The Birmingham age-herald., 1902-10-13
SLOW PROGRESS
 ON VAR VESSELS
Rear Admiral BowIes Makes an
 Interesting Report.
WORK HAS BEEN DELAYED
The sattleship Missouri Is Over Twsn. ty Months Behind, and the Ma Iority of Them Are Over Ten
 Months in Arrears.

Washington. October 12-'Progress up- on new vessels under construction dur ing the past year has not been satisfac- tory" says Rear Admiral Bowles chief 1 of the naval bureau of construction in his annual report to the secretary of the navy. All the larger vessels, be says have been delayed by non-delivery of structur- l al steel while the vessels building at San Francisco were set back by the ten months strike and the hold out was work men at Seattle prevented any actual pro- gress on the structure of the hull of the battleship Nebraska building there. The delay in the deliveries of armor for the battleships Maine, Missouri and Ohio and the monitors Arkansas, Florida, Nevada and Wyoming has retarded the comple- ton of these vessels concurrently with other causes. The inability of shipbuild-
 CTS to obtain a sufficient force of skilled
 workers also has been in many cases an important factor in the slow progress 1 of the vessels. A table is submitted show ing in concise form how the work on 1 vessels under construction has fallen be- hind. For instance the batteshipe Ohio Is shown to have been 29 months be- hind her contract on the first of July. This Is not an isolated case.
 Missouri Ia Behind.
 The battleship Missouri is over 20 months behind. the majority of the bat tleships and cruisers are over ten months behind and some of the torpedo craft are more than forty months behind the date of completion stipulated in their con T~. that the extensive delays on the torpedo boats are being terminated by the new ly modified conditions for their delivery. The contractors delay in beginning the constructions of the vessels of the Vir- ginia, Pennsylvania and St. Louis class. the chief constructor points out, gave his bureau an opportunity to make a care. full revision of the general plans of those war vessels which he says, will result r in a considerable improvement in their military value and in their habitability. The plans for the turrets of the Virginia class were developed in more detail. An entire encouragement of the scheme for the stowage of ammunition was made and particular attention was given to an | efficient scheme for coaling. A table is l given showing the ships added to the navy during the past year. They were the battleship Illinois and the torpedo craft Decatur, Perry, Preble, Riddle, | Thornton and Wilkes.
 Encouraging Progress. Substantial and encouraging progress is reported in the standardization of ship | fittings, system to secure uniformity In | the innumerable types of ships parts which has long been fostered by the | construction bureau. Private shipbutld- CTS. having contracts for naval vessels, 1 from time to time during the year sub mitted plans for Standard" fitting and now forty-four types of ship fittings have been declared to be standard The bu- reau also has prepared type plans for ventilation and drainage for the vessels of the Virginia, Pennsylvania, St. Louis and Denver classes, and for the single turreted monitors.
 Admiral Bowles says there continues to be an urgent necessity for an increase in the number of offices of construction for the ports. The principal navy yards it Is said have an insufficient number of officers for the performances of regular duties The lack of officers is particularly hurtful just now in view of the construc- ton of the big battleship Connecticut at the New York navy yard. Rear Admiral Bowles renews his recommendation for an increase of his corps from forty to sixty members.
 The reports says the advantages of
 
 and marine engineering in the United States became more evident last year. Contrast With Foreign Schools. It contrasts with the foreign technical schools to which students have been pre- viously assigned and the limited oppor- tunities for practical work and observa- ton of actual construction which the position of the students as foreigners na- turally subjected them, the bureau of construction Is now enabled by co-opera- tion with the faculty of the Massachus- etts institute of techniligy to regulate the technical education appropriately and to offer the students and their in- structors constant opportunities for ob- servation of the building and repair Of | all classes of vessels, both at private l shipyards and at the navy yards of the | government.
 | Admiral Bowles points out that the policy of congress for some years past | has been against the construction of new | vessels in the navy yards, and as a re- | suit the development and improvement of | the yards in matters such as quays, walls, slips, locations of buildings etc, have not been generally directed toward ef- ficient shipbuilding The admiral Is of the | opinion that it should be the policy of the navy department so to arrange the navy yard plants that they will be eff cient for shipbuildng. which is in reality, he says, one of the most important func- | tions they may be required to perform.
 Experiment Model Basis.
 An interesting portion of the report is | that in regard to the work of the ex perimental model basin, in which minia ture warships are tried and it is stated | that the basin has proven of great value to the construction bureau.
 l. number of experiments have been made in the basin during the past year to determine the most desirable forms of the new battleships and armored cruisers. It Is wholly to the basin facilities that the bureau has been enabled to arrive a. the very satisfactory results that the new armored cruisers of the Tennessee class. displacing 145O0 tons, may be expected to make a speed of 22 knots with actually somewhat less power than the preceding | lot of armored cruisers of the Pennsyl- vania class of same speed. which dis placed 13,6s0 tons. Similarly. the two new | l6.0OO ton battleships of tn Connecticut class will drive appreciably easier at IS knots than the preceding battleships On | 14,e4S tons.