CHARLESTON, S. C. At Charleston, S. C., on our own land and on land which has been loaned to us by the city, we have erected barracks to serve as a receiving ship for about 5,000 men. We are carrying on training there as best we can. KEY WEST, FLA. The next place is Key West. At Key West we have 1,000, and for a nominal sum we have obtained some land and buildings, which we are refitting at small expense to serve as a receiving ship for that naval station, and also as a training camp for the reserves assigned to that district. PENSACOLA, FLA. At Pensacola we are constructing buildings to take care of 1,000 men, with the expectation of having that number immediately increased to 2,000. That is an aviation training camp exclusively, and, as I understand, the best one of them. NEW ORLEANS, LA. At New Orleans we have a camp in the navy yard which is a tent camp and which we hope to be able to occupy the year round. There we will probably have about 1,000 men of the Navy and reserves. GULFPORT, MISS. At Gulfport, Miss., we have established a camp with a capacity of about 2,500 men, utilizing the buildings which were being erected by the Mississippi Centennial Exposition Co. At the Great Lakes Training Station, which is fed by recruiting stations throughout the whole Middle West Mr. GILLETT (interposing). Do you know what you are paying for those buildings at Gulfport? Commander BENNETT. We are to pay 5 per cent of the estimated value of the buildings themselves and the ground on which they are built, and I believe there is a stipulation requiring us to do a considerable amount of improvement. Mr. GILLETT. You are paying that rent? Commander BENNETT. Yes; that is my understanding. I only know from hearsay. GREAT LAKES. At the Great Lakes Training Station, which is normally designed for about 1,500 men, we hope to have under cover and under training 17.500 men. We have been able to make that increase without increasing a single naval officer on the supervising staff, and I think the men are being as well trained now, or will be when we get the full quota, as they were when we had only the 1.500. That is also going to be used for training a few reserves in that district and a very considerable number of national naval volunteers. We are utilizing, in addition to the Great Lakes Training Station, some ships which they have at Grant Park, Chicago. They have a camp at Grant Park, a tent camp, which, of course, will have to be abandoned when winter comes on, but it was absolutely necessary to take care of the sudden influx, and we will have to provide quarters for those men at the Great Lakes Station for the winter. SAN DIEGO, CAL. On the west coast we have a camp at the San Diego Exposition grounds, which we get for nothing, but it cost us some money to improvise accommodations in the existing buildings, where we hope to have eventually about 4,000 men in training, all of whom will be Regulars. That is the only instance, except Gulfport, where we have had to go outside of our own reservation to take care of Regulars, thereby increasing the overhead cost of supervising personnel, which is our greatest lack to-day. SAN PEDRO. CAL. At San Pedro we have the loan of a dock from the city of Los Angeles, where we have a training camp for 1.000 reserves; that will be the training station for the reserves of that district; it is also being utilized as a submarine base temporarily. MARE ISLAND, CAL. At Mare Island Navy Yard we are putting up barracks to serve as receiving ship, with a capacity of approximately 5,000 men, the receiving ship having been taken away, as was done at almost every place. We have a regular training station in San Francisco Harbor that we have expanded by tents, with a limited capacity. We will have there this winter----I am not sure how many now, because I have been making inquiries for months but have not been able to get a definite statement as to what will be done there in the wintertime: but I think that will be reduced to a very small number. The topography is such there that permanent or semipermanent structures are impracticable. PUGET SOUND, WASH, At Puget Sound the receiving ship has also been replaced by barracks, with a capacity of approximately 5,000 men. That is all that we have to amount to anything. There are small section headquarters at various places which are not training stations but are operating bases. COST OF NAVAL TRAINING CAMPS. The CHAIRMAN. How will this money be spent? This is 100 per cent more per capita than the Army used. Admiral HARRIS. I think not. I think our figures are less than it will cost them. The CHAIRMAN. For 750,000 men in the Army Admiral HARRIS (interposing). I understood that the plan they were going ahead with was for 16 cantonments for about half a million men. The CHAIRMAN. That is for the Regular Army, and then there is something for the National Guard. Admiral HARRIS. I am not familiar with the Army details, but I understand that they estimated $173 per man for cantonments. This cost with us will vary from $60 to $70 per man to $200 per man. The CHAIRMAN. The per capita cost is about $175. Admiral HARRIS. No, sir; I think our per capita is $150. The CHAIRMAN. No, sir; it is $175. There are 80,000 men. Admiral HARRIS. