 While earlier capital ship classes such as the , and were designed primarily for coastal defense, later classes such as the and incorporated lessons learned from the Spanish–American War and were conceived as ships with "the highest practicable speed and the greatest radius of action", in the words of the appropriation bills approved by the United States Congress for their construction.They were intended as modern warships capable of long-range operations.Nevertheless, the experience gained in the recent war with Spain had been limited.