Report of the Board on Fortification or Other Defenses Appointed by the President of the United States Under the Provisions of the Act of Congress, Approved March 3, 1885.; Also included is Report of the National Coast-Defense Board Appointed by the President of the United States by Executive Order, January 31, 1905. William H. Taft, President of the Board [and Secretary of War] and Report of the Board of Review of the War Department to the Secretary of War (November 26, 1915) on the Coast Defenses of the United States, the Panama Canal, and the Insular Possessions [Confidential} Committee on Appropriations Sixty-Fourth Congress First Session 1916

Format is approximately 8.75 inches by 11.25 inches. [4], 393, [5], 43, [1], 13, [5] pages. Tables. Substantial text on the cover and spine. William Crowninshield Endicott (November 19, 1826 - May 6, 1900)[1] was an American politician and Secretary of War in the first administration of President Grover Cleveland (1885-1889). Grover Cleveland appointed Endicott Secretary of War and he served in that capacity in the administration between 1885 and 1889. Endicott oversaw many important changes in the organization of the United States Army, including the establishment of a system of examinations to determine the promotion of officers. Endicott convened and chaired the Board of Fortifications in 1885 (usually called the Endicott Board), which would provide detailed recommendations and designs for the generation of American coastal defense fortifications constructed in the era of the Spanish-American War. Most of these Endicott Period fortifications served through early World War II. Among the topics covered in these reprinted reports are Coast Artillery, Coast Defense, Armor, Torpedoes, Torpedo Board, Submarine, Ships of War, Ports, Floating Batteries, Harbor Defense, Armor-piercing, Gun-Carriage, Ordnance, Vavasseur, Recoil, and Seacoast Guns. The Endicott Board Report was formally known as the Report of the Board on Fortifications or other Defenses Appointed by the President of the United States under the Provisions of the Act of Congress Approved March 3, 1885, House Executive Document No. 49, 49th Congress, 1st session (GPO, Washington D.C.,1886). This report marked the start of the modern era of the U.S. coastal defenses. This board report reviewed the state of American harbor defenses in 1885 and recommended a completely new system of harbor defenses based on the emerging technology of rifled breech loading cannons and armor. The major harbors of the U.S. were ranked in terms of military and economic importance. When Congress began to appropriate money for the construction of the new defenses in the late 1880s, this report was cited as the authorization source for the harbors to be defended. The Taft Board Report was formally known as the Report of the National Coast Defense Board . . . on the Coast Defenses of the United States and the Insular Possessions, Senate Document No. 248, 59th Congress 1st Session (GPO, Washington D.C., 1906). This report surveyed the progress in harbor defenses made since the Endicott Report and recommended a number of technical improvements. It also recommended the fortification of key harbors in the newly acquired overseas possessions such as Hawaii and the Philippines. The Report of the Board of Review of the War Department to the Secretary of War (November 26, 1915) on the Coast Defenses of the United States, the Panama Canal, and the Insular Possessions, House Document No. 49, 64th Congress, 1st Session (G.P.O., Washington D.C., 1916). This report marks the transition from disappearing guns as the major weapon in American harbor defenses to the longer range 12- and 16-inch barbette carriage guns of the post World War I era. Facsimile reprint. Presumed first printing thus.