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. And the amount is $12,600,000? The CHAIRMAN. You have got a lot of equipment already. The CHAIRMAN. You have the Great Lakes and Newport. Admiral HARRIS. You take the Great Lakes, for instance: That camp was only fit for 1,500 men, and in order to get these additional men in the Great Lakes camp, just to show you the existing equipment there, we did not have enough water, and we had to put in a filtration plane; for sewage we had to put in a new sewage plant; we could not discharge it overboard into the lake, and we had to provide a sewage treatment and disposal plant. We have 1.500 men to take care of at the Great Lakes, and we are putting in 15,000 men. The CHAIRMAN. The Army cantonments include hospitals. Admiral HARRIS. These do not include hospitals. We started out on the Army plan. We started out by duplicating the Army plan. But we have hammocks now in most of our camps, and that requires a more expensive building. That makes the building 8 feet wider, and the framing is required to be much stronger. The idea of that was that as long as the men would have to use hammocks on board ship, for their proper training they should now begin to use hammocks, instead of bunks and cots. That has run up our expense somewhat, because we have a little different type of building, although we started first with the Army type of building. For instance, at Philadelphia we have used cots. We used the Army building there; and in the city park of New York we used cots. We were in a great hurry, and we did not have enough space there for the hammock type of building. But at Pelham we will use hammocks, and at Chicago we will use hammocks. Another item of expense at Chicago was this: Inasmuch as that was a training camp, we had large drill halls put in for winter drilling and training. That is something which the Army, of course, has not estimated on. We did that so as to keep the men under cover in heavy weather for training. The CHAIRMAN. Do you have drill halls in each one of these camps? Admiral HARRIS. No, sir. At Chicago we put in four drill halls for 15,000 men. The CHAIRMAN. Can you furnish the figures as to what has been expended at each camp? Admiral HARRIS. I can estimate on that and insert it. STATEMENTS OF REAR ADMIRAL FREDERIC R. HARRIS, CHIEF BUREAU OF YARDS AND DOCKS, ACCOMPANIED BY MR. KIRBY SMITH, CIVIL ENGINEER, AND REAR ADMIRAL ROBERT S. GRIFFIN, CHIEF, BUREAU OF STEAM ENGINEERING. TRAINING CAMPS. (See pp. 246, 275.) The CHAIRMAN. Admiral, when we quit yesterday we were on the item of training camps, and you were going to get us some addi tional information about that. Admiral HARRIS. I was going to put that in the hearing. I was going to say that we proceeded on some of these camps to defray their cost from the emergency fund and made an allotment from the emergency fund and also charged them to this $2.655.000. That estimate was not for camps. We did not foresee the barracks to the extent we are going into them. Navigation at that time did not know they would have so many men on shore. They thought probably they could put what they required largely under canvas. On their requirements now, which are about 83,000 men on shore, in addition to what they could take care of in the permanent part of the training stations, we figure about $150 per man at the camps. That includes not alone the camp, but the mess gear, the bedding and hammocks, galley equipment, and, in fact, everything for the camps. Mr. GILLETT. That does not include the land, of course. Admiral HARRIS. Yes; where there is any land. Admiral HARRIS. We have not bought land at any place. The CHAIRMAN. And you do not contemplate buying any? Admiral HARRIS. No, sir; we just rent it. At several places we have rented land. Mr. GILLETT. Does that include the rent? Admiral HARRIS. No, sir; I think the rent had to be taken care of out of "pay, miscellaneous." I think that is the appropriation that provides for that, but it is not a very large amount. The CHAIRMAN. How much was allotted out of the emergency fund, Admiral? Was that the naval emergency fund? Admiral HARRIS. Yes, sir; $115,000,000. We expect, if we get this appropriation, to reimburse that fund. The CHAIRMAN. How much did you take out of it? CAMP AT HAMPTON ROADS-JAMESTOWN, VA. Admiral HARRIS. $1,580,000. Now I want to say here, for your information, that there is included in this $12,600,000 the cost of the camp at the Hampton Roads base. I will tell you why we have included that, and we want to leave that to your judgment. This is a temporary camp that we are putting in at the Hampton Roads base of wooden buildings. Mr. GILLETT. You mean at Jamestown? Admiral HARRIS. Yes, sir; at Jamestown. Wooden buildings for 10.000 men. The amount that would be required for that would use up the entire $1.600,000 for the improvement of the station. Now, we rather thought from the wording of that act for the improvement of the station, where you enumerated certain things to be done, that a temporary camp there of timber buildings and a temporary plant should not be charged to that $1,600,000. The CHAIRMAN. How much will be spert there at Jamestown on the camp? Admiral HARRIS. The camp will cost about $1,600,000 for 10,000 men. The CHAIRMAN. How did you use this emergency fund for that purpose? Admiral HARRIS. The way it reads The CHAIRMAN. "To enable the President to secure the more economical and expeditious delivery of materials, equipment, and munitions, and secure the more expeditious construction of ships authorized, and for the purchase or construction of such additional torpedoboat destroyers, submarine chasers, and such other naval small craft, including aircraft, guns, and ammunition for all of said vessels and aircraft, and for each and every purpose connected therewith"Admiral HARRIS (interposing). Every purpose connected therewith was for the personnel of those ships. The CHAIRMAN. Oh, no. Admiral HARRIS. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. This is in connection with the construction and purchase and expedition of these things, and was never intended to be used for camps on shore. |