(2) The safety valves of the boilers of steamboats will be examined whenever steam is raised after an interval of more than seven days not under steam. The condition of the safety valves, water gauges, check valves, etc., will be ascertained from time to time while the machinery is working. Great care will be taken to keep these important fittings in a thoroughly efficient condition.

(3) Salt water will not be used in the boilers of steamboats except in cases of great emergency, and after its use the boilers will be scaled and cleaned as soon as possible.

(4) The time that steamboats have been under steam will be entered in the steam log.

(5) Under no circumstances will the height of water in locomotive boilers be less than three inches over the crown sheets.

(6) Unless it is expected that the machinery of steamboats will be used again in a few days, the wearing surfaces of cylinders and valve chests will be cleaned and lightly coated with mineral oil, and the engines made ready for use. All drain cocks should be kept open and the engines, valves, pumps, etc., moved every day. (7) Strainers on sea-valve openings of steamboats will be kept clear, and receiving pipes of circulating and air pumps examined and cleaned annually, or more frequently, if necessary.

(8) The boilers of steamboats will be frequently examined, internally and externally. Especial attention will be paid to the furnace. (9) In boilers fitted with removable stays or braces, great care will be taken to replace them properly when they have been taken out. The boiler will be tested by hydraulic pressure after the stays have been replaced. The reasons for removing the stays and the result of the test will be entered in the steam log.

1621. (1) In consequence of the lightness of construction and the high speeds at which torpedo-boat engines run, increased care is necessary in attending to and adjusting the various working parts. Mineral oil only will be used in the cylinders, and that sparingly and only at high speeds, as no lubricant is, as a rule, necessary at moderate speeds. Oil will not be put into the cylinders when it is probable that the engines will soon be stopped.

(2) Vedette torpedo boats may continue to run at moderate speed for at least thirty days without changing the water in the boiler. Should, however, a long run at high speed be anticipated, the boiler will be washed out and refilled before starting. With new boilers it may be necessary to change water several times until they are quite clean.

(3) Vedette torpedo boats will be run for three hours, for the purpose of instruction of the men, once in each quarter.

1622. (1) After using air-compressing machinery, great care will be taken to see that the engines, pumps, separators, charging columns, and reservoirs are blown out and well drained.

(2) A spare set of cup-washers will always be kept ready for immediate use.

(3) All parts of the machinery subject to pressure will be tested to the full pressure once each year and the fact noted in the steam log. (4) The oil for lubricating the internal parts will be neatsfoot when the cups are of leather, or, if that can not be obtained, other animal oils or castor oil will be used.

(5) Cup leather washers must be kept in tins filled with castor oil. (6) Distilled water should be used for lubricating the internal parts of the pumps, if it can be obtained; water containing lime must not be used.

(7) Owing to the small clearances allowed in air-compressor pumps, great care must be used in adjusting the bearings.

Hydraulic ma

1623. (1) The hydraulic pumps, engines, pipes, and the gear connected therewith will frequently be examined, kept in good chinery. order and clear of water when not being worked.

(2) The hydraulic engines will be moved at least twice a month by means of the pumps fitted for the purpose, to prevent the rams becoming set and to insure their efficiency.

(3) When water must necessarily remain in the pipes, the air cocks will be left open; stoves will be used if there is any danger of freezing.

Ships going

sion.

1624. (1) When a ship is ordered out of commission, the iron or steel bright work of the machinery, except such parts as pass through out of commisstuffing boxes, or upon sliding surfaces (as piston rods, valve stems, slide and guide faces and journals), shall be covered with white lead and tallow.

(2) Packing shall not be removed from piston rods or valve stems. (3) All parts passing through stuffing boxes or working upon their surfaces, such as piston rods, valve stems, guide and slide faces, clutch coupling slides, interiors of steam cylinders and valve chests, must be cleaned and covered with a coating of vaseline, the machinery being moved after first application so as to bring all these parts upon properly covered surfaces.

(4) All bearings must be well oiled and the oil holes plugged with waste, the engines being turned one complete revolution after oiling.

(5) All water-containing parts of the machinery inside of outboard valves shall be thoroughly drained. Particular attention should be paid to draining of pump cylinders; condensers; feed, blow, and suction pipes; fire main, and all steam and exhaust piping where it is possible for water to gather. In draining these pipes, flange joints should be broken at the lowest parts of each system and wherever a pocket is formed which is not drained by a proper drain pipe. Outboard valve casings below valve seats must be covered where possible with nonconducting material, such as sawdust or manure, temporarily boxed in.

(6) The gauges and oil cups will not be removed.

(7) The sea valves must be closed and properly secured. (8) The storerooms must be cleaned.

12326-25

CHAPTER XXXII.

PRESERVATION AND REPAIRS OF SHIPS.

SECTION 1.-REPAIRS.

