 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 . Yorktown was authorized in the 1886 fiscal year , and the contract for her construction was awarded to the William Cramp and Sons shipyard of Philadelphia . The hull for Yorktown was designed by the Navy 's Bureau of Construction and Repair while the mechanical design was left to the Cramp yard . Yorktown 's keel was laid on 14 May 1887 . 
