Admiral STANFORD. They are not completed, but it is expected that they will lift 150 gross tons. At Puget Sound they have a floating crane with a capacity of 100 tons. At Norfolk there is an estimate under the head of the Norfolk yard for a crane similar to the one requested for Philadelphia.

The CHAIRMAN. Admiral, what size vessels are you sending to Philadelphia now; any of the largest ships, carrying 12-inch guns? Admiral STANFORD. Yes, sir; ships carrying 12-inch guns. The Delaware and South Carolina were fitted out at the Philadelphia yard. It is not at present their home station, but they have been there. The Arkansas and Wyoming were both constructed on the Delaware River and were fitted out and docked at Philadelphia. Philadelphia is not their home yard, but those ships have been there, and they are the largest battleships to-day that are in commission.

The CHAIRMAN. You have work at this yard for a crane which can handle these largest weights, the heaviest?

Admiral STANFORD. The 150-ton capacity is in anticipation of the use of 14-inch guns and guns possibly a little bit larger, and also for heavy turret work, boilers, or any heavy load.

Mr. HOBSON. Is it not a good practice to have the capacity of your crane large, as compared to the weight?

Admiral STANFORD. Cranes are designed with a large factor of safety.

Mr. BUCHANAN. A 150-ton crane is supposed to handle 150 tons of weight?

Admiral STANFORD. Yes, sir.

Mr. BUCHANAN. That is, without straining?

Admiral STANFORD. Yes, sir; the apparatus is designed for a working load of 150 tons.

Mr. HOBSON. In handling weights that might be 100 tons or 125 tons-it might be larger or smaller a good practice is to have the crane so you do not have to calculate to a nicety the weight you are going to lift. The general practice as to lifting power in commercial life as well as in the Navy has been that the cranes have been too small and they have had to be rebuilt.

Mr. BUCHANAN. I think that we should have those things put right here. I do not think it is the practice to have the working capacity of any hoisting apparatus, say, 100 tons, to handle 50 tons or 75 tons. My knowledge of hoisting apparatus is that when we say it has a certain capacity that that is the working load. We are not building 150-ton capacity for the purpose of handling 100-ton loads. The CHAIRMAN. Its working capacity would be 150 tons?

Admiral STANFORD. In case of need, if you should want to handle 100 tons or 125 tons, the crane would be serviceable for that load, but will also be serviceable at any time for the maximum load specified.

You will note in this title that the word "floating" does not appear. The cranes which have been constructed up to the present time are of the floating type. It seems probable, at least not impossible, that a land crane may be preferable to one of the floating type, the advantage being that there would notbe required any considerable part of the available water front for the storage or care of the crane when not in use. Second, it would avoid the necessity of a watchman upon the crane at all times, a matter of at least $6 per day.

Third, it would avoid the very expensive repair and maintenance costs that are involved in any floating apparatus such as docking, cleaning, and protecting the interior compartments of the float. And fourth, it would mean that the apparatus which is actually raising the load would be on a fixed basis instead of having the weight to be lifted upon a floating or moving platform and the raising apparatus upon an independent moving platform as is the case with the floating crane, and involving two moving or floating elements in the nice adjustment or placing of a heavy weight. The bureau has requested two manufacturing companies to make tentative or preliminary sketches and estimates for a crane of the land type.

The CHAIRMAN. Do you mean stationary, or would it move along a railroad track?

Admiral STANFORD. It may be that the base would be of the locomotive type, which would permit of some longitudinal movement on the water front.

The CHAIRMAN. In other words, call it a land crane instead of a water crane?

Admiral STANFORD. It is probable that a land crane may be developed which will be more efficient and satisfactory in its use and less costly to build than cranes of the floating type. This estimate of $300,000 is given in order to insure having sufficient money for the crane, but it is hoped to later be able to inform the committee that the crane can be obtained at a much less figure.

Mr. BUCHANAN. What is the largest capacity crane in operation, to your knowledge?

Admiral STANFORD. There are cranes of 250 tons capacity in use by the Japanese and by the English. The Isthmian Canal Commission are now advertising for floating cranes having a capacity of 250 tons. The floating type is necessary on the Isthmus, because the cranes are desired for handling the numerous lock gates and other heavy property that is distributed along the length of the canal. A crane of the floating type is therefore necessary on the Isthmus, but at a navy yard it is possible to bring the vessel to the apparatus instead of taking the apparatus to the vessel.

