Barre evening telegram. (Barre, Vt.) 1898-19??, 1902-11-11
navy NEEDS OFFICERS
Present Number Inadequate, Declares
Admiral Taylor.
HE ASKS CONGRESS TO ACT.
RECON- me nds = Further Increase ~
One Midshipinan For Each Rep
re~entative and Senator and
Ten Annually at Large.

Washington, Nov. 1.-THE most cry
| ing need OF the navy, according to the
annual report Of Admiral II. G. Taylor.
chief of the bureau of navigation, is
more officers to man our warships. He
declares that the preparations now GO
| iig on for the mobilization of the fleet
| for the winter maneuvcrs in the West
! Indies have brought the department
| face to face with the critical condition
| due to lack Of officers. which, he says,
! has reached such point as to be DAN
gerons to the efficiency of the fleet.
I He says that the number Of officers
| OF. our ships is less than the number on
| board the ships OF other navies, al
| though, as il matter Of fact. our ships
! require more officers than the ships of
| other navies because we are compelled
to man orr vessels with green crews
having little or no knowledge of sea
life He submits Il table showing that
the present needs of the naval service
require 1000 U7icers while the number
Oh the navy list. including midshipmen
after graduation, Is only 1.0o3, or 5Ii
short. This table is based upon the
lowest possible number of officers need
ed on our battleshipS H. against an
average number of officers for similar
ships in foreign navies of 33 in Eng
land. 26 in France and 20 in Germany.
The admiral figures that the vessels
now authorized by congress, but not
completed. will require 49S additional
officers, to which Is to be added % per
cent for officers sick or on shore duty
and 100 for casualties during the next
four years. or total for the vessels
now building of 1873. This number
added to the present shortage. 81, will
give 1850. The graduates from the
Naval academy during the next four
years will be 355. leaving total def
cit July I. 1906. of 1905. not counting
officers for auXiliares. who would be
required in the event of hostilities.
Calls For Midshipmen.
In addition to the increase of mid
shpmen provided for by the last Con-
gress. Admiral Taylor therefore rec
ommends a further increase Of one mid
shpman for each member and delegate
in the house and each senator one from
the District of Columbia and ten an
nual!y ut large. He also recommends
that the number of lieutenant com
manders be increased 30. lifutenants
(seni0r grade, 50 and lieutenants Gum
ior grade) and ensigns 800.
A concentration of the naval force in
two big fighting squadrons III the north
Atlantic and Asiatic waters is recon-
mended. For the present, the report
says. two sQuadrons are all that the
present number of our battleships will
permit. To carry out this policy Adj
miral Taylor proposes to transfer the
battleships in the remaining sQuadrons
to one or the other of these heavy
squadrons and compose the Pacific. Eus
rOpean and south Atlantic squadrons
rangement the distribution of the fight
ing force of the navy will be as fol-
lows:
North Atlantic Station-Kearsarge Ala
bama. Massa chusetts, Indiana Maine, ILL
nois, Iowa and Texas. This force should |
be in the future maintained at not less /
than eight battleships.
Caribbean Division of North Atlantic |
Montgomery Marietta !
Panther and Detroit
Asfatfc Station-kentucky, Oregon Wis (!
consn, Monadnock and Monterey The |
in this squadron are to be in
creased to the number of six as soon as |
vessels Of this class are commissioned.
NJ s.t~,
New Orleans Yorktown, Wilmington. Hell
ena, Vicksburg. Princeton. Annapolis,
Don Juan de Austria and Isla de Cuba
The Rainbow and large gunboat divi-
sion will, as heretofore. be attached to
the squadron for service among the is
lands and the rivers
Pacific Station-New York. Philadelphia,
Boston. Marblehead and Ranger.
European Station-Brooklyn, Chicago.
San Francisco and Albany
South Atlantic Station-Newark, At.
anta and Nashville.
1t is proposed to form additional tor
pedO boat fOtillas, with destroyer as
the leading vessel. after the plan of
the present group now in the West In
lies under the command Of Lieutenant
Chandler
The proposed concentration of the
naval forces, Admiral Taylor says.
makes it desirable to have an officer of
high rank in command of each of the
great heavy fleets, and he recommends
or these two commands that congress
authorize the creation of two vice ad-
nirals, or as an alternative that it
'anction the appointment of two acting
rice admirals.