MISCELLANEOUS BILLS

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 7, 1942

UNITED STATES SENATE, COMMITTEE ON NAVAL AFFAIRS, Washington, D. C.

The committee met, pursuant to call, at 10:30 a. m. in room 212, Senate Office Building, Senator David I. Walsh (chairman) presiding. Present: Senators Walsh (chairman), Tydings, Gerry, Ellender, Lucas, Davis, and Wiley.

S. 2153

The CHAIRMAN. The committee will come to order, please.

The first business is Docket No. 204, S. 2153, authorizing additional appropriations of $845,000,000 for additional shipbuilding, ship-repair, and ordnance-manufacturing facilities.

A

copy of the bill may be printed in the record at this point. (S. 2153 is as follows:)

[S. 2153, 77th Cong., 1st sess., Docket No. 204]

A BILL Authorizing appropriations for the United States Navy, additional shipbuilding and ship-repair facilities, and for other purposes

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there is hereby authorized to be appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, $500,000,000 for essential equipment and facilities at either private or naval establishments for building or equipping any complete naval vessel or portion thereof heretofore or hereafter authorized; $275,000,000 for essential equipment and facilities at either private or public plants for repairing, altering, or converting any vessel operated by the Navy or being prepared for naval use, of which $50,000,000 shall be available for essential equipment, tools, and facilities at such plants for the repair, alteration, and upkeep of ordnance material; and $70,000,000 for tools, equipment, and facilities for the manufacture or production of ordnance material, munitions, and armor at either private or public plants.

SEC. 2. The authority herein granted shall include the authority to acquire lands at such locations as the Secretary of the Navy may deem best suited to the purpose, erect or extend buildings, acquire the necessary machinery and equipment, and in private establishments provide plant protection installations, and shall be in addition to all authority heretofore granted for these purposes.

The CHAIRMAN. Admiral Robinson.

Admiral ROBINSON. Admiral Blandy suggests it might be desirable to combine his statement with mine. The CHAIRMAN. Very well.

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STATEMENTS OF REAR ADMIRAL S. M. ROBINSON, CHIEF, BUREAU OF SHIPS, AND REAR ADMIRAL W. H. P. BLANDY, CHIEF, BUREAU OF ORDNANCE (ACCOMPANIED BY CAPT. P. G. LAUMAN, CAPT. A. G. ZIMMERMAN, AND COMMANDER P. LEMLER)

The CHAIRMAN. Is this bill the result of our authorization of increased building?

Admiral ROBINSON. No, sir; it is not, Senator. It really has nothing to do with that. The 150,000 tons has all been awarded, but this bill really has no bearing at all on that, because that particular shipbuilding will make use of facilities that will be in operation long before the ships themselves are far along.

What this bill is for mainly is to plug holes that have arisen as a result of the continual speed-up that we have in ship construction. For example, as you recall, we laid down some 11 big aircraft carriers, and we expected to finish those in 1945 and 1946; and now we are going to attempt to finish the first one this year, and you can readily appreciate the dislocations to all sorts of things that have come about as a result of that.

The first facilities that we got from Congress were utilized mainly in the shipbuilding yards. Then the next ones were used in the big subcontractors' places, like General Electric and Westinghouse, and this one is to go still further back.

I have a prepared statement, if you would like to have me read it, on this subject.

The CHAIRMAN. Perhaps you had better do that, Admiral.

Admiral ROBINSON. On July 10, 1941, I appeared before the Committee on Naval Affairs of the House of Representatives and requested authorization for $300,000,000 for additional shipbuilding facilities and $160,000,000 for ship-repair facilities. At that time, I said:

This request for additional authorization represents the current experience of the Bureau, as well as the outlook as far as can be foreseen in the future. It must be emphasized, however, that unforeseen future events may make it necessary to even further extend the facilities of the country.

The CHAIRMAN. Have not there been already two bills of this kind? Admiral ROBINSON. We have had four to date.

The CHAIRMAN. And this is the fifth?

Admiral ROBINSON. This is the fifth.

The CHAIRMAN. What is the total amount of all of them, with this?

Admiral ROBINSON. I have a table over here that I will come to in a moment that will give that.

Events since last July, culminating in the outbreak of a war engaging us in all oceans, caused far-reaching changes in the general military situation. These changes necessitated restudy of the shipbuilding and ship-conversion programs. Resulting were revised programs with planned delivery periods shrunken to the utmost. More facilities clearly would be required to consummate these programs and the construction of facilities now being provided would have to be acelerated to a degree, beyond any doubt the utmost of which the country is capable. Facilities for the repair and maintenance of the fleets and merchant marines of our Allies and of our own country must

also be augmented, and those repair facilities now under contract must be prosecuted with all the speed at our command.

I appear now to request authorization for the Navy to provide the vital facilities to which I refer above and which are necessary for us to accomplish our objectives.

Under previous acts, the Congress has provided for shipbuilding and ship-repair facilities in both naval and private establishments as follows:

In addition to that, the committee has provided for the Bureau of Ordnance a total of $425,000,000, and this bill provides for a total of $845,000,000, which will make a grand total of $2,230,000,000 which will have been authorized, if this bill goes through, for the extension of facilities throughout the country.

Senator WILEY. For shipbuilding only?

Admiral ROBINSON. Shipbuilding and ordnance. It includes everything that goes to make up ships. Of course, that goes further and further back. This bill this morning will be expanded further back in the country than we have heretofore gone.

The CHAIRMAN. What is the percentage of these facilities costs. compared with the production costs?

Admiral ROBINSON. The total shipbuilding that is contracted for now is around $9,000,000,000, exclusive of ordnance equipment.

Admiral BLANDY. The ordnance-construction program for the new shipbuilding program amounts to $1,800,000,000, and our facilities to date amount to $425,000,000. But I might say this, Senator, that the facilities, of course, are for the production of ordnance for existing ships as well as for new construction. You see, we had to go back and improve the armament of the existing ships.

The CHAIRMAN. And does your ordnance include the Air Service of the Navy?

Admiral BLANDY. It does; yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. The Air Service not only for ships but the Air Service on land?

Admiral BLANDY. Ours is for Naval Air Service only.

The CHAIRMAN. But we have, or are going to have some time, some land Naval Air Service.

Admiral BLANDY. It includes that, for shore-based and ship-based planes.

Senator ELLENDER. That $425,000,000, that is for additional facilities since the program started?

Admiral BLANDY. Yes. This bill will bring it up to about $2,230,000,000, and that is for ship and ordnance facilities.