AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF ANAUXILIARY NAVAL FORCE.
SECTION 1. Be it enacted that from and after the passage of this Act, the Secretary of the Navy is authorized and directed to execute contracts with the owners or agents of steam vessels, built and owned in the United States of America, and sailing under the American flag, upon the terms and conditions hereinafter set forth; and the faith of the United States is hereby pledged to carry said contracts into effect, and to make all payments arising thereunder, in strict and prompt accordance with the terms thereof.
SECTION 2. All vessels now built or owned, or hereafter to be built or owned in the United States of America, and carrying the American flag, which possess the following qualifications and requirements, shall be deemed subject to the provisions of this Act, and eligible to the benefits conferred thereby.
1st. The said vessels must be of at least four thousand tons burden.
2nd. The said vessels must have a maximum speed of at least nineteen statute miles per hour, the same to be established by actual test.
3rd. The said vessels must be built, both as to their hulls and engines, on plans to be approved by a Bureau of Naval Construction and Engineering, consisting of five members, to be appointed for that purpose by the President and the Secretary of the Navy; and every such vessel shall have carriages or platforms for two or more guns of at least eight inches calibre, and also suitable accommodations for an auxilliary battery of rapid firing guns.
4th. Estimates of the cost of such vessels and engines—exclusive of furniture and equipment for passengers—shall also be submitted to, and approved by, the said Bureau of Naval Construction and Engineering, and the amount of cost, thus approved by such Bureau, shall be taken as the value upon which the contracts provided for in the first section of this Act, shall be based.
SECTION 3. Upon the completion of any such vessel, and the filing in the office of the Secretary of the Navy of certified copies of the report of the Bureau of Naval Construction and Engineering, approving the plans of the hull and engines of such vessel, and also certifying that the estimate of the cost of such vessel is not excessive; and after actual tests of the speed of such vessel, under regulations imposed by the Secretary of the Navy; the said Secretary shall, if requested to do so by the owner or owners of such vessel, enter into a contract with such owner or owners, for a period of not less than ten, nor more than fifteen years, by which, in consideration of the privilege of taking such vessel by charter or purchase, at any time during the pendency of the said contract, on ten day's notice, the United States shall pay as an annual rental, to the owners or agents of such vessel, interest on her cost, as certified by the Bureau of Construction and Engineering, as follows:
1st. For vessels having a speed of nineteen statute miles or over, and less than twenty statute miles per hour, four per cent.
2nd. For vessels having a speed of twenty statute miles or over, and less than twenty-one statute miles, per hour, four and one-half per cent.
3rd. For vessels having a speed of twenty-one statute miles or over, per hour, five per cent.
Provided. That such annual rental shall in no case exceed the sum of one hundred thousand dollars for any single vessel.
SECTION 4. The maximum price at which the United States will purchase such vessel, shall be fixed at the price approved as heretofore provided, by the Bureau of Naval Construction and Engineering, plus a bonus of not to exceed twenty-five per cent. of such price, to cover the outlay for passenger equipment, and as a compensation to the owners of such vessel for her withdrawal from her regular employment.
Such valuation shall govern until such vessel shall have attained the age of five years; and thereafter a deduction of six per cent. shall be made therefrom annually, to cover depreciation and wear and tear.
SECTION 5. In case the Secretary of the Navy shall elect to charter such vessel or vessels, instead of purchasing them, the rate to be paid therefor shall be five dollars per month per registered ton; such vessel to be at the risk of the United States during the pendency of such charter.
SECTION 6. This Act shall take effect immediately.