REPORT OF THE CHIEF OF BUREAU OF YARDS AND DOCKS.

To: Secretary of the Navy.

DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY,

BUREAU OF YARDS AND DOCKS,

Washington, D. C., October 1, 1914.

Subject: Report of operations of the Bureau of Yards and Docks for the fiscal year 1914.

The cost of the work performed during the fiscal year 1914 from appropriations under the cognizance of the bureau aggregated $5,529,167.25, divided as follows: Public works, $3,173,721.64; maintenance of yards and stations, $1,525,808.36; repairs and preservation at navy yards and stations, $801,873.45; contingent, $27,763.80.

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The expenditures of funds under the cognizance of other bureaus and the Marine Corps, but supervised by this bureau, were as follows: Depots for coal," $524,540.75; Coal and transportation," $228,366.23; "Equipment of vessels," $126,471.98; Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, $132,814.84; Bureau of Navigation, $15,338.56; Marine Corps, $41,594.45. Under appropriation High-power radio stations" the expenditures amounted to $80,522.59.

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The total cost of the work performed during the fiscal year under the supervision of the Bureau of Yards and Docks amounted to $6,678,816.65. There were 90 public-works contracts awarded by the department during the year, involving obligations amounting to $2,518,957.90.

DRY DOCKS.

No dry docks were begun or completed during the fiscal year. The only work of this nature now uncompleted is the dry dock at Pearl Harbor, work on which was completely suspended during the fiscal year.

POWER PLANTS.

The principal power-plant projects had been completed at the beginning of the fiscal year. The power plants at Pearl Harbor and Guantanamo were completed in essential particulars early in the year. At the close of the fiscal year the new power plant at the naval torpedo station, Newport, R. I., had been completed, with the exception of minor details. The heating plants for the naval hospitals at Chelsea, Mass., and Newport, R. I., were under construction. The work at Newport was considerably further advanced than the work at Chelsea, due to contracts having been awarded earlier for the work at Newport.

The bureau has given special attention during the year to providing suitable measuring devices at the various power plants, to

enable the keeping of a more accurate record of the performance of each plant, which makes it possible to detect a deficiency and to apply the necessary remedy. A system of periodical reports has been inaugurated by which accurate comparisons can be made and the benefit of the experience at one point placed at the disposal of those in charge of other plants. By this educational system it is hoped that the utmost efficiency may be maintained among the attendants on these plants, and heat, light, and power produced at a minimum expenditure.

PEARL HARBOR.

The upbuilding of this station, with the exception of the dry dock, has gone steadily forward according to the approved general plan. The officials and administrative force have moved from Honolulu to the station and occupied offices and quarters completed near the end of the fiscal year. A number of shop buildings and storehouses have also been completed and are ready for occupancy. Information in detail concerning works completed and under way during the year is given under the head of "Report of operations."

GUANTANAMO.

The emergency repair installation, including power plant, shop buildings, office buildings, quarters, etc., was completed during the year. The only important items remaining to be completed were the marine railway and the installation of machine tools in shop buildings. The work on both of these projects was well advanced at the close of the fiscal year. The work at the fuel-oil plant reported as authorized or uncompleted in the last annual report was completed during the fiscal year. At the radio station the steel towers and operating buildings were completed. All of the work appropriated for at the naval magazine was completed.

PUBLIC WORKS, BUREAU OF MEDICINE AND SURGERY.

The construction of buildings for the naval hospital at Pearl Harbor was carried on during the year and is now progressing rapidly. The present contract price for these buildings is $130,016.29. The work was about 65 per cent completed at the close of the year.

Other work performed by this bureau for the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery was on the heating plants at Chelsea and Newport and miscellaneous items in the nature of minor improvements, such as the installation of sterilizing equipment, window screens, metal weather strips, etc., at naval hospitals. The detailed statement of operations will show the extent of practically all hospital work completed or under way during the year.

PUBLIC WORKS, MARINE CORPS.

The barracks and quarters at Pearl Harbor were completed during the early part of the fiscal year. The new barracks at Philadelphia were nearing completion. A set of bachelor quarters for eight officers at Puget Sound was about half completed. Many minor improvements were effected at the various marine barracks under the supervision of the bureau.

PUBLIC WORKS, BUREAU OF ORDNANCE.

The work coming under this head represents the operations at the various naval magazines, the Naval Torpedo Station, Newport, R. I., and the Naval Proving Ground, Indianhead, Md. As these public works have been appropriated for under the Bureau of Yards and Docks, beginning with the fiscal year 1912, a large share of the bureau's annual operations is involved in ordnance constructions. The value of the work completed during the year was approximately $550,000. The value of work under way at the close of the fiscal year was in the neighborhood of $375,000. Work in view amounts to over $500,000.

RADIO STATIONS.

Work was actively prosecuted during the fiscal year on the highpower radio station in the Canal Zone. Erection of the towers was commenced toward the close of the fiscal year. Buildings in connection with this station were either completed or well under way. With the exception of the erection of the towers all work is being performed by the Panama Canal force. Contracts were executed during the year for towers for the secondary stations at Balboa and Colon, but no great amount of work had been performed at the site of either station.

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Two 300-foot towers were erected at San Juan, P. R., and a power house was completed at Jupiter, Fla.

