Admiral STANFORD. Yes, sir. Mr. BUTLER. And it went out in conference? Please explain that item, Admiral? Admiral STANFORD. The title should be "Torpedo-boat berths." Under the existing conditions it is practically impossible to avoid damage to both the piers and boats. There are frequently at these piers 5 effective destroyers and 15 torpedo boats, of a total value exceeding $5,000,000, to which may be added 9 boats of less military value but which would bring the total to more than $6,000,000. If to this be added 12 tugs, colliers, and other vessels stationed at Charleston and which are more or less concerned in the establishment of adequate and safe berthing for torpedo boats and destroyers in time of storm, there would result a total in excess of $11,000,000 of floating property. The present torpedo-boat berthing facilities consist of 10 light timber piers, each about 10 feet wide and ranging in length from 450 to 600 feet. The original cost was $100,000 and, on account of their light construction and wear and tear of service, aggravated by occasional severe storms, the deterioration for the first few years which was naturally small, is rapidly increasing, so that the cost to keep them in service is now estimated at $10,000 per annum by the public works' officer, and this amount will go on increasing, probably, to $20,000 per annum or more, and even these expenditures, if they could be authorized, would leave much to be desired in the way of securing satisfactory berthing facilities on account of the fundamental objections to the present arrangement. The general situation is that there are these 10 skeleton piers, standing out nearly normai to the bank of the Cooper River. The river current varies in direction with the tide and probably averages from 3 to 4 miles per hour. Torpedo boats which use these berths must go out frequently in order to keep their machinery in proper condition. Returning to their berths, these boats must leave the river in which the current is very rapid by making a sudden turn of about 90 degrees and run for the narrow slip between the piers. It is almost beyond human power to so control the machinery as to bring that boat up against one of these piers without shock or jar. If the machinery should fail to reverse at the proper instant, or if they do not accurately estimate the tidal force or the force of the wind and the momentum of the vessel, there is bound to be injury either to the vessel or the pier. Mr. BUTLER. The danger does not come from the pier, but from the tide and the current? Admiral STANFORD. Yes, sir. Mr. BUTLER. Could not the original construction have been made to avoid that? Admirel STANFORD. Yes, sir; but there was not enough funds. Effort was made to provide large facilities with $100,000, which required wooden pile construction with wooden decks. Damage suffered from decay, depreciation from vessels striking them, and from storms leave them in a sorry condition. It is almost impossible to make repairs, because there is no place to stop, short of complete renewal. Further, because of the menace which the piers constitute to the valuable craft which must use them, their continuance in presert form is unwarranted. The CHAIRMAN. You propose to locate these slips at a different site? Admiral STANFORD. On the same site, but arranged in a different. way so that the berths will be longitudinal with the tide to permit of vessels berthing easily and positively. Mr. BUTLER. Was it not possible to have built some of these piers out of the $100,000, so as to avoid the difficulties you speak of? Maybe they could not have built all, but some? Admiral STANFORD. The money if expended upon fewer piers would undoubtedly have permitted of a more durable and satisfactory construction. Mr. BUTLER. Under whose direction were they constructed? Admiral STANFORD. I would have to look that up. It was a number of years ago. Mr. BUTLER. I recollect it distinctly; it was four or five years ago. Admiral STANFORD. I had nothing to do with them, and I do not know about their origin or what led to the form of construction, but I do think their replacement with suitable piers is one of the most urgent needs of the Navy. Charleston is the Atlantic base for torpedo craft and there should be proper facilities for caring for them and for supplying them with water and with supplies which they require. If we are to have the boats, we should have a proper place to care for them. I can not too strongly urge your favorable consideration of this item. Mr. BUTLER. It seems to me that the $100,000 that we appropriated a few years ago was not spent in the very best way. Mr. ROBERTS. What will the slips be built of? Admiral STANFORD. Reenforced concrete. Here [indicating on plat] is the river, and here are the slips which it is proposed to build. A vessel [indicating] with a tide either with or against it, when it gets to this point [indicating] has to turn around and make a run for that slip [indicating] and must have considerable momentum or lose control. Mr. ROBERTS. Where do you propose to construct new ones? Admiral STANFORD. The new construction will consist of a reenforced concrete pier in the form of a U with the legs of the U parallel to the current. Mr. ROBERTS. A basin? Admiral STANFORD. Yes, sir; a basin so that vessels can be berthed alongside of the pier or banked up if desired. Mr. ROBERTS. Which is the way to the ocean? Admiral STANFORD. This way [indicating]. The CHAIRMAN. In other words, you will put them alongside, like they do the larger vessels? Admiral STANFORD. Yes, sir. Any junior officer who is in command of a torpedo boat and is held responsible for the manipulation of his boat in and out of the present slips always incurs grave risk. Mr. ROBERTS. This [indicating] is the dock? Admiral