The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-11-03
ENGINEERS ARE
 NEEDED IN NAVY Rear Admiral Rae Sounds Note
 of Warning WAR WOULD FIND US WEAK Points to Explosion on the Bennington as Indication for the Necessity of Competent and Plentiful
 Engineers.
WAR WOULD FIND US WEAK

Washington, November 2.-Rear Admiral Charles W. Rae, engineer-in-chief of the United States navy, in his annual report calls attention "to the critical condition of engineering in the navy" and points to the explosion on the gunboat Benning- ton in San Diego harbor, which he says most forcibly emphasizes the necessity of immediate attention.
 Speaking of the operations of the per sonnel bill which merged the corps of engineers into the line of the navy, he says a whole corps of specialists was virtually abolished and their duties trans ferred to the line As all midshipmen at the academy had been given excellent practical instruction in engineering, he adds, no examination other than that re- quired for promotion was demanded of them for qualifying for the performance of the joint duties imposed by the per sonnel act. The intent, however, he con tinued was that they should be ordered at once to the performance of engineer duty in subordinate capacities, assistants of the older engineering officers.
 lowing to the absence of specific in- structions in the personnel bill, combined with powerful adverse influences within the department" he continues, flor three years absolutely nothing was done by the young line of officers in acquiring engin- neering experience, and later owing to the large number of ships kept in com little in that accomplished.
 %. 4I,a H.. | .1t4. tired naval officers the bureau, the report says, would experience great difficulty in finding officers for the various respon- sible positions both on shore and at sea.
 "So few officers of the line are taking up engineering seriously that the stua- tion Is becoming alarming" says the engineer in chief.
 Were the country suddenly plunged in war the navy would find itself in no condition to win battles. As necessary as good craftsmanship is the ability to carry our guns to the firing line and keep them there amidst the havoc created by modern ordnance, and this will never be done with amateurs in charge of the ma chinery. That line officers can become good engineers has already been demon- strated, but they must have experience to become such and that experience must be acquired in subordinate positions
 Admiral Rae submits a plan flor quick ly supplying the navy with a body of efficient engineers" which provides that all the younger officers must be given engineering duty and be made to realize their responsibilities, the duty to be per- formed first in subordinate capacity and examinations to be strict, with engineer ing ranking with seamanship, gunnery and navigation. Further the plan provides for a number of engineering specialists in the line, whose duty at sea and on shore shall be engineering, such officers not to perform sea duty after reaching the grade of commander. One In every ten above the rank of lieutenant dunior grade) is suggested as the number f sueb is required and proposed that such officers be recruited from the foot of the list of lientenants.