Evening star., 1914-09-27

Suggestions that the annual cruise of
1915 Of the District Naval Militia
have Havana, Cuba, for the objective
point. and Endorsement of the plan to
have cruises extend over fifteen in
stead of ten days, are contained in the
annual report of Commander Joseph A.
Demf, commanding the District citizen
National Guard of the District of CO.
lumbia. The report follows:
I'm compliance with special orders
twelve officers and 172 enlisted
Afmory at 8 am, Sunday, July S. 1914.
and completed preparations for the
cruise.
Promptly at pm. the organization
was Marched aboard the steamer
NortMand and at $40 the enlisted men
were served supper; at 6:45 pm, the
Northland underway, en- route to Nor
folk. Va.
1.-The day preceding the beginning of
the cruise was well spent. and 1t was
cleanliness Of the men. their bags and
hammocks. This day spent before the
cruise enables the officers to make a
rigid inspection of the men and their
accouterments and gives time to COR
rect discrepancies.
"On the morning of July the North
land arrived at Hampton roads. va
The battalion Immediately dtsembarked
and upon arriving on the dock was met
by Ensign R. r. Paunack, =. ) ~, n,
dock officer, who assigned boats 70
the organization. and officers ana men
nroceeded aboard the U. S. s. Rnode
island, where breakfast was servea.
.sThe names Of the men partlclpatlns
on the cruise having previously .sn Gu
sent to the commanding officer OF the
Rhode Island, watch, quarter ana STA.
tion billets had been prepared, ana at
morning quarters the same were dis-
tributed to the enlisted men Ffom
the time that the organization went
aboard the Rhode Island and until It's
return officers and men were govern
ed strictly according to naval routine
and discipline.
Island had kept intact the units OF the
organize tion of each state and pre-
served the regular ships organiza t on.
This probably was due to the iarIe
number of men aboard. but ~ is
ali Concerned. If the naval militiamen
were distributed among the regular
ships company, thereby being in close
touch with them. would receive ehe
benefit of their knowledge and instrucS
tion to a greater degree,
"During the entire cruise the men
kept their part of the ship in good con-
dition, and the personal cleanliness Was
exceptionally good: Conslderi4nhg ,nsta 4hs ene ene
listed men have they are to be COM
mended for their cleanliness.
."The depleted condition of the reg
ular ships crew gave opportunity lot
some petty officers to step INTO no. vacase sa,nt
places. were creditably filed by the
naval militia petty officers. Some OF
these billets were filled by e2-servics
men, and 1t Is thought to ps gooa
idea that IL when men were discharged
from the regular service that. TN pe
referred by their officers. to the near
est naval militia organization Win
view to enlisting in the naval milItia.
"As an inducement for enlistment TOO
nuch cannot be said in favor OF the
plan followed this year in landing IN
foreign territory. The time ashore WAS
not long, still. the fact that iandtns
was made where FOR a large ,,t,fhand maJooy ~
a visit at another time makes an at
traction that can hardly be equaied n
any other way. and it is now snpmitted
for consideration that this organiza-
ton he allowed to cruise aboard a. b f
tleship. next year and that the voyage
be to Havana Cuba
s'The spirit with which the men OF
the District of Columbia Naval NIL tia
coaled ship and their success IN get,
the vessel was the. subject OF much
favorable comment by the officers at
tached to the Rhode Island.
1.-The officers and men worked hard In
using every available opportunity for
gun loading and dotter drills. In this
they suffered a handicap by there be-
ng only two dotters on t9e ship, and
these were shared by the other three
organizations aboard. Thus a limited
time was permitted for dotter practice.
and frequently by the time needed for
period allotted to one division would
have been practically spent. The total
time allotted was seven hours. This
time was divided among our eight gun
crews. which fact taken In connection
with the above. makes the disadvan-
taee apparent. The mention of these
circumstances is not intended as a
criticism in any manner. the, condi-
tion resulting from the unusual num-
Der of gun crews in the four state or
ganizations.' :.
''The two classes in navigation one of
which met in the evening, were excel
lently conducted. The watch and division
officers found 1t diff1cult to devote as
much time as they cared to to this. class
on account of the vast amount Of work
to be done on deck.
"On. account Of, the large number OF
nH3rorS oy1d ySncy, obNo Tho nNHnor~ f-,4