Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1915-12-22
AMERICAN NAVY IN TEN YEARS
EQUAL Of ANY NATION IN WORLD

As to types Of ships. the battle
ship is still the principal reliance Of
navies, as it has been in the past"
Because of the great naval super
iority of the entente allies. the report
| saws. their control of the seas has
never been seriously challenged and
they have securely held the obiec-
tive Of all naval effort" Naval war
fare has been confined. by reason Of
this superiority. it states. to "a double
series of minor incidents" In the
! first group it places German com
merce raiders which have finally
: teea destroyed or driven from the
seas by systematic pursuit" and in
the second, the activities of German
submarines. first against allied war
ships. where the high score obtained"
is asserted to have been due to sur
prise attack, not to inherent com
Blatant superiority and second. against
commercial vessels of the allies. OF
/ this campaign the report says:
After six months of war the sub
marine form Of attack drew renewed
attention by its direction against hos
tile commerce. American public at
tention was redoubled toward this side
of the war owing to the humanitarian
I interests involved, and to the diplo-
matte questions which were raised
thereby. To hastily formed public
opinion, it seemed that submarines
were accomplishing great military re-
suits because little else of importance
occurred in the maritime war to at
tract public attention. Yet at the
present time when the allies have
/ learned in great measure how to pro-
tect their commerce. as they learned
their navies from the submarine
menace, it is apparent that the sub
marine is not an instrument fitted 40
dominate naval warfare. 1t appears
from British returns that the first
eight months of this submarine war
fare against British commerce result
ed in the loss Of 1S3 merchant YES
I sells and 175 traWlers The total Bri-
fish merchant tonnage lost was not
! greatly in excess Of one-half a mil
lion. the total loss under all flags
was about $4,000 tons. In the same
( time the total arrivals and departures
/ i'm British ports averaged from 1850
10 1900 per week. or nearly 10000 in
all. Allied commerce is continuing
I under a loss in no way vital.
The submarine is a most useful
auxiliary, whose Importance Will no
| doubt increase. but at present there
is no evidence that it Will become
supreme
I The report discusses at length the
need and mission Of battle cruisers
and other fast ships for scouting work
| but warns against an eXaggera,e, :
value being placed upon the battle
cruisers. It then takes UP the qn0,-
| tion of personnel and finds that any
smaller force than 27.oO0 officers, g.
( 600 blue jackets and 1900 marines
would he inadequate for the navy in
| 1917 even on peace footing. The
ships then in commission and the
shore stations would need a minimum
l Of 7A70O bluejackets, it states. in
I time of war.
Turning 70 the question Of congest-
ed lower grades which confront navy
officers under the present system. the
| board urges that congress establish
the number Of officers in any grade
on the basis of the total number OF
! officers in the navy and not by pro-
liding for a fixed number in each
grade except the lower ones. Addi-
/ tional legislation should be sought, it
/ says, to secure a proper flow Of pro-
/ motion for all officers Of the efficiency
| Of the service generally Will suffer.
| Nabaa 1234567S90$. ETAOINM