Evening star., 1938-05-21
$1,765,0OO ASKED
.F0RD|STR|CT YARD
IN NEW NAVY BILL
Fund Includes $1,400,O00
for Gun Shop and $365, 900
for a St0reh0uSe.
$23,875,O00 MEASURE
FOR START ON DEFENSES
MOSQUITO Fleet Provided For in
Plan as Well as Rigid Airship
and 9 Patrol Planes.
President Roosevelt asked Congress

and 9 Patrol Planes.
President Roosevelt asked Congress
yesterday to appropriate $1,765,000
for the Washington Navy Yard as
part of a s23,S75OO fund recon-
mended to begin strengthening the
Nations sea and air defenses.
Acting only three days after the ma
val expansion bill became law. the
Chief Executive outlined the intended
uses of the fund in letter to Speaker
Bankhead.
For the Washington Navy Yard the
recommendation is for a $l.400,0O0
gun assembly shop building and $685.
600 ordnance warehouse.
Other navy yard improvements are
recommended for Mare Island, Calf,
and Philadelphia. to provide ESSEN
tial equipment and facilities"
The new gun assembly plant pro-
posed for the Washington Navy Yard
should increase by at least one-third
eAiS phtoStc SdPoSAtJ
of the yard, it was said today.
Planned as the most modern plant
in any Government navy yard. the
proposed shop will produce some Of
the Nays 16-inch guns, which will be
the probable caliber designed for the
35.000-ton superdreadnaught provided
in the new naval program.
There are two existing gun plants at
the Washington Navy Yard. One of
these is the small one built in 1850.
The other is the wartime plant built
in 1918 at cost of $l,250,0OO Navy
Department officials said the new
plant will be somewhat similar in size.
Tentative plans call for concrete
and steel building $40 feet long by 240
feet in width, with a maximum clear
ance of 1870 feet. 1t was estimated
that between 100 and $50 men will be
employed during various stages of its
construction.
Mosquito" Fleet.
Principal uses of the S23,875 900
fund were outlined by the President as
follows:
For three new Warships, 10 auxil-
iaries and feet of small vessels of
great speed and maneuverability, $l6,-
100000.
For nine patrol boats of the latest
type. s3,375,o00.
For a rigid airship-the first since
the Macon and Akron crashed several
years ago-s50o,0
The money, scheduled to be in
cluded in the second deficiency ap-
preparation bill now pending before
the House Appropriations Committee,
would be sufficient only for start on
the new vessels and the dirigible. Un-
official Navy estimates placed their ul-
innate cost at around Sll5,000, 600.
The warships for which the Presi-
dent asked funds are two light
cruisers and an airplane cHrier,
which probably will cost about s22,-
100000 each to complete.
The auXillaries include a destroyer
tender. a large seaplane tender and
two small ones. mine layer, a mine
sweeper, two oil tankers and two feet
tugs.
Dirigible to Cost S3,000,0O0
The dirigible is to be of 5000, 900
cubic feet. The Naval Expansion Act
provides that its total cost shall not
be more than S3,000,000.
The nine patrol planes are to be
of the four-engine type, which Daniel
w. Bell. acting budget director, ad-
vised Mr. Roosevelt lis considered to
be very great improvement over the
smaller tWo-engine patrol planes"
Together with six such planes, for
which Congress already has appro-
priated. they would form a full operat-
ing squadron to be subjected to thor
ough service tests.
If Congress grants the Presidents
request. Mare Island will get $780,
600 machine shop building and a
$l75,00o paint shop building: Phila-
delphia. a S630.000 structural assem-
bly, shop building a s750.000 pipe and
copper shop building and $4,000
picking plant building.
Authorizes Work of a Billion.
The new naval expansion act au-
thorizeS, but does not finance, approxi-
mately s1,000,oOo,00O of naval con-
struction. The Presidents request for
an appropriation was the first step
toward carrying out its authorizations.