Hearings on the Proposed Reorganization of the Navy Department Before the Committee on Naval Affairs of the House of Representatives [December 16, 1909 to February 17, 1910]

To insert before the word "manufacture," in the third line, the words "design and."

After the word "arms," in the fourth line, add the word "mounts." As amended, the paragraph will read:

"(1) The duties of the Bureau of Ordnance shall comprise all that relates to the Naval Gun Factory, torpedo station, naval proving ground, and magazines on shore, to the design and manufacture of offensive and defensive arms, mounts, and apparatus (including torpedoes), all ammunition, and war explosives. It shall require for or manufacture all machinery, apparatus, equipment, material, and supplies required by or for use with the above."

Paragraphs 5, 6, and 7 to be omitted.

Article 8, paragraph 1, to be amended as follows:

Strike out the fourth line and substitute therefor the words "and all that relates to the equipment of ships according to the bureau's allowance list from time to time in force."

Also omit all after the word "Ordnance," in the fifth line, and insert the following: "the Bureau of Steam Engineering, and the Bureau of Equipment as to all permanent fixtures which are already specified to be the special province of the above bureaus."

Also substitute for the word "already," in the next to the last line, the word "herein."

As amended the paragraph will read:

"(1) The duties of the Bureau of Construction and Repair shall comprise all that relates to designing, building, and repairing ships of the navy on plans approved by the Navy Department, and all that relates to the equipment of ships according to the bureau's allowance list from time to time in force. In doing this work it shall consult the Bureau of Ordnance, the Bureau of Steam Engineering, and the Bureau of Equipment as to all permanent fixtures which are herein specified to be the special province of the above bureaus."

Paragraph 2 to be omitted.

The omitted paragraph is as follows:

"(2) It shall also have charge of all public works at navy-yards, unless otherwise herein provided for."

Article 9, paragraph 1, to be omitted and the following substituted:

"(1) The duties of the Bureau of Steam Engineering shall comprise all that relates to the preparation of designs for and the building, installation, and repairing of machinery other than electric used for the propulsion of naval ships, and the supervision of the same; also steam pumps, steam heaters, distilling and refrigerating apparatus, and all steam connections of ships; it shall order the manufacture of all its equipage and supplies for ships as prescribed by the bureau's authorized allowance books and shall provide the same. It shall have cognizance of all that pertains to the engineering experiment station." Paragraph 3 to be omitted.

Article 10, paragraph 1, to be amended by adding the words "and property" after the word "money," in the third line, and after 'establishment" (sixth line) add the words "except as otherwise herein provided." As amended the paragraph will read:

"(1) The duties of the Bureau of Supplies and Accounts shall comprise all that relates to the supply of funds for disbursing officers and the keeping of the money and property accounts of the naval es

tablishment; the purchase, reception, storage, care, custody, transfer, shipment, and issue of all supplies, including coal and water, for the naval establishment, except as otherwise herein provided, and the keeping of a proper system of accounts for the same, except supplies for the Marine Corps and except the reception, storage, care, custody, transfer, and issue of medical supplies; the requiring for, preparing, or manufacture of provisions, clothing, and small stores; and the requiring for material under the naval supply fund." Paragraph 2 to be omitted.

Paragraph 3 to be omitted.

Paragraphs 4 and 5 to be renumbered 2 and 3.

New paragraph 3 to be amended as follows:

Strike out all words after "law," in the third line, the omitted words being "coming under the cognizance of those bureaus or branches." As amended the paragraph will read:

"(3) The cost of supplies purchased by this bureau for other bureaus or branches of the naval establishment shall be defrayed out of the appropriations provided therefor by law."

Two new paragraphs to be added, as follows:

(4) At navy-yards and naval stations having a pay officer or general storekeeper, the coaling plant and the supply and issue of water to naval vessels, together with the civilian personnel employed in connection therewith, shall be under its direction.

(5) It shall determine upon and supply all books and blanks for other departments used in connection with the Bureau of Supplies and

Accounts."

Article 11, paragraph 3, to be omitted.

Paragraph 4 to be omitted.

Paragraph 5 to be renumbered 3.

