Commander GORMAN. We have the actual dates of expiration of the enlistments of the men, which gives us the total number eligible for reenlistment allowance, and we estimate the number of reenlistments during the fiscal year on the basis of past experience. We compile the percentage of reenlistments every month so as to keep our figures current. OPERATION OF MOTORBOATS FOR HARBOR PROTECTION Admiral WAESCHE. The third project under this item of general expenses is $250,000 for the operation of motorboats for harbor protection and other captain-of-the-port duties. Funds are requested in this supplemental appropriation for the construction or purchase of 200 motorboats or small yachts. These boats are required for harbor-patrol duties and for the protection of vessels and property from sabotage, and so forth. That makes up the total estimate of $432,640 under the head of "General expenses.' OFFICERS FOR MARITIME TRAINING DUTY Mr. DITTER. Admiral, you made the statement a moment ago that a part of the duty of these additional officers would be to train personnel for the Maritime Commission. They have their school ships and have a substantial number of officers and men for that duty, and they have their own school on Long Island. Admiral WAESCHE. The Maritime Commission's schools are administered by the Coast Guard, and they have Coast Guard officers and warrant officers as instructors. Their training ships are also manned and operated by the Coast Guard. Mr. DITTER. Including the school ships? Admiral WAESCHE. There are four State nautical schools, in the States of New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and California. Those State school ships are operated by the States, with the Federal Government paying a part of the expense. The Coast Guard has no connection with those schools. Mr. DITTER. They fit men for the maritime service? Admiral WAESCHE. Those schools furnish officers for the merchant marine, but the number of graduates is comparatively few. A very small percentage of the mechant marine officers come from that source. There are several maritime commission schools, with a new one in California and a new one at St. Petersburg, Fla. There are two new school ships which they have outfitted and equipped, and those schools are administered by the Coast Guard. Mr. DITTER. Do you mean to say that these other school ships are not proving their worth? Admiral WAESCHE. No, sir; I do not say that at all. Mr. DITTER. And that they should be dispensed with? Admiral WAESCHE. No, sir; I said that they were not sufficient to turn out the number of merchant marine officers that are required. Mr. DITTER. Are they making a contribution comparable to the appropriations made for them? Admiral WAESCHE. I would say they are. I probably am not as fully competent to judge that as would be the Maritime Commission, because it is not an activity of the Coast Guard. While we are very familiar with those schools, they represent an activity outside the province of the Coast Guard, and I would not feel justified in making a positive statement about them. Mr. DITTER. Is there any conflict? Admiral WAESCHE. No, sir; none at all. Admiral WAESCHE. No, sir. The State schools take school boys with no sea training and make of them merchant marine officers, while the Maritime Commission schools take officers who are already operating in the merchant service and give them a postgraduate course to improve their knowledge, or they take merchant marine seamen who have already gone to sea and give them officer instruction. Therefore, there is no competition, and we do not feel that they parallel each other. CONSTRUCTION OF VESSELS AND SHORE FACILITIES, COAST GUARD, 1942 The CHAIRMAN. The next item is "Construction of vessels and shore facilities," $18,621,745. Admiral WAESCHE. That item is covered fully by the justifications that have been supplied to the committee. ADDITIONAL FUNDS REQUIRED FOR NEW CUTTERS The CHAIRMAN. This estimate is broken down into five projects. Admiral WAESCHE. Yes, sir. Project 1 covers additional funds required for new cutters, of the tender class, to replace the tenders Amaranth and Magnolia, $1,030,000. The regular appropriation act for 1942 carries funds for the construction of these two cutters of the tender class, but the funds are insufficient for the purpose. At the time the original estimates were prepared, in June 1940, the funds requested were considered ample, but the unusual activity in ship construction in the last several months has created a serious deficiency in the funds now available to carry out this construction work. That was clearly shown by the bids that we received. We have funds for tenders that were authorized in 1940 and 1941, as well as in 1942. These estimates were made before this big increase occurred in the cost of shipbuilding, and we have already come back to this committee and received an increase for the 1940 tenders, and we have already received an increase for