Within one year of the date on which a notice of termination by any Power has taken effect, all the Contracting Powers shall meet in conference.

ARTICLE XXIV

The present Treaty shall be ratified by the Contracting Powers in accordance with their respective constitutional methods and shall take effect on the date of the deposit of all the ratifications, which shall take place at Washington as soon as possible. The Government of the United States will transmit to the other Contracting Powers a certified copy of the procès-verbal of the deposit of ratifications.

The present Treaty, of which the French and English texts are both authentic, shall remain deposited in the archives of the Government of the United States, and daily certified copies thereof shall be transmitted by that Government to the other Contracting Powers.

In faith whereof the above-named Plenipotentiaries have signed the present Treaty.

Done at the City of Washington the sixth day of February, One Thousand Nine Hundred and Twenty-Two.

DATES OF RATIFICATION OF LIMITATION OF ARMS CONFERENCE TREATY

United States, June 9, 1923.

Great Britain, August 1, 1922.

France, July 28, 1923.

Italy, April 19, 1923.

Japan, August 5, 1922.

Ratification deposited and became effective August 17, 1923.

BRITISH EMPIRE

The British Empire has complied with the provisions of Chapter II, Part II, Section II, of the treaty of Washington limiting naval armaments.

The Monarch, the last ship to be disposed of, will be shortly sunk in tests similar to those now in progress with the Washington.

The Agamemnon has been retained under agreement for use as target vessel in a manner similar to that of the North Dakota. Chapter II, Part II (c).

Under the provisions of the treaty, the British Empire is permitted to retain the Colossus and Collingwoad for noncombatant purposes, after complying with the provisions of Part 2, III (b).

JAPAN

Japan has complied with the provisions of Chapter II, Part II, Section II, of the treaty of Washington limiting naval armament.

Mikasa. First stage of scrapping completed. Retained as memorial with the consent of the treaty powers to be converted into a museum.

Satsuma. Sunk on September 2, 1924.

Aki. Sunk on September 6, 1924.

Hizen. Sunk on July 25, 1924.

Kashima. Sold to Mitsubishi in April, 1924.
Katori. First stage of scrapping completed.

Amagi. Being scrapped.

Ibuki. First stage of scrapping completed.

April, 1924.

Sold to Kawasaki. Dock Yard,

Ikoma. First stage of scrapping completed. Sold to Mitsubishi, April, 1924. Kurama. First stage of scrapping completed. Sold to Kobe Steel Manufacturing Co.

The Akagi and Kaga are being converted by agreement to aircraft carriers in a manner similar to that of the Lexington and Saratoga.

The Tosa, Takao, and Atago have been scrapped.

The Settsu with guns removed, etc., has been retained by agreement as targettowing vessel. Chapter II, Part II (c) of the treaty.

The Shikishima and Asahi have been retained for noncombatant purposes

after complying with the provisions of Part II, III (b) of the treaty.

FRANCE AND ITALY

Under the provisions of the treaty of Washington, Chapter II, Part II, Section II, France and Italy are not required to scrap any capital ships until 1930 and 1931, respectively.

PROGRESS IN SCRAPPING NAVAL VESSELS

Mr. FRENCH. Under that heading, Mr. Secretary, do you desire to make a statement?

Secretary WILBUR. We have in the report of the Secretary of the Navy, which has not yet been released, but of which you have copies, on page 15 a statement of the progress in scrapping naval vessels, which gives the present situation in detail.

Mr. FRENCH. I wish you would insert that in the record at this point.

Of the 11 capital ships under construction at the time the scrapping program was put into effect on August 17, 1923, after ratification of the treaty for the limitation of naval armament by all the signatory powers, the battle cruisers United States, Constitution, and Ranger and battleships Massachusetts, South Dakota, and Indiana have been completely scrapped and removed from the building ways. The work of scrapping the battle cruiser Constellation and the battleships Montana, North Carolina, and Iowa is about 90 per cent completed, and it is expected that the work will be entirely completed and the building ways cleared in the near future, well within the time allowed by the treaty; that is, by February 17, 1925.

