The estimates that have been submitted to Congress of funds necessary for the support of the navy during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1903 amount to $98,910,984.63 of which nearly twenty nine million or about one third are for the maintenance, equipment and extension of the yards, stations and other reservations.
While the building of vessels of the new navy commenced nearly twenty years ago, it was not until the early nineties that appropriations for the yards began to be sufficient to permit of extensive improvements being made. As a result, the development of the naval establishment ashore has been behind that of the fleet, at least ten years. Within the past five years, however, the liberal appropriations that have been made by Congress have worked a transformation and rapid progress is now being made in furnishing the yards with modern docks, buildings and other facilities that will soon enable them if the appropriations continue to care for the wants of all of the new vessels. A ratio to be followed of naval expenditures ashore to those afloat might be fixed with advantage, so that any increase in one would be accompanied simultaneously and with a corresponding change in the other.
At the regular repair and working yards, expenditures for public works, repairs and maintenance are under the cognizance of the Bureau of Yards and Docks. Other bureaus have their own appropriations available for civil establishment, machinery and similar objects. A comparison of the appropriations for the last ten years will indicate the growth of the yards during that period.
Recent appropriations have been made for the construction of seven masonry dry docks of a steel floating dock and the rebuilding of one timber dock in concrete, a large number of modern fire proof buildings have been erected, water and drainage systems have been provided, streets have been paved, wharves and quay walls built, the buildings and streets have been lighted with electricity, telephones have been installed, railroad tracks laid and connected with outside lines, these and many other improvements have been carried out. The total value of real estate, buildings and other structures, chattels and machinery at the different yards, as given by appraisement in 1899 was as follows:
The boundaries of several of the yards as originally fixed did not contemplate the performance of such a quantity of work as the yards are now called upon to do and they are therefore becoming more and more cramped for room. New York, Norfolk and Washington are suffering most in this respect and there are practically no available building sites remaining in these yards and unless property adjacent to them is acquired the growth of these yards will be checked. The estimates for 1903 include $2,535,000 for the purchase of additional land for those yards. The following table gives the size and other data in regard to the different yards and stations:
The appropriations made for shore stations may be classed under the following principal heads:
1. Civil Establishment, which includes the pay of permanent employees.
2. Contingent, which provides for unforeseen expenses.
3. Maintenance, which includes running expenses such as fuel, light, watchman, etc.
4. Repairs and Preservation, which includes ordinary repairs to buildings and other structures.
5. Public Works, which includes all appropriations for new works including buildings, docks, etc.
Each bureau has its own civil establishment and contingent fund. Appropriations under the other three heads are made to the Bureau of Yards and Docks alone. “Maintenance “and “Repairs " are general funds to be expended for the improvement of the station and for the different departments in proportion to their needs. The demands upon maintenance naturally increase both with the growth of the naval establishment and with the amount of work being done at the yards. The amount that must be spent for repairs in order to keep the property in an efficient condition is a percentage of the total value of the existing improvements and is naturally increasing with the growth of the navy yards.
The appropriations for public works are made by Congress for specified improvements and cannot be diverted from the purpose thus fixed by law. It is interesting to compare the appropriations for the last three years and the estimates for 1903, both for the different yards and for the different departments
at each of the larger yards, to ascertain the lines of development. In making this classification the eight larger working yards only are included and each department has been charged only with such structures as it has exclusive use of. Improvements for the benefit of two or more departments, such as quay walls, grading, water systems, etc., have been classified under the heading "General Improvements."
GENERAL IMPROVEMENTS
In the same way there may be tabulated the number of buildings used at the different yards by each department, the approximate floor area occupied and the value of the buildings, as giving an indication of the relative importance of the yards and the requirements of the different departments. The figures given include all buildings for which appropriations have been made, whether the buildings have been erected or not but do not include the buildings estimated for 1903.
The figures given under the column headed "floor area" are based upon the outside dimensions of the buildings and do not exclude partitions. Where a department occupies only a portion of a building it has been credited with one building under the column headed "No." but only the actual area occupied has been charged against it in the adjoining column.