the 1941 tenders. Now we are requesting an increase on account of the 1942 tenders. Mr. LUDLOW. What has been the percentage of increase since the original estimates were prepared? Admiral WAESCHE. It has been pretty close to 80 or 90 percent. For example, we estimated $480,000 for these vessels 2 or 3 years ago, and the cost has increased now to about $700,000 or $800,000. ADDITIONAL AMOUNT REQUIRED TO COMPLETE SIX CUTTERS The CHAIRMAN. Project 2 covers the additional amount required to complete six cutters of the tender class, $346,745. Is that due to the same cause? Admiral WAESCHE. Yes, sir; that is the same proposition. ADDITIONAL VESSELS FOR GREENLAND The CHAIRMAN. Project 3 covers additional vessels for Greenland, the amount estimated being $2,995,000. Admiral WAESCHE. Four additional vessels are required for Greenland. Three of them are of the type we build for harbor ice-breaking work, of the tugboat type, 110 feet long, and the fourth will be a 180-foot vessel, all for duty in Greenland. These vessels have already proved their value up there, and the report of the South Greenland Survey Expedition, under the State, War, Treasury, and Navy Departments, recommended that these four vessels be provided for duty in Greenland waters as soon as possible. At the request of the Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Navy estimates for suitable vessels have been prepared and funds for the construction of these vessels are now requested. 5000-TON ICE-BREAKING CUTTER The CHAIRMAN. Project 4 covers one cutter of the 5,000-ton icebreaker class, the estimated cost being $10,000,000. Admiral WAESCHE. In the Second Deficiency Act for 1941 there was appropriated the sum of $30,000,000 for the construction of three 5,000-ton cutters especially designed for ice breaking in the Arctic and for operating in waters where very severe conditions of ice are encountered. Under date of August 2, 1941, the Secretary of the Navy strongly recommended, in the interest of national defense, and in order to assist the Navy in carrying out its mission, an immediate increase in the current 5,000-ton ice-breaker program to bring the total to four. The Secretary of the Navy further recommended that the construction by the Coast Guard of this type of cutter be undertaken at the earliest practicable date. CONSTRUCTION OR PURCHASE OF BOATS The CHAIRMAN. Project 5 covers the construction or purchase of boats, the amount estimated being $4,250,000. Admiral WAESCHE. Project 5 covers the construction or purchase of 100 37- or 38-foot boats and 100 55- to 60-foot boats, at an estimated cost of $4,250,000. These boats are required to maintain the security of our ports and harbors. At the present time, equipment to insure their security is woefully inadequate, and the Navy Department is very much worried and concerned about it, as well as other Government activities that have to do with shipbuilding and maritime activities. In consultation with the Navy and as a result of an extensive survey. we made what we call a conservative estimate of 200 boats; the actual number of boats which were requested by the various agencies was greatly in excess of that. It is, of course, a difficult problem to know just how many boats are needed for harbor patrol, but we have made what we believe is a conservative estimate. AIDS TO NAVIGARION, COAST GUARD, 1942 The CHAIRMAN. The last item is for establishing and improving aids to navigation, in the total amount of $436,200. Admiral WAESCHE. That amount is required to complete the establishment of aids to navigation at the bases that we took over from Great Britain and in Greenland. Congress has already provided aids to navigation for seven of the eight bases which we leased from Great Britain. JUSTIFICATION OF ESTIMATE The following justification is submitted for the record: JUSTIFICATION OF ESTIMATE Establishing and improving aids to navigation, Coast Guard Regular appropriation, 1942 act. Estimate for supplemental appropriation: Project 1. Aids to navigation at Great Exuma Island, Bahama Islands___. Project 2. Aids to navigation, Greenland $1,500, 000 $110, 100 326, 100 436, 200 Total estimate or appropriation for 1942. 1,936, 200 Project 1. Aids to navigation for marking approaches to and waters adjoining the naval base to be established on Great Exuma Island of the Bahamas group, $110,100.-Safe access to this naval base in the course of its ordinary operation will require the marking with aids to navigation of the channel leading to it. The present channel is crooked, and some dredged cuts through shoals will be necessary. Lighted and unlighted buoys will be required in considerable number, as well as a major approach light on a small island lying to the east of the main entrance. The dredged area in front of the base in Georgetown will require marking to define a turning basin for vessels coming to the wharf. A suitable buoy boat for attending aids will be necessary for the use of Coast Guard personnel charged with this duty. The following equipment will be required at the costs indicated: 1. 