other countries, and normal displacement is thus not a standard by which vessels of different countries can be compared. Panama tolls upon normal displacement would not be fair as between different countries and different warships. 2. Light displacement, which, in the United States, means the displacement of a warship with complete battery and outfit, but without having on board the officers, the crew and their effects, the ammunition and stores, the water for drinking purposes and for machinery, the fuel of every kind, and the reserve feed water for machinery.' Light displacement has a different meaning from this in the case of British warships, in that one-half the carpenters', boatswains' and engineers' stores are assumed to have been consumed, and the remainder to be on board." The difference between the light displacement rules of the various countries are not so great as are the variations in the regulations concerning normal displacement, but light displacement has unlike meanings in different countries. The lack of uniformity would make light displacement an unfair basis of Panama tolls on warships. Light displacement understates the real tonnage or weight of warships. The toll upon the net tonnage of merchant vessels is a charge upon their earning capacity; the tolls upon warships should be upon fighting machines equipped for service. The actual, rather than the light, displacement indicates the military value of a warship. To exempt from tolls the weight of coal, water, provisions, officers, crew, etc., would be to exempt a necessary part of a warship considered as a fighting machine. There is an inherent difference between merchant vessels and warships. The earning capacity of the vessel of commerce is its space available for cargo and passengers, while the military power of the warship depends upon the entire vessel considered as a unit. The tolls upon a merchant ship are charges upon the vessel as a carrier, and the tolls are logically based upon net tonnage its earning capacity; the tonnage unit is large and the rate of toll is relatively high. The toll upon the warship is a charge upon its weight as a fighting machine; the tonnage unit (as compared with the net ton) is small, and the rate of toll is made relatively low. 3. Full-load displacement, which, in the case of an American warship, is "the displacement of the ship complete in every respect and ready for sea, the vessel having on board her full complement of officers and men, together with their belongings, bunkers and fuel-oil tanks full, reserve feed water tanks full, and all stores and consumables of full allowance in accordance with the allowance books." There is substantial uniformity throughout the world in the calculation of full-load displacement of the ship when equipped and with its maximum capacity of coal, stores, oil, and water. The objection to full-load displacement as a toll basis is that warships are seldom loaded to their deep-load draft. It is only when beginning unusually long voyages that they attain their maximum displacement, and on such voyages the actual draft upon arrival at the Panama Canal would be less than the full-load draft. Full-load displacement would give too large a tonnage and light displacement too small a tonnage for tolls upon warships. 4. Actual-displacement tonnage at the time the warship applied for passage through the Panama Canal. This is the most equitable and practicable basis for the tolls upon vessels of war. The actual displacement of a vessel varies according to the size of the ship and the weight of what it carries. When on a cruise or voyage, its actual displacement is seldom the same as its light, normal, or full-load displacement. REASONS FOR BASING WARSHIP TOLLS UPON ACTUAL DISPLACEMENT TONNAGE. A warship's actual displacement at any given draft can be readily determined from its displacement scale and curves, every warship having among its papers a displacement scale and curves such as are reproduced above in Figure 28. Actual displacement of warships at the 1 Robinson, Naval Construction, p. 350. 2 Attwood, Warships, p. 185. 61861-13 -8 time of applying for passage through the canal is the logical tonnage upon which to levy Panama tolls. The reasons for making that tonnage the basis may be summarized as follows: 1. Actual displacement will not discriminate between the warships of different countries nor between ships of different types and ages belonging to the same country. Actual-displacement tonnage is not determined by, nor is it at all dependent upon, arbitrary rules, as are light and normal displacement tonnages; it is read off from mathematical scales and curves that are accurate and uniform throughout the world. As the Chief of the Bureau of Construction and Repair of the Navy Department states (letter of Mar. 24, 1913): Due to differences in design classification as adopted in different countries and for different types of war vessels, the terms light, full-load, and normal displacement do not represent fixed and similar definitions for different vessels. For this reason the bureau believes that the displacement upon which the tolls are based should be the actual displacement of the vessel at the time of its application for passage through the canal. The requirement of the Hay-Pauncefote treaty that vessels of all nations shall be given equality of treatment makes unwise the adoption of either light or normal displacement as the basis for Panama tolls, but, quite aside from the obligations arising from the treaty, it is desirable that the United States should treat the vessels of all nations with equality. 2. For administrative and other reasons it would be inadvisable to levy warship or other tolls upon a tonnage determined by the several national rules. The United States should adhere to the principle of determining the tonnage upon which tolls shall be paid, instead of accepting the tonnage stated in national papers or documents. A vessel's light, normal, or full-load displacement is determined by rules formulated and applied by foreign countries, whereas actual displacement tonnage would be ascertained by the Panama Canal authorities. 3. Tolls upon the tonnage of actual displacement will be charges on the weight of the warships under conditions of actual service. Instead of requiring the vessel to pay tolls upon an arbitrary tonnage, it will be required to pay charges upon its actual weight at the time it is making a voyage that takes it through the canal. 4. The levy of Panama tolls upon the actual displacement of warships will minimize administrative difficulties. The tonnage being readily ascertained from the ship's displacement scale and curves, no code of rules will be needed to check up the accuracy of the light, normal, or full-load lines, or of the tonnages as fixed and determined by the various national rules of the several countries. No quibbles can arise as to the inclusion or exclusion of certain weights. Nor will it be necessary for warships to carry special certificates showing their light, normal, or full-load displacements calculated according to rules prescribed by the Panama Canal authorities. Neither will warships using the Panama Canal have to be specially measured, as is the case with vessels passing through the Suez Canal. The commander of a warship upon applying for passage through the Panama Canal will need merely to present his vessel's official displacement scale and curves, and the tonnage upon which tolls are payable can be determined without delaying the ship. For the reasons set forth in this chapter, it is recommended that the Panama tolls imposed upon warships by the President's proclamation of November 13, 1912, be levied upon the tonnage of actual displacement of the vessels at the time they apply for passage through the canal. Provisions for giving effect to this recommendation are included in the Panama Measurement Rules embodied in this report. |