The battleships and seven of the torpedo boats were not completed until 1899–1901, after the Spanish–American War.[236]

Cancer
Official portrait of President Cleveland by Eastman Johnson, c. 1891
In the midst of the fight for repeal of free-silver coinage in 1893, Cleveland sought the advice of the White House doctor, Dr. O'Reilly, about soreness on the roof of his mouth and a crater-like edge ulcer with a granulated surface on the left side of Cleveland's hard palate. Clinical samples were sent anonymously to the Army Medical Museum; the diagnosis was an epithelioma, rather than a malignant cancer.[237]
Cleveland decided to have surgery secretly, to avoid further panic that might worsen the financial depression.[238] The surgery occurred on July 1, to give Cleveland time to make a full recovery in time for the upcoming Congressional session.[239] Under the guise of a vacation cruise, Cleveland and his surgeon, Dr. Joseph Bryant, left for New York. The surgeons operated aboard the Oneida, a yacht owned by Cleveland's friend E. C. Benedict, as it sailed off Long Island.[240] The surgery was conducted through the President's mouth, to avoid any scars or other signs of surgery.