The Savannah morning news., 1904-11-24
AMERICAN NAVY
SHY OF OFFICERS
IT IS VERY BADLY OFF
BECAUSE OF AN INsUFTICIENCY IN
THEIR NUMBER.

ADMIRAL Converse Makes His Re-
mort. Showing That Officers OF
Lower Rank Perform Duties That
ShouId Fall to Lieutenants or
commanders Recommends In
crease-ThinIxs BattIeship's Pres
tiGe Is Unimpaired.
washington, Nov. 2S.-How badly
off the navy is for officers and how
seriously this condition may affect the
navy and the nation is plainly told in
the annual report of Rear Admiral
George A. Converse. chief of the Blu
reau of Navigation. approved by Sec
rotary Morton to-day.
Experience. especially in guntire. he
saws. had shown that it is necessary
m increase the number of officers as
signed to ships. so that the estimate
made in 1902 of the number of officers
needed for ships in commission is in
adequate. 1t provided for only about
one-half as many officers as ships of
the same class carried in the British,
French and German navies.<
Admiral Converse recommends that
the number of lieutenants be increased
from $50 to 600. and that the number
of lieutenant commanders be increased
from 200 to 300.
should Have Proper Rank
ut is especially desirable" the adj
niral says. that every battleship and
other powerful vessel requiring the
greatest skill and experience for prop
err efficiency should have her full quota
of officers of suitable rank; yet many
of our battleships have lieutenants as
ordnance officers and several battle
ships have ensigns and even midship-
men as watch and division officers.
This very unsatisfactory and even
dangerous condition is due to the many
urgent demands for officers, the exist
ing inadequacy of numbers often MAX
ing it impossible to detail ofncerS Oh
an appropriate rank.
Because of the important part played
by torpedo craft in the war in the Far
East. it is deemed advisable that the
larger vessels of this type be COM
manded by lieutenant commanders.
Authorization by Congress of two vice
admirals is urgently recommended in
order that our flag officers may not be
DctlCdiI lOiClSAA OiAASCAS AACANAhS NASSAA
or inferior commands.
1T is manifestly undesirable" says
the, .adFRiral for our flag officers to
be beneath allsaEh9Esyi sB matter of pre-
cedence in International affairs with
which they have to do as representa-
tives of the United States. 1t is.
therefore, recommended that the rank
of vice admiral be conferred on the
officer detailed as commander in chief
of the North Atlantic and the Asiatic
f1eets.'
Efficiency of the BattIeship.
Regarding the paramount efficiency
of the battleship and the part played
by them in the Far Eastern war, Ad-
miral Converse says:
Although a hundred or more torpe-
do boats and destroyers have been act
Ually engaged for five months against
battleships, which have been exposed
to attack times without number, we
nave yet to learn, authoritatively, of
torpedo from a torpedo vessel caus-
ing the loss of a single battleship.
Those which have been sunk owed
their destruction to submarine mines,
anchored or broken adrift, torpedo yes
sells not contributing to the result,
except by the confusion and sense of
greater danger due to their presence.
1t is evident that in the final sum-
mary OF losses the achievements of tor
pedo vessels will count less than was
az hrst supposed. 1t cannot be claimed,
therefore,, that there has been so far
anything to discredit the battleship as
type; nor is any such outcome to be
eApected from this war; whatever may
pe the casualties among battleshfps
10 wage successful warfare with a
naval force requires now, as it has
required in all ages, a type of vessel
Wnich shall combine in the most effec-
i've manner the qualities of offense.
Inooillty, defense, endurance, self
maintenance. Such vessels are bat
tleships, and they constitute the main
strength and reliance of navy"