Mr. UMSTEAD. Leaving it to the Navy Department to select the two to be laid down? Admiral BowEN. Yes, sir. Mr. UMSTEAD. With the limitation in the appropriation act that the cost of the two vessels selected was to be limited to the cost stated by the Department as being necessary for their construction in the hearing of the deficiency subcommittee? Admiral BoWEN. That is correct. Mr. UMSTEAD. Then the Congress has made provision for the appropriation of every dollar for those two auxiliary ships, which have been laid down, or which are to be laid down, which the Department's representatives stated would be necessary to construct those vessels? Has it not? Is not that correct? Admiral BowEN. That is correct. Mr. UMSTEAD. All right. I wanted to get the record straight, because I am conversant with the facts. Admiral BowEN. May I make a statement on that on my own responsibility? If my memory serves me correctly, when_those original estimates were presented to the Congress by Admiral Leahy and the interested Bureau chiefs, the statements distinctly said that those figures were to be used as a guide. They said they were not close estimates of the cost, in other words. Mr. SCRUGHAM. This point should be emphasized, that the Diesel installation would have permitted an increased cruising radius of perhaps 30 percent at full speed, is that correct? Admiral BowEN. Yes, sir; It is believed that 33 to 50 percent would have been added to the cruising radius at the various speeds. Mr. DITTER. Admiral, in line with the observations on dieselization, when the cost estimates of the six auxiliaries were reduced from $60,000,000 to $48,000,000, were they reduced on the basis that dieselization would not be incorporated in the construction of those vessels? Admiral BowEN. No, sir; because the estimates, as everybody knows, are not firm figures. Until the bids are opened, you do not know just what you are up against. We did not know that it would not be possible to put Diesel engines in the airplane tender until the bids were opened. Mr. DITTER. When you prepared your estimates, did you include dieselization costs? Admiral BowEN. Yes, sir; with that one proviso, that it was said. very plainly when those original estimates were sent to Congress that these estimates were to be used as a guide. In view of the rapidly rising prices it was impossible to get out an estimate that Would last over a month. RELUCTANCE OF DEPARTMENT TO BRING IN DIESELIZATION Mr. DITTER. Is it not a fact, Admiral, that there has been some reluctance on the part of the Department to bring in dieselization? Admiral BoWEN. There is always, of course, reluctance in this world on the part of some people to agree to changes, but I must say that the Navy Department has not interfered with me in my position as engineer in chief of the Navy. My advice is taken on those matters, in other words, Mr. Ditter. Mr. DITTER. Admiral, it is a fact, is it not, that largely through the missionary work of our colleague here, Governor Scrugham, the mat ter of dieselization has been brought more definitely before the Department? Admiral BowEN. He has certainly contributed support. INSTALLATION OF HIGH-PRESSURE BOILERS Mr. SCRUGHAM. Admiral, is it correct that the last Congress authorized a test of steam machinery with considerably higher pressure and temperature than had previously been employed. Admiral BoWEN. Yes, sir. Mr. SCRUGHAM. Have you made that installation? Admiral BowEN. We have made our contracts for material, plans are completed, and the work is proceeding vigorously. Mr. SCRUGHAM. It is in process of installation at this time? USE OF HIGH-PRESSURE BOILERS AND SUPERHEATED STEAM BY OTHER NAVIES Mr. SCRUGHAM. What recent information have you, Admiral, as to the policy of foreign navies with regard to high-pressure, hightemperature steam? The question was discussed informally. Mr. SCRUGHAM. The Germans are the chief experimenters in that line, apparently? Admiral BOWEN. Yes, sir. The Germans have led in raising pres. sures and temperatures aboard ship, both in commercial and naval vessels. ELECTRIC DRIVES Mr. SCRUGHAM. Have you abandoned electric drives in your ships entirely? Admiral BowEN. No, sir; we have not. Work is underway in trying to improve the electric drive. The electric drive, speaking of large ship installations, is about 15 percent heavier and takes up about 15 percent more space and costs about 15 or 