STANFORD. That is the dry dock. Mr. ROBERTS. Are there any plans now for slips or berthing space for large vessels ? Admiral STANFORD. There are not. Mr. ROBERTS. Where would you probably in that yard arrange berthing space for large vessels if it is found necessary? Admiral STANFORD. They would necessarily be out on the 30-foot contour of the river. Mr. ROBERTS. With reference to the dock, down here [indicating] or here [indicating]? Admiral STANFORD. There could be some space arranged upstream from the dock; there would be only very little space downstream from the dock, because that space [indicating] is almost entirely required for the torpedo boats. Mr. ROBERTS. As long as you are going to rebuild the slips for these destroyers, why would it not be a better plan to build them up on this side [indicating] north of the dock, and have this space [indicating] left for big ships as conditions may require? Admiral STANFORD. To my mind there are two objections to such a procedure. The shops used by the torpedo craft and the facilities developed for their service are on the bank adjacent to the slips which they now use [indicating]. It would mean that these facilities would have to be shifted to the other side of the dry dock if the torpedo berths were moved to that side. Again, there has been a great deal of difficulty experienced in maintaining a proper depth of water leading into the dry dock for use of deep-draft vessels. Mr. ROBERTS. From the river? Admiral STANFORD. From the river. In the course of a few months that entrance will silt from a depth of 30 feet to a depth of 7 feet a short distance out from the caisson of the dock, and to maintain the entrance to the dock at a depth of 30 feet would require constant dredging. The CHAIRMAN. What is the present depth of water at the entrance to the dock? Admiral STANFORD. I do not know just what it is at present. They are now testing dredging apparatus which has been constructed for the purpose of maintaining the entrance to the dock at depth sufficient for the vessels which are stationed at that yard, but not to the greater depth that deep-draft vessels would require. The CHAIRMAN. What is the present depth at the entrance? Admiral STANFORD. I can not tell you to-day, but they endeavor to keep the entrance channel with depth of 15 to 20 feet. The CHAIRMAN. I was under the impression it was somewhere about 18 feet? Admiral STANFORD. That corresponds closely with my impression. The CHAIRMAN. Does the silt fill in until it gets to a less depth than 15 feet? Admiral STANFORD. Yes, sir; after a few months I have seen soundings which showed only 7 feet outside the caisson. It is one of the most difficult places to maintain at a considerable depth that we have. The CHAIRMAN. The next item is, "Naval Station, Key West, Fla." There is only one item, "Toward construction of breakwater, limit of contract, $600,000, $100,000." At this point I wish to say that I have before me a letter from the Secretary of date December 7, 1912, setting out fully the matter, and I am going to ask to insert it in the hearings at this point. It also has with it extensive blue prints, but I will not insert the blue prints; I will keep the blue prints on file. It involves a matter affecting the Navy, the Treasury, the Marine Hospital, the Revenue-Cutter Service, Commerce and Labor, the Lighthouse, the Agricultural Bureau, and the War Department with Fort Taylor. The whole matter is discussed in the letter. The letter referred to by the chairman follows: NAVY DEPARTMENT, Washington, December 7, 1912. SIR: 1. This department desires to have certain improvements made in the harbor of Key West in order to provide a suitable naval station for the use of torpedo craft, submarines, and small cruisers and to serve as a base of supplies and communications. This scheme of development affects not only the Navy but other executive departments having reservations at Key West. 2. The various executive departments having reservations at Key West adjacent to each other are: Navy.-Naval station proper. Treasury-Customhouse and post-office building, located within the limits of the naval station, at its north end. United States marine hospital, on a reservation just outside the southern boundary of the naval station. Station ship of Revenue-Cutter Service (no office on shore). Commerce and Labor.--Lighthouse Establishment pier with the naval station, at its north end, between Piers A and B, and opposite customhouse. Agriculture.-Weather Bureau on a reservation adjoining the reservation of the United States Marine-Hospital Service. War.-Fort Taylor Reservation, south of the naval station and extending from the reservation of the Marine-Hospital Service to and including Fort Taylor. 3. The most important improvement and one which will be of advantage to the various executive departments of the Government is the construction of a breakwater to form a semi-inclosed basin, dredged to a depth of 20 feet to 22 feet mean low water, as a protection for light-draft vessels in times of heavy weather and hurricanes. 4. The water front at the naval station, including the naval piers already constructed, the Lighthouse Establishment pier, and the Army wharf at Fort Taylor is entirely unprotected from heavy seas from a southerly direction. In fact, these berths are dangerous during heavy weather, except when the wind is blowing from the north to the southeast. During 1909 and 1910 there were two hurricanes in which the velocity of the wind reached 80 to 100 miles an hour from directions producing the most dangerous conditions to vessels moored or berthed in this locality. 