EXECUTIVE MANSION, _March 26, 1884_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives:_
In my annual message I impressed upon Congress the necessity of
continued progress in the reconstruction of the Navy. The
recommendations in this direction of the Secretary of the Navy and of
the Naval Advisory Board were submitted by me unaccompanied by specific
expressions of approval. I now deem it my duty to advise that
appropriations be made at the present session toward designing and
commencing the construction of at least the three additional steel
cruisers and the four gunboats thus recommended, the cost of which,
including their armament, will not exceed $4,283,000, of which sum
one-half should be appropriated for the next fiscal year.
The _Chicago, Boston, Atlanta,_ and _Dolphin_ have been designed
and are being built with care and skill, and there is every reason to
believe that they will prove creditable and serviceable modern cruisers.
Technical questions concerning the details of these or of additional
vessels can not wisely be settled except by experts, and the Naval
Advisory Board, organized by direction of Congress under the act of
August 5, 1882, and consisting of three line officers, a naval
constructor, and a naval engineer, selected "with reference only to
character, experience, knowledge, and skill," and a naval architect and
a marine engineer from civil life "of established reputation and
standing as experts in naval or marine construction," is an appropriate
authority to decide finally all such questions. I am unwilling to see
the gradual reconstruction of our naval cruisers, now happily begun in
conformity with modern requirements, delayed one full year for any
unsubstantial reason.
Whatever conditions Congress may see fit to impose in order to secure
judicious designs and honest and economical construction will be
acceptable to me, but to relinquish or postpone the policy already
deliberately declared will be, in my judgment, an act of national
imprudence.
Appropriations should also be made without delay for finishing the four
double-turreted monitors, the _Puritan, Amphitrite, Terror,_ and
_Monadnock_, and for procuring their armament and that of the
_Miantonomoh_. Their hulls are built, and their machinery is under
contract and approaching completion, except that of the _Monadnock_,
on the Pacific coast. This should also be built, and the armor and heavy
guns of all should be procured at the earliest practicable moment.
The total amount appropriated up to this time for the four vessels is
$3,546,941.41. A sum not exceeding $3,838,769.62, including $866,725
for four powerful rifled cannon and for the remainder of the ordnance
outfit, will complete and equip them for service. Of the sum required,
only two millions need be appropriated for the next fiscal year. It is
not expected that one of the monitors will be a match for the heaviest
broadside ironclads which certain other Governments have constructed at
a cost of four or five millions each, but they will be armored vessels
of an approved and useful type, presenting limited surfaces for the shot
of an enemy, and possessed of such seagoing capacity and offensive power
as fully to answer our immediate necessities. Their completion having
been determined upon in the recent legislation of Congress, no time
should be lost in accomplishing the necessary object.
The Gun Foundry Board, appointed by direction of Congress, consisting
of three army and three navy officers, has submitted its report, duly
transmitted on the 20th day of February, 1884, recommending that the
Government should promote the production at private steel works of the
required material for heavy cannon, and that two Government factories,
one for the Army and one for the Navy, should be established for the
fabrication of guns from such material. An early consideration of the
report is recommended, together with such action as will enable the
Government to construct its ordnance upon its own territory and so to
provide the armaments demanded by considerations which concern the
national safety and honor.