Arizona republican., 1901-10-19
NEEDS OF THE NAVY.
Officers and Men Required to
 Man Our Ships
Rear Admiral Crowninshield Says 268 Men are Necessary for the Vessels Which are now in Com mission.

Washington, Oct. 1S.-The annual re- port of Rear Admiral Crowninshield chief of the bureau of navigation, calls attention to the deplorable scarcity of line officers for the manning of naval vessels now in the s=rvice. Admiral Crowninshield says:
 The ever-increasing need of line of ficers has made itself felt with aug mented force during the past fiscal year. At no time in the history of the navy has such a condition held as now exists. If the department were sud- denly called upon to man for war ser vice all the vessels available in the navy yards, it would be confronted with requirement. impossible to meet. It is a fact that there are not enough line officers of the navy 10 man the yes seis alreaoy constructed. This being the case. the bureau need scarcely call attention to the state of affairs whicn will exist in about three years, when the vessels now under construction will be completed. In. order to make plain the need for officers. the subject must be approached in a logical manner and to do this we must consider the needs of each ship constructed and under construction. Taking. then, the sum of the needs of the individual ships, We reach the needs of the service, consid- ering incidentally. the need for a re- serve and other reasons which will pre- vent the total number of officers on tho list from actually serving on board ship in time of war"
 To this end it Is submitted that each battleship should hsve minimum of seventeen line officers and it Is shown that this number is small compared with England. which has 33. France 2s. and Germany 20. Estimates are suE- mitted for 26S officers for the vesseis which have been commissioned but which are now out of commission for repairs or in reserve; and 55S officer; of vessels now under construction, but which will be completed by July 1. 1904 making a total of S26 officers. including a 25 per cent reserve. These estimates do not include officers to man auxiliar -- vessels, such as guS boats, etc. Allow ing that POO officers are necessary for such ships It Is explained that 1,026 mon should be provided to send the United States navy to sea Attention is called to the status of legislation which pro- vides line officers for the navy. and t Is pointed out that under existing law there will be an increase of only thirty officers by July 1, 1904. Admiral Crown inshield says:
 Tn the opinion of the bureau there is but one remedy for this error Tn our naval policy, and that is to increas. the number of cadets at the naval academy. The new construction now under way at this station will enable the government to accommodate at one time about eight hundred cadets. and the bureau believes that the number Of, cadets at the naval academy should number not less than 800. IL is believed that it was the intention of congress. when authorizing quarters for such q number of cadets. that upon the com pletion of the works the money ex- pended should not remain idle. but that all cadets which the institution could accommodate were to be educated: and the bureau believes that the time has come when the intended increase should begin
 He recommends that the grade of vice admiral should be re-establishe.i permanently. remarking:
 ''If the United States mad been rep resented by vice admiral fin Chinese waters during the summer of 1900. his position in the council of allied conl- manders- chief would have been of far greater dignity and weight, and one which would have been much more commensurate with the power and ic- terests of this government. This coun-
 
 sition on important occasions abroad by reason of the low rank of its naval representatives. Officers take prece- dence according to rank, and thus our epresentatives are frequently pre- ceded by those of countries far inferior in power and prestige"
 Admiral Crowninshield says that the grave error of failing to provide a sufficient personnel. which has crept into our naval policy. can in some measure be met by the establishment of suitable naval reserve, and the bureau recommends that the depart ment ask congress at the earliest op- portunity to provide for a national naval reserve"
 The report presents some interesting statistics regarding the enlisted force of the navy, showing S,99S applications for enlistment. Of this number 11.46i were rejected for physical disabilities. 16,723 for other causes. and there was a total acceptance of 9.s96. of which 1.7s1 were apprentices. At the end of the fiscal year there were 1S,S25 enlisted men in the service. including 4.7SS petty officers. Of the petty officers 2,S19 were native born 1,519 naturaliZed citizens and thirteen were foreigners. Of the men all but 199 were either of native birth or naturalized citizens. and those were apprentices. There were 3.15S de- sertions during the year. The number of landsmen under training was 3,141. In concluding the subject of the en- listed force Admiral Crowninshield says:
 "It should be borne in mind that the United States possesses no adequate merchant marine from which to draw it's seamen, and even if we did possess large merchant marine the class of men it could supply would not meet the requirements of modern men of war Men supplisI+ from merchant marine while possessing fair qualifications for seamen must still be especially and thoroughly trained to be of use in ehf oF