THE PRESIDENT said:
"The Navy budget which will be presented to Congress for the fiscal year beginning the 1st of next July has been fixed at $343 million. This is a decrease of about $17 million under the appropriations for the present fiscal year. It is a decrease of about $59 million from the $401 million originally proposed by the Navy some months ago and prior to the development of the evidence of large deficiency in the national budget.
"This budget for the next fiscal year does not decrease the personnel of the Navy below its present status by a single man. It does not decommission any fighting ships although the rotation plan will be continued. It does not propose to abandon any of the navy yards at the present time although the Navy officials are convinced that the products of some of these yards could be made more cheaply elsewhere. To close these yards would produce undue hardship to labor at the present time. The budget provides for the maintenance of the frigate Constitution and for the maintenance of the Navy bands. It is proposed to take care of the problem of the Philadelphia hospital in conjunction with the Veterans' Bureau.
"In the matter of appropriations for 'increase in the Navy' that is, for the expansion of combatant ships, the program is set up in such fashion that $57 million will be expended either through appropriations or from carryovers in the fiscal year beginning the 1st of next July. This is an increase of from $53 million estimated expenditure this present fiscal year and it is interesting to note the amount of actual expenditures on this item since 1926:
1926 25,249,796
1927 27,430,330
1928 36,934,985
1929 46,758,720
1930 49,872,209
1931 37, 944, 048
1932 (Estimated Nov. 1, 1931) 53, 375, 000
1933 proposed 57, 000, 000
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"The budget provides for the continued construction of every one of the treaty ships authorized by Congress except 6 destroyers. The defer merit of these 6 destroyers out of 11 authorized has not only been a measure of economy but a policy of maintaining even construction in destroyer programs and maintenance of evenness of employment in the yards. The program proposed under this budget will not decrease but will slightly increase the total direct and indirect employment in the Navy in naval construction in the next fiscal year over and above that of the present year. The tonnage of combatant ships actually in construction by the United States today is nearly double that of Great Britain and in addition we are engaged in the modernization of three battleships. |
"These are times when the American people have a right to rigid economy on the part of their Government. Navy officials have cooperated and have taken pride in the development of a proper program that would contribute to this economy.
"In keeping with established practice, the details of the budget will not be made public until transmitted to Congress."
Herbert Hoover, Statement on the Budget for the Department of the Navy. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/206865