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MINE SWEEPERS.

The CHAIRMAN. You have 16 mine sweepers. Is there any further need for mine sweepers?

Admiral COONTZ. The same statement goes as to them. The Secretary has determined within the past week that they would be reduced to 10-4 in the Atlantic, 4 in the Pacific, and 2 in the Asiatic

waters.

The CHAIRMAN. The amount is $172,124 for mine sweepers; is that right?

Capt. LEUTZE. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. How many mine sweepers do you take off?
Admiral CoONTZ. Four.

The CHAIRMAN. So you take off four-sixteenths, or one-quarter? Capt. LEUTZE. Yes; and for the six months that would be about $43,000.

The CHAIRMAN. You are only figuring on six months as to all these figures, are you not?

Capt. LEUTZE. Yes; from January 1 to June 30.

Mr. KELLEY. In your fleet maneuvers, and work of that sort, are these a part of the outfit?

Admiral COONTZ. They are; we use them with the fleet.

Mr. KELLEY. Do you take them to Guantanamo?

Admiral COONTZ. Yes, sir. Most of them are in the Pacific; they are at Honolulu, and in Asiatic waters we keep them in Cavite, or in places like that, when we do not otherwise use them. Mr. KELLEY. What I am getting at is this: In your fleet maneuvers do you depend on these mine sweepers and mine layers?

Admiral COONTZ. No, sir; they are not absolutely dependent upon them, and the only reason we keep this number is to keep somebody who knows how to do the job, and we have found out that we must do that as a part of the regular work of the Navy.

AIRCRAFT TENDERS.

The CHAIRMAN. You have, for example, aircraft tenders. Are you still going to continue the two you have?

Admiral CoONTZ. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. The estimate for oil is $67,021. Then you have one aircraft carrier. Of what does that consist?

Secretary DENBY. That is the Langley, one experimental aircraft carrier, and that is in service now.

REPAIR, STORE, AND TOWING SHIPS.

The CHAIRMAN. Then you have two repair ships.
Secretary DENBY. They are invaluable.

The CHAIRMAN. They go with the fleet?

Secretary DENBY. Yes, sir; and more and more they are saving money by making the repairs that are possible at sea.

The CHAIRMAN. You have four store ships. What do they do? Capt. LEUTZE. They carry principally fresh provisions and also general stores.

The CHAIRMAN. Do you need four of those?

Capt. LEUTZE. Yes, sir; I think so, in order to properly supply the two fleets.

Admiral CooNTZ. They are to be reduced to three by the 1st of July.

The CHAIRMAN. But not before?

Admiral CoONTZ. No, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. So that there will not be any saving between now and the 1st of July?

Admiral CoONTZ. No.

The CHAIRMAN. What about these 19 fleet towing vessels?
Admiral CoONTZ. They are to be reduced to 12.

The CHAIRMAN. NOW?

Admiral CooNTZ. Yes, sir: by the end of the spring target prac tice in March.

The CHAIRMAN. When will that be done?

Admiral COONTZ. By the 31st of March, which means that we can reduce that for a quarter of the year.

The CHAIRMAN. You have reduced that number by seven ships? Admiral CooNTZ. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. For three months?

Admiral CooNTZ. Yes, sir.

OILERS AND COLLIERS.

The CHAIRMAN. Then you have eight oilers, but you have no calculation made for them.

Capt. LEUTZE. Yes; $258,861 for the oilers.

The CHAIRMAN. Are you going to keep the oilers in service? Admiral CoONTZ. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. What about the five colliers?

Admiral COONTZ. They are reduced to four.

Capt. LEUTZE. We use the oilers and colliers for moving fuel oil and coal and we can do it very cheaply.

The CHAIRMAN. You have taken off one of the five colliers, so that you take off one-fifth of $146,515?

Capt. LEUTZE. Yes, sir; approximately, for a period of six months. Secretary DENBY. When does that ship go out of commission? Admiral COONTZ. We are going to order it out at once; it will be done by the 31st of March.

CARGO SHIPS.

The CHAIRMAN. You have two cargo vessels. What about those vessels?

Admiral CooNTZ. We are going to use 12 of the cargo vessels. The CHAIRMAN. But you only carry two here.

Admiral COONTZ. I do not know how that number got there, because it is a mistake.

Mr. REED. Those two are on the Asiatic Station and are shown separately; the others are shown further down.

SURVEY SHIP.

The CHAIRMAN. Then you have one survey vessel. In what way do you use that vessel?

