REPORT OF THE BOARD OF ORDNANCE AND FORTIFICATION. The SECRETARY OF WAR. WASHINGTON, D. C., October 6, 1917. SIR: Under the provisions of the act approved February 24, 1891, the Board of Ordnance and Fortification has the honor to submit, for transmission to Congress, its twenty-seventh annual report, covering the fiscal year from July 1, 1916, to June 30, 1917. PERSONNEL. Changes occurred in the personnel of the board through the detail by paragraph 41, Special Orders, No. 26, February 1, 1917, of Lieut. Col. Charles P. Summerall, Field Artillery Corps, vice Gen. Treat, relieved; and the detail by paragraph 48, Special Orders, No. 110, May 12, 1917, of Maj. Ulysses S. Grant, 3d, Corps of Engineers, as recorder of the board, vice Capt. Barber. The board on June 30, 1917, consisted of the following-named members: Maj. Gen. Hugh L. Scott, Chief of Staff, president; Maj. Gen. Erasmus M. Weaver, Chief of Coast Artillery; Brig. Gen. William Crozier, Chief of Ordnance; Brig. Gen. Wm. M. Black, Chief of Engineers; Col. Ira A. Haynes, Coast Artillery Corps; Lieut. Col. Charles P. Summerall, Field Artillery Corps; and Hon. John R. Thornton, civilian member; with Maj. Ulysses S. Grant, 3d, Corps of Engineers, recorder. LEGISLATION. The only special legislation affecting the board is contained in the fortification appropriation act approved February 14, 1917, for continuing the work of the board, as follows: For all needful and proper purchases, experiments, and tests to ascertain, with a view to their utilization by the Government, the most effective guns, small arms, cartridges, projectiles, fuses, explosives, torpedoes, armor plates, and other implements and engines of war, and to purchase or cause to be manufactured, under authority of the Secretary of War, such guns, carriages, armor plates, and other war material as may, in the judgment of the board, be necessary in the proper discharge of the duty devolved upon it by the act approved September twenty-second, eighteen hundred and eighty-eight; salary of the civilian member of the board and for his necessary traveling expenses when traveling on duty as provided by the act of February twenty-fourth, eighteen hundred and ninety-one; necessary expenses of the board, including rent of offices in the District of Columbia at not exceeding $900 per annum, and a per diem allowance to each officer detailed to serve thereon, when employed on duty away from his permanent station, of $2.50; a test of experimental guns, carriages, and other devices procured in accordance with the recommendation of the board, $150,000, the expenditure of which shall be made by the several bureaus of the War Department heretofore having jurisdiction of the same, or by the board itself, as the Secretary of War may direct: Provided, That before any money shall be expended in the construction or test of any gun, gun carriage, ammunition, or implements under the supervision of the said board, the 3 17720°-17 |