Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1902-02-03
MORE OFFICERS NEEDED.
TO MAN THE wARSIIIPS OF
THE NAVY.

Scarcity Of Officers And Men Impairs The
Servioe-The Remedy Suggested By
Secretary Long Is To Increase The
Number OF Cadets At Naval Academy.
Having exhausted every resource 10
secure officers for sea duty, the Navy
Department has been forced to suspend
further orders to officers OF the line and
has reached point where il is impossi.
BILE to commission single vessel without
| placing some other craft out of service in
order TO obtain a complement.
Never before, certainly not since the
Civil War. has the department found
itself so short OF officers ar d the pressure
so great for them at sea. The situation
will grow more serious with the compile
ton of ships soon to be delivered, and
the necessity OF changing crews on ships
attached to the Philippine station. where
many officers are now serving over the
customary period because reliefs cannot
be obtained.
Secretary Longs attention has been
directed TO the subject by the Navigation
Bureau. and last week Admiral A. 5.
Crowninshield addressed letter to the
two naval committees of Congress urging
spec dy action on a measure to authorize
an increase. Lack of officers for import
ant inspection work on shore is also
sorely felt. The bureau chiefs OF the
department are compelled to transact
business with about half the force they
have usually had. and find difficulty in
holding officers now attached to the Offices.
One Of the chief causes OF the presen,
Inconvenience is the fact that while the
Naval Personnel act provide d TOR the
promotion generally OF officers no pro-
vision was made for increasing the num-
Der in the lower grades. with the result
that advancements made vacancies in
the lower ranks. which, under the aver
age accessions yearly from the Naval
Academy, cannot be filed. There are
upward of one hundred and fifty vacan-
cies now in the grades OF junior lieu
tenant and ensign. II these were filed
there would be Just that many more Off
GERS available for service, but il is not
only the junior officers OF which the de-
partmens finds itself short, but those of
higher grades as well.
Secretary Long states that while the
navy has made wonderful advances in
the last fifteen years the personnel has
stood where it was when the service had
only half dozen ships on the active list
suited for lung cruise. Now the mum
Der is perhaps twenty or more times as
large. The present situation will be fur
ther Intensified by the addition of ships
now building. and the fact that any in
crease authorized through the Naval
Academy would not be effective in less
than from six to ten years. Admiral
Crowninshield states that within the next
year eleven la'ge ships. sixteen destroy
ers and ten torpedo boats will be ready
for completion, requiring z4o officers and
5000 men. In addition five submarine
boats will be completed.
In the next two years there will be in
addition a number OF battleships, while
he shows there are now a dczen fine
ships out OF commission because no off
GERS or men can be obtained. A con-
servaiive estimate Of the number of off
GERS needed on this type he places at
two hundred and total number OF off
GERS required to man vessels built or
building at nine hundred ard ninety-fve.
There is only one remedy. he believes,
and that is to increase the number of
cadets at the Naval Acad envy,