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The ''Yorktown''-class was a class of three steel-hulled, twin-screw gunboats built for the United States Navy beginning in 1887. All three ships of the class were named after cities near American Revolutionary War battles. The ships were just over long and abeam and displaced a little more than . They were equipped with two steam engines which were supplemented with three schooner-rigged masts. The main battery of each ship consisted of six guns and was augmented by an assortment of smaller caliber guns. Ships of the class were in commission between 1889 and 1919. For most of their service, the ships were in the Pacific, patrolling the coasts of North and South America, Hawaii, and the western Pacific. ''Yorktown''-class ships saw service in many of the conflicts involving the United States from the 1890s through World War I, with all three ships seeing action during the Philippine–American War. was involved in the 1891 ''Baltimore'' Crisis in Chile, participated in the China Relief Expedition carried out in the wake of the Boxer Rebellion, and served as a convoy escort in World War I. was a part of Admiral George Dewey's fleet at the Battle of Manila Bay during the Spanish–American War. ''Yorktown'' had the longest career in commission, being decommissioned for the final time in 1919; ''Concord'' left active service ten years before that, and ''Bennington'' was taken out of service after a boiler explosion in July 1905 at San Diego, California. == Design and construction == The ''Yorktown''-class gunboats — unofficially considered third-class cruisers — were the product of a United States Navy design attempt to produce compact ships with good seakeeping abilities and, yet, able to carry a heavy battery.〔 Contemporary news reports indicate the class was loosely based on , the first ship of the Royal Navy's s. was authorized in the 1886 fiscal year and and were authorized in the 1888 fiscal year.〔 The construction contract for ''Yorktown'' was awarded to the William Cramp and Sons shipyard of Philadelphia and her keel was laid down in May 1887. The contract for the other pair was awarded to N. F. Palmer & Co., who sublet the construction of the hulls to the Delaware River Iron Shipbuilding & Engine Works, also of Philadelphia. ''Concord'' and ''Bennington'' were laid down in May and June 1888, respectively.〔 The hulls of the ''Yorktown'' class were designed by the Navy's Bureau of Construction and Repair while the mechanical layout was designed by the Cramp yard for ''Yorktown'' and replicated in her sister ships.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Yorktown-class gunboat」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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