The United States Navy also became interested in the potential of underway replenishment. Lacking a similar collier fleet and network of coaling stations, and embarking on a large naval expansion, the Navy began conducting experiments in 1899 with a system devised by Spencer Miller and the Lidgerwood Manufacturing Company of New York. His device kept a cable suspended between the two ships taut, with a quick-release hook that could travel up and down the line with the use of a winch. The first test of the device involved the collier and battleship .