New paragraph 3 to be amended by the omission of the words "stores, stationery, blank books, forms," and the omitted words to be put under the general duties of bureaus in article 3. As amended the paragraph will read:

(3) It shall determine upon and require for all materials, instruments, means, and appliances of every kind used in the Medical Department for its own purposes, and shall have control of their inspection, storage, and preparation."

Article 13, paragraph 1, to be amended by inserting before the word "advertisements," in the fourth line, the word "such," and after the word "contracts," in the fifth line, add the words " as are signed by the Secretary of the Navy." As amended the paragraph will read:

"(1) It shall be the duty of the solicitor to examine and report upon questions of law, including the drafting and interpretation of statutes, and matters submitted to the accounting officers, not relating to the personnel; preparation of such advertisements, proposals, and contracts as are signed by the Secretary of the Navy; insurance; patents; the sufficiency of official, contract, and other bonds and guarantees; acquisition of and questions affecting lands; proceedings in the civil courts by or against the Government or its officers; claims by or against the Government; questions submitted to the Attorney-General; bills and congressional resolutions and inquiries not relating to the personnel and not elsewhere assigned; and to conduct the correspondence respecting the foregoing duties. Opin

ions relating to the personnel shall, when received, be referred by the solicitor to the Bureau of Navigation via the office of the JudgeAdvocate-General."

9. As the board believes the present plan may be improved in its details, and the precept contains the instructions that "it is not intended that the board shall now refrain from making any recommendations that will, in its opinion, increase the efficiency of the service under the present plan of reorganization and consolidation," a statement of general principles under which the subsequent chapters, and more particularly Chapter XXXVII, should be modified in order to conform to the changes recommended in Chapter I, under heading B, is submitted.

(1) It is necessary for the effective maintenance of the fleet, which must be the ultimate object of the whole naval establishment, that there shall be in the navy-yards the most intelligent comprehension of the conditions and necessities afloat, and that in the fleet the officers shall have an intimate knowledge of mechanical designs and processes, not only that they may properly maintain their ships in good order, but that in making reports as to betterments their suggestions may be intelligent and useful instead of impracticable. The reports received by the bureaus from the equipment, ordnance, and engineer officers of the ships are now recognized as being of the highest importance, and that these officers are capable is shown by the successful completion of the installation in the battle ships of the Atlantic Fleet of complicated fire-control systems, which were in many cases hardly more than begun; and, notably, by the effective maintenance of the motive power of the fleet during the voyage around the world with the aid of the limited resources of the repair ship Panther.

(2) If such conditions are to continue, as they should, in order that the fleet may keep the sea in the face of the enemy, it is necessary that sea officers shall have responsible duties in connection with the manufacture and repair of the operative devices of which they have charge at sea-engines, gun mounts, and generators-as distinguished from the hull and its permanent fittings, and the necessity of such dual training has been fully recognized by the detail of naval constructors for the cruise of the Atlantic Fleet. There is an urgent necessity and a wide field for the consolidation of similar classes of work in the navyyards and a reduction of the number of shops, but to associate dissimilar processes, such as are commonly separated in commercial practice, or to allow the lesser and simpler to absorb the greater and more important establishment must be detrimental. Since the experience of ten years has by a notable increase in efficiency justified the consolidation of a mechanical and operating corps with the line, and since line officers, in order to perfect themselves in their engineering, ordinance, and electrical duties in the fleet, have been freely asking to serve under officers to whom they are naturally and always subordinate, any consolidation which disturbs such conditions must lessen the efficiency of the sea officers in maintaining their ships. It is just as vital to be able to keep the sea now as it was in the days of Nelson. (3) The board recommends the following organization for navyyards and naval stations:

The commandant to be in entire control of every department, military and mechanical, under the instructions of the Navy Department alone.

The commandant to exercise direct control over the departments of the general storekeeper and of medicine and surgery.

For the purpose of coordinating all mechanical work, an officer to be ordered as executive who shall be the manager, with powers conforming to the provisions of section 1469 of the Revised Statutes. It shall by the duty of the executive to coordinate all mechanical work acting through the inspectors of public works (Y. and D.), ordnance, construction and repair, equipment, and machinery (S. E.).