20 percent more than the geared turbine drive. Mr. SCRUGHAM. Have there been developments recently bearing upon electric-drive apparatus? Admiral BoWEN. Yes. There is a commercial development to which we are planning to give some financial assistance. We have a small request of $50,000 which we will spend on that work. Mr. SCRUGHAM. You have a request on that? Admiral BowEN. We have a project for $50,000. Mr. SCRUGHAM. For testing out these electric drives? Admiral BowEN. It will still be in the laboratory stage. It is in the first step, and the second step is a larger laboratory installation. and then on the results of the larger-sized tests we would be able to decide whether or not it would be worth while to put it on a ship However, I am sure that the Bureau of Engineering will not present that ship application until they can come up here and almost guaran tee some marked advantage. Mr. SCRUGHAM. There is quite a bit of promise in the development! Admiral BowEN. Yes, sir; there is quite a bit of promise in it. Mr. SCRUGHAM. Sufficient to warrant some further money in furher experimental work? Admiral BowEN. Yes, sir. You can see that the commercial intersts think there is promise in it because all of this initial development s done at their expense. PROPELLER TESTS AND DEVELOPMENT Mr. SCRUGHAM. Do you have the testing of propellers under your lirection? Admiral BowEN. Yes, sir; the testing and developing of propellers is under our cognizance, as well as the design, procurement, and installation. Mr. SCRUGHAM. Did we not grant an appropriation for test equipment for propellers at the last session of Congress? Admiral BowEN. Yes, sir; the last session authorized installation of test equipment, with which we hope to do useful work with regard to higher speed propellers. Mr. SCRUGHAM. Where is that going on? Admiral BowEN. At the experiment station. Mr. SCRUGHAM. Where is that, at Annapolis or at Philadelphia? Admiral BowEN. This is at Annapolis. A propeller is relatively a low-speed mechanism. A propeller cannot be speeded up or overloaded beyond a certain point without a great loss of efficiency. Suppose you had a ship with almost unlimited horsepower, and you kept on increasing the amount of power delivered to the propeller, you would finally get to the point where large increments in power applied to the propeller would make only a very slight increase in speed of the ship. One of the reasons for that is cavitation, or the collecting of vapor bubbles on the blades. When you begin rapidly rotating a propeller there are groups of these bubbles set up on the blades, and as soon as they cover a large enough percentage of your propeller blade the power you put in, due to the disturbed conditions of flow, is not as effectively utilized in producing thrust. Mr. SCRUGHAM. It has nothing to work against? Admiral BowEN. Extreme changes in flow over the propeller blade take place at this point, resulting in the suction face of the blade being covered with a mass of turbulent water and water vapor and the efficiency goes right down. GEARS OF THE AIRPLANE CARRIER "YORKTOWN" Mr. SCRUGHAM. When the Yorktown was commissioned there was an article in the press about the gears being faulty and very noisy. Admiral BowEN. Yes, sir; the Yorktown is an airplane carrier built at Newport News, and her gears were extremely noisy. Mr. SCRUGHAM. Was that the fault of the design, or the workmanship on them? Admiral BowEN. I would be glad to answer that question. Mr. DITTER. Were these gears manufactured at a navy yard or at a private plant? Admiral BowEN. They were manufactured at a private plant. Mr. DITTER. I thought you said that they were manufactured at Newport. Admiral BowEN. They were manufactured at Newport News, Va. DIESELIZATION OF SMALL BOATS Mr. SCRUGHAM. Admiral, a couple of years ago it developed that 125 boats in the Navy had suffered casualties from gasoline explosions. Do you recall that the Committee expressed the opinion that Dieselization of such boats should proceed as rapidly as practical, or at least extraordinary steps should be taken to eliminate these casualties and the danger of casualties through explosions. What has been done on that? Admiral BowEN. New ships for sometime have been supplied with motorboats having Diesel engines. Gasoline engines are being retired from boats in the fleet as rapidly as the replacement program permits. Mr. SCRUGHAM. In other