"The _second-class_ steamers could with equal ease carry each _two_ 8-inch Paixhans on pivots, one forward and one aft, and _six_ 6-inch ditto, as side-guns. "With the additional strengthening recommended, I am perfectly satisfied that the armaments suggested would not, in the least, incommode the vessels. Indeed, the weight of armament would be actually less than that which would be taken away by the removal of the upper decks and cabins, and the miscellaneous articles usually stowed on one or the other of two decks--such, for instance, as ice, of which not less than forty tons is generally packed in one mass; nor would the munitions and provisions required for the war vessel be of greater weight than the goods now carried as freight, saying nothing of the provisions and stores carried by the steamers for an average of 150 to 250 souls, including crew and passengers. "It may again be remarked, that steamers thus brought into service would be far inferior to regularly constructed and appointed war vessels; yet in the general operations of a maritime war, they would render good service, and especially would they be useful, from their great speed, as dispatch vessels, and for the transportation of troops, always being capable of attack and defense, and of overhauling or escaping from an enemy." Captain Skiddy, the Special Naval Constructor appointed by the Government to superintend the building of all the mail packets, says in a letter to Com. Perry: "In reply I will commence with the first-class ships, which are the 'Atlantic,' 'Pacific,' 'Baltic,' and 'Arctic,' of Collins' Liverpool line; the 'Franklin' and 'Humboldt' of Mortimer Livingston's Havre line. "These ships, although equal in strength, probably, to any steamships afloat, are not suitable for _immediate_ war purposes, but can be made efficient in four or six weeks, capable of carrying the armament or battery of a first-class frigate--say four ten-inch guns and twelve eight-inch guns. These alterations would consist of a removal of the deck-houses, spar or upper deck, forward and abaft the paddle-wheel boxes, fitting the after and forward bulwarks in sections, cutting port-holes, fitting hammock cloths or nettings, putting in extra beams and knees, and stanchions, moving the windlass below, building magazines, shell-rooms, officers' rooms, etc., etc. The cost of all these alterations and fixtures would not exceed ($15,000 or $20,000) twenty thousand dollars each ship. These ships would then be relieved of about one hundred and fifty tons weight, or nearly double the weight of guns and carriages, with less resistance to water and wind, adding an increase to their already great speed."