Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1910-11-08
SECRETARY RETURNS
From His Inspection OF The
Navy Yards
TOO MANY NAVY YARDS
Secretary Meyer Favors Large Naval
Stations At Guantanamo And Key
West

Secretary of the Navy Meyer re-
turned to Washington Sunday after
an inspection trip to Western and
Southern navy yards lasting about five
weeks. During his trip he travelled
10,633 miles, of which 9,6S5 was by
train and 94S by sea.
He had a short conference at the
White House Sunday with President
Taft, at which naval matters were
discussed. Mr.. Meyer left Washing
ton at o'clock Sunday afternoon for
Hamilton Mass. where he will vote
today. He will return to Washing
ton tomorrow.
Secretary Meyer left Washington
the latter part of September accom-
panied by Commander Philip An
drews, his naval aid. The first stop
was at Chicago, where the new naval
training station was inspected. At
Seattle he visited the Bremerton navy
yard and the shipbuilding and repair
works of Moran Bros. At San Fran
cisco Mr.. Meyer visited the Mare Is
land navy yard, the training station
at Yerba Buena, the coaling station
at Toburon, the yards of the Union
Iron Works and the private dock at
Hunters Point.
After spending a few days at Los
Angeles and San Diego Mr.. Meyer
next inspected the navy yards at
New Orleans, Pensacola. Key West
and Guantanamo. Mr.. Meyers trip
was for the purpose of gathering
first hand information regarding the
navy yard station, which he intends
to discuss in his coming annual re.
port. Mr.. Meyer favors reduction
in the number of navy yards on the
Atlantic and Gulf coasts. He is also
in favor Of establishing large ma
val station at Guantanamo. Guam
tanamo Bay, Mr.. Meyer said, was ad-
mirably fitted for such use. 1t is
large enough to hold many vessels.
1t is likely that Secretary Meyer
will submit an estimate to Congress
at the coming session for the devel-
opment of the station at Guantanamo
into first-class repair base. Mr..
Meyer Investigated the situation at
the Mare Island navy yard at San
Francisco, which large vessels are
unable to enter because of lack of
sufficient depth. He estimated that
about 81, 100000 will be necessary to
dredge the channel to a proper depth
and about $4,000 will have to be
spent annually in maintaining the
channel because of the rapid deposit
of silt. Mr.. Meyer will discuss this
question in his annual report. 1t will
be impossible, he says, to maintain
battleship fleet on the Pacific before
more adequate dock facilities are pro-
vided. At present he believes the
Pacific coast cannot maintain battle
ship feet and probably will not be
able to before the completion of the
Panama Canal.
The station at New Orleans, he said,
had large floating dock and large
shops without much machinery. The
Pensacola station, he added, was not
in very good condition. At Key
West Mr.. Meyer found that the re-
cent West India hurricane had done
considerable damage. The coaling
plant especially had suffered, but can
be repaired at slight cost by using
ports from the coaling station at Dry
Tortugas, which was abandoned years
ago.
Mr.. Meyer believes there are too
many yards on the Atlantic and Gulf
coasts. He believes that it would be
more economical to concentrate naval
work in a smaller number of larger
yards. One yard, he believes,is ade-
quate for the Gulf coast, and this will
probably be at Key West, which will
be maintained as the secondary West
Indian naval base. The yards at
New Orleans and Pensacola will prob
ably be abandoned if Mr.. Meyers rec
concentrations are carried out by Con-
gress.
On the Atlantic Mr.. Meyer favored
the concentration of naval work at
Boston, New York, Philadelphia and
Norfolk. If carried into effect this
policy will result in the abandonment
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