NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



529 



The steam - vessels, as distinguished from 

 iron-clads and torpedo - ships, number 95, of 

 which, however, 25 are tugs employed as tow- 

 ing, ferry, or torpedo boats at the various 

 navy-yards or stations, or are in use as survey- 

 ing-vessels, or in the service of the Fish Com- 

 mission. "Twenty-nine of all classes are in 

 ordinary at the yards on the Atlantic or at 

 Mare Island ; 3 are used as freight and dis- 

 patch vessels ; 3 are in commission as training 

 and receiving ships, at all times ready for ser- 

 vice, and the remainder are in commission on 

 the several stations or at the various navy- 

 yards, ready for use when required. Of these 

 wooden ships 18 are substantially new. 



The iron -clad fleet comprises 26 vessels. 

 Three are of a class and in a condition to be of 

 no service. The remaining 23, consisting of 

 21 vessels of the monitor type and 2 iron tor- 

 pedo-ships, are all efficient vessels of their 

 class, and very powerful in both defensive and 

 offensive operations near our shores. 



There are, therefore, 80 available ships, in- 

 cluding 16 iron-clads and 2 torpedo-boats. 



The cruising-stations remain the same in 

 number and designation as last year, there 

 being six separate stations, each commanded by 

 a rear-admiral, and designated respectively the 

 European, the Asiatic, the South Pacific, the 

 North Pacific, the South Atlantic, and the 

 North Atlantic stations. They comprise with- 

 in their limits the whole field of naval opera- 

 tion in every part of the world. 



The appropriations applicable to the year 

 ending June 30, 1875, aggregated $19,273,731, 

 and the expenditures from these appropriations 

 to $18,825,526, or about $450,000 less than 

 the whole amount. The appropriations made 

 available for the year ending June 30, 1876, 

 amount to $18,301,306. The following esti- 

 mates have been submitted for the next year : 



Pay of officers and seamen of the Navy $7,600,000 00 



Pay of civil establishment in navy-yards 210,000 00 



Ordnance and torpedo corps 502,000 00 



Coal, hemp, and equipments 1,500,000 00 



Navigation and navigation supplies 115,000 00 



Hydrographic work 67,800 00 



Naval Observatory, Nautical Almanac, etc. . . . 46,000 00 



Repairs and preservation of vessels, etc 3,305,000 00 



Steam-machinery, tools, etc 1,800,000 00 



Provisions 1,279,000 00 



Repairs of hospitals and laboratories 20,000 00 



Surgeons 1 necessaries 40,000 00 



Contingent expenses of various departments 



and bureaus ,-. 3(55,000 00 



Naval Academy 198,882 40 



Support of Marine Corps 924,807 00 



Naval Asylum, Philadelphia 58,177 00 



Naval Asylum, Philadelphia. 

 Maintenance of yards and docks 



860,000 00 



f Total , $18,891,166 40 



The cost of the new buildings asked for, 

 and the current expenses for repairs at navy- 

 yards and stations, are estimated to require in 

 addition the sum of $1,755,000. 



The amount paid for pensions during the 

 year ended June 30, 1875, was $520,348, includ- 

 ing $185,675 to invalids and $334,672 to wid- 

 ows and others. 



The Torpedo-School at Newport continues in 

 a high state of efficiency, and the knowledge 

 VOL. xv. 34 A 



obtained by the officers in the manufacture 

 and use of every description of this terrible 

 means of warfare is reported to be of inesti- 

 mable value to the service. 



The department has deemed it advisable to 

 resume the enlistment of boys to serve till 

 reaching twenty-one years of age, under the 

 existing laws enacted for that purpose. The 

 sole object of the system is to make the boys 

 good and intelligent sailors for the Navy, with- 

 out attempting to prepare them for any higher 

 grade. The great want of intelligent native- 

 born seamen to man the vessels of the Navy 

 has been seriously felt of late years, and it 

 becomes a matter of national importance to 

 remedy this evil. Cflher nations have felt the 

 growing scarcity of good seamen to man their 

 navies, and are attempting, by establishing 

 schools and training-ships in their ports, to 

 provide for the education and training of boys 

 to become sailors. It is said that England 

 turns out yearly 3,000 boys from her training- 

 ships for her Navy. Some efforts were for- 

 merly made under the laws of Congress to 

 enlist boys as apprentices, but without success, 

 owing partly to the very elaborate system of 

 education and training adopted, and partly to 

 the fact that inducements were held out to the 

 boys which could not be realized. Under the 

 present system, which is purely experimental, 

 about 250 boys have been enlisted and placed 

 on board training-vessels, where they receive an 

 elementary English education, and are initiated 

 in all the duties of sailors on a man-of-war. 



Two expeditions were sent out during the 

 year to complete the survey for an interoceanic 

 canal across the great Isthmus. One, an expe- 

 dition under the command of Lieutenant Fred- 

 erick Collins, was sent in January, with in- 

 structions to make a careful survey of the 

 proposed Napipi Canal route, and to deter- 

 mine the character of the line in that vicinity 

 found best suited to the construction of a ship- 

 canal. 



This expedition was transported to the gulf 

 of Uraba by the United States steamer Can- 

 andaigua, and thence up the Atrato to the field 

 of operations in the boats of that ship. They 

 arrived and commenced regular operations in 

 the field on the 8th of February, and work 

 was continued without interruption till the 

 28th of April. During this time a careful line 

 of levels was run from the Atrato, near the 

 mouth of the Napipi, to the Pacific, and the 

 country along the line elaborately reconnoi- 

 tred to develop its topographical features. 



For the first five miles of the route swamps 

 and morasses were encountered. From the 

 swampy region to the Pacific the country was 

 found to be extremely hilly. As long as the 

 line followed the valley of the Napipi, how- 

 ever, it was found possible to avoid the greater 

 part of the hills, but in the valley of the Do- 

 guado they could not be avoided, and in this 

 section of the canal very deep cutting would 

 be required. 