Contracts were awarded near the close of the fiscal year for two 300-foot towers at Chelsea, Mass.; two 400-foot towers and a building at the Naval Training Station, Great Lakes; one 200-foot tower at Beaufort, N. C.; three 300-foot towers at Key West, Fla.; two 300-foot towers and a building at New Orleans, La.; operators' quarters, Tatoosh Island, Wash., and two 300-foot towers at the navy yard, Washington, D. C.

COAL-STORAGE PLANTS.

Considerable progress was made on the large coaling plant at Pearl Harbor. Several contracts covering the purchase of locomotive cranes, dump cars, etc., were completed. The construction of the basin and wharf by station force was progressing favorably. Contract was let for the purchase of structural steel for coaling-plant trestles, etc., as well as a contract covering the erection of this steel. The material has not as yet been delivered at the station.

FUEL-OIL AND GASOLINE STORAGE PLANTS.

During the fiscal year the first 7,000-ton fuel-oil storage tank at the Boston Navy Yard and the additional 7,000-ton fuel-oil tank for Pearl Harbor, authorized in the act of March 4, 1913, were completed. The second 2,500-ton tank at Norfolk was made ready for service, bringing the total storage capacity installed at the various fuel-oil and gasoline storage stations to 90,000 tons of fuel oil and 630,000 gallons of gasoline. The act of June 30, 1914, provides for the establishment of new fuel-oil stations at San Diego, Cal., Mare

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Island, Cal., and Puget Sound, Wash., as well as for increases in the existing plants at Melville, R. I., and Norfolk, Va. This will increase the total fuel-oil storage by 63,000 tons. No fuel-oil or gasoline tanks are building and no additional gasoline tanks have been authorized. The following table shows the distribution of fuel-oil and gasoline storage tanks built and authorized.

IMPROVING THE HYDRAULICS OF MARE ISLAND STRAIT.

During the preceding fiscal year work had consisted almost entirely of dike work, the principal item being the extension of long dike No. 12 into San Pablo Bay, other work being minor extensions of spur dikes in Mare Island Strait and minor dredging. At the beginning of the fiscal year 1913 all this work had been practically completed.

In July, 1913, bids for dredging in Mare Island Strait on a yardage basis and providing for a 400-foot channel were received. Under the most advantageous of these bids the work with a 400-foot channel would have cost $232,000, and with a 600-foot channel, $280,200. These bids were rejected, and on September 6 other bids on a lumpsum basis were obtained. Award was made, and on November 26 the contractor was ordered to increase the channel width to 600 feet, at a total contract price of $243,000. The work involved dredging the bar at the entrance to Mare Island Strait, dredging a 600-foot channel from the entrance to a point opposite the navy yard, dredging an anchorage or turning basin at the upper end of the yard, and the removal of Commission Rock. This dredging was begun October 22, 1913, and at the present time is 71 per cent completed.

Other minor work such as dredging and repairs to dikes has been carried on, and the city of Vallejo is carrying on diking work at an estimated cost of $142,000, in order to retain spoil wasted by the contractor from the channel, thereby reclaiming approximately 150 acres of submerged land on the Vallejo side, to the mutual advantage of the city and of the Government.

Owing to unusually favorable prices obtained, the project is approaching completion at a cost much below the Biddle Board's original estimates, and present conditions indicate that these works,

if properly kept up, will accomplish the result of maintaining deep water in Mare Island Strait. The board's estimate for this work of upkeep was $70,000 per annum. The total project is estimated as being approximately 81 per cent completed, and the estimated date for completion is September 12, 1915, the contract date for completion of the dredging.

FLOATING CRANES.

The 150-ton floating crane for the naval station, Pearl Harbor, was completed during the early part of the fiscal year. This crane. was purchased under a contract which also covered the purchase of a crane of similar capacity for the Boston Navy Yard. The Boston crane was completed about the end of the fiscal year 1913, at a cost of $294,397.92. The cost of the Pearl Harbor crane was $334,522. These cranes are identical in construction, the larger cost of the Pearl Harbor crane being due to the isolated location of the station. Bids are now being invited for the floating revolving crane for the navy yard, Norfolk, Va., under the act of June 30, 1914.

The appropriation for the fiscal year 1914 under "Maintenance, Bureau of Yards and Docks," was $1,500,000, and the appropriation under "Repairs and preservation" was $800,000. These appropriations, which are relied upon to cover all items of general maintenance and repair at navy yards and stations, have been insufficient to meet the many demands for the upkeep of Government property. The increases in these appropriations have failed to keep pace with the increased value of public works, with the result that in many cases property must be allowed to deteriorate for want of adequate funds for repairs.

66 CONTINGENT, BUREAU OF YARDS AND DOCKS."

The appropriation "Contingent, Bureau of Yards and Docks," for the fiscal year 1914 was $30,000. Because of the smallness of this appropriation its use was confined to the most urgent items of an unforeseen character. The inadequacy of the appropriation has long been known, and for the fiscal year 1915 the appropriation is $50,000, with the wording extended so as to provide for minor extensions and improvements to public works.

REPORT IN DETAIL OF OPERATIONS.

The construction work under the cognizance or supervision of the Bureau of Yards and Docks completed or under way at the end of the fiscal year 1914 may be described as follows. This does not take into consideration the innumerable small jobs, which, however, in the aggregate entailed the expenditure of a considerable amount of money.

Annapolis, Md.-At the close of the fiscal year the underground electric distribution system at the Naval Academy was practically completed, at a cost of $56,876.03. A bulkhead and wharf were com