<P> The board, now confronted with the concrete possibility of hostile warships operating off the American coast, began planning for ships to protect it in 1884 . The ships had to fit within existing docks and had to have a shallow draft to enable them to use all the major American ports and bases . The maximum beam was similarly fixed, and the board concluded that at a length of about 300 feet (91 m), the maximum displacement would be about 7,000 tons . A year later the Bureau of Construction and Repair (C & R) presented two designs to Secretary of the Navy William Collins Whitney, one for a 7,500 - ton battleship and one for a 5,000 - ton armored cruiser . Whitney decided instead to ask Congress for two 6,000 - ton warships, and they were authorized in August 1886 . A design contest was held, asking naval architects to submit designs for the two ships: armored cruiser Maine and battleship Texas . It was specified that Maine had to have a speed of 17 knots (31 km / h; 20 mph), a ram bow, and a double bottom, and be able to carry two torpedo boats . Her armament was specified as: four 10 - inch (254 mm) guns, six 6 - inch (152 mm) guns, various light weapons, and four torpedo tubes . It was specifically stated that the main guns "must afford heavy bow and stern fire ." Armor thickness and many details were also defined . Specifications for Texas were similar, but demanded a main battery of two 12 - inch (305 mm) guns and slightly thicker armor . </P> <P> The winning design for Maine was from Theodore D. Wilson, who served as chief constructor for C & R and was a member on the Naval Advisory Board in 1881 . He had designed a number of other warships for the navy . The winning design for Texas was from a British designer, William John, who was working for the Barrow Shipbuilding Company at that time . Both designs resembled the Brazilian battleship Riachuelo, having the main gun turrets sponsoned out over the sides of the ship and echeloned . The winning design for Maine, though conservative and inferior to other contenders, may have received special consideration due to a requirement that one of the two new ships be American--designed . </P> <P> Congress authorized construction of Maine on 3 August 1886, and her keel was laid down on 17 October 1888, at the Brooklyn Navy Yard . She was the largest vessel built in a U.S. Navy yard up to that time . </P> <P> Maine's building time of nine years was unusually protracted, due to the limits of U.S. industry at the time . (The delivery of her armored plating took three years and a fire in the drafting room of the building yard, where Maine's working set of blueprints were stored, caused further delay .) In those nine years, naval tactics and technology changed radically and left Maine's actual role in the navy ill - defined . At the time she was laid down, armored cruisers such as Maine were intended to serve as small battleships on overseas service and were built with heavy belt armor . Great Britain, France and Russia had constructed such ships to serve this purpose and sold others of this type, including Riachuelo, to second - rate navies . Within a decade, this role had changed to commerce raiding, for which fast, long - range vessels, with only limited armor protection, were needed . The advent of lightweight armor, such as Harvey steel, made this transformation possible . </P>

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