Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1917-12-02
NAVY SUPPLY SECTION
RENDERS VALUABLE AID
Has Under Construction, and 30 Per
Cent Completed, Tremendous
Storage Facilities.
COLD STORAGE AT HAMPTON
Fourteen Warehouses Cost $1,000
600. md VIII Store 100000 Ship
Tons. OF Matcrial-Would Take
ESQ Trains to Haul Stock.

Nava preparedness means "a lot Of
big industries going along hand in
hand within the departments The sup
ply phase is less spectacular. perhaps
than recruiting, shipbuildine, sub
marine chasing, hut it is fully as inn
portant 1t gains it's widest publicity
through scandals due to brcnkduwns
such as marred army administration
during the Spanish American War.
The. Nays effort has been to forcstall
this sort OF publicity altogether. and
great deal of quiet determination
and millions of dollars are being ap-
Piled in this direction now. Admiral
Frederic i. Harris, chief Of the Bureau
Of. Yards and Docks. has been at work
for six mouths providing the most en-
tcnsirc system OF naval storchouSes in
our history. so as 10 give the navy
purrha sing organization free hand ut
all times for its operations
There are siXty-tvc varieties Of naval
stores handled by the Bureau Of Sup
plies and Accounts. embracing thou
sands and thousands Of different COM
moditfes ranging alphabetically from
anchors TO zinc The business Of that
bureau is to furnish the naval estab-
]
matcly on the date needed. and that
is fair sized undertaking for per-
sonnet of 100000 or so, and for the in
dustrial and military orga nization COM
prfscd in our. modern ncct
Upon our entry into the war. de-
mands necessarily multiplied beyond
all precedent. Items OF 100000 here
and Sl.0oo.Oo0 there became daily bu-
t,I
comprehensive purchasing and storage
system than had previously existed.
The navy is living through Il period
VI expanded and unforeseen demands
and the warchousng facilities at our
navy-yHrds have caught step with the
larger demands. The Bureau of Yards
and Docks representing the shore con
struction force of the navy. has been
hard at work for sin months on this
task. and is now getting results to
show for the S10.00O.0OD allotted to
storchousc construction. There are al
most as many kinds OF storage in the
navy as there are varieties of ma
terials. but the principal call at pres
ent is for general, ordnance, and cloth
Ing and provision storage. Each class
Is divided into emergency and per-
mancnt construction.
NEW WAREHOUSE HAS
SINTEEN ACRES STORAGE SPACE
The situation at New York last sprinc
was especially urgent For obvious
reasons the New York station is the
chief naval distributing center. The
accumulation OF supplies threatened to
smother the industrial activSties OF the
yard. Pcrishablc commodities were
housed in every available nook but at
best there was much undesirable eN-
posur. tn weather Property such as
ships boats. metals. paints and even
valuable machinery had To he stored in
the open. where they We're suffering
deterioration and ohStructing the
grounds The completion OF the pcrma-
ncnt general storage building at this
yard. which is now being occupied, Is
doing much TO remedy conditions.
The new warehouse is the largest Of
its particular kind in the known world
II is eleven stories high. $50 feet long
and $50 feet wide. and afTords sixteen
acres of storage space. Its cubical
capacity is 100000 cubic feet. cuuiva-
lsnt to the cargo capacity Of n fleet
OF seventy 3,000-ton merchant steam
ers 1t is constructed throughout Of
lcontinued on Ninth Page.)