Mr. HOBSON. That is especially true in Philadelphia, where you have such a long trip down the river?

Admiral STANFORD. Yes, sir. There is a disadvantage to the crane of the land type, that it can not be moved to other stations in case of need. A floating crane is capable of being moved to a vessel in distress or to different stations in case of emergency.

Mr. BUTLER. I have always understood that the advantage of the floating crane was this, that the crane could be taken to the object to be lifted, not the object taken to the crane. That is the advice that has always been given here as to the advisability of the floating crane, that it could be moved about from ship to ship. Now it is proposed to have a stationary crane and take the ship to the crane.

The CHAIRMAN. Where we have built floating cranes they have been for use on vessels and out in the sea like at Boston, New York, and Pearl Harbor, where they go out to sea. At Philadelphia they are 90 miles inland up the river, and they have not the necessity upon them to go out to sea.

Mr. BUTLER. You will recall that a floating crane has been recommended for the Philadelphia Navy Yard, and that the same advantage of a floating crane was urged?

The CHAIRMAN. I do not remember about Philadelphia.

Mr. TALBOTT. Sometimes the things to be hoisted can not be taken to the crane?

Admiral STANFORD. I have recently made an inspection at the Boston yard. The large floating crane for that yard is now nearing completion, and the commandant is at a loss to know where he is going to keep it when it is not in use. He expressed himself most forcibly as favoring a crane of the land type in preference to one of the floating type.

Mr. BUTLER. If they can not use it at Boston, bring it to Philadelphia.

Admiral STANFORD. Then they would have to have a fixed crane at the Boston yard.

Mr. BUTLER. Why can it not be used at the Boston yard?

Admiral STANFORD. It will be used, but I am stating the opinion as expressed by the commandant, that a crane of the stationary type would relieve him of a great deal of worry and that it would be preferable.

Mr. BUCHANAN. What is the difference in cost of maintenance of the floating type and the stationary type?

Admiral STANFORD. There would certainly be a difference of over $6 per day. A floating crane has to have an attendant on board at all times, which will cost not less than $6 per day, $2 per watch, whereas the fixed type would require no attendant when the crane was not

in use.

The CHAIRMAN. I would like to call your attention to the fact that in the hearings last year the chief of your bureau said that after 10 years the heavy expenditures in connection with a floating crane began, and that by the end of 20 years the expenditures for repairs were almost prohibitive.

Mr. BUTLER. Will those expenditures be avoided by a stationary

crane?

Admiral STANFORD. Very largely.

Mr. HOBSON. The depreciation would be just about the same? Admiral STANFORD. There would be small maintenance costs to keep the mechanical equipment in proper condition.

Mr. BUTLER. Do you believe that a stationary crane would be just as useful as a floating one, just as advantageous?

Admiral STANFORD. It would seem so at the Philadelphia yard, as the cost of moving a vessel to the crane would probably not be far different from the cost of moving the crane to a vessel.

Mr. BUTLER. Is there a place in the Philadelphia yard where this stationary crane could be located that would be accommodating and that would enable all the ships to be taken to it easily and readily? Admiral STANFORD. I think so without question.

Mr. BUTLER. Then you would have to build a railroad track up to this crane?

Admiral STANFORD. Undoubtedly a connection with the yard track system would be required.

Mr. BUTLER. And raise the heavy machinery out of the ship, load it onto trucks, and carry it to the shops?

Admiral STANFORD. Or move it to Washington, if it is a gun going to the gun factory. Only recently they have taken the big guns out of the Minnesota at the Philadelphia yard, the 12-inch guns taken

out of the turrets were placed on cars and sent to Washington, and other cars brought guns which had been previously prepared at the gun factory, which were installed in place of the guns removed from the ship. The serious weakness of the shear legs is that they can not be used at a distance exceeding 31 feet out from the face of the wall, or, in other words, you can not get your point of hoist centered over a heavy weight in a ship with a wide beam.

Mr. BUTLER. Then, we should have built a stationary crane at Boston, in your opinion?

Admiral STANFORD. The stationary type certainly has advantages for the performance of yard work.

Mr. Foss. Was not the theory of building the floating crane that they proposed to make repairs on the water instead of taking the ships into the dock?

Admiral STANFORD. That was an argument.

Mr. Foss. Was not that the theory on which we built the floating cranes?

Admiral STANFORD. Undoubtedly.

