New-York tribune., 1908-03-09
ARMY AND NAVY NEWS
Mare Island Nary Yard Nay BE
Doomed for Lack of Deep Channel
from The Tribune Bureau

Washington. March :
DEEPER CHANNEL NEEDED-The joint army
and navy board. composed OF repreSeli'd'i'0
the CORPS of civil engineers of the navy ana 'i7
-, - ergtneers of the army IS about to CON
vene al San Francisco for the purpose Oh asce
tainfng what the trouble at the Mare ls'd"u 'Oa
Navy Yard. That place is destined 10 RECEIVE ~
,,o-. extensive appropriatfons from Congress until
.ba conditions of the approach to the navy yard d
that place are improved. For years the p'ooi' -
has been to keep the channel at depth WHICH N''
permit the passage of the largest SHIPS '' w.
and this has been done only at great expense q 80 =
by constant dredging Some Two years es
Engineer H H Rosseau. now one Of the FahdiHa
Canal commissioners while on duty at Mare lsidhu
i, charge of public works, invented a system VI
securing the channel bottom so that the sii' "'o,
came down from the contributors -
streams might be washed out TO sea 1t N3'
thought that this would be sufficient III mas ap-
nreciablv improved the situation and man'aineo 4
dsr-h which could not otherwise have been secured
At the same time it has not effected a permanent
;,,,rovsn,ent The special board which is noV de-
tailed will seek 10 ascertain whether II Is p"SS''o
~ eoec+ anv Improvement which will be lasting
Considerable doubt expressed on this point anu
.ba -anor- from the board NAV have such vital
influence upon the case that the Washington an-
thorjttes will feel they are jstifled IN reco"i'h
,,r tho abandonment of q navy yard at Mare ISL
and and the establishment of navy repair sIiu
,ons-ructiop plant at some other place IN Ie
,,ohborbood of San Francisco. The Navy Depart
1ent officials appreciate that the question is an
inonortaut one to San Francisco ana the lnsllu-
tions 70 the board that the greatest care sha'
ne taken in arriving at.an opinion Inc army oii
c.-e s.r1,ing on the board are the engineers VINO
are IN charge of river and haroor 7orh III san
Francisco
orrEr-TS IN PINCH GCNS?-Th- ordnance
s-,arts of the army mystified over the errato
-erforr,ances of the two 12inch guns Nhlch IoIIil
mart of the coast defence armament at Fort Mon
rf7aCr -fIn
rifles Of the battery at that point were nred uoer
80 observation Of D. board of artillertsts. with a
view to celebrating the guns something Wfhch haa
NOT heen done and which was regarded as nece9
80 q, order 70 determine the Individual pecuIiari-
,iae of every rife II has developed that each gun
80. ,5,os1rcrasies of its own, and that these are
1ikeIv TO be far from characteristic Wn1ch Is
prescribed by the rules OF the theorists Everything
yxent we'll the armament at forr holitoo WIN
Tho exception of these TWO Finch Tnes' aho INC
,,,o-tsts u,bo reported upon the incident suggest
cd thar there we're serious defects either IN the guns
themselves or the complicated mechanism WHICH
is involved in the disappearing type OF gun Cd
riage OF in the powder which was used IN any
event the ordnance department was placed on the
defensive TIE incident has attracted mucn at
tention and has occasioned the ordnance oicers
considerable thought and anxiety Two OF the of'-
cers snecfaTv fitted to conduct the examination,
wore detailed TO visit Fort Monroe and observe
further firings OF these erratic guns They nave
sneut two or three weeks this work without
solving the mystery II has now oeen decldeo 10
transfer to the army proving GROUND AT Sanoy
Hook y J. the investigation and az far as may
he the conditions existing in the peculiar pattery
81 Fort Monroe will be reproduced at Sandy HOOK
The frings at the army proving ground VIII De
under identical conditions far may be with the
er;r,.r at Fort Monroe In this way the ordnance
experts will be able determine whether the fault
&c in tho povder or as has been suggested. IN
SONS, local defect of the lot of pro1ectiles which
happanad tn be used in the two Finch guns
The work of celebration will be continued 10 IN
c,uda all the guns mounted the coast fortihca-
,ions of this country and naturally there is much
interest TO see whether there will be any further
disclosures which battle the experts.