34. The amount of powder delivered by the plants of the E. I. du Pont de Nemours Powder Co. during the fiscal year 1915 was as follows: Carneys Point.. Parlin.... Pounds. 1,376, 233 517, 943 1,218, 692 35. Owing to the increase in the output of the Indianhead powder factory, contracts for private manufacture of smokeless powder have been greatly reduced, and at the present time there is only one contract outstanding, amounting to 790,000 pounds, with the Carneys Point plant of the du Pont Co. The facilities for the production of smokeless powder and other explosives in the United States have been enormously increased owing to the demands of the belligerents for these materials. It has taken many months of time and enormous expenditures of money to develop these facilities, and their conservation for the benefit of the United States Government in time of war is a problem which will require the most careful consideration of the department when the European war is over and the present demand from abroad has ceased. 36. The record of the stabilized powders continues to be excellent, and the life of these powders is conservatively estimated at 15 years, and is probably 20 years or even more. Much work has been done during the past year toward replacing unstabilized powders afloat with stabilized powders. This replacement has been completed for the Asiatic Fleet and is expected to be completed for all ships in active service during the present fiscal year 37. The old unstabilized powders are used up for target-practice work so far as possible, being held in the meantime at the naval magazines on shore as a part of the war reserve. As their stability drops below the point considered suitable for issue to service, they are shipped to Indianhead for reworking. 38. The development of machines for regularly piling the grains of powder charges has been successful, and the service 14-inch charges of the Oklahoma and Nevada have been put up with grains regularly piled. It is the intention to regularly pile the service powder charges for all 14-inch guns and later to extend this practice to the charges for the 12-inch 50-caliber and 12-inch 45-caliber guns. 43. At the close of the fiscal year of 1915 the status of armor for new construction was as follows: 44. During the fiscal year contracts for approximately 24,500 tons, required for battleships Nos. 40, 41, and 42, have been let, and about 1 Except 530 tons, which should be delivered by Oct. 1, 1915. 4,330 tons of this armor have been delivered. It is estimated that the work on this armor has progressed to about 50 per cent of completion, and it is probable that all deliveries will be completed by the date on which the vessel for which the armor is intended is launched. 45. The following table will show the comparative prices paid for armor of the various classes for battleships Nos. 38, 39, 40, 41, and 42: 46. The committee appointed by Congress, consisting of Hon. B. R. Tillman, chairman of the Senate Naval Committee; Hon. L. P. Padgett, chairman of the Committee on Naval Affairs of the House of Representatives; and Rear Admiral Joseph Strauss, United States Navy, Chief of the Bureau of Ordnance, investigated the cost of erection of a Government armor plant and the probable cost of the production of armor at this plant. The report of this committee was sent to Congress at the close of the last session, and an amendment was made to the naval appropriation bill in the Senate making appropriation for the commencement of work on a Government armor plant. This amendment was stricken from the bill in conference. 47. The last of the new conning towers has been installed, and now all battleships subsequent to the Virginia class are equipped with modern combined fire-control and conning towers. 48. The experimental firing at inclined impacts has been continued during the past year, and a formula for penetration after oblique impact has been adduced which is considered accurate within reasonable limits. TORPEDOES. 49. Torpedoes under manufacture and not delivered are as follows: Of this number about 260 are completed and ready for delivery, except for final proof. 50. The bureau has appropriations available for 564 torpedoes, which will be ordered in time for new vessels for which they are required. 51. The manufacture of torpedoes at the Washington Navy Yard is progressing very satisfactorily. The first torpedoes of this order for 100 are completed and are being tested in the dynamometer tank. Owing to the nonreceipt of air-flask forgings which are now long overdue, these torpedoes will not be completed until the spring of 1916. The bureau will place an order with the Washington Navy Yard for 96 additional torpedoes. The bureau hopes to manufacture about 100 torpedoes per year at that yard. 52. The manufacturing plant at the torpedo station will be about doubled by January 1, 1916, and after this year the cutput of the station should be about 300 torpedoes per year. The torpedo station now has orders for 590 torpedoes, as compared with 290 one year ago. 53. Owing to the increased demands of a continually growing Navy, i. e., new vessels carrying torpedoes going into commission each year, and all old vessels carrying torpedoes remaining in commission, either in active service or in reserve, the demands of the torpedo station as to repairing and ranging torpedoes for the fleet and the issuing of torpedo stores to the fleet are increasing very rapidly. 54. New demands will also be made on the torpedo station in ranging and preparing for issue, when needed in case of war, a reserve of torpedoes which is rapidly accumulating at that place. 55. The west coast torpedo station will be in operation early next spring, which will relieve the torpedo station somewhat in ranging and keeping ready for issue the reserve torpedoes. The wharf and building on end of wharf are now completed, and the main administration building, storehouse, testing house, power plant, etc., will be completed about December 1, 1915. 56. The question of ranging and keeping ready for issue when required in case of war a large reserve of torpedoes will be an additional task for this bureau, which will require larger ranging facilities. The bureau has requested one additional barge for the torpedo station. An additional barge will probably be required for testing torpedoes of Washington Navy Yard manufacture at the mouth of the Potomac River. 57. During the last year the bureau has replaced torpedoes on 12 battleships and 5 destroyers with later marks of torpedoes. 58. The Montana has been performing most efficient work in training torpedo personnel, both officers and men, and in conducting experiments with torpedoes and tubes as outlined by the bureau. It is absolutely necessary to have a well-trained torpedo personnel in order to obtain satisfactory results with modern long-range automobile torpedoes. This vessel should not be diverted from this duty except in cases of great emergency. MINES. 