2 8 by 26W electric lighted whistle buoys, at $4,000. 2. 4 8 by 26 electric lighted buoys, at $3,800-- 3. 7 8-foot diameter, flat-bottom electric buoys, at $2,000. 4. 13 6-foot diameter, flat-bottom electric buoys, at $1,500_ 5. 2 first-class special can buoys, at $350_. 6. 2 first-class special nun buoys, at $3507. 1 set range lights--- 8. Range markers for defining turning basin_ 9. Buoy boat for attendance of aids_ 10. Freight and contingent expenses. 11. Marking of artificial obstructions_ 12. Light on island at entrance_ Total. $8,000 15, 200 14,000 19,500 700 700 7,000 1,000 12,000 10,000 5.000 17,000 110, 100 Funds for the establishment of aids to navigation at the other seven bases leased from Great Britain have previously been provided and the appropriation of funds for this project will complete the program of providing aids to navigation at the eight bases leased from Great Britain. As the construction of this base in the Bahama Islands is to be begun immediately and the aids to navigation are required during the construction of the base, as well as after its completion, it is essential that appropriation for this project be made at the earliest practicable date. Great Exuma Island, Bahamas The first of the items shown, project 1, in the amount of $110,000, is for the last of the naval bases to be established and will be for marking approaches to the waters adjoining the base on Great Exuma Island on the Balrama Islands. There has been some delay in de temining the estimates on this, due to the delay in determining just whether that base would be located in the Bahama Islands; and this estimate is just for aids to navigation at that base. Greenland waters The CHAIRMAN. Aids to navigation, Greenland, in the amount of $326,100. Admiral WAESCHE. That also is in accordance with the survey made by Army, Navy, and other departments with respect to the needs for aids to navigation, as detailed in the following justification: Project 2. Aids to navigation for marking approaches to and waters joining shore activities of the United States in Greenland waters, $326,100,-Establishment of aids to navigation in Greenland waters is required at the earliest possible date, and this estimate is submitted pursuant to the urgent requests of the State, War, and Navy Departments, based on the Report of South Greenland Survey Expedition, which expedition, composed of officers and representatives of the State, War, Navy, and Treasury Departments, recently completed an exhaustive study in Greenland of the needs of the United States services in Greenland in the interest of national defense. The Coast Guard has prepared and will make available a detailed estimate of the aids to navigation recommended by the abovementioned expedition, but instructions have been received that all details as to location and character of such aids shall be kept secret, and, therefore, such details will be presented to the Appropriations Committee, off the record, at the hearings, if such details are required. Estimates for four vessels, designed for ice breaking, recommended for use in connection with aids to navigation and operations in Greenland, reported as essential to national-defense operations in Greenland by the South Greenland Survey Expedition, are submitted in these supplemental estimates under the heading "Construction of vessels and shore facilities, Coast Guard," and provision of the funds requested under this project will complete the requirements with regard to aids to navigation in Greenland waters. As construction of shore facilities in Greenland is to be begun immediately and the aids to navigation are required during the construction of these facilities, as well as after their completion, it is essential that appropriation for this project be made at the earliest practicable date. PATROL WORK Mr. LUDLOW. May I ask you, Admiral, if you will tell us, either on or off the record, what you are doing under defense in the way of patrol work? Admiral WAESCHE. We are patroling quite a bit. Most of the patrol duty, offshore patrols and around Greenland, is done by vessels that are under the Navy Department now. The weatherobservation patrol is being continued by the Coast Guard. Mr. LUDLOW. It will not be very long now until the regular subcommittee will take up the items for the Coast Guard. Are there any of these items of a character that might be deferred until then! Admiral WAESCHE. Absolutely not, Mr. Ludlow, as they are long past due, and I am going to appeal to the chairman to include in this estimate the money for the Avery Point Training Station. The CHAIRMAN. That was the $3,000,000 proposal. Admiral WAESCHE. That is right. The CHAIRMAN. Admiral, we have a letter on that pending before the committee, but we have not been able to reach it, and time will not permit that being taken up now to be made a part of this bill. |