The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-11-29


Admiral Blue ON the Jnprcpareh-
ness Of our Navy.
Congress will reassemble early in DE.
cember. We hope that Representative
GARDNER OF Massachusetts will lose no
time in pressing his resolution for II
commission TO inquire into the ques
ton Of the preparedness of the United
States for war. defensive OF offensive"
So far as the condition of the navy is
concerned the annual report of Rear
Admiral VICTOR BLUE Chief of the Bu-
reau Of Navigation. published ON Fri
day, confirms and reenforces the state
ments about the deficiencies OF the ser
vice which Mr.. GARDNER made in his
speech near the close of the last session
of Congress on October l6.
The presentation of the case by Adj
miral BLUE cannot be waved aside as
mental exercise" When he says
that 1900 more sailors are needed to
man the vessels Of the navy now In
commission or available. although the
full strength Of fhe enlistment allowed
by law has been reached, the neces.
sity uf prompt legislation to fill the
complement is not debatable. Further
more during the coming year ana n
half" to quote from his report. "it is
expected that eight destroyers. ten sub
marines. two lreadnoughts and several
auXliarics will he ready for commits.
sion" Are these ships to lie idle at
the naval stations for want Of crews?
The answer is that for an indefinite
time there is nothing else to be done.
unless enough men are drafted from
other ships 10 make n show ~ equip.
ping the new ones, with the result that
all Of them will be short handed. 1t
takes three years Ia train the enlisted
man and make him sailor III to 90
into action. and we are falling behind
in material and the finished product
year by year.
II the navy needs men il also needs
experienced officers of the higher
grades. What staggering revelation
Admiral Blue makes \ deadlock in
promote virtually exists in the navr.
% Al,
above the rank Of junior grade ,icu,en.
ant, and LOSS are OF that rank or
lower. To illustrate:
THE Junior Ensigns OF the class Of 1915
cannot expect 10 be promoted TO L-utcn-
Ant-Commanders. under such conditions.
under forty years, or at time when they
will have reached the statutory retire
ment age OF siNty-two. In Other words
all the officers in the service ~ FOR duty
would be Junior Lieutenants and En-
signs"
All the officers of the fleet above the
Junior I.ieutemants would be about To
retire VIVA, a state Of things when
We consider that most Of the Captains
in the British navy are comparatively
young men, In the very prime of their
mental and physical powers. Admiral
Sir JoHN JEIIICOE. now in command Of
the battle fleet in The North Sea, Is
less than ~. Admiral DAVID BEATTY.
commander Of the dying squadron In
the North Sen, i ~. An American
naval officer has almost reached the
retiring age Of ~ when our Chinese
system makes him Rear Admiral.
The youngest Admiral on the list IN
the Army and Navy Register Of 1913
was 81, ana most Of the twenty-five
Rear Admirals were GO or over. Some
even Of our Captains were as old as the
older Admirals, and great many of
the Captains were born before Sir JOHN
JELIICoE. Now this archaic plan of pro.
motion viii have to he bnnIShcd If the
congestion emphasize by the chief Of
the Bureau of Navigation Is not to con.
tinue to the increasing drtrlmcnt ~ the
American navy.
One OF tn" most alarming things
brought out in this report Is the de,
hciency in torpedo experts. due to the
demands u The seigoing ships FOR
oncers. Representative GARDNER has
drawn attention to the fact that we
nave far from enough torp,.,ln", for
active services, but il is even mora
di$qnietIng to know HAT We have NOT
enough torpedo officers for war il it