The battleship Washington, which was afloat and about 70 per cent completed at the time of suspension of work, is to be used for certain torpedo and gunnery experiments, which it is expected will finally result in sinking the vessel. After extensive advertising, 10 of the 11 vessels referred to above were sold as scrap material after competitive bidding.

The older battleships required to be scrapped are as follows: Virginia, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Georgia, Nebraska, Connecticut, Louisiana, Vermont, Minnesota, Kansas, New Hampshire, Michigan, South Carolina, Delaware, or North Dakota. Of these, the New Jersey and Virginia were turned over to the Army and have been destroyed in experimental bombing exercises. The North Dakota will not be scrapped, but under the terms of the treaty will be used for target purposes exclusively. All of the other ships listed above have been disposed of by sale, to be cut up as scrap metal. Where bids received on those vessels were unsatisfactory, arrangements were made to scrap such vessels in navy yards and dispose of the material as scrap metal. This procedure benefited the yards concerned from an employment point of view and the net returns to the Government proved to be greater than would otherwise have been the case. Of the 14 older vessels required to be scrapped, the Minnesota has been completely scrapped and the work on the remaining 13 is progressing satisfactorily and will be completed within the time allowed by the treaty.

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SETTLEMENT OF CANCELLATION CLAIMS ARISING FROM CANCELED

CONTRACTS

Immediately after ratification of the treaty for the limitation of naval armament by all the signatory powers, contracts for the battle cruisers Constellation and Ranger and the battleships Iowa, Massachusetts, and Washington, building at private shipyards, and orders for materials for the battle cruisers United States and Constitution and battleships Indiana, South Dakota, North Carolina, and Montana, building at navy yards, were canceled. Claims of ship contractors arising from the cancellation of contracts and scrapping of the hulls and machinery of ships building at private shipyards were all settled by June 30, 1924. The amounts claimed by the contractors totaled $25,431,533. The amount found due and allowed in final settlement by the Navy Department was $15,469,208. The amounts allowed were accepted without litigation, and complete releases from all claims on account thereof were executed by the contractors. Claims arising on account of cancellation of contracts for ordnance and armor for the scrapped ships, amounting in all to approximately $8,820,000, have been settled for $7,410,231.83, the amount allowed. Claims arising from the cancellation of orders for hull and machinery materials for ships scrapped at navy yards, amounting in all to approximately $3,365,968, have been fixed at and settled for $3,102,149. There remains outstanding one claim of $4.995.49, which it is expected will be settled shortly.

The department submitted to the chairman of the Committee on Naval Affairs of the House of Representatives, in May, 1922, the original preliminary approximate estimate of $70,000,000 as the total cost of scrapping the hulls and machinery and ordnance and armor of the 11 uncompleted ships. However, the actual amounts paid or to be paid in the settlement of cancellation claims and all charges for care, handling, and inventory of materials from these 11 scrapped ships will be approximately $27.000.000, of which approximately $7,400,000 will be on account of ordnance and armor and $19,600,000 on account of the hulis and machinery.

Mr. FRENCH. Is there anything in that situation that indicates, in connection with that program, anything other than good faith on the part of the several powers, signatories to the treaty !

Secretary WILBUR. This only deals with our own ships. We have no information in the Navy Department or from the State Department which leads us to believe that the other signatory powers are not exercising due dispatch and the utmost good faith in scrapping their ships, Out information is that they are proceeding in strict accord with the treaty, to scrap their ships in accordance with the terms of the treaty.

Mr. FRENCH. You exchange memoranda from time to time, do you not so that you would knew if a contrary situation obtained? Secretary WILBUR. We are getting reperts from our naval attachés, but not hom the other governments direct. I suppose when the Happen is ended there will be something of that sort. The 17th of February next, is the date of the fost scrapping

You no doubt have noticed by the papers that the Washington is proceeding from the Phadaphia Navy Yard te ses where certain Tak that has been explized here.

Mr. FRENCH. Then, Mr. Secretary, we thank you for the very comprehensive statement you have made, and we invite you to be present at any time you desire to do so during the progress of the hearings.

Secretary WILBUR. I thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. FRENCH. We will be glad to have you call our attention to anything you think our attention should be directed to.

