 White's preliminary studies had led him to the conclusion a very large amount of coal would be needed to permit a high-speed pursuit of a commerce raider without losing time to re-coal, coupled with the large number of boilers needed to achieve the speed required, which meant that a very large ship was necessary, more than longer than the s then under construction.To ensure that the cruisers could maintain high speed in bad weather, White gave them a high freeboard which made them very seaworthy.White believed that the design required lightweight, efficient Belleville water-tube boilers if it was to achieve its requirements, but conservatives in Parliament and the Admiralty resisted the idea, given the RN's failures with water-tube boilers in the past, until extensive trials were conducted by the torpedo gunboat and proved to be a complete success.