OF

THE BOARD OF ORDNANCE AND FORTIFICATION.

The SECRETARY OF WAR.

WASHINGTON, D. C., October 31, 1912.

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-second annual report, covering the fiscal year from July 1, 1911, to June 30, 1912.

PERSONNEL.

No changes have occurred in the personnel of the Board since the last report, and the Board now consists of the following-named members: Maj. Gen. Leonard Wood, Chief of Staff, president; Brig. Gen. William Crozier, Chief of Ordnance; Brig. Gen. William H. Bixby, Chief of Engineers; Brig. Gen. E. M. Weaver, Chief of Coast Artillery; Col. Edwin St. J. Greble, General Staff; Capt. Stanley D. Embick, Coast Artillery Corps; and Hon. William Warner, civilian member, with Capt. Robert R. Ralston, Corps of Engineers, recorder.

LEGISLATION.

The only special legislation affecting the Board is contained in the fortifications appropriations act approved June 6, 1912, making appropriation for continuing the work of the Board, as follows:

To enable the board to make 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; to pay the salary of the civilian member of the Board of Ordnance and Fortification provided by the act of February twenty-fourth, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, and for the necessary traveling expenses of said member when traveling on duty as contemplated in said act; for the payment of the necessary expenses of the board, including a per diem allowance to each officer detailed to serve thereon, when employed on duty away from his permanent station, of two dollars and fifty cents a day; and for the test of experimental guns, carriages, and other devices procured in accordance with the recommendation of the Board of Ordnance and Fortification, twenty-five thousand dollars, the expenditure of which shall be made by the several bureaus

liminary consideration, resulted in a still further reduction in the work of the board. The number of inventions received has been materially reduced by the signing of the armistice. Further, the need for investigation along certain lines has been much less. The board continued work on those inventions toward the development of which some action had been taken prior to the formation of the Inventions Section, with the purpose of completing its work on such proposals as rapidly as possible. The work of the board required the clerical assistance of but one individual, who was occupied with this work only a small portion of the time.

The work for which the board was originally created is now practically entirely performed by other agencies. Furthermore, there are now no longer any funds available for new work. In March, 1920, the Secretary of War decided to seek definite legislation abolishing the board, but was advised by the Chairman of the Committee on Revision of Laws, that the committee had definitely reached the conclusion that there was no law authorizing the board; also, that the committee would not refer to it in their bill containing all the general and permanent laws in force March 4, 1919. In view of the above, an order was published (Sec. II, G. O. No. 49, W. D., 1920) relieving all the members of the board from further duty thereon and making suitable disposition for the records, papers, and business of the board.

DETAILS OF OPERATIONS.

Centrifugal gun.-On December 7, 1917, an allotment of $15,000 was made to the National Research Council to be expended in the development and test of centrifugal machine guns for use on airplanes. Centrifugal machine guns appear to be particularly adapted to airplane use due to the very great rapidity of fire which they may attain. The National Research Council, with the cooperation of the Ordnance Department and other technical agents of the Government, developed a gun which is believed to be superior to the original model submitted for test. In June, 1919, all models and drawings in connection with this test were turned over to the Inventions Section, General Staff, for further development. On November 4, 1919, an additional $5,000 was allotted for this development, the work to be performed at the Bureau of Standards under the supervision of the Inventions Section. A complete power plant, set up on a mobile frame, consisting of a Ford motor, a complete motive plant, with accessories and attachments, together with a 71 to 1 gear ratio working model of a centrifugal gun, has been constructed and is held in the shop awaiting test on the centrifugal gun, which it is expected will be conducted in the near future.

Leon device for submarine mines.-On July 11, 1913, an allotment of $3,600 was made for the construction and test of submarine mines containing the Leon device for automatically controlling the depth of submergence. Tests, conducted at the torpedo depot at Fort Totten, for the purpose of perfecting the operation of the device have been made at points where the depth of water and speed of currents will serve to determine the value of the device under service conditions. Other tests were held with a view to determining the effect of the shock of explosion of adjacent mines, and these tests have re

mental work on mines equipped with this device will be conducted, with a view toward strengthening parts and developing satisfactory signaling apparatus in the casemate. The allotment of $3,600 granted by the board having been exhausted, the experiments are now being paid for out of other funds.

Illumination of water areas by projectiles.-On December 7, 1917, the Board made an allotment of $15,000 for the development and test of projectiles to be used with guns of various calibers for illuminating water areas. At the time the allotment was made no entirely satisfactory illuminating projectile had been developed. However, since that time more knowledge has been gained of this matériel, due to the extensive consideration given to its development by the Ordnance Department and also by the Navy. Lately one hundred 3-inch star shells have been received at Fort Monroe, and a series of tests are expected to be held there.

