THE DESIGN AND NEW CONSTRUCTION DIVISION OF THE 

 BUREAU OF CONSTRUCTION AND REPAIR OF THE NAVY 

 DEPARTMENT. 



By Naval Constructor R. H. Robinson, U. S. Navy, Member of Council. 



[Read at the twentieth general meeting of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, held in 



New York, November 21 and 22, 191 1.] 



This article proposes to deal only with the methods of handling an 

 organization engaged in design and in passing on matters of new construc- 

 tion, leaving the work produced to speak for itself. 



The work of this Division of the Bureau of Construction and Repair is 

 of course but one component part of the whole work of the Bureau, which is 

 charged with many and varied other functions. Although its work is to 

 a great extent self-contained and to some extent independent of the other 

 divisions of the Bureau, it would be impossible to carry it on without access 

 to the records and data available only in the Bureau's main records. Con- 

 versely the balance of the Bureau could not function without this Division. 



The Division has no independent correspondence files, but depends on 

 the main files of the Bureau. 



This Division produces in general: — 



(a) Estimates for new construction. 



(b) Preliminary designs for ships, including plans and calculations. 



(c) Contract designs for ships, including plans, calculations and specifi- 

 cations. 



(d) Action on contractors' plans and on specifications for auxiUaries 

 submitted by builders. 



(e) Standard plans and miscellaneous design work. 



Incidental to each of these are many duties, some of which are handUng 

 the reports of boards on changes on ships, the compilation and tabulation 

 of data for use in one of the main duties mentioned above, preparation of 

 allowance Usts, design and record of issue of small boats, preparation of 

 annual report and ships' data books, etc. A definite section also handles 

 the question of reports of the trial board, takes action on the more important 

 alterations to ships in service, etc. 



The endeavor is to produce the greatest amount of work possible with 

 a minimum effort and in a minimum of time. 



With the object of saving time, a complete study has been made and a 

 number of what the writer considers the most important features of modern 

 shop methods have been adopted, particularly in routing, assigning and 



