MANUAL OF THE BUREAU OF YARDS AND DOCKS.

CHAPTER 1.

INTRODUCTION.

1-01. This manual is issued by the bureau under the authority of the Secretary of the Navy, as provided by article 74, paragraphs 1h, 2, and 3 (a and h), and article 75, paragraph (9), of the United States Navy Regulations. The manual is supplementary to and in amplification of the Navy Regulations. Where it has seemed advisable, reference to the appropriate Navy Regulation is made in the text. The bureau has furthermore assembled the important fundamental laws upon which its operations are based, not elsewhere conveniently available, and has made statute reference at appropriate points. In addition, the bureau has had made careful examinations of the files of Executive orders, general orders of the Navy Department, opinions of the Attorney General, decisions of the Comptroller of the Treasury, and of the Comptroller General, and of pertinent court decisions, in order that the manual may be in accord with all superior and legal authority, and that important information may be readily available.

1-02. The bureau welcomes at all times suggestions as to improvements that may be made in this manual, and desires that its attention be invited to any apparent errors or omissions.

1-03. The manual comprises principal and guiding instructions to the service, necessary for the expeditious carrying out of the duties. of the Bureau of Yards and Docks as defined by law and Navy Regulations. Instructions from both administrative and technical standpoints are included. The bureau has included instructions, more complete than have been available in the past, to guide commanding officers and others having responsibility in connection with the bureau's work in the detailed expenditure of funds. It is expected that this will result in the public works of the Navy being kept in a better state of preservation at a reduced cost. The instructions

should, further, result in perfecting practice among the organizations charged with public works construction, to the end that new works in times of either peace or war may be planned and executed more expeditiously and with improved understanding of the Navy's needs.

1-04. A primary object of the manual is to assist those responsible for the operation, preservation, maintenance, and upkeep of real property, public works, and public utilities of the Navy in their efforts to make these facilities effective for naval purposes in the most economical and thorough manner. To secure this result the manual outlines, in considerable detail, the field of responsibility of the bureau and the procedure and methods applicable to its functions.

1-05. The instructions herein should result in the establishment and maintaining of more uniform basic policies in the administration of the Navy's real property and shore facilities, with resulting benefit to the service.

1-06. In transitions from peace to emergency or war-time conditions early demands upon the Bureau of Yards and Docks are to be expected. The actual expansion of the Navy is in personnel, ships, and material. The bureau must, in the normal course of events, provide an increase in training facilities on shore before the vessels can be fully manned. Any decision to construct additional new ships is likely to involve the provision of ways and other building facilities, which must be completed before the new ships can be built. Additional storage, handling, and berthing facilities, and advance bases will normally be demanded, and these must be completed before the full force of the Navy can be most effectively exerted. It is therefore essential that the bureau and its supporting organization in the field be at all times maintained in an alert status and in such form as to make possible an immediate expansion of activities. Peace-time budgets will not, however, allow excess personnel to be carried for such purposes.

1-07. It can not be hoped that every contingency has been foreseen, and it is therefore expected that officers whose duties are within the purview of this manual will exercise their best judgment in carrying out its general intent where detailed instructions are lacking. It is furthermore not the intention of the bureau to curb the initiative nor by the issue of minutiæ of instructions to restrict the action of experienced officers and others who are indoctrinated in naval requirements and practices. There must be, however, uniform pro

cedure in regard to many matters, and those performing Yards and Docks duties must be indoctrinated with like professional standards, which must harmonize with and form a part of the naval service ideal. The bureau has prepared the manual with these aims in mind, and would emphasize the necessity of following out the instructions herein.

1-08. The manual will be of particular assistance to those new in the service or assuming new duties of an unfamiliar character in connection with the bureau's work, and, owing to the more uniform practice which it should establish, should obviate difficulties in the assumption of duty by those transferred from one station to another.

1-09. It is the intention of the bureau to formulate its instructions in harmony with the approved plans for the national defense. Any case of nonconformity will be brought to the attention of the bureau.

1-10. The bureau can not emphasize too strongly the importance of sound engineering in connection with all of its enterprises. This requirement contemplates not only a comprehensive knowledge of engineering principles, but also the exercise of sound engineering judgment in all cases, together with an intimate knowledge of the needs and conditions of the naval service. The bureau has not been at pains to include in this manual statements of engineering principles, since the instructions are based upon the assumption that those having to do with engineering problems possess education and training commensurate with their responsibilities. Similarly, the manual does not include any detailed instructions as to the performance of work by the various trades, since it is assumed that laborers, mechanics, and others are qualified in the trades involved in the bureau's work.

1-11. The following historical notes are appended as a matter of record and general interest in relation to the development of the bureau's functions:

1-12. The Bureau of Yards and Docks was created as a distinct part of the Navy Department under the name of "Bureau of Navy Yards and Docks," by authority of the act of Congress, dated August 31, 1842, entitled "An act to reorganize the Navy Department of the United States." This bureau was the first listed among the original five designated. The present name of the bureau dates from a subsequent reorganization act passed on July 5, 1862.

1-13. The naval shore establishment, as it came under the purview of the bureau in 1842, consisted of seven navy yards (Portsmouth, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington, Norfolk, and Pensacola), and five stations for recruiting or other purposes (Baltimore, New Orleans, Charleston, S. C., Sackett's Harbor, N. Y., and Lake Erie). Prior to 1842, during the administration of the Board of Naval Commissioners, important shore facilities had been provided under the direction of Loammi Baldwin, jr., a noted civil engineer retained for such service. Some of the original plans prepared under his supervision are on file in the bureau. He also acted as consulting engineer to a board studying the problems of the various yards and their requirements for development.

1-14. The specialized function thus represented was perpetuated by the law of 1842 above cited, in the creation of the office of civil engineer within the bureau. It was not long until civil engineers performing Yards and Docks duties were regularly employed at the various yards as well. In 1867 their civilian status was changed by Congress to that of staff officers. Their activities have at all times been primarily concerned with the work of the Bureau of Yards and Docks.

1-15. The bureau supervised the establishment of the naval station at New Orleans in 1849, and of the Mare Island Navy Yard in 1853. The question of providing a yard especially adapted to "iron" ships came before the bureau during the Civil War, and as a result the present Philadelphia Navy Yard on League Island was established in 1868, replacing the older yard.

1-16. Following the Civil War was a period in which yard construction was at a minimum. The construction of the "white squadron" (completed 1884) pointed the need of better shore facilities, and the activities of the bureau assumed a greater scope. The naval station at Port Royal, S. C., was established in 1890, and the Puget Sound Navy Yard in 1891.

1-17. Following the Spanish-American War the bureau greatly expanded facilities at navy yards, notably at Boston, Norfolk, and Philadelphia. The navy yard at Charleston was established in 1901. A new program of dry-dock construction was inaugurated. The bureau at this time undertook the modernization of shops and the improvement of water-front and berthing facilities.