A forced draft system has been applied to the boilers of the U. S. S. Alliance, which has fully met the expectations of the Bureau. The space occupied by the boilers has been reduced one-third. The attained horse-power is about 15 per cent. greater than under the original arrangement, and it is believed, with additional experience, this can be increased. The coal-bunker capacity is increased 18 per cent., and the ventilation of engine and fire room is much improved.

Machine tools of large capacity and modern design, selected with special reference to future work of the Burean, have been purchased during the past year for the shops of the navy-yards in active operation. When these are set up the facilities for work in these shops will be greatly increased, particularly for that which will be required on the details of the heavier machinery now coming into the service.

NAVY-YARDS.

The Bureau would again call attention to and emphasize the recom mendations contained in several of the previous reports of the Bureau as to the necessity for a new boiler-shop at the New York navy-yard. The building now used there for a boiler-shop is entirely inadequate to the work required, and is so constructed that neither large work nor the tools to do the same economically and expeditiously can be accommodated.

The necessity for at once erecting a new boiler-shop at this yard, and supplying it with the requisite tools and appliances, has become the more imperative, now that the steam-engineering plant at the Washington navy yard, where, heretofore, the Bureau has preferred to have this class of work done, has been surrendered for ordnance purposes.

ESTIMATES OF APPROPRIATIONS.

I have the honor to submit herewith the annual estimates of this Bureau for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1888.

CHAS. H. LORING,

Hon. WILLIAM C. WHITNEY,

Chief of Bureau.

Secretary of the Navy.

REPORT OF THE CHIEF OF THE BUREAU OF CONSTRUCTION AND REPAIR.

NAVY DEPARTMENT,

BUREAU OF CONSTRUCTION AND REPAIR,

Washington, D. C., November 10, 1886.

SIR: In obedience to the Department's instructions, I have the honor to submit my annual report for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1886, showing the work performed and the amounts expended, together with estimates of the amounts required for the purposes of the Bureau for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1888.

The estimates for the expenses of this Bureau, as given in the statement marked A, are in accordance with existing laws. The recommendation on this statement for increase of salary of the chief clerk of the Bureau is respectfully submitted to your favorable consideration.

The chief clerk, under the law, acts as Chief of the Bureau in the ab. sence of that officer, and must be competent to take charge of the Bureau. His duties are arduous, and fully deserve the salary herein estimated ($2,250), a rate of pay not more than is now paid to others in the Executive Departments who have to perform similar duties of equal responsibility.

An estimate is submitted for a chief draughtsman for this Bureau, this rating having been for some years allowed in the Bureau of Steam Engineering. Mr. William T. Powell, the head draughtsman of this Bureau, should be rated to that position. He is to-day undoubtedly the best-qualified ship's draughtsman in this country, and has for years held his present position and served the Government faithfully and well with small remuneration. The establishment of this rating and the appointment of Mr. Powell to the position would be a well-merited reward for faithful and efficient service in the past.

An estimate for four additional draughtsmen is also submitted. This Bureau is now allowed but three draughtsmen. For the proper prosecution of the work of designing new ships it is absolutely and indispensably necessary that the additional force asked for be allowed.

There is also submitted an estimate for a messenger, the business of the Bureau requiring this additional assistance. The present assistant messenger is an intelligent and capable man, whose long service in the Bureau has made him valuable. Should the messenger estimated for be allowed, the promotion of the present assistant messenger is contemplated.

The estimate in statement marked C is for the pay of clerks and writers at the several navy-yards, whose services are indispensable for the proper and systematic prosecution of the work which is to be done at the yards by the Bureau. Each and every clerk and writer has specific duties to perform, which are not affected by the quantity of work doing at the yard. The same number of blanks is to be filled, and the same number of reports has to be made and sent to the Bureau for its information, without regard to the quantity of work on hand.

The estimate marked B is for the general repair of vessels at navy-yards and on foreign stations; purchase of stores, materials, machinery, rights of patented articles, and tools of all kinds; preservation of materials and stores; and for the general care and protection of the Navy in the line of construction and repair.

