Chapter 849. to increase the Naval establishment
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CHAP. 849.— An Act to increase the Naval establishment.August 3, 1886. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*,Increase of Naval establishment. That the President is hereby authorized to have constructed, as hereinafter provided— First. Two sea going double-bottomed armored vessels of about sixArmored vessels. thousand tons displacement, designed for a speed of at least sixteen knots au hour, with engines having all necessary appliances for working under forced draught, and costing, including engines and machinery and excluding armament, not more than two million five hundred thousand dollars each.
Said vessels shall have each a complete torpedoTorpedo outfit. outfit and be armed in the most effective manner. Second. One protected double-bottomed cruiser of not less than threeCruiser thousand five hundred nor more than five thousand tons displacement, designed to have the highest practicable speed and furnished with the best type of modern engines, furnished with necessary appliances for working under forced draught. Said vessels shall cost, including engines and machinery and excluding armament, not exceeding one million five hundred thousand dollars.
Third. One first class torpedo-boat, costing in the aggregate not moreTorpedo-boat. than one hundred thousand dollars. Sec. 2. That the vessels hereinbefore authorized to be constructedTo be built of American steel. shall be built of steel of domestic manufacture, having a tensile strength of not less than sixty thousand pounds per square inch, and an elongation in eight inches of not less than twenty-five per centum. Sec. 3. That the President is hereby authorized to direct the completion,Completion of Puritan, Amphitrite, Monaduock, and Terror. as hereinafter provided, of the double-turreted monitors Puritan, Amphitrite, Monadnock, and Terror, at a total cost, exclusive of armament, not to exceed three million one hundred and seventy-eight thousand and forty-six dollars.
Sec. 4. That the armor used in constructing said armored vessels andArmor to be of domestic manufacture. for completing said monitors shall be of the best obtainable quality and of domestic manufacture, provided contracts for furnishing the same in a reasonable time, at a reasonable price, and of the required quality can be made with responsible parties. Such armor shall be accepted only after passing such tests as shall be prescribed by the Secretary of the Navy and inserted in the contracts.
Sec. 5. That the Secretary of the Navy shall cause one or more of the new vessels hereinbefore provided for to be constructed and one or more of theOne or more vessels to be built at navy-yards. said monitors to be completed in one or more of the navy-yards of the United States; and if be shall be unable to contract with responsible parties to construct or complete, at reasonable prices, all or any of the vessels hereinbefore provided for, he shall cause the same to be constructed or completed in such of the navy-yards of the United States as may be best adapted thereto.
Sec. 6. That the engines, boilers, and machinery of all the new vesselsEngines, boilers, and machinery to be of domestic manufacture. provided for by this act shall be of domestic manufacture and procured by contract, unless the Secretary of the Navy shall be unable to obtain the same at fair prices, in which case he may construct the same, or any portion thereof, in the navy-yards of the United States: *Provided*,*Proviso*. That the Secretary of the Navy may purchase-abroad only such shafting as it may be impossible to obtain in the United States in timeShafting may be purchased abroad. for use in the construction of the vessels herein provided for.
FORTY-NINTH CONGRESS. Sess. I. Ch. 849. 1886. 216 Sec. 7. That the Secretary of the Navy shall not contract for theConstruction. construction or completion of any of said vessels, or of their engines, machinery, or boilers, until drawings and specifications of the same shall have been provided or adopted by him; and after Contracts.said drawings and specifications shall have been provided, adopted, and approved as aforesaid, and work shall have been commenced on any contract made therefor, such plans and specifications shall not be changed in any respect when the cost of such change in the execution of the work exceeds five hundred dollars, except upon the written order of the Secretary or Acting Secretary of the Navy; and if changes are thus made, the actual cost thereof and the damage caused thereby shall be ascertained, estimated, and determined by a board of naval officers to be provided for in the contract; and in any contract made pursuant to this act it shall be provided in the terms thereof that the contractor shall be bound by the determination of said board, or a majority thereof, as to the amount of increase or diminished compensation said contractor shall be entitled to . receive, if any, in consequence of such change or changes.