Among the most extensive improvements that are being carried on at the different yards are the construction of dry docks and coaling plants. In 1898 an appropriation was made for four dry docks to be located at the Portsmouth, Boston, League Island and Mare Island navy yards. The appropriation was made for timber dry docks but under authority given the Secretary of the Navy, two were afterwards changed to concrete and stone and in 1900 Congress authorized the same change being made in the other two, so that all four will be masonry. These docks are larger in every way than the docks previously built. At the Portsmouth yard the excavation for the dock was made from solid rock, which is being lined with cut granite laid in concrete. This dock is about 42 per cent completed. At the Boston yard the new dock rests upon a hard-pan bottom without piling. The dock is of heavy concrete construction with a granite lining. It is now 45 per cent completed. One contractor is building the League Island and Mare Island docks, and work on these docks has been somewhat delayed pending negotiations as to increased compensation on account of changing the material of the docks from timber to concrete and stone. The League Island dock rests on natural bottom without piling and consists of monolithic concrete, with granite lining over a portion of the interior. This dock is 20 per cent completed. The Mare Island dock will be supported on piles and be made of concrete with some granite on the interior. The dock is also about 20 per cent completed. With the construction of these docks the Government has definitely committed itself to masonry in preference to the timber docks, which have been found to become unserviceable after a comparatively few years, unless a considerable outlay is made for repairs.
The cross-section of the new docks approximates that of the timber docks, which will afford good working light and air at the bottom and overcomes one of the objections that has been made to docks of this type. The altar design includes about a dozen steps at the bottom having a rise of one foot and a tread averaging about a foot. Above these steps, the altars are 2 or 3 feet broad and the risers, about 6 feet Appended are the principal dimensions of the new docks:
At the same time the above docks were authorized, Congress appropriated $850,000 for a steel floating dock at Algiers, now named the New Orleans Naval Station. This dock was built at Baltimore and towed to the station in November, 1901. It was tested in January, 1902, by successfully docking the battleship Illinois.
Another series of stone and concrete docks has been authorized by Congress consisting of one dock at New York to cost $1,000,000, one at Norfolk to cost $1,200,000 and one at the new Charleston Navy Yard, to cost $1,250,000. The plans for these docks have been nearly completed and it is expected
contracts will be made for their construction early in the spring. These docks will be even larger as regards depth and width than any that have been constructed in this country. With the exception
of the New York dock, which will be entirely of concrete, they will be of concrete with a granite lining. A number of improvements have been embodied in them in order to increase their efficiency. When they are completed the New York yard will have four dry docks and there will be no room for future dock construction. The Norfolk yard will have three docks and all available building room will likewise have been exhausted.
The pumps for the new docks are of the centrifugal type, electrically operated from a central power plant. The total cost of the eight (including Algiers) docks will be about $8,500,000. The estimates for 1903 include $500,000 for the construction of a steel floating dry dock for the Portsmouth Navy Yard to replace the present wooden floating dry dock which has been used for the last fifty years, $160,000 for lengthening the old stone dock at the Boston yard and also $1,000,000 for a masonry dock at the San Juan Naval Station. In July, 1901, the Government purchased from the Spanish Government the steel floating dry dock in the harbor of Havana for $195,000. This dock has a capacity of 10,000 tons and is being overhauled and repaired preparatory to towing it to the Philippine Islands. In 1899 the Government acquired by purchase a wooden floating dock having a capacity of 2200 gross tons, which is now stationed at the Pensacola Navy Yard.
In the way of coaling plants, there have been recently constructed sheds and coaling machinery at the New London, Key West and Dry Tortugas stations and at the Mare Island Navy Yard having a total capacity of over 50,000 tons. These plants are of the type in which coal is stored in a shed upon the water front and is conveyed to and fro by means of a power shovel running on a large overhead tramway or bridge. Within the past year contracts have been entered into for coaling plants at the Portsmouth, Boston, New York, Washington and Puget Sound navy yards, which will have when completed a capacity of more than sixty thousand tons. League Island and Norfolk will also soon be provided with coaling plants. Arrangements have been made for improving the coaling facilities at the
San Juan Naval Station. The Tutuila Naval Station has a coal shed of 5000 tons capacity and steps are being taken to double this capacity.
In all of the plants that are now being built the coal rests upon a floor raised from the ground so that coal can be drawn through valves in the floor from any portion of the bottom of the pile. To avoid the danger of ignition, the height to which coal is stored in the sheds is limited to 20 feet. The new plants
have been designed to meet the necessities of modern war vessels so as to allow coaling to proceed at a very high speed, as fast as it can be stored in the vessels' bunkers. At most of the yards coal will be chuted directly aboard the vessel by gravity. The plants will be provided with a large number of new and improved devices designed to reduce the labor and discomfort of coaling ship to a minimum, as well as the cost of handling the coal.
