respective vessels would, of course, be a separate cost; and to arrange the guns on the upper deck, it would only be required to close up three or four of the hatches or sky-lights; to strengthen the deck by additional beams and stanchions; to cut ports, and construct the pivot and other carriages; probably it might be desirable to shift the capstan and cables. "With respect to the description and weight of the respective armaments, I am clearly of opinion that the first-class steamers already named could easily carry each _four_ 10-inch Paixhan guns on pivots, two forward and two aft, of the weight of those in the Mississippi; _ten_ 8-inch Paixhans, as side-guns, ditto.