 The design challenges the Navy 's Bureau of Construction and Repair ( C & R ) faced with this class were considerable , as the combined requirements of optimum hitting power , extreme speed and adequate protection taxed the knowledge of its naval architects and the technology of the time . The desired speed of 35 knots had been attained previously only in destroyers and smaller craft . To do so with a capital ship required a hull and a power plant of unprecedented size for a U.S. naval vessel and careful planning on the part of its designers to ensure it would have enough longitudinal strength to withstand bending forces underway and the added stresses on its structure associated with combat . Even so , it took years between initial and final designs for engine and boiler technology to provide a plant of sufficient power that was also compact enough to allow a practical degree of protection , even in such large ships . 