59. The Norfolk Navy Yard is now well established in the manufacture of mines. It will have delivered the first half of its entire contract by October, and by that time the rate of manufacture will be doubled and the bureau will have the entire number of mines called for in the department's scheme in the early spring. Ships have already been outfitted with this new type of mine and it is found to be wholly satisfactory. 60. A considerable number of floating mines have been manufactured at the torpedo station and promising tests have been made with them. The design for this mine has been worked out at the torpedo station, and while the problem is apparently a simple one it has taken nearly two years of experimental work to achieve any degree of success. 61. Both in torpedo and mine design the bureau has been hampered by an inadequate drafting force at the torpedo station. Estimates have been submitted for increasing this force in order that the following work may be undertaken and pushed to completion: (a) Design a standard torpedo for battleships and destroyers. (b) Design a 21-inch short-range torpedo for submarines of the next building program. (c) Design a short-range torpedo to replace worn-out torpedoes on submarines of the A and B classes on the Asiatic Station. AIR COMPRESSORS FOR DESTROYERS. 62. Beginning with No. 63, the bureau has provided two air compressors for each destroyer. Destroyers Nos. 17 to 62 each carry from six to eight torpedoes and each have but one air compressor on board. These are high-speed, lightly constructed machines which require considerable attention and are frequently under repairs. In order that destroyers may at all times have one air compressor for charging torpedoes it is considered absolutely necessary that each destroyer be provided with two air compressors; this will require the purchase of 46 additional air compressors. MINING. 63. In November last the department ordered an additional officer to the Bureau of Ordnance to take charge of the whole subject of mining and mine sweeping. The necessity of having an officer attached to the department to organize and handle this increasingly important subject has been evident for some time. Its status then was as follows: 64. The San Francisco was in commission as a mine depot ship carrying Mark II mines and fitted for laying them. Mine laying had been practiced by that vessel from the time of her commissioning. The Baltimore was at Charleston, being fitted out as a mine layer, with date of commissioning not decided upon. Four tugs had been provided with mine sweeps, with temporary and improvised fittings. Two of these tugs had landed their gear. The destroyer flotilla was in possession of five sets of sweeps to be used by destroyers, with improvised fittings. Mine laying and sweeping had been practiced in Pensacola Bay by the San Francisco and tugs in November and December, 1913. The mining company of the marines had practiced mine laying for advanced base work. Mine sweeping was tried with the destroyers at Culebra in January and February, 1914. 65. Since that date the Dubuque has been fitted out as a mine layer and mine instruction ship. Six old torpedo vessels are being equipped for sweeping. A mining division has been formed in the fleet. All capital ships are being provided with sweeping sets. All destroyers are being fitted for sweeping. A mine-sweeping manual has been prepared and submitted to the fleet for comment. A list of steam fishing vessels of over 100 tons has been prepared and their owners communicated with, and arrangements have been made for their inspection with a view to their utilization as mine sweepers in time. of war. These vessels are now being inspected. Recommendations have been made and approved that six gunboats be fitted for mine sweeping. Portable mine-laying tracks have been ordered for one division of destroyers in each of the fleets. These tracks are to be carried in the destroyer tender, to be shifted to the destroyers when necessity arises. Mine-laying tracks have been authorized for 11 vessels of the cruiser class. During the summer extensive exercises have been conducted in mine laying and sweeping in the fleet, and in general it may be said that the whole subject has been made active and progressive. * FIRE-CONTROL AND OPTICAL INSTRUMENTS. 80. Developments in fire control during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1915, have been along the same lines as during previous years, with added emphasis attaching to developments of methods of keeping the range. 81. As the fighting ranges increase, the necessity of a simple yet efficient means of keeping the range becomes more pressing, and the bureau has experimental instruments under construction which it is hoped will aid materially in the solution of this problem. 82. Large range finders mounted in turrets are proving satisfactory and give more consistent results than those mounted in the open, due to their protection from sudden changes of temperature. The advantages of mounting range finders in this way, from the point of view of protection, are obvious. All turrets of new ships are being equipped with range finders, and the type of visual transmitting system adopted for use with the range finders on the California class is believed to be an improvement over previous systems as regards reliability and legibility of indications. 83. Experiments have been conducted during the year with the Fiske horizometer, with the idea of obtaining data as to the relative. efficiency of an instrument using a known vertical height on a distant object as a base line, as compared to the self-contained range finder. Results of these experiments seem to show that each type of instrument has advantages under certain conditions. Sufficient data have not yet been collected to determine the advisability of supplying the horizometer as part of the fire control outfit of the battle fleet. 84. The development of gun-sight telescopes has been very rapid in recent years, and the design of new types of telescopes to meet new conditions has led to considerable complication. There are now too many different designs of telescopes in service. This makes it difficult to keep proper number of spares available. An effort is being made to reduce the number of designs in service to a minimum, thus giving greater flexibility to the telescope supply and reducing the number of spares necessary. Steps have already been taken by the bureau to include spare telescopes in the contract for the instruments for each particular ship. SPECIAL BOARD ON NAVAL ORDNANCE. 85. The special board on naval ordnance, besides supervising and reporting upon experiments instituted by the bureau, is charged with the careful consideration of all inventions presented and suggested by inventors throughout the country. The magnitude of this task allotted to the board in this respect may be shown by the fol 23871°-Ab. 1915-vol 1-58 |