4. The Bureau of Ordnance, which has charge of the manufacture of guns and ammunition, also of torpedo stations and magazines.
5. The Bureau of Construction and Repair, which is charged with the building and repair of small boats and of the hulls of ships, and attends to the purchase of turrets and armor.
6. The Bureau of Steam Engineering, which directs the building and repairing of machinery in any way connected with the ships.
7. The Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, which designs, erects, and maintains naval hospitals and superintends their management.
8. The Bureau of Supplies and Accounts, which is responsible for the purchase and supply of all provisions and stores, and of the accounts relating to the same.
Each of these bureaus is presided over by an officer of skill and experience, who, while he holds the office, has the rank of commodore.
The United States has navy yards at Portsmouth, New Hampshire; Boston, Massachusetts; Brooklyn, New York; League Island, Pennsylvania; Norfolk, Virginia; Washington, District of Columbia; and Mare Island, California. At these navy yards ships are overhauled and repaired, machinery is adjusted and renewed, and stores of all kinds are provided. Here, too, on the receiving ships, the recruits are received and instructed.
There are naval stations at Newport, Rhode Island; New London, Connecticut; Port Royal, South Carolina; Key West and Pensacola, Florida; and Puget Sound, Washington.
At Indian Head, Maryland, is the naval proving-ground for the test of armor and guns.
The Naval Observatory is at Washington, and was at first merely a depot for naval charts and instruments.