Test with captive balloon.-On March 1, 1918, an allotment of $500 was made by the Board for the purpose of determining the advisability of using captive balloons in the Coast Artillery service for general observation of battle areas, correction of fire, and possible detection of hostile submarines and mines. The only tests conducted so far were those made in connection with observation for the firing test of the 14-inch gun, Model "E," at Fort Story, Va., in October and November, 1919. In these tests two captive balloons were used, one at each end of the 21,000-yard base line, for the purpose of observing the angular deviation of impacts measured in mils right or left from the target. For this purpose the balloon gave entirely satisfactory results. Stabilized balloon observation instruments are being manufactured by Frankford Arsenal but have not yet been completed, so no tests involving the use of captive balloons for vessel tracking or obtaining data for use in the calculation of firing data have been made. Radio control of torpedoes.-Early in 1913 the Radio Engineering Co. presented to the Board a proposition for test at its own expense of an apparatus for the radio control of submarine torpedoes. To permit the tests being carried on at night the board made an allotment on May 1, 1913, of $350 for the installation of a searchlight at the company's laboratory. As the result of certain demonstrations before officers of the Coast Artillery Corps, John Hays Hammond, jr., the designer of the apparatus, appeared before the Board in February, 1915, and submitted several alternative propositions that would enable the War Department to obtain control of the system. On February 12, 1915, the Board recommended that the United States. at once purchase all the secrets, patents, and developed methods pertaining to the Hammond radio-dynamic system of torpedo control. This recommendation was renewed by the Board at its meeting of February 15, 1916, and was supported in hearings before congressional committees. The fortification appropriation act approved July 6, 1916, as amended by the act of March 3, 1919, provided $750,000 for the purchase of the rights to the invention, as well as $417,000 for procuring and installing one unit of the system. The appropriations were, however, limited by the requirement that the purchase of the rights must be approved by the President after a satisfactory demonstration before a board of three Army and three Navy officers.

thousand when he is ready to put in the foundation for this carriage, and the other five thousand when he is ready to erect the carriage for its preliminary test.

In the latter part of 1908 Mr. Emery constructed a railroad track connecting the site selected for his carriage at Fort Hancock with the Sandy Hook proving ground railroad. This track was used for the transportation of material for the construction of the concrete foundations for the carriage. Under the provisions of the act of May 27, 1908, Mr. Emery was paid $5,000 for the completion of this work, since which time no further deliveries have been made.

Of the $114,343.02 available for the execution of the present contract with Mr. Emery for his carriage, $100,811.51 has been paid him. There may be added to the $114,000 mentioned above the sum of $135,656.98 paid under the first contract, which was canceled by congressional authority, so that the total amount authorized has been a quarter of a million dollars. Of this sum there remains to be paid Mr. Emery $13,531.51, or slightly more than 5 per cent of the total amount authorized.

In its last annual report the Board stated that 18 years had elapsed since the construction of a carriage of Mr. Emery's design was first authorized. Little can be added to this except to say that the second decade is drawing to a close since Mr. Emery first undertook the work of developing a suitable gun carriage. In this 20 years other designs have been developed, served their time in the coast defenses, and been superseded by more perfect appliances, while Mr. Emery's work is still uncompleted.

RANGE FINDERS.

April 4, 1912, an allotment of $1,000 was made for the purchase of a Barr & Stroud field artillery range finder. This instrument is similar in principle to the fortress range finder manufactured by the same firm and now in use in our coast defenses. The allotment has not been expended, but an instrument has been furnished and is under test by the Field Artillery Board.

RANGE AND AZIMUTH TRANSMITTERS.

Barr & Stroud range and azimuth transmitter.—July 26, 1910, the Board made an allotment of $800 for the purchase and delivery at Fort Monroe of a range and azimuth transmitter designed by Barr & Stroud. As the result of exhaustive tests in competition with other instruments the device has been adopted for use in transmission of ranges and azimuths in mortar batteries and of ranges in gun batteries in all cases where mechanical transmission is impracticable. Gray type-printing telegraph.-July 7, 1910, the Board made an allotment of $727.50 for the purchase of a type-printing telegraph manufactured by the Gray National Telautograph Co., but as the result of tests it was finally recommended that the device be not adopted for service.

ARTILLERY DEVICES.

Portable searchlight for field artillery.-October 4, 1906, the Board

type, and a selection from these several samples will be made shortly and molds made for making up models for actual firing test in a 3-inch field piece.

FINANCIAL STATEMENT.

The annual report for 1919 showed a balance of $224,793.39 available on July 1, 1919. This included a sum of $593.39 appropriated under the act of August 18, 1890, which was available for purchases abroad only. The fortification act approved May 21, 1920, carried no appropriation for the Board. Section 5 of the fortification appropriation act approved March 3, 1919, provided that appropriations hitherto made in fortification appropriation acts shall not be available for obligation after June 30, 1920. Therefore there are no funds available for new work.

In compliance with the act of February 24, 1891, which requires "A detail statement of all contracts, allotments, and expenditures made by the board," an appendix is submitted herewith giving a detailed statement of allotments and expenditures from July 1, 1919, to June 30, 1920.

P. C. MARCH,

Major General, Chief of Staff, President.

WILLIAM F. TOMPKINS,

Captain, Corps of Engineers, Recorder of the Board.