GENERAL ORDERS, WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, June 18, 1904. So much of paragraph II, General Orders, No. 61, War Department, April 2, 1904, as directs Companies A, B, C, D, I, and M, 8th Infantry, upon being relieved from duty in Alaska, to proceed to Fort Thomas, Kentucky, is modified so as to direct these companies upon arrival in San Francisco to proceed to Madison Barracks, New York, for station, relieving the headquarters, band, and 2d and 3d Battalions, 9th Infantry, which upon being thus relieved will proceed to Fort Thomas, Kentucky, for station. Division commanders concerned will by concert of action arrange the details of these movements and will report hours of departure and arrival and strength of commands by telegraph to The Military Secretary, War Department. The Quartermaster's Department will furnish the necessary transportation, the Subsistence Department suitable subsistence, and the Medical Department proper medical attendance and supplies. BY ORDER OF THE SECRETARY OF WAR: OFFICIAL: ADNA R. CHAFFEE, Lieutenant General, Chief of Staff. F. C. AINSWORTH, The Military Secretary. 5 1904 No. 108. WASHINGTON, June 20, 1904. The following instructions relative to the designation of certain companies of coast artillery as torpedo companies are published for the information and guidance of all concerned: 1. The 54th Company, Coast Artillery, now known as the torpedo company, shall hereafter be known as the torpedo depot company. Its course of instruction and the time devoted thereto shall be regulated by the torpedo board. INSTRUCTION AND RECRUITMENT OF THE TORPEDO DEPOT COMPANY. 2. On September 1 of each year a board of three officers, who whenever practicable will be graduates of the School of Submarine Defense, shall be convened by the department commander at Fort Totten, New York, for the examination of men from the torpedo depot company upon questions prepared by the torpedo board for the position of first and second class gunners. On October 1 of each year the commanding officer of the torpedo depot company shall recommend for transfer to the other torpedo companies, or to such other companies of coast artillery as the Chief of Artillery may recommend, not less than 40 per cent of the enlisted strength of his company; all the men so recommended must have qualified as gunners on the course prescribed in paragraph 9 of this order, and men so recommended shall be transferred on or before December 15. The commanding officer of each artillery district will annually forward in time to reach the War Department by December 1 the names of enlisted men recommended for transfer to the torpedo depot company. Each district will be allowed one candidate for each two companies of the district. The men selected should have had four months' service and have at least eighteen months still to serve. Men recommended should have demonstrated a certain degree of mechanical skill and ability as well as a general fitness for the performance of the skilled labor required of submarine miners. Applications from enlisted men in other branches of the service for transfer to the torpedo depot company will be considered, but such applications shall be submitted in time to reach the War Department not later than December 1. Of the men who are recommended and apply, in accordance with the foregoing, so many as may be requested by the commandant of the School of Submarine Defense shall be transferred to the torpedo depot company, to report on or before December 31, provided that the enlisted strength of this company shall not exceed one hundred and forty men as now authorized. Should any man so transferred fail to qualify as first or second class gunner after completing the prescribed course of instruction, except for reasons which in the opinion of the commandant of the School of Submarine Defense are sufficient, he shall be transferred to such other company as may be determined upon. TORPEDO COMPANIES. 3. The following companies of coast artillery are designated as torpedo companies: The 120th Company, Coast Artillery, Artillery District of Boston; The 57th Company, Coast Artillery, Southern Artillery District of New York; The 58th Company, Coast Artillery, Artillery District of the Chesapeake; The 60th Company, Coast Artillery, Artillery District of San Francisco. 4. The commanding officer of each torpedo company, except the torpedo depot company, shall if practicable be the district artillery engineer. A lieutenant of a torpedo company commanding a detachment of the company at a post other than the station of his company shall be the artillery engineer of that post. 5. The enlisted strength of the torpedo companies will be fixed from time to time according to the requirements of the service to which they are assigned. The details of enlisted men for the torpedo planters will be made from the torpedo companies but not from the torpedo depot company. 6. Torpedo companies are primarily charged with the care and operation of the submarine mine equipment of the artillery district in which stationed, including the rapid fire guns and searchlights provided for the defense of the mine fields. Detachments from these companies shall be sent by the artil. lery district commander, with the approval of the authority competent to order the necessary travel, to such artillery posts in their districts as may be equipped with submarine mining material for its care and operation, including that of rapid-fire guns and searchlights provided for the defense of the mine field. These detachments may be sent to take station at the other posts permanently or for limited periods, or they may be sent out daily as found most expedient. EXAMINATIONS FOR GUNNERS. 7. Boards of officers for the examination of enlisted men of topedo companies and detachments shall be convened by the department commander as soon after September 1 of each year as practicable. As far as practicable the boards shall be composed of officers who are graduates of the School of Submarine Defense. In order to secure uniformity in these examinations the questions will be prepared by the torpedo board to include all the subjects prescribed in paragraph 9 of this order, and furnished to the examining boards. 8. A qualified gunner will be rated as such in the class in which he qualified for a period of three years and for such additional time as may be required to provide for his reexamination, unless he has during that time been out of the artillery service for more than three months. A candidate must be examined for classification as a second-class gunner before he can be examined as a first-class gunner, though both qualifications may be obtained at the same examination. A secondclass gunner may on his own application be permitted to compete at any annual examination for classification as a first-class gunner. SCHEDULE OF EXAMINATION FOR GUNNERS. 9. For second class gunners: (a) Ammunition, nomenclature, and service of guns assigned to the torpedo company of which the candidate is a member ... (b) Material of and duties in the loading room (ex cept electrical principles involved). (c) Material for and duties on the water (d) Knots ... (e) Care and preservation of material (f) Handling high explosives... 15 30 30 5 10 10 |