Evening star., 1909-05-09
ARMY AND NAVY NEWS.
Maneuvers Of Naval Militia.

| Maneuvers Of Naval Militia.
Approval has been given by the Navy
| Department to the plans submitted by
the general board of the naval militia for
the exercises Of the coming summer. Sew
eral states. by reason Of lack OF funds,
are unable to take part In any general
maneuvers. These states are New YORK,
Georgia and South Carolina. North Car
olina still has the subject under consio.
GRAFTON. It Is pointed out by the naval
militia general board that the situation
| in those states reveals the necessity OF
provision being made for the general gov
ernment to assume the expenses OF the
summer maneuvers.
! Plans have been perfected for the IL
linois. Michigan, Ohio and Minnesota
naval militias to combine for maneuvers
on the great lakes, August 1O TO ~ IN
the United States warships Nashville,
Dorothea. Don Juan de Austria. Yantic,
Essex, Hawk and Gopher. The Nash
Vile will be the flagship and q protract-
ed cruise will be made Of the lakes
| On the Mississippi river the Missouri
militia will be taken out in two battalions
on the gunboat Huntress, probably carry
In July, and make cruises down the river
as far as Memphis.
Louisiana's naval militia will cruise
j
boat Isla de Luzon. That vessei IS Iuily
equipped with modern batteries. Am
munition. targets. etc, will be provided
so that target practice along regular navy
On the Pacific coast the gunboat Alert
will be used from July to Is in taking
out the naval militia there.
| The gunboat Machias will be used Tor
| the cruise of part of the Connecticut mill
tia. For the other part no provision yet
has been made Maryland's militia will
cruise in the gunboat Isla de Cuba. and
the torpedo boat Somers.
Final decision has not yet been made as
to whether the militias of Maine. Massa-
chusetts, Rhode Island, part Of Connecti-
cut, New Jersey and the District of Co
lumbia shall be taken out on the battle
ships of the Atlantic fleet in detachments
OF sixty or as a complete organization on
| the cruiser Prairie or Dixie.
The general board Is of the opinion that
combined maneuvers, such as were held
last summer can be made more Vaiuaple
| by being held every other year If the In
| tervening year can be devoted to IN
dividual instruction on naval vessels. The
board suggests also that the naval militia
organizations to which naval vessels are
assigned should be required to hold tar
get practice annually, and says that the
bureau Of ordnance can supply the neces-
sary ammunition for such practice this
year.
Organization Of Torpedo Flotilla.
In preparation for the maneuvers of
the Atlantic battleship fleet this summer,
In which the torpedo boats will partici-
pate, torpedo flotilla, to be known as
the Atlantic torpedo fotilla, has been
organized. with Lieut.. Commander Fred
eric N. Freeman as commander. 1t is
composed of three divisions of four yes
sells each. The first division, which will
be under direct command of Lieut.. Com
/ xrrin hn
the Worden, Blakely. De Long and Shu-
brick. The second division Will be COM
posed Of the Macdonough. Wilkes, Tingey
and Thornton, and will be commanded
by Lieut.. Willis G. Mitchell The third
division will comprise the Stockton, Porter,
Dupont and Biddle, and will be command
ed by Lieut.. James 0. Richardson. The
vessels are now at Charleston and Will
soon start on a cruise northward to join
the Atlantic battleship fleet when 1t as
sembles for the maneuverS June 10.
Cruise Of the Midshipmen.
Announcement has been made of the
officers who will command the ships of
the midshipmen's summer cruising squad
ron this year. Capt. Charles A. Cove,
commandant OF midshipmen. will be in
command during the cruise and will have
the cruiser Olympia as his flagship. Four
vessels will make up the squadron. The
be Lieut.. Commander Charles B. Brit
tain; the monitor Tonopah, formerly the
Nevada, will be commanded by Lieut..
Commander Douglas E. Dismukes; Lieut..
Commander William II. G. Bullard will
have the Chicago, while the old frigate
Hartford will be under command of Lieut..
Commander John F. Hines. The cruise
will start from Annapolis June Z and. as
usual, will extend along the New England
coast.
improvements at Fort Wadsworth.
A board of officers, consisting Of Col.
William NJ. Black, Lieut.. Col. Isaac w.
Littell and Maj William H. G. Haan. has
been appointed to meet at Fort Wads-
worth, Staten Island, N. Y, for the pnr-
pose Of looking into and reporting upon
the general feasibility of using the old
Notifications at Fort Wadsworth, wholly
or In part, for barracks and storehouse
purposes ON the lines which have been
followed at Fort Adams, r. l., by build
ing barracks on top of the old works,
using the easements for storehouses. Of
fees and other purposes. The board also
will submit an opinion as to the desr
ability OF constructing new barracks and
quarters at the post on portion of the
reservation not at present occupied as an
alternative against the plan of using the
old fOrtificationS.
War Studies at Newport.
Before the summer conference of Off
GERS at the Naval War College, Newport.
r. l., some important discussions will
take place The conference will begin
June / and will be attended by all the
officers regularly assigned to the Naval
War College, members of the general
board Of the navy and several army OFF,
GERS who have been detailed to be pres
ent. These army officers are Lieut.. Col.
Robert K. Evans and Can't. Michael j.
Lenihan of the Army War College.
Three New Naval Golfers.
Work on the new collier Vulcan, now
building for the Navy Department at the
shipyard at the Maryland Steel Com
pany, at Baltimore. is progressing so ia
vorably that the vessel will be launched
May 15 The Vulcan is sister ship of the
collier Mars. which was launched some