Report of bu

1625. Whenever it shall come to the knowledge of a chief of bureau that the condition of any ship in commission, in respect to reau. matters under the bureau's cognizance, is such that the ship requires repairs or alterations, he shall report the fact to the Department with his recommendation.

1626. (1) The captain of a ship shall report to the Department Report of capwhen the condition of the ship under his command is such as to tain. require repairs or alterations in one or more departments beyond the capacity of the enlisted force available; and such report shall always be submitted, without delay, when there is a probability that the vessel under his command is to be sent to a navy yard.

(2) Such report shall show, on one or more separate sheets for each bureau, the vessel from which it came; the place from which sent, and date; the bureau under whose cognizance the work falls; the items of work classified, as directed in paragraph 3; and the signature of the captain. These sheets shall be fastened together in such manner as to be easily detached, and shall be forwarded to the Department with a single letter of transmittal, upon which shall be indorsed the opinion of the forwarding officer: If at a navy yard, the commandant shall refer the separate sheets for each bureau to the head of the department concerned for an indorsement of an estimate of time and cost, and shall forward them to the Department, with his own opinion indorsed upon the letter of transmittal. After the report has been considered as a whole by the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, the part relating to each bureau shall be referred to it for recommendation.

(3) The items of work under each bureau shall be stated in four classes: First, immediate repairs necessary for cruising efficiency, for the prevention of deterioration, or for sanitary considerations; second, further repairs which it is desirable to have made whenever the services of the ship can be spared for a sufficient length of time; third, necessary alterations; and, fourth, alterations desirable but not necessary. In each case the reason for asking for the work shall be stated.

(4) Whenever reports of needed repairs are sent from ships in the Pacific to the Department, with or without drawings and specifications of work to be done, a duplicate of the report, with all the drawings and specifications, if any, shall be forwarded by the same mail to the navy yard, Mare Island.

(5) Captains shall be ready at all times to forward immediately, when called for, statements of work in all departments needed upon the ships under their command, or their equipage.

(6) The captain shall, upon the arrival of the vessel at a navy yard, submit to the commandant a report of all repairs and alter

Action in Department.

Emergency.

authorized.

ations which are necessary at that time, and which have not been previously reported; together with a memorandum of the repairs and alterations previously reported as necessary and still pending, all in the form required by paragraph 3. This report and memorandum shall be forwarded to the Department.

1627. When the part of the report referred to in article 1626, paragraph 2, has been received by a chief of a bureau, he shall indorse thereon his recommendation and return it to the Assistant Secretary. If the circumstances make it expedient, the Assistant Secretary as representing the Department will order the repairs to be made, with or without survey, as the case may require.

1628. (1) In cases of actual emergency, where a ship is lying at a yard, the commandant, or, in case of a ship not lying at a yard, the senior officer present, is authorized to make any repairs that the emergency requires, reporting immediately to the Department the steps taken and the reasons therefor. The reasons must show that an emergency existed

(2) Repairs to vessels shall be made, as far as possible, by the force of the ship, and the mechanics belonging to other ships present may be employed to assist.

No repairs to 1629. (1) Repairs of ships other than those mentioned in article be made unless 1628 shall be confined to what has been specifically authorized by the Department, with the understanding that such authorization carries with it authority to do whatever work is necessary to execute the Department's instructions. Those concerned in the direction of the work are expected to exercise a reasonable discretion, but no additions to or material variations from the prescribed items shall be made without authority from the Department. Under no circumstances, except those of justifiable emergency, shall alterations be made without such authority.

(2) The bureaus shall keep in their files accurate drawings of every ship in the Navy, covering all parts under the bureau's cognizance. Copies of the drawings of iron and steel ships shall also be kept in the offices of heads of departments at all working yards, and every change made in the ships shall be filed at the bureau, and deposited at the corresponding office in the yards.

Supplementary 1630. If it shall appear at any time after a survey has been made reports of re- that material changes in the work or further repairs are necessary, quired repairs. the officer to whose knowledge the fact shall come, whether an officer of the yard or captain of the ship, shall report without delay to the commandant, who shall report to the Assistant Secretary.

Report of repairs.

1631. (1) From the date of the receipt of an order for repairs or an approved survey the commandant shall furnish to the Department a weekly report of such repairs, which need not be in greater detail than shall be directed by the several chiefs of bureaus, but which shall state the manner in which the mechanics and laborers are performing their work, specifying the names of such employees as are not efficient and industrious.

(2) Whenever articles for which requisition has been made are noted as not having been received the commandant shall, before transmitting the report to the Department, cause the general storekeeper to append a statement as to whether such articles are in store, and if not, the dates upon which they are to be delivered, and the cause of delay of articles overdue.

(3) The commandant shall furnish to the captain of the ship every Monday morning a copy of his weekly report of repairs.