Chapter 283.
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CHAP. 283.— An act making appropriations for fortifications and other works of defense, for the armament thereof, for the procurement of heavy ordnance for trial and service, and for other purposes.February 24, 1891. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*,Fortifications appropriations. That the sums of money herein provided for be, and the same are hereby, appropriated, out of any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated,Available until expended. to be available until expended, namely:
Preservation and Repair of Fortifications: For the protection.Preservation and repair. preservation, and repair of fortifications for which there may be no special appropriation available, eighty thousand dollars. For preparation of plans for fortifications, five thousand dollars.Plans. For protection of the shore at Fort Monroe, Virginia, twenty-sevenShore at Fort Monroe, Va. thousand dollars. Artesian well at Fort Monroe. Virginia: For obtaining water forWater. the garrison, six thousand dollars.
Torpedoes for Harbor Defense: For the purchase of submarineTorpedoes. mines and necessary appliances to operate them for closing the channels leading to our principal seaports, fifty thousand dollars. For needful casemates, and cable galleries, to render it possible to operate submarine mines, fifty thousand dollars. For construction of a wharf, a keeper’s dwelling, and for a water Torpedo station, Yerba Buena Island, California.supply for the torpedo station at Yerba Buena Island, California, sixteen thousand dollars.
Gun and Mortar Batteries: For construction of gun and mortarGun and mortar batteries; Boston. New-York, San Francisco, Hampton, Washington. batteries for defense of Boston Harbor, New York Harbor, San Francisco Harbor, Hampton Roads, and Washington, seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Sites for fortifications and Seacoast Defenses: For theSites for fortifications and seacoast defenses. procurement of land, or right pertaining thereto, needed for the site, location, construction, or prosecution of works, for fortifications and coast defenses, five hundred thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary. 768FIFTY-FIRST CONGRESS.
Sess. II. Chs. 283. 1898. For the following, to be expended under the direct supervision ofUnder supervision of Board. Vol. 25, p. 489. the Board of Ordnance and Fortification, created by the fortification appropriation act, approved September twenty-second, eighteen hundred and eighty-eight, and in the manner prescribed by said act, namely: Armament of Fortifications: For the manufacture (finishingArmament of fortifications. Steel seacoast guns. and assembling) of eight-inch, ten-inch, and twelve-inch steel seacoast guns from forgings procured under fortification act of September twenty-second, eighteen hundred and eighty-eight, seventy thousand dollars.
For steel field-guns of three and two-tenths-inchSteel field-guns. caliber, twenty-five thousand dollars. For metallic carriages for field-gun batteries, sixty-oneCarriages. thousand dollars. For carriages for field-mortars of three and six-tenths-inch caliber, five thousand seven hundred and sixty dollars. For carriages for siege-rifles of five-inch caliber, thirty thousand dollars. For carriages for siege-howitzers of seven-inch caliber, thirty-five thousand dollars. For alteration of existing carriages for ten-inch and fifteen-inchAlterations. smooth-bore guns to adapt them to present service conditions, fifty thousand dollars.
For machines, and for improvement of existing plant at the Water-townMachines, improvement, etc., at Water-town Arsenal. Mass. Arsenal, Massachusetts, for the manufacture of seacoast gun-carriages, including those of new design, twenty-seven thousand dollars. For sights and implements for guns and for fuses, six thousand dollars. For machinery and tools for the manufacture of fuses at FrankfordFrankford Arsenal, Fa. Machinery, etc. Arsenal, Pennsylvania, eight thousand five hundred dollars.
For inspecting instruments, gauges, and templets, for the manufacture of cannon, five thousand dollars. For powders for issues to the service, namely: For siege guns; forPowder issues to the service. seacoast mortars of twelve-inch caliber; for seacoast high-power steel guns; in all, forty thousand dollars. For projectiles for issues to the service, namely, for steel shell orProjectile issues to the service. shrapnel for field guns; for cast-iron projectiles for field and siege guns; for cast-iron projectiles for seacoast mortars of twelve-inch caliber; for cast-iron projectiles for seacoast high power steel guns; in all, fifty-three thousand dollars.
For steel shell for siege and seacoast cannon, fifteen thousand dollars. For purchase and erection of steel plates for representative experimentsTests, etc., of guns, etc. upon armored decks, twelve thousand dollars. For steel armor-piercing projectiles for seacoast guns, one hundred thousand dollars. For purchase and erection of armor-plate for testing armor-piercing projectiles, twenty-four thousand dollars. For testing one seacoast breech-loading rifled mortar, steel, of twelve-inch caliber, fifteen thousand dollars.
For current expenses and maintenance of the ordnance proving-ground,Proving ground, Sandy Hook, N. J. Repairs, etc. Sandy Hook, New Jersey, including general repairs, alterations, and accessories, and including a crane, incidental to testing and proving ordnance, including hire of assistants for ordnance board, skilled mechanical labor, purchase of instruments and other supplies, building and repairing butts and targets, clearing and grading ranges, and extending iron tramway, thirty-eight thousand Expenses of ordnance officers.four hundred dollars; for the necessary expenses of ordnance officers while temporarily employed at the proving-ground and absent from their proper stations, at the rate of two dollars and fifty cents per Compensation of draughtsmen.diem while so employed, and for the compensation of draughtsmen FIFTY-FIRST CONGRESS.