In every contract to be made under this act there shall be prescribed a period within which the work provided for in said contract, or specified portions thereof, shall be completed, and the completion of such work within the periods prescribed shall be insured by penal provisions. For the construction or completion of such vessels hereinbefore provided for as the Secretary of the Navy shall propose to have constructed or completed by contract, as well as also for the engines, boilers, and machinery herein-before provided for, he shall invite proposals from every American shipbuilder and other person who shall show to the satisfaction of the Secretary of the Navy that within three months from the date of the contract ho will be possessed of the necessary plant for the performance of the work in the United States which he shall offer to undertake, and such contract shall be let to the lowest and best responsible bidder or bidders, after at least sixty days’ advertisement, published in five leading papers of the United States, inviting proposals for the work pro posed, which work shall be subject to all such rules, regulations, superintendence by naval officers during construction, and provisions as to bonds and security for the quality and due completion of the work as the Secretary of the Navy shall prescribe; and no vessel, boiler, engine, machinery, or portion thereof shall be accepted unless completed in strict conformity with the contract; and the authority given hereby shall take effect at once.
The Secretary of the Navy shall have the power to reject any or all bids made under the provisions of this act. Sec. 8. That the sum of one million dollars is hereby appropriatedArmament. towards the armament of the vessels authorized by the act of March third, eighteen hundred and eighty-five, of the vessels authorized by Vol. 23, p. 433.section one of this act, and of the unfinished monitors hereinbefore mentioned, and. of the Miantanomoh; and the Secretary of the Navy is hereby authorized to direct the application of such portions of this sum as may be necessary to the manufacture or purchase of such tools and machinery or the erection of such structures as may be required for use *Proviso*.in the manufacture of such armament, or any part thereof:
Manufacture of guns.*Provided*, That the Secretary of the Navy may contract with domestic manufacturers for the construction of such portion of the heavy guns herein Provided for as may not be built by the Government. Sec. 9. That the Secretary of the Navy is hereby authorized to contractDynamite-gun cruiser. with the Pneumatic Dynamite-Gun Company of New York for one dynamite-gun cruiser, as follows: Said cruiser to be not less than two hundred and thirty feet long, twenty-six feet breadth of beam, seven and one-half feet draught, three thousand two hundred horsepower, and guaranteed to attain a speed of twenty knots an hour, and to be equipped with three pneumatic dynamite-guns of ten and one-half inch caliber, and guaranteed to throw shells containing two hundred pounds of dynamite or other high explosives at least one mile, each gun to be capable of being discharged once in two minutes, at a price not to ex- FORTY-NINTH CONGRESS.
Sess. I. Chs. 849, 893. 1886. 217 ceed three hundred and fifty thousand dollars; said contract to be made only on condition that there shall be a favorable report made by the existing Naval Board on the system; to be paid for as the work progresses, and upon the report of such board or boards of inspectors as the Secretary of the Navy’ may for that purpose appoint, reserving thirty per centum on all such payments until the whole work is completed and accepted by the Secretary of the.
Navy. The Pneumatic Dynamite-Gun Company’ shall furnish bonds satisfactoryBonds. to the Secretary of the Navy for the faithful performance of its contract, and for the refunding of the money paid hereunder in case of the nonperformance of the same, and shall further agree with the Secretary of the Navy upon a limit of price which shall not be exceeded in any future contracts which the Government may desire to enter into for the purchase of the company’s gnus. Sec. 10. That towards the construction and completion of the vesselsAppropriation. hereinbefore mentioned, including the vessel and guns mentioned in section nine, the sum of two million five hundred thousand dollars is hereby appropriated, of which not more than seventy-five thousand dollars may be expended in manufacturing, purchasing, and experimenting with torpedoes of domestic manufacture and not exceeding one hundred and fifty thousand dollars may be expended, under the direction of the Secretary of the Navy, in improving the plant of such of the navy yards as he may select.
Approved, August 3, 1886.