The appropriation for last year under this estimate was much too small to permit of carrying on the repairs of vessels at home and abroad, and purchasing the necessary materials, during the entire fiscal year; consequently, work which was in progress was delayed for want of the necessary funds to complete it. This same difficulty will be experienced this year to a greater extent, as the appropriation was reduced even lower than that for 1884-'85. An additional appropriation of $310,000 is absolutely necessary to carry on the work without interruption for the remainder of the fiscal year. Unless this additional amount is allowed, it is more than likely that work in all or most of the navy-yards will have to be nearly, if not entirely, suspended early in the spring, entailing a much greater expense in the end, in completing suspended work, than would have been incurred had sufficient funds been available to continue the work without interruption.

Appended hereto is a list of vessels which have been repaired at the different navy-yards during the fiscal year 1885-'86; also a statement of expenditures under the different appropriations during that year.

Appended hereto, also, is a list of the contracts made by the Burean during the past fiscal year for materials and supplies for the several navy-yards.

The steel cruisers Atlanta and Boston are at the navy-yard, Brooklyn, N. Y.; they have both been docked and their bottoms cleaned and painted, and, independent of the work which had to be done by the Government to fit them for sea, alterations and additions have been and are being made to them, as called for from time to time by the Advisory Board.

The Chicago is still at Chester, and the work on her is now being pushed rapidly towards completion.

The reports of Naval Constructor R. W. Steele, in charge of the work on the Chicago, at Chester, and of Assistant Naval Constructor John F. Hanscom, inspector on the Chicago, under the Naval Advisory Board, and of Naval Constructor S. H. Pook, in charge of the work on the Boston and the Atlanta, at the Brooklyn navy-yard, are appended. They clearly show the condition of the work on these vessels, and the amount required at that time to complete them. The appropriation of $95,861 made under the act of July 26, 1886, will not be sufficient to complete the work on these vessels, and, in order that no delay in its prosecution may be occasioned by lack of funds, I have asked for an additional appropriation of $56,000, which, it is expected, will complete the vessels, provided no further alterations nor extra work involving any consider able expenditure of money and time are recommended by the Advisory Board.

During the past year the Powhatan, a second-rate paddle-wheel steamer of 3,980 tons displacement, carrying fourteen guns, has been condemned as unfit for further use in the naval service. This vessel has seen long and valuable service. She was commenced at the navyyard, Norfolk, Va., in 1847, and was launched in 1850. Her hull was designed by Chief Constructor Francis Grice, and her machinery by Engineer-in-Chief C. H. Haswell, and the vessel was built under the direct supervision of Naval Constructor Samuel T. Hartt.

The Lackawanna, now at the navy-yard, Mare Island, California, while not yet condemned, cannot be repaired, as the work required to fit her for further cruising at sea will exceed the limit of the law; but by hav ing her machinery removed, the berth-deck extended fore and aft, and a house built over her, she will make a suitable receiving-ship for the Mare Island navy-yard, to take the place of the old line-of-battle ship Independence, which is now so badly decayed as to require considerable repair each year to keep her in condition for service, and whose sanitary condition is bad in consequence of so much rotten wood being in her. The Lackawanna was commenced at the New York navy-yard in 1861, and was launched and fitted for sea in 1863. She is a secondrate, single-screw vessel of 2,220 tons displacement, and carries a battery of nine guns. She was designed by Chief Constructor John Lenthall, and built under the supervision of Naval Constructor B. F. Delano.

The Wachusett is a second-rate, single-screw vessel of 1,575 tons displacement, carrying seven guns. Under the act of August 5, 1882, she has been condemned as unfit for further service. This vessel was designed by Chief Constructor John Lenthall in 1861, and built in 1862 at the navy-yard, Boston, Mass., under the direct supervision of Naval Constructor William L. Hanscom.

The Pilgrim is an iron tug, and was condemned under the act of Au

gust 5, 1882. She was built by Pusey, Jones & Co., at Wilmington, Del., under contract.

The Tennessee, the only first-rate wooden vessel in active service, can, in my opinion, be kept in service but a few months longer. She is undoubtedly in very bad condition; her main wale-strakes are so badly decayed as to preclude their being recalked, and her lower-mastheads are so badly decayed that it is not considered prudent to carry a press of sail upon them,

The Shenandoah, a second-rate vessel of 2,100 tons displacement, recently arrived at the Mare Island navy-yard. The report of the Board of Survey represents her condition to be such that under the act of August 5, 1882, she cannot be repaired, as the estimated amount required to repair the defects in the hull alone will exceed 26 per cent. of the cost of a new vessel of like size and material.

The naval list will then consist of the following named and rated vessels:

On the stocks, New York; to be completed.