Mr. Foss. In your judgment, are repairs more expensive when made on the water or in the harbor than if made alongside the dock or alongside the pier?

Admiral STANFORD. It would be a very unusual emergency where repairs would be made by means of one of these floating cranes at a point other than adjacent to a navy yard. If a vessel in a crippled condition could not get to a navy yard because of the limited depth of water, then a crane of the floating type could be taken to the vessel; but the contingency of a vessel coming in in a crippled condition is an emergency condition rather than one to be frequently counted upon. A floating crane under those conditions is the only apparatus which would be serviceable.

Mr. TALBOTT. That is, where the vessel could not go to the crane? Admiral STANFORD. Yes, sir; but in routine yard work the vessel can just as well be taken to the crane as the crane to the vessel.

Mr. HOBSON. A navy yard is built for emergency conditions and not for routine conditions?

Admiral STANFORD. Yes, sir.

Mr. HOBSON. They are really for war and not for peace, with the exception of the Philadelphia yard, where it is different; it is inland. The other navy yards are to take hold of the fleet when it comes from battle?

Admiral STANFORD. That is the strong argument for the floating

crane.

Mr. HOBSON. The floating type can do anything in the way of lifting weights that may be required?

Admiral STANFORD. Yes, sir.

Mr. BROWNING. You said a moment ago that the Panama Commission was advertising for 250-ton cranes?

Admiral STANFORD. Yes, sir.

Mr. BROWNING. For lifting what kind of machinery?

Admiral STANFORD. Lock gates; presumably also other apparatus or fittings along the length of the canal.

Mr. BUCHANAN. Why would that be necessary?

Admiral STANFORD. There are 96 lock gates and one crane would be available to lift any one, whereas if you had any fixed apparatus you would have to have almost as many cranes as gates.

Mr. BUCHANAN. Might they not have tracks on the walls of the locks and go back and forth?

Admiral STANFORD. Some of the locks are widely separated.

Mr. BUCHANAN. That is true. There are locks at each end? Admiral STANFORD. There are three double locks at the Atlantic end, and at the Pacific two in flight, and the third is separated by a lake about a mile or two across.

Mr. BUCHANAN. I believe that is true.

The CHAIRMAN. The next item is "Complete rebuilding building No. 7 for central offices (immediately available), $50,000."

Admiral STANFORD. Building No. 7, completed in 1882 as a joiner shop for the construction and repair department, was nearly destroyed by fire in 1907. The foundations were left intact and the two-story walls were left in such a condition as to warrant repairs. Cast-iron columns which supported the second floor were not damaged by the fire. The second floor roof and window frames were of wood and were completely destroyed. It has been planned to reconstruct this building with fireproof construction, and when completed it will have about 48,000 square feet of floor space on the first and second floors, which will be sufficient for all of the general offices of the navy yard. The CHAIRMAN. The next is "Electric system extensions, $15,000." Please explain that, Admiral.

Admiral STANFORD. The mooring of the reserve fleet in the reserve basin at this yard makes it necessary to moor eight battleships along the north wall of the basin, and to supply the necessary electric current it is necessary to install an additional motor generator set in building No. 45. It is proposed that this shall be a 400-kilowatt set, driven with a synchronous motor, the balance of the appropriation to be for necessary cable to distribute current to the ships. New cable will be installed where present cable is of insufficient capacity and this cable relocated where it can be used to advantage.

I might say in general that a number of the Philadelphia items are inserted as a result of the department's policy of assembling many vessels in reserve at the Philadelphia yard. There have recently been over 30 of the largest vessels of the Navy in reserve in Philadelphia, and I heard the commandant of the Philadelphia yard say that he furnished nearly half of the tonnage that participated in the recent review at New York.

Mr. BUTLER. What is the advantage of the Philadelphia yard over the other yards?

Admiral STANFORD. Fresh water and the long-developed water front alongside of which vessels may be berthed. When the yard. was developed the reserve basin was designed and was fitted for service in connection with making repairs. It was not contemplated at that time that they would have any such number of vessels in the basin as have recently been there, and it becomes important, if those vessels are to be economically cared for, that there shall be roads developed to the berths, that electric service shall be extended convenient for the use of the vessels, that there shall be extensions of the water system in order that vessels may be served with a potable water supply, extensions of the sewer system so that the men may use shore toilets instead of polluting the basin, in which there is little circulation, and additional provision for the storage of patterns because each of the vessels brings with it patterns from the yard which was