words, extraordinary efforts are being made to correct that? Admiral BowEN. Yes, sir. The rate of progress we make on the replacement depends on the funds available. Mr. SCRUGHAM. How much do you ask this year for that purpose, do you recall? Admiral BowEN. $470,000. Mr. SCRUGHAM. That provides for some substantial progress. Admiral BowEN. Yes. It will provide for Dieselization of the boats of ten large ships. BLIND-LANDING EQUIPMENT Mr. SCRUGHAM. Does blind-landing equipment for airplanes come under your jurisdiction? Admiral BOWEN. Yes, sir. Mr. SCRUGHAM. What have you done along that line in the past year? Admiral BowEN. The Bureau feels that satisfactory progress has been made in the field of blind-landing equipment and homing devices. Mr. SCRUHAM. What request is made in this year's budget for that kind of equipment? We estimate that Admiral BowEN. We have requested $50,000. $450,000 will be required for completion of this effort. Mr. SCRUGHAM. Did you ask for $450,000, which was cut to $50,000 by the Budget? Admiral BowEN. It has been cut all along the line. It is a very necessary thing. We have a statement from the Chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics on that subject and of the necessity for it. Mr. SCRUGHAM. In my opinion that is an extremely important element in the experimental work. Admiral BowEN. Yes, sir; it is. Mr. SCRUGHAM. I am very hopeful it can be given full support as asked for. You will recall we first discussed the question 2 or 3 years ago of various short frequency radio waves, particularly, looking toward the protection of airplanes, and a number of other uses. You have not asked for any money for such experimentation in this budget? Admiral BOWEN. Yes, sir; we have. Mr. SCRUGHAM. You feel that the money we have spent, the additional $100,000 that was granted to the research laboratory over the Budget allowance, has been well spent? Admiral BoWEN. Yes, sir. Mr. SCRUGHAM. I wanted to emphasize the fact that they have made most remarkable developments along these lines. I think progress they have made is remarkable. DELAY IN COMPLETION OF VESSELS Mr. SCRUGHAM. Admiral, there has been considerable criticism. from various sources of the delays in the completion of some of the vessels under construction. That became so pronounced that I think Admiral Leahy made a public statement upon the subject some time ago. Has that been due to engineering or some other branch? Admiral BowEN. In the first place, we are building a much more complicated ship than we built during the war, and when we started to make out contractual times of delivery, in my opinion, they were entirely too short, in view of the tremendous advances that had been made in engineering and the increased complexity of the ships, since the war. I think that was the first mistake. I think the Navy Department has brought upon itself a lot of undeserved criticism because the building periods were made too short. Then there has been a continuous development in design. For instance, take one class of destroyer. A very fine suggestion was made by an outside shipbuilder to change the design of a certain vessel. That resulted in a delay in the completion of that vessel, but when she came out she had about a 20- or 25-percent more cruising radius than other vessels of the same type, authorized at the same time. But, naturally, the ship which had been so tremendously improved suffered on her delivery period. We are going through a more intense period of engineering development today than there has ever been in the world before. Those of us who are responsible for trying to keep ships up to date are in a very bad position. We are damned if we do and we are damned if we don't. The ships can be built on time, but in many cases they will not be as up to date as if a delay of a certain amount had been incurred. Then, of course, in some yards there have been strikes and labor difficulties, which have added to the general situation. Mr. DITTER. Did the interpretation of Secretary Perkins in connection with the Walsh-Healey Act contribute to the delay? Admiral BowEN. There has been some delay incident to the WalshHealey Act in placing awards, but I cannot say that in my opinion that has been one of the major causes of delay. Mr. DITTER. It has been one of the causes, though? Admiral BowEN. Yes; it has been one of the causes, but not one of the major causes. 36929-38- 26 |