5. Man-of-war anchorage at the upper end of the channel at Key West and 1 to 2 miles from the station, although exposed to some extent to seas from a southerly direction is the only harbor of refuge at Key West and is used for this purpose by commercial vessels in bad weather. This anchorage carries a depth of 20 to 28 feet mean low water. Its distance from the station, its limited area, and the needs of commercial shipping render it impracticable to reserve any portion of it for naval purposes. 6. Further development of the naval station and adjacent water front will be of little value unless at least a semi-inclosed basin is provided not only as a protection against heavy seas and hurricane winds, but to make it possible to retain the dredged depths at piers and along the water front. Under existing conditions storms from a southerly direction carry sand around Fort Taylor, rapidly filling in such areas as have already been dredged. 7. The basin proposed will provide a perfectly safe anchorage under all possible conditions of winds or sea for small vessels not only of the Navy but of the Army, Lighthouse, Customs, Marine-Hospital, and Revenue-Cutter Services. Without a breakwater and the inclosed basin the water front occupied by the several executive departments can not be developed to provide a safe anchorage or berthing space for torpedo craft or light-draft vessels. 8. The dredging of the basin will provide considerable new land in front of the reservations of the Weather Bureau, the Marine-Hospital Service, and the Army. A part of this made ground will be required by the Navy to give access to the proposed piers and the berthing space along the quay wall. If desired the Marine-Hospital Service can have access to a berth in front of its reservation. 9. The proposed items of improvement include the following: Breakwater. The breakwater as desired will extend from Fort Taylor at right angles to the present pier head line and along the pier head line toward the north end of the station, a total distance of about 2,900 feet, inclosing a basin of approximately 55 acres, with entrance opposite the present marine railway. The length of this basin will be approximately 2,200 feet and the width 1,200 feet to 900 feet. The breakwater will be so constructed as to provide access from the station to vessels moored along its face and to furnish the Army with wharf facilities on that portion leading out from Fort Taylor. Dredging. It is proposed to dredge the basin formed by the breakwater to a depth of 20 feet to 22 feet, mean low water. The present depths vary from 6 feet along the line of the proposed bulkhead and quay wall to 20 feet at the breakwater. Part of the material can be used for filling in behind the bulkhead and quay walls on the Army reservation and possibly on areas within the city limits. Bulkhead and quay walls.-It is proposed to construct 2,200 linear feet, more or less, of bulkhead or quay walls from the end of the present quay wall at the naval station to Fort Taylor. These walls will be required for berthing space for vessels and to retain the filling over the low areas. An additional bulkhead, approximately 1,000 feet long on the opposite side of Fort Taylor, will also be required to retain the fill. 10. The estimated cost of this work is in detail as follows: Breakwater... Dredging.. Bulkhead and quay walls... Total...... $600,000 840,000 250,000. 1, 690, 000 An item of $100,000 toward the construction of the breakwater, limit of cost $600,000, is contained in the estimates for the fiscal year 1914 as submitted by this department. 11. A blue print showing the proposed harbor improvements accompanies this letter; the estimate for the construction of the breakwater is respectfully recommended to the careful and favorable consideration of your committee. 12. With these harbor improvements assured, the department contemplates the systematic development of the navy yard at Key West for the purposes outlined in paragraph 1 of this letter. Respectfully, G. v. L. MEYER, The CHAIRMAN COMMITTEE ON NAVAL AFFAIRS, Admiral STANFORD. Sea wall and pier has recently been completed by the Navy at a cost of nearly $200,000. Last March there was a depth of water off the face of the wall varying from three to six and eight feet. The Navy has also recently completed the construction of marine ways; last March the outer end of the ways was embedded in sand, which made it impractical to use the ways as expected. There is absolutely no protection at the station against storms from the south or from any western point of the compass, either against the direct force of the wind or from the sea which storm would produce, and it is necessary for all small craft in time of storm to run for protection to an anchorage 2 or 3 miles distant, which requires that vessels shall constantly maintain steam pressure or that towing craft shall be available for the assistance of vessels which do not have their own steam. This adverse condition not only affects the navy yard, but also other departments of the Government which have property located in the immediate vicinity along a stretch of about 4,000 linear feet of sea front. There is the War Department (Fort Taylor); the Treasury Department, with its Marine-Hospital Service; the Department of Agriculture has a small area; a pier is used by the Department of Commerce and Labor for lighthouse service; and included in the Navy tract is an area utilized by the Post Office Department for post office and customhouse. All of these departments, with the exception, possibly, of the Weather Bureau, have their small craft that require protection in time of storm and a depth of from 20 to 22 feet of water along the frontage for most efficient service. Breakwater protection is absolutely necessary for the good, not only of the Navy Department but for all the other departments of the Government which are interested this bit of water front. |