The executive will have charge of all yard transportation, both land and water. He will keep one pay roll for all the labor employed, and after consulting the inspectors concerned will make such distribution of the force employed as may be most effective and will take on or discharge employees as may be expedient.

Each inspector will have charge of and be responsible for the planning, preparation of drawings, specifications, and estimates for and carrying to completion of all work placed under his charge.

(4) It is not believed that any one of the technical officers in charge of work in the navy-yard, burdened as he is by his own specialty, can properly coordinate the work as manager.

10. The disposition of the papers transmitted in the department's letter, and papers which have since been referred to the board, is indicated in the statement marked "E."

11. The composition of the subcommittees, appointed by the senior member to consider the divisions of the report and submit recommendations to the whole board is indicated in the statement marked "F," which is appended.

12. The record of the proceedings of the board is transmitted herewith.

Very respectfully,

C. S. SPERRY,

Rear-Admiral, U. S. Navy, Senior Member.

WM. S. COWLES,

Rear-Admiral, U. S. Navy, Retired, Member.
R. WAINWRIGHT,

Rear-Admiral, U. S. Navy, Member.
W. P. POTTER,

Rear-Admiral, U. S. Navy, Member.
N. E. MASON,

Rear-Admiral, U. S. Navy, Member.
JOHN K. BARTON,

Engineer in Chief, U. S. Navy, Retired, Member.

Paymaster-General, U. S. Navy, Member.

Chief Constructor, U. S. Navy, Member.
R. C. HOLLYDAY,

Civil Engineer, U. S. Navy, Member.

HUGO OSTERHAUS,

Captain, U. S. Navy, Member.

a See the reasons for dissent appended.

MINORITY REPORT OF THE BOARD ON REGULATIONS.

NAVY DEPARTMENT, Washington, D. C., May 7, 1909.

In conformity with paragraph 2, article 1630, Regulations for the Government of the Navy, 1909, the minority begs to submit its reasons for dissenting from the report of the majority:

The minutes of the proceedings of the board indicate clearly that the board decided to consider changes in Chapter I under two heads: First. Changes necessary "to reconcile existing discrepancies in Chapter I and any which may exist between the provisions of Chapter I and the general orders and memoranda issued by the Navy Department." The changes recommended under this section have been described in the minutes of the board as "Changes under Statement A."

Second. Changes which, in the opinion of the board, are necessary and desirable in order to carry out the provisions of that paragraph of the department's precept which reads as follows:

"At the same time it is not intended that the board shall refrain now from making any recommendation that will, in its opinion, increase the efficiency of the service under the present plan of reorganization and consolidation, and if the board believes that the present plan may be improved in its details recommendation will be made accordingly.

The reports of the subcommittee and the board, under this heading, are referred to in the proceedings as "Statement B."

The minority concurs in the recommendations of the majority under "Statement A," except as to paragraph 2, article 4; paragraph 2, article 8; and paragraph 1, article 9. With respect to these paragraphs the minority dissents from the conclusions and recommendations of the majority for the specific reason that, in its judgment, the changes recommended are not necessary or desirable to reconcile the existing discrepancies in Chapter I," as required by the department's precept of March 25, 1909, designating the board and outlining its duties.

Paragraph 2, article 4, as proposed by the majority, makes a radical change in the duties of the Bureau of Yards and Docks as originally provided in article 4 of the Navy Regulations of 1909, since the duties of the Bureau of Yards and Docks as prescribed in those Regulations are as follows:

"The duties of the Bureau of Yards and Docks shall include preparing the details of design and the specifications of all public works under the cognizance of the Navy Department and such other duties as may be required by existing law."

Moreover, paragraph 2, article 8, of the Navy Regulations of 1909, which article prescribes the duties of the Bureau of Construction and Repair, provides specifically as follows:

"It shall also have charge of all public works at navy-yards unless otherwise herein provided for."

It appears, therefore, to the minority that the action of the majority in omitting paragraph 2 of article 8 and adding to article 4 the new paragraph (par. 2), quoted below, can not possibly be construed as a reconciliation of conflicting instructions, but must be regarded as a specific transfer of duties from one bureau to another.

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Hearings on the Proposed Reorganization of the Navy Department Before the ...