The proper care and preservation of torpedo vessels has become an important matter for which adequate facilities must be provided. In April, 1901, a board was appointed by the Department
to consider the question and to recommend the yards at which facilities should be provided. It was recommended that suitable rendezvous for the accommodation of torpedo-boats "in commission in active service" and "in commission in reserve" be established at the Portsmouth Grove Coaling Depot, the Norfolk Navy Yard, the Charleston Navy Yard, the Pensacola Navy Yard and the Mare Island Navy Yard. The board recommended that wet basins only be constructed at first but as soon as funds become available that a locking-up basin with dry stalls sufficient to accommodate a group of eight boats for each rendezvous, be built. The report was approved and the construction of slips has commenced at the Norfolk Navy Yard, to be followed by plants at the other yards named as soon as funds become available. The estimates for 1903 include $2,125,000, for plants for the care of torpedo vessels. To provide for additional torpedo vessels, the following places were recommended in the sequence named, whenever additional rendezvous should become necessary:
ATLANTIC AND GULF COASTS
In the vicinity of Rockland, Me.
In the vicinity of Fernandina, Fla.
In the western part of the Gulf Coast.
In the lower Delaware River.
In the vicinity of Tampa, Fla.
In the vicinity of Wilmington, Del.
In the lower Mississippi River.
ON THE PACIFIC COAST
Navy Yard, Puget Sound.
In the vicinity of San Diego, Cal.
To provide additional facilities for hauling out torpedo vessels at working navy yards, locking-up basins and dry slips were also recommended to be constructed at the Boston and New York navy yards.
Some of the more important improvements projected at the different yards may be briefly enumerated as follows:
At the Portsmouth Navy Yard bids have been received for the removal of Henderson's Point, a rocky ledge jutting out from Seavey's Island, which is a menace to navigation between the yard and the lower harbor. The lowest bid for the removal of the point for a distance of 350 feet to a depth of 35 feet below mean low water is $749,000 and the work will be undertaken as soon as Congress acts favorably. The department of steam engineering has been assigned a plat of ground on Seavey's Island near the entrance to the dry dock for a group of buildings to be erected for its use. At the Boston yard the recent relocation of the Harbor Commissioners' line in front of the yard has permitted the building out of a number of wooden wharves, which largely increases the berthing room for vessels at the yard. A number of large new buildings are under contract for the departments of construction and repair, equipment and yards and docks.
At the New York yard the development of Cob Dock Island, to increase the berthing room for vessels is being carried on as fast as the appropriations for new piers will permit. In December, 1901, the War Department approved the change in the pier head and bulkhead line in front of Cob Dock, which had been requested by the Secretary of the Navy. The new bulkhead line is an arc of a circle of 3500 feet radius and is situated from 300 to 400 feet farther out in the stream than the pier-head line which
has governed during the past eleven years. There has thus been added to the area of the yard available for either berthing vessels or for building piers, about 12 acres, without cost to the Navy
Department. At present there is nothing more needed at the New York yard than more wharf room and with this new jurisdiction line at least seven piers having an aggregate berthing room of about nine thousand feet can be built out into the East River from the Cob Dock. The main part of the New York yard has been entirely built up and unless the yard limits are extended, any future growth must be on Cob Dock Island. An appropriation has been available for two years to construct a bridge of the bascule or uplifting type over the Wallabout Channel to render the Cob Dock more accessible but on account of the increased difficulties to navigation that would be caused thereby to large vessels through the channel, which is not straight at this point, its construction has been deferred. One of the projects under advisement for execution after the new piers have been built on the Cob Dock, is to connect Whitney Basin directly with the East River by a channel of sufficient width for easy
navigation, the opening to be spanned by a bascule bridge. This would then become the main entrance for large vessels to Whitney Basin and to the dry docks and objections to the construction
of a bridge across Wallabout Channel would be removed. One new pier is being built 500 feet long, on which the new coal shed and coal handling machinery will be erected. The proposed new piers, if built out to the new bulkhead line, will vary in length from about 500 feet at the northeast end of the island to 750 feet at the southwest end. With these new piers the New York yard will be able to provide berths for nearly double the number of vessels it does at present, and the improvement is one that is very much needed. This new construction on Cob Dock will also tend to check any further attempts to legislate away from the jurisdiction of the Navy Department a portion of the east end of the island, bills for which have been introduced at each of the recent sessions of Congress.