Admiral CooNTZ. We use that for making surveys of the southern coast to Cuba, and we are also making surveys of the east coast of Honduras. We used to run three but now we run one.

The CHAIRMAN. Is not that included in the Coast and Geodetic Survey work?

Admiral CoONTZ. No, sir: they do not leave the limits of the United States and the Lakes; the foreign part is ours. We are only running one to keep a nucleus. The various nations, as a rule, survey the various parts of the earth; the British do most of it, but we do a lot of our share.

PATROL SHIPS.

The CHAIRMAN. You have 17 patrol vessels at a cost of $325,312. How many of those are you going to keep in commission?

Admiral COONTZ. We are going to keep 15. The Albany and the New Orleans are very old. We got them in the Spanish War from the British, and the Secretary has directed, within the last 10 days, that those two vessels be placed out of commission. They are both in China. That reduces the number of patrol vessels by two, and we are sending out two more to relieve them. I should say they will get home and be out of commission by the 31st of May, so that will take off one-sixth of the expense. I find we can not relieve them and get them home sooner. The Asheville and the Sacramento go out from this coast to relieve them.

FISH COMMISSION BOATS.

The CHAIRMAN. You have two Fish Commission boats. What about those boats?

Admiral CooNTZ. We man the Fish Commission boats by act of Congress, and we can not get out of it; we have got to furnish the people and so on; we are perfectly willing to give it up any day. The CHAIRMAN. What do you do for the Fish Commission? Admiral COONTZ. We man the Fish Commission boats and operate them. Congress directed us to officer and man them. The CHAIRMAN. Do you go to the Pribilof Islands?

Admiral COONTZ. They go all over, sir; mostly in the northern Pacific, one small one is on this side; they do all sorts of things, from making deep-sea soundings up to making fishery investigations of all

sorts.

SHIPS ON SPECIAL DUTY.

The CHAIRMAN. What about these 12 ships on special duty? What are they?

Admiral CooNTZ. The 12 ships on special duty are headed by the Mayflower and the Sylph; we have one tug at Guantanamo; we have one at Port au Prince; we have two at Santo Domingo: we have two in the Philippine Islands; we have one at Constantinople, where our naval officer is our only representative and our high commissioner: we have two at Guam and one at Samoa. They are small craft, as a rule, and are necessitated by our representatives being off from other people and once in a while there is an insurrection or some sort of

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trouble that comes up; we have always kept them there and we consider them a necessity. In Haiti, for instance, we have a high commissioner now who will control the whole island; he has to go around, and in Santo Domingo we have, I take it, 4,000 men and officials some of whom must go all around the island at times, and they have no other means of transportation.

The CHAIRMAN. So you can not dispense with any of those ships? Admiral COONTZ. No, sir.

FLEET TUGS.

The CHAIRMAN. What about the 30 fleet tugs? What do they do? They are costing $434,549.

Secretary DENBY. They handle ships in the harbors.

The CHAIRMAN. But you have harbor tugs besides. You have 60 harbor tugs in addition to the 30 fleet tugs.

Secretary DENBY. You are now speaking of the fleet tugs?
The CHAIRMAN. Yes.

Admiral COONTZ. These craft are assigned to 14 separate naval districts which are further subdivided into 49 separate activities, which include navy yards, naval stations, ammunition depots, coaling depots, proving grounds, torpedo factories, aircraft, torpedo and submarine bases, all of which in their general work require tug service of one class or another.

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All the fleet tugs are ocean-going tugs, and many of them are fitted with fire-extinguishing apparatus. They also tow vessels at sea and barges from port to port. The Secretary of the Navy told the Committee on Naval Affairs, the other day, that he was going to cut the number of enlisted men by 10,000 and, in the course of the reduction of the 10,000 men we are going to cut down the tugs as much as possible; that is do the best we can.

The CHAIRMAN. How many of the 10,000 men have been let out? Secretary DENBY. None of them.

Admiral COONTZ. There are 7,296 men on the destroyers.

The CHAIRMAN. They will all be laid up before the 1st of July? Admiral COONTZ. Yes; by the 1st of July.

The CHAIRMAN. How many of the fleet tugs will be dispensed with?

Admiral COONTZ. We will get rid of at least 10, and all of those

we can.

Secretary DENBY. He said fleet tugs, Admiral.

Admiral COONTZ. Seven of the fleet tugs are to be gotten rid of as soon as possible. We will probably sell them if they will bring a good price.

(List showing location follows:)

Assignment of "fleet" tugs.

[Total, 40 fleet tugs.]

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