UNITED STATES OF AMERICA APR 20 '46 CONTENTS S. 1871. Statement of Peter S. Twitty H. J. Res. 307__ Statement of Vice Admiral William H. P. Blandy_. H. R. 5356--- Statement of Rear Admiral Matthias B. Gardner_. MISCELLANEOUS BILLS TUESDAY, MARCH 19, 1946 UNITED STATES SENATE, COMMITTEE ON NAVAL AFFAIRS, Washington, D. C. The committee met at 10: 30 a. m., Hon. David I. Walsh (chairman) presiding. S. 1871 The CHAIRMAN. The committee will be in order. The first bill before the committee this morning is Docket No. 182, Senate bill 1871, to authorize the conveyance of a parcel of land at the Naval Supply Depot, Bayonne, N. J., to the American Radiator & Standard Sanitary Corp. I will place the bill in the record at this point. (The bill, S. 1871, follows:) [S. 1871, 79th Cong., 2d sess.] A BILL To authorize the conveyance of a parcel of land at the naval supply depot, Bayonne, New Jersey, to the American Radiator and Standard Sanitary Corporation Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of the Navy is hereby authorized to convey to the American Radiator and Standard Sanitary Corporation, for use in expanding its industrial plant facilities at Bayonne, New Jersey, upon such terms and conditions as he may prescribe, all right, title, and interest of the United States of America in and to a parcel of filled-in land at the naval supply depot, Bayonne, New Jersey, containing eight hundred and eighty-five one-thousandths of an acre, more or less, metes and bounds description of which is on file in the Navy Department. SEC. 2. The consideration to be paid for the parcel described in section 1 shall not be less than the cost of the said parcel to the United States of America. The CHAIRMAN. Our witness on this bill is Mr. Twitty, of the Bureau of Yards and Docks. How much land is involved in this conveyance, Mr. Twitty? STATEMENT OF PETER S. TWITTY, BUREAU OF YARDS AND DOCKS, NAVY DEPARTMENT Mr. TWITTY. 0.885 acre. The CHAIRMAN. Are there any buildings on it? Mr. TWITTY. No, sir. The CHAIRMAN. How did the Government come to purchase this land? Mr. TWITTY. It is a part of the area provided in the naval supply depot at Bayonne, N. J. The parcel involved contains less than 1 acre, only 0.885 acre. The CHAIRMAN. How did the Government purchase this land? The CHAIRMAN. The Government condemned it and took it when? The CHAIRMAN. Was it separate land from the rest of the supply depot? Mr. TWITTY. It is. It is part of the high land area, that is, it is adjacent to high land area. The original area comprises 21 acres of high land and several hundred acres of submerged land on which the depot has been developed. This particular area of less than 1 acre is divided into 0.3 acre which is upland, in the sense that it is filled in by the American Radiator Corp. The rest of the area, which comprises half an acre, is submerged land. Now, the American Radiator Corp., in contemplation of expanding their adjacent plant, many years ago applied to the State of New Jersey for permission to fill it in, and had in fact filled in the 0.3 acre at the time of the taking. The city of Bayonne had an option to buy the land from the State of New Jersey at $3,000 an acre. The CHAIRMAN. All the land or just this piece? Mr. TWITTY. Quite a lot of land, including this area. This is part of the area which the city of Bayonne had an option to acquire from the State of New Jersey, and for which we deposited on the basis of $3,000 an acre. In other words, we deposited in the condemnation proceedings $2,655 for that land. This land is very remotely located and is not needed by the Navy Department. I will show you the relative location so you can see it. Senator EASTLAND. What is this land worth? Mr. TWITTY. We paid $2,655 for it on the basis of $3,000 an acre for the over-all area, and we propose to convey it to the city of Bayonne for the expansion-for their own industrial expansion. This is the location of it here. This is our entire area, consisting of several hundred acres, and this is a parcel of less than 1 acre which is adjacent to their other 4 acres, and which is needed for expansion purposes [indicating on map]. The conveyance will enable them to expand, and at the same time will not interfere with naval operations. The CHAIRMAN. So if we pass this bill, the Navy will sell this land at no loss to itself? Mr. TWITTY. The bill provides for the sale at not less than cost to the Government. The reason we don't clear it through the Surplus Property Board is the fact that the title is in the State of New Jersey-the legal title and consequently the equitable owner, that is, the American Radiator Corp., would not have the priority under the act, so special legislation is necessary. The CHAIRMAN. I don't see any objection to this. Mr. TWITTY. Thank you, gentlemen. HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 307 The CHAIRMAN. We will now take up docket 187, House Joint Resolution 307, to authorize the use of naval vessels to determine the effect of atomic weapons upon such vessels: [H. J. Res. 307, 79th Cong., 2d sess.] JOINT RESOLUTION To authorize the use of naval vessels to determine the effect of atomic weapons upon such vessels Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of the Navy, with the ap proval of the President, is authorized to employ vessels of the Navy as targets for purposes of test and experimentation in determining the effect of atomic weapons upon such vessels. SEC. 2. After employment pursuant to authority contained in section 1 of this Act vessels may, in the discretion of the Secretary of the Navy or such other person as may be designated by him, be (a) sunk if considered unseaworthy; or (b) retained with or without repair for further test and experimentation, for further naval use, or for other disposition in accordance with other provisions of law. SEC. 3 Prior to the employment of any vessel of the Navy under authority of section 1 of this Act, the Secretary of the Navy shall come into agreement with the Naval Affairs Committees of the Senate and of the House of Representatives with respect to such prospective employment. SEC. 4 The Secretaries of War and of the Navy shall take such measures as they may deem necessary to safeguard the information, observations, findings, conclusions, and recommendations pertaining to and resulting from these tests and which are of a military nature as would normally be attached to any other vital military information or military secret. SEC. 4A. The President is authorized to appoint an advisory board to cooperate with the Secretaries of War and of the Navy in the conduct of these tests, to undertake an independent study of the tests and to submit its observations, findings, conclusions, and recommendations to the Secretaries of War and of the Navy. This advisory board shall be composed of (a) five civilians, one of whom shall be designated as chairman of the advisory board; (b) three naval officers, at least one of whom shall be a naval aviator; and (c) three Army officers, at least one of whom shall be an Army aviator. SEC. 5. Such provisions of this joint resolution as relate to the employment of vessels of the Navy as targets shall terminate two years after the date of its enactment into law. Passed the House of Representatives March 12, 1946. SOUTH TRIMBLE, Clerk. The CHAIRMAN. Vice Adm. William H. P. Blandy, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, will present to the committee the views of the Navy Department on this legislation. STATEMENT OF VICE ADM. WILLIAM H. P. BLANDY, OFFICE OF THE CHIEF OF NAVAL OPERATIONS, NAVY DEPARTMENT Admiral BLANDY. The Joint Chiefs of Staff, with the approval of the President, set up a joint task force, that is, an Army, Navy, and civilian task force, to conduct atomic-bomb tests against naval vessels, and appointed me the commander of that task force. Their directive to me stated that the purpose of the test was to determine the effect of atomic explosives against naval vessels, in order to appraise the strategic complications of the application of atomic bombs, including the results on naval design and tactics. I was directed to organize a joint staff with adequate representation of land, sea, and air forces, and to include civilian scientists in the organization. The general requirements of the test were to determine the effect of the atomic explosives against ships selected to give good representation of construction of modern naval and merchant vessels, suitably disposed to give a gradation of damage from maximum to minimum. |