Sess. II. Chs. 283. 1891.769 while employed in the Army ordnance bureau on ordnance construction, as provided in the fortifications act, approved SeptemberVol. 25, p. 489. twenty-second, eighteen hundred and eighty-eight, nine thousand five hundred dollars; in all, forty-seven thousand nine hundred dollars. For purchase of hoisting engine, and steam shovel for grading andHoisting engine, etc. for building and repairing proof butts at the proving-ground, Sandy Hook, New Jersey, three thousand eight hundred dollars.
For purchase of oil-tempered and annealed steel for high-powerPurchase of steel for coast-defense guns. coast defense guns of eight, ten, and twelve-inch caliber, in quality and dimensions conforming to specifications, subject to inspection at each stage of the manufacture, and including all the parts of each caliber, eight hundred thousand dollars. *Provided*, That no contract for the expenditure of any portion of*Proviso*. the money herein provided, or that may be hereafter provided forContracts for material. the purchase of steel shall be made until the same shall have been submitted to public competition by the Department by advertisement.
For carriages for steel breech-loading seacoast guns, procuredCarriages for steel breech-loaders. under the fortification act of September twenty-second, eighteen hundred and eighty-eight, one hundred thousand dollars. For two gun-carriages of the disappeariug-type, fifty six thousandDisappearing gun-carriages. five hundred dollars, together with the sum of thirteen thousand five hundred dollars appropriated for one ten-inch disappearing gun carriage by the act of March second, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine,Vol. 25, p. 887. which sum is hereby reappropriated for the object herein mentioned.
Army Gun Factory, Watervliet Arsenal, West Troy, NewWatervliet Arsenal. York: For boring lathe and planer adapted to the manufacture of siege-guns and howitzers in small gun-shop at the army gun factory, four thousand one hundred dollars. To complete army gun factory building at Watervliet Arsenal,To complete army gun factory building. West Troy, New York, by the erection of south wing, inclusive of ways for traveling cranes, two hundred and forty-eight thousand seven hundred and forty-three dollars.
For machinery, tools, power plant, and fixtures adapted to theMachinery, etc. manufacture of steel seacoast guns, to complete the equipment of the south wing of army gun factory at Watervliet Arsenal, West Troy, New York, two hundred and sixty-eight thousand dollars. For iron framework, with adjustable platforms and centers forShrinkage pit. fitting up shrinkage pit, and for drainage of shrinkage pit at army gun factory, fourteen thousand dollars. For locomotive and cars or trucks for shifting guns and materialLocomotive, trucks, etc. and transportation between gun factory and river wharf, nine thousand dollars.
For increase of facilities at Watervliet Arsenal for shipment byShipment facilities. water, including repairs to wharf, dredging, and extending and setting up fifty-ton hand-power loading crane, six thousand five hundred dollars. Board of Ordnance and Fortification: To enable the boardBoard of Ordnance and Fortification. Experimental tests, etc., of guns, explosives. projectiles, armor-plates, etc. to make all needful and proper purchases, experiments, and tests to ascertain, with a view to their utilization by the Government, the most effective guns, small arms, cartridges, projectiles, fuses, explosives, torpedoes, armor-plates, and other implements and engines of war, and to purchase, or cause to be manufactured under authority of the Secretary of War, such guns, carriages, armor-plates, and other war materials and articles as may, in the judgment of the board, be necessary in the proper discharge of the duty devolved upon it by the act approved September twenty-second, eighteen hundred and eighty-eight, one hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
And one additional member shall be added to said Board ofAppointment of one additional member of Board. Ordnance and Fortification who shall be a civilian and not an ex 770FIFTY-FIRST CONGRESS. Sess. II. Chs. 283, 284. 1891. officer of the regular Army or Navy, and he shall he nominated byCivilian. the President, and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, Compensation, etc.appointed, and shall be paid a salary of live thousand dollars per annum*Proviso*. and actual traveling expenses when traveling on duty: *Provided*, That the Board of Ordnance and Fortification shall make Annual Report.an annual report to Congress through the Secretary of War, on the first Monday in December in each year, showing the general operations of the Board and shall give a detailed statement of all contracts, allotments and expenditures made by the Board; the first of these reports to cover these subject-matters from the beginning of the operations by the Board until the first report which they shall make.
That section two of “An act making appropriations for fortifications*Ante*, p. 319, modified. and other works of defense, for the armament thereof, for the procurement of heavy ordnance for trial and service, and for other purposes,” approved August eighteenth, eighteen hundred and ninety, is hereby modified and enlarged so that the amount authorized to be Maximum limit of expenditure enlarged.expended thereunder be increased to four million two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, to be expended on the terms and conditions Reservation.and for the purposes therein set forth, except that fifty thousand of said sum shall be reserved to cover all expenses other than the powder Decreased number of heavy guns may be purchased.and projectiles incident to the tests and inspection of the guns, and also that the Secretary of War be authorized to contract thereunder for such less number of guns than one hundred as he may deem for the best interests of the Government.
That all material purchased under the foregoing provisions ofAmerican manufacture. this act shall be of American manufacture, except in cases when, in Exception,the judgment of the Secretary of War, it is to the manifest interest Foreign material, duty free.of the United States to make purchases in limited quantities abroad, which material shall be admitted free of duty. Sec. 2. That the Secretary War be, and be is hereby, authorizedU. S. powder depot, Dover, N. J. to transfer such portion of the site of the United States powder Transfer, part of, to Navy Department.depot, near Dover, New Jersey, to the Navy Department for magazine purposes as in his judgment may be for the interest of the Jurisdiction.public service, and the property so transferred shall thereafter be under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Navy.
Approved, February 24, 1891.