Imperial Valley press., 1914-02-19

Haskin Letters.


man behind the text book. Under
general order No. 63, published by Jo-
sephus Daniels, secretary of the navy
| the seagoing arm of the national de-
fense is becoming a great university.
Blueiackets in the forecastle study
/ the three Rs as groundwork for
technical instruction in the arts OF
war. Petty officers attend classes
which are taught the theory as we'll
as the practice of multifarious du-
ties aboard a modern man of war.
Commissioned officers not only stand
watch and drill their divisions, but
act as teachers for the crew and some
times specialize in technical courses at
the great institutions ashore. In the
Naval war college at Newport griz-
zled rear admirals who left the school
rooms of Annapolis nearly forty years
ago "bone" problems of strategy, tao
tics, international law and diplomacy.
The navy has turned earnestly to
intensive education. No more will
bows run away to sea because they are
tired of school. The first thing re-
cruit is asked when he reports at the
naval training station, where all land
men are sent for preliminary instruc
ton before being assigned to ships, is:
"How much common school education
have you had?" And, unless he can
show he is well grounded in read
ing, writing and arithmetic, spelling,
geography and history, he will find
himself marched each day into class
room where a young officer will drill
these subjects into his head until he
can pass satisfactory examination.
If the recruit be especially deficient,
his instruction will be continued after
he is assigned to warship and goes
to sea. He can't play hockey unless
he jumps over the side. That course
has its drawbacks. His disappearance
is almost sure to be noted, the mar
overheard" signal broken out at the
truck, boat lowered and the delinquent
hailed back to the school room. The
navy is going after book learning with
the same determination that it smash
es targets. Old officers rather pooh
poohed the policy at first, but "orders
is orders" and all hands have settled
down to the idea that they must be
either pupils or teachers from the
time they enter the service until they
leave.
Although recruiting officers accept
only the physically sound and reject
all men of known bad character, and
although the enlisted personnel Is
higher than that of any other nation
in intelligence and ambition, it has
been found that a surprisingly large
number of bluejackets are without the
equivalent of a good common school
education Their readiness to learn
has been demonstrated i'll the devel-
opment of a high order of skill be-
hind the guns, and in the engine room
but where practical work ceases and
theoretical knowledge is necessary for
further progress the lack of rudimen
tary education, especially in mathe-
matics, often prevents the possibility
of promotion to the higher ratings OF
to commissions. Their knowledge is
approximate, not accurate.
The modern navy is highly technical
A battleship is not only seagoing
vessel but a vast floating machine
shop. Not tenth of the officers o,
men are sailors in the old sense of
the word. When American sea power
was represented by frigates and sloops
of war all were sailors but the intro
duction of steam sent large proper
ton of the crew below to man the
engines and do little else. The clerical
force of battleship is larger than an
old time gun crew and enough men
are engaged in duties other than the
guns to have completely manned the
Kearsarge in its fight with the Ala
bama.
In battle nine-tenths of modern
turret gun crew would never have a
glimpse of the enemy until the con-
fiict was won or lost The gun pointers
would see only the one ship against
which by telephone they are ordered
to direct their fire, but the leaders,
the sturdy seamen who open and close
the breach, the men who operate the
ammunition hoists and those who pass
the powder and shell from the maga-
zines to the handling room away down
in the bowels of the ship would remain
at their posts oblivious of how the
battle was going.
The modern tendency toward spe-
cialization is nowhere more striking
ly demonstrated than on warship.
Accuracy of gunfre is the first rcqui-