No patriotic American citizen would expect to read an account of modern war vessels without finding special mention of those two splendid types of their class, the battleship “Oregon” and the armored cruiser “Brooklyn,” whose performances during the late war with Spain contributed so much to the honor and glory of the United States Navy, and demonstrated the skill and efficiency of our American shipbuilders. Before the war began the “Oregon” was stationed on the Pacific Coast, where she had been built, and it was desired that she should join the fleet of Admiral Sampson in Cuban waters. Leaving Puget Sound on March 6, 1898, this floating fortress of steel, weighted with her enormous guns and 18-inch thick armor, made the long journey of over 14,500 miles around the southern end of the western continent, and up to Jupiter Inlet on the Florida coast, arriving there on the 24th day of May, and was not delayed an hour on account of her machinery, the only stops being made for coal. Immediately after coaling at Key West she took her place in the blockading line at Santiago, and in the great battle of July 3 quickly developed a power greater than that attained on her trial trip and a speed only slightly less, easily distancing all other ships immediately engaged except the “Brooklyn,” and in connection with the “Brooklyn” forced the fleetest of the Spanish cruisers to surrender. [Illustration: FIG. 119.--BATTLESHIP “OREGON.”] The “Oregon” is shown in Fig. 119. She is an armored battleship of the first class, built by the Union Iron Works of San Francisco, and launched Oct. 26, 1893. Her length is 348 feet, beam 69¼ feet, draft 24 feet, displacement 10,288 tons, maximum speed 16.79 knots, and coal capacity 1,594 tons. Her side armor is of steel plates 18 inches thick, and her deck is, 2¾ inches thick. On the turrets the armor is from 6 to 15 inches thick, and on the barbettes it is from 6 to 17 inches thick. Her engines are of the twin screw, vertical triple expansion direct acting inverted cylinder type. The stroke is 42 inches, and the diameters of the cylinders are 34½, 48, and 75 inches, respectively. The battery consists of four 13-inch breech loading rifles, eight 8-inch breech loading rifles, four 6-inch, twenty 6-pounder rapid fire guns, six 1-pounder rapid fire, two Colts, one 3-inch rapid fire field gun, and three torpedo tubes. The 13-inch guns weigh 136,000 pounds each, are 39 feet 9¼ inches long, are set 18 feet above the water, can be moved through an arc of 270 degrees, and throw a projectile of 1,100 pounds a distance of 12 miles, and with a power which at 1,000 yards would perforate a mass of steel 2½ feet in thickness. The cost of the “Oregon” was $3,180,000. [Illustration: FIG. 120.--ARMORED CRUISER “BROOKLYN.”]