The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1902-06-12
ABANDON STATION
HALE WOULD DISCONTINUE THE
MARE ISLAND YARD
At San Francisco, on Account OF Its Useless.
ness IS a Repair Depot for Large Yes.
sells Of the Navy-Success Of Plan Means
Increased importance Of the Puget Sound
Navyysrd.

Washington, June Ex-senator Hale,
of Maine, chairman of the committee
on naval affairs, and one of the most
conservative and influential members
of the senate, introduced an amend
ment to the naval bill today providing
that Mare Island navy yard, at San
Francisco, be abandoned. Coupled
with this plan is provision that a
board of officers be appointed to con-
slider the location of a yard at some
point on San Francisco bay adjacent to
deep water. Senator Perkins, of Cali
fornia, who is also member of the
naval affairs committee, is bitterly OPP
posed to the scheme, for he believes it
means the permanent supremacy of
Puget Sound hayward.
Senator Hale's amendment is as fol-
lows:
Whereas, The United States navy
yard at Mare Island, California, is sit
uated remote from the seashore, and
can only be approached by smaller YES
sells of the United States navy, no bat
tleship ever having been sent to the
yard and
Whereas, Large sums of money
have been expended by the United
States in attempts to dredge the chan
mel of said yard, a large part of said
work having been made useless by re-
filling of the channel through natural
deposits; and,
Whereas, Property of the govern
&c l,,n hoe lotn haap 10
stroyed and needs to be replaced;
Therefore, the secretary of the navy
is hereby directed to appoint commits
sion of three persons, consisting of one
officer of the engineering corps of the
army, one officer of the civil engineer
corps of the navy and one experienced
and expert civil engineer from civil
life, whose duty it shall be to examine
the situation at said hayward, the
channel leading from the sea thereto,
and further to examine the shores of
the bay of San Francisco and waters
nearly adjacent thereto for the purpose
of selecting suitable site, having am
pie deep water for the purpose of estab-
fishing at such place a new United
States hayward, to which in due time
all government property now in Mare
Island hayward shall be moved, so far
as the same shall be practicable.
"Said commission shall report to the
secretary of the navy the full re-
suits of their examinations, and full
description of the site selected for the
new navy yard, which report shall be
transmitted to congress at its next SEES
sion, with any recommendations there
on that the secretary of the navy may
see fit to make"
A few days ago Senator Hale intro
duced resolution calling on the navy
for information calculated
to show the relative natural advantages
of the Puget Sound and Mare Island
yards. Although the formal reply has
not yet been made. by the department,
Senator Hale has learned enough to
satisfy him that the Mare Island yard
is practically useless for first class re-
pair work under present conditions.
Senator Perkins, in discussing the
amendment, said:
II shall fight this scheme to a finish.
1t simply means that San Francisco
will have second class naval station
instead of maynard, and that Puget
Sound will get the bulk of the work of
repairs on naval ships"
The belief is general that congress
would not consent, at least for a long
time, to incur the expense of building
up Il great new yard on San Francisco
bay, especially as the government al
ready has fine equipment at the Puget
Sound hayward.