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404 'seems needless to point out that this must inevitably result in very low effi- ciency, and a large waste of public money, and may seriously impair our national defense. Itis inconceivable that such conditions should exist and we hope that immediate steps will be taken by the naval authorities to remedy these conditions. There is no better or higher au- thority on the subject; no journal in the world more closely in touch with shop methods and management than the Machinist. It have drawn attention to the fatuous policy of the department of remov- might well also ing or degrading every man who has given evidence of possessing any greater practical knowledge or exec- utive 'ability than the academy cubs and seagoing officers who now swarm in every navy yard. Another Document in Evidence Navy Yard, Puget Sound, Sept. 28. --Navy yard officials have been as- sured beyond doubt that the big cruisers Colorado and Pennsylvania will come to this yard this winter, and preparations are being made for extensive repairs to these two ships. It was announced today that the two warships will arrive here the latter part of November, and that they will remain at this yard until next May or June. The work on these ships will prob- ably cost $1,000,000. New boilers are to be installed in place of those now in use, which are of an obsolete type, and the boilers and engines will un- dergo a thorough overhauling. The new style of skeleton masts will be installed fore and aft, and this will necessitate a change in the fire con- trol systems of the two ships. The work of removing the massive steel masts and installing the new type is a big piece of work in itself. The Colorado and Pennsylvania are now at the centennial celebration at Valparaiso, Peru, and _ will come north at its close. These ships will not take part in the fall target practice but will come to this yard as soon as practicable for repairs. The arrival of these ships at the navy yard and the employment of several hundred skilled workmen, to- gether with the 1,700 sailors on these two ships and the money spent in wages, material and _ supplies,, will give Bremerton one of the busiest winters in her history. The Colorado have only just left the yard (about Aug. 10) after an over- hauling extending over more than 4 and Pennsylvania Bremerton months and during which extensive repairs were made to boilers and en- TRAE MarRINE REVIEW gines. They have crawled as far as Valparaiso and must now after two return tO 'be Over- hauled again! They could not even take part in target practice! Both ships have only been in com- mission a little over five years. They left the yards of the builder early in 1905 after exceedingly satisfactory trials during which both their contract speeds, and one with- out even a preliminary trial, and the "obsolete" boilers, as certified to by naval officers detailed for the trials, made more steam than was required and "were blowing off during prac- tically the whole run." The 'boilers are of the Niclausse type, built by the Stirling Co., Barberton, O. How- ever, the act of gracefully swallow- ing oneself, or even his fellows, has been heretofore pointed out as one of the accomplishments of a United witness the months service, exceeded States naval officer, as, the report' officers de- of tests of following extracts from of a board of engineer tailed to make a series the boilers at the works of the maker: The following tests of a Niclausse boiler of the improved marine type were made at the works of the makers, the Stirling Co., at Barberton, O., by a naval board, consisting of Captain J. A. B. Smith, U. S. navy; Com- mander W. B. Bailey, U. S. navy, and Com- mander W. M. Parks, U. S. navy. The principal object of the tests was to de- termine whether the proportions of the boiler were such that it could be forced to a high rate of coal combustion without injury. Care- ful data were also taken to determine the efficiency of the boiler at the various rates of combustion. The board first carefully examined the boiler to be tested, and inspected the arrangements made for the tests. *. = 4% Before beginning the construction of the boilers for the battleships Virginia and Geor- gia and the armored cruisers Colorado and Pennsylvania, the resources of the Stirling Co. were freely used in elaborate experi- ments to find out the proper proportion of headers, nipples, steam drums and other de- tails for this type of boiler to render it safe and economical under conditions of forced draft. The important question of baffling was also investigated. The result has been the production of a boiler that retains little of the foreign type, save the principle and the general outline, and a boiler that these tests show to be safe, economical and durable un- der forced-draft conditions. which have not been under actual steam con- Now these durable boilers ditions, to say nothing of forced draft conditions, one half the time built, to be scrapped, when they ought to be as since they were are serviceable as ever and for another' 10. or 15- years, 1Journal American Society Naval Engineers, November, 1904; February, 1905. aoe American Society Naval Engineers, 3 ct hae i October, 1910 Tue Martine Review holds no brief for -any type of boiler and merely quotes the department's own records and reports to prove the incompetence and extravagance running riot in the navy, but takes the opportunity to say that boiler design and boiler per- formance are today substantially what they were when these reports were made and the Colorado and Pennsyl- vania were built and that the results of these tests, as stated in the board report quoted above, show the boiler efficiency to have been very high in- deed, the corrected evaporation per pound of dry coal running from 11.85 lb. with air pressure of 0.5 in. to 10.19 ib. with 2.66 in. air pressure and that so few boilers, "obsolete" or other- wise, ever do better, that claims of higher duty are looked upon with strong suspicion. It is to be hoped a kind providence may long postpone the day when we need to look to our navy for any- thing more than helping to make a holiday. However, with engineer of- ficers who don't know a boiler from a galley range and whose only idea of engine room service is that it is a beastly bore and that it ought to be abolished entirely, what else is to be expected?) And then a navy yard is a whole lot more comfortable than being at sea and whether one has any experience or knowledge or not makes no difference; Uncle Sam is a good, as well as a tolerant, paymaster. Lieut Edison E. Scranton, of the navy, has been tried by a court mar- tial and sentenced to a loss of ten numbers in his grade and this sen- tence has been approved by the navy department. The officer was engi- neer officer of the Indiana during a midshipmen's cruise abroad and the machinery of the vessel was damaged by reason of some tools having been left in one of the engine cylinders after the cylinder had been opened for repairs. The United States life-saving tug Snohomish is being repaired at The Moran Co.'s yard, Seattle. The work includes an extension of the upper deck for better protection from the seas found at the entrance to the Straits of San Juan de Fuca, where the Snohomish is stationed.