Secretary WILBUR. I appreciate your consideration and courtesy during this hearing, and I shall be glad to furnish you any information which we have in the department on any subject on which you request information from time to time. There are so many details in a large appropriation bill like this which require the person directly interested in the expenditure of the money to explain in detail that probably we will have to adopt that course in connection with some of these details.

Mr. FRENCH. Our thought has been, in connection with your hearing, to obtain a rather comprehensive view of the whole problem, rather than to go into details.

Is there anyone else you desire to speak for the Navy Department as to general policies and program, before we take up details with Admiral Eberle, the Chief of Operations?

Secretary WILBUR. I think not.

NAVAL OPERATIONS

GENERAL STATEMENT OF ADMIRAL EBERLE, CHIEF OF OFFICE OF NAVAL OPERATIONS

Mr. FRENCH. We will be glad to hear now from Admiral Eberle, the Chief of Operations, first in a general way.

Admiral EBERLE. With your permission, Mr. Chairman, I will first give you a concise statement with respect to the readiness of the fleet.

READINESS OF THE FLEET

Although the available funds for the present fiscal year remain about the same as for the fiscal year 1924, retrogression is more marked as the ships become older and the maintenance costs are correspondingly greater. Efforts to minimize this condition are directed toward determining what are the most urgent repairs and effecting them by carefully balancing the work loads of the various navy yards. Almost every unit of the fleet has had a navy yard overhaul during the year, but with the inadequacy of funds it s it has not been possible to accomplish complete repairs, with the result that in a number of cases efficient operation has become impaired and casualties are more

up to date in beneficial alterations. This is largely due to the insufficiency of funds made available for the prosecution of navy yard work.

Under these circumstances it would appear that it will require a long time to bring the fleet up to date in delayed maintenance and deferred alterations. It appears that any considerable active operations by the fleet undertaken at the present time or in the near future would be hampered by material defects and shortcomings; and for the correction of some of this there is small immediate prospect.

Because of this stringency, Alnav 25 was issued on August 14, 1924. This order reduced to a minimum all replacements and improvements in the fleet, no matter how important, except those specifically provided for in Subhead I, appropriation engineering 4605, which is making possible replacements of certain refrigerating and evaporating plants, the installation of electric-driven pumps in some of the more important units, and improvements in forced-draft burners and blowers, all looking toward reduction in fuel costs of the ships.

That is under a special appropriation this committee reported last year, to effect economy. Those are the only ones we are authorizing now, except alterations that we term in the nature of repairs.

a

I may say that what we mean by alterations in the nature of repairs, is this. For example, if certain part of the machinery should be worn out, or be beyond repair, instead of replacing it with the same kind of machinery, if we have a more economical or more efficient type, we replace it with that. That is alteration in the nature of repair. It is not installing something entirely different.

The cumulative effect of these conditions is one that bears on both personnel and material matters.

Mr. FRENCH. The work has not proceeded so far under the special appropriation Congress made of $1,800,000 to permit you to give any indication of the results?

Admiral EBERLE. No; quite a lot of those installations have not been begun. They have to be installed in the ships when the ships go to the navy yards for the regular overhaul period, and some of those overhaul periods have not come around.

We try to keep the work going in the navy yards so that it will be as evenly balanced as possible and with no unnecessary overhead. In order to keep the work steady at the navy yards, we assign ships to the navy yards at regular overhaul periods, and when they go to the navy yards for those overhaul periods it is planned to install this new apparatus which Congress provided for last year.

BATTLESHIPS

As indicated last year, the general condition of the six coal-burning battleships of the fleet has become such that they can not properly be considered units of the first line of battle. Four of them, the Florida, Utah, Arkansas, and Wyoming, were withdrawn from active operation in the West Indies during the winter chiefly because of the condition of their boilers and, although temporary repairs have been effected on three of them, it is clearly demonstrated that their reboilering is a military necessity. Subsequently, the Florida was withdrawn from all operation and placed in reserve at the navy yard, Boston. As a result of their condition the Scouting Fleet abandoned plans for scheduled maneuvers, and of the six coal-burning battleships, only one completed the gunnery year. The New York and Texas were transferred