Chapter XV: Section 2: All vessels now built or owned, or hereafter to be built

or owned in the United States of America, and carrying the American flag, which possess the following qualifications and requirements, shall be deemed subject to the provisions of this Act, and eligible to the benefits conferred thereby.

1st. The said vessels must be of at least four thousand tons burden.

2nd. The said vessels must have a maximum speed of at least nineteen statute miles per hour, the same to be established by actual test.

3rd. The said vessels must be built, both as to their hulls and engines, on plans to be approved by a Bureau of Naval Construction and Engineering, consisting of five members, to be appointed for that purpose by the President and the Secretary of the Navy; and every such vessel shall have carriages or platforms for two or more guns of at least eight inches calibre, and also suitable accommodations for an auxilliary battery of rapid firing guns.

4th. Estimates of the cost of such vessels and engines--exclusive of furniture and equipment for passengers--shall also be submitted to, and approved by, the said Bureau of Naval Construction and Engineering, and the amount of cost, thus approved by such Bureau, shall be taken as the value upon which the contracts provided for in the first section of this Act, shall be based.