Evening star., 1914-01-04
and the ship will be held. and plans made

and the ship will be held, and plans made
to provide against accidents.
The establishment of the I'd DiVi-
sion of the battalion will be effected next
Thursday. when the members of the bat
talon will return to their drills after a
furloush of more than two weeks. II is
proposed to make this recruiting divi-
sion of the battalion. The commanding
officer of the division will be the recruit
ing officer of the battalion. 1t is pro-
posed in this division to take the kinks
out of the recruits and prepare them for
reception in any of the other three divi-
sions which make up the organization.
An officer will be named very soon to
take up the work of the school of steam
engineering. which Commander Dempf
has announced he will establish All OF
the apparatus for teaching steam engi-
neering to the enlisted personne! of the
battalion has been in place for several
months, but the school has never been
formally opened. a number of the mem
bers of the command have been anxious
to take up course and have been wait
ing for Commander pempf to map out
plans and formally to start the instruc-
ton. -
Commander Dempf has number of
ideas for improving the efficiency of the
battalion. SO that it may MAKE even
better record on its annual cruise in
1914 than it did last summer. The bat
TALON went to Newport. r. L.. on the bat
tleship Alabama. and received the high
est praises from the regular officers.
The commander will lay his tentative
plans before the officers meeting. which
has Leen called for Thursday night at
o'clock. and intends to have them
thoroughly formulated before he makes
all of his officers before he puts them
into effect. At the same time the officers
Of the battalion in charge of divisions
are expected to bring to the meeting
with them tentative plans for courses
of study along various lines. All of
these matters will be taken up, and it
is expected that by the time the meeting
is held they will be in such shape that
orders can be issued carrying them into
effect the following drill night.
Efforts are being made by Commander
Dempf to have a machine shop installed
at the battalion armory SO that the mem
bers of the command may take care of
any repair work on the ship, and thus
avoid sending it to the Washington navy
yard. There is a lot OF repair work on
naval vessels which cannot be done with
out the aid of machinery. in the way of
lathes. etc, and it is the lack of this at
the battalion's armory which comnels
Commander Dempf to have the work
done at the navy yard. The installation
of the machine shop. in addition to say
ing much time and delay. would, it is be-
lieved, result in a saving of money.
x ::
Commander Dempf hopes to have the
organiZa ton recruited up to its full
strength of iOO men the coming sumner.
He has nearly passed the halfway mark.
and. it is declared, at the rate enlist
ments are now being registered at the
battalion the limit allowed by law will
be reached by the time the organization
is ready to start on its cruise. The
commander hopes to have all recruits en-
listed in time to give them sufficient
training to be able to make IA showing
with the battalion while at sea.
!. *
Following the meeting of the officers of
the Naval Battalion in the cabin of the