At League Island Navy Yard the extension of the reserve basin, including the building of a retaining wall around the dredged basin, constitute an important portion of the work being there. The reserve basin as planned will have a depth of thirty feet at mean low water and the south side will be provided with a number of piers, inclined towards the entrance to permit easy ingress. The recent relocation of the Harbor Commissioners' line along the Delaware River front will permit of the extension of the piers already built and of those proposed.
In regard to some of the stations which have been recently established, the New Orleans Naval Station, which is situated on the Mississippi River opposite the city of New Orleans has a water frontage of about 1200 feet. The property has a depth of about 3000 feet. Buildings are being constructed for the departments of construction and repair and steam engineering. The purchase of additional land east of the present property has been authorized by Congress, and condemnation proceedings instituted for property that will increase the water front to about 4200 feet. As soon as the Government can secure possession of this land, improvements will be undertaken upon it.
Congress authorized by Act of March 3, 1901, the transfer of the Port Royal Naval Station to a site upon the Cooper River about six miles above the city of Charleston, to be known as the Navy Yard, Charleston, S. C. The Government secured title, by negotiations conducted with the owners of the various tracts of land, to about 429 acres for the main part of the yard and 760 acres of marsh land at a cost of $84,207. Negotiations are now being made for the purchase of about a thousand acres of marsh land on the east bank of the Cooper River opposite the Charleston Navy Yard. A general plan for the development of this station was prepared by a board, which provides for the construction
of two dry docks and a torpedo-boat rendezvous, together with such storehouses and other structures as are necessary for a yard of the size on which this yard has been laid out. The plans of the board have received the general approval. Of the Department and it is proposed to commence the construction of one dry dock and a torpedo-boat rendezvous this spring, to be followed by such other structures as there are funds available, the balance of the Port Royal appropriations having been transferred to Charleston with the station. It is the intention to make Port Royal a training station hereafter., The dry dock has been declared out of commission and not worthy of repair. During
the winter a group of torpedo-boats has been moored in the dry dock basin.
Estimates amounting to $2,613,000 for public works for the Naval Station, San Juan, P. R., have been submitted to Congress, which include a masonry dry dock costing $1,000,000, an extension of coaling facilities costing $200,000 and purchase of land amounting to $500,000. These improvements were recommended by a board authorized by Act of March 3, 1901, to make an examination of available locations in Porto Rico and recommend a site for establishing a naval station. The site recommended
is in the harbor of San Juan and includes a portion of the present navy yard. The public lands upon the peninsula forming the new naval station site have been allotted to the Navy Department as a part of the station, by executive proclamation. The land owned by individuals must be secured through negotiation or condemnation proceedings.
Estimates for the Naval Station Tutuila, Samoa, amount to $108,000, and include $30,000 for grading and filling and $35,000 for the purchase of land upon which to build an extension to the coaling plant. The station at present consists practically of only a coal shed and pier. A residence for the commandant is under construction. Included in the estimates for the coming year are those for officers' quarters, a court house, a telephone system and water works and accessories. It is not the intention at present to begin the construction of any repair shops.
At Guam no public works are contemplated aside from the building of roads. The estimates amount to $12,300.
In the Philippine Islands the presence of a large fleet will require extensive appropriations for several years. Congress authorized in 1901 the examination of the Philippine Islands with a view to establishing a naval station. The board recommended Olongapo in Subig Bay, Isle of Luzon, as a suitable site, and a board was appointed to draw up a plan for laying out a naval station, together with an estimate of cost of same. The board's estimate of the cost of this station is between six and seven
millions, and estimates have been submitted to Congress for $1,443,000 to commence carrying out the board's recommendations.
While it is contemplated to make Olongapo the principal repair station in the Philippine waters, considerable work will always be done at the naval station which is at Cavite and it is considered necessary to expend during the coming year $381,000 in order to make needed improvements there.
It has been impossible in an article of this length, to trace in detail the growth of the different yards or touch upon many interesting phases of their development. The changes in ship construction due to the substitution of metal for wood have been accompanied with corresponding changes in navy yard conditions that it has been necessary to meet. Whatever the future brings forth, the growth of the yards should be sufficient to enable them to keep all of the vessels of the navy in a state of preparedness for active service.