Evening star., 1927-12-15
NAVY YARD FORCE
INCREASE ASKED
admiral Bloch Urges More
Technical Employees TO Keep
Work Up-to-Date.

Increase in the drafting and design
forces of the naval gun factory a
the WASHINGTON Navy Yard Is strongly
urged in the annual report Of kear
Admiral c. 4. Bloch. chief of the Bu
reau Of Ordnance Of the Navy Depart
nent, in his annual report, made pub
lie today. He says that the technical
forces of the bureau and the naval
gun factory have been engaged in the
design Of new ordnance material for
the cruiser-buding program. These
forces. particularly those at the naval
sun factory, are low eT than they
should be and the design work
Of the bureau Is in arrears. The hu-
reau considers IL necessary that ad-
d.tional design force be employed at
the gun factory. and this, together
with the fact that il has not been pos
sible 10 make merited promotions in
the field service for a considerable pc
Tiod of time. owing TO the lack of
funds, necessitates an increase in the
limitation contained in the naval APP
preparation act for the purpose Of clas-
sifed service in the field.
The drafting force at the local gun
factory. he SAYS. is barely able to keep
abreast of the current requirements
of the fleet and is unable to develop
designs for new construction on time.
Frequently. he continues, manufaC-
ture is started before designs are com
pleted and changes in design during
manufacture result in increased costs
The craftsmen are shifted continually
from one job to another in order to
meet the demands Of urgency and the
continuity of the work is interrupted.
it is necessary 10 increase the drafting
force at the naval gun factory in order
to assist economical production.
He says there has been included in
the 1929 estimates an item for expert
mental ammunition buildings at the
Washington yard. pointing out that
at the present time experimental work
with pyrotechnics is conducted in an
old dwelling in the eastern end of the
yard. 1t is considered necessary that
a properly designed f1reproof building
be erected to take care of the needs of
the Navy in this regard.
He says that about one-thrd of the
houses built during the war at Indian
Head, Md, are boarded up for preser-
walton, but that there is a shortage at
the proving ground at Dahlgren. Va,
and says that the condition would he
corrected by transfer of the houses
from one station to the other. Three
or four bungalows are needed for the
officers and about i more houses
should be provided for the civilian
employees. Another need at Dahlgren
is an additional well. The maximum
capacity of the present we'll is 100. 600
gallons a day. while the consumption
is about 10000 gallons. In the Sum.
mer the drain on the system is great.
and it is pointed out that in case OF
fire the scarcity If water might be Sc
rious.
Admiral Bloch points to the need of
additional funds with which to replace
the reserve supply of small arms am
munition, abnormal Withdrawals from
stock having been made during the
year because of the operations in
China and Nicaragua.
Considerable space is given in the
report TO the work that has been done
in the development of anti-aircraft
batteries for the fleet. pointing out the
peculiar difficulties met by the Navy,
which cannot make use of the expert
ments on shore in arriving at a proper
equipment for ships to combat the air
forces.
However, he says that new anti-air
craft batteries, with their control ap-
pliances, have been installed on three
battleships; similar batteries and con-
troll appliances are now under con-
struction for two additional battle.
ships. In Is months the installations
on the two last ships should be COM
pleted. and at that time there will
be seven completely equipped modern
anti-aircraft batteries in the fleet