Photo #: S-584-133 Preliminary Design for a Fast Battleship ... May 8, 1918 Preliminary design plan for a fast battleship. One of a series of preliminary designs prepared in response to Chief Constructor David Taylor's direction to his design staff on 9 April 1918 to prepare designs that merged battleship and battle cruiser qualities into a single new ship type. He thought such a design might be preferable to proceeding with the South Dakota (Battleship # 49) and Constellation (Battle Cruiser # 1) classes. This particular drawing -- designated "Scheme D" -- was laid out by Navy civilian naval architect James L. Bates. No ships of such a fast battleship type were built at this time. This plan provided twelve 16-inch guns, electric drive machinery, and a speed of 29 knots in a ship 860 feet long on the waterline, 106 feet in beam, and with a normal displacement of 54,500 tons. Note: The original document was ink on linen (black on white). The original plan is in the 1911-1925 "Spring Styles Book". U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 491KB; 2475 x 1095 pixels