The Logan Republican. [volume] (Logan, Utah) 1902-1924, 1915-09-07
is THE UNITED STATES
pREPARED7

PREPRhGD9
The following interesting report OF
John Hays Hammond Jr, who repre-
scented the Conference Committee on
National Preparedness before the
Governors during their inspection OF
the United States fleet off Boston, ON
August %, fully answered the ques.
ton, What Is the Matter With Our
Navy?" We are especially DESTROYS of
laying the report before our readers
1t follows:
IL had the privilege of witnessing
today aboard the Wyoming, the i'm
pressive naval review of part of the
North Atlantic fleet.
"To the layman it was an imposing
sight to see the torpedo fiotilla as 1t
steamed past in double line formation
at about 20 knots an hour. But The
layman is impressed only by the pic.
ture and his thoughts in the matter
go no further. The torpedo boats as
they passed to the scrutiny of one
ullutl bhNll hlut
and not merely their outward effect,
would have shown a number of inter.
esting facts.
"In the first place, these boats in
stead Of having the four to six ofiic.
ers aboard, necessary for their prop
er handling had only two officers.
Tboir crau, ,npgigtnJ 30 n,I,, about
half the necessary number Of men.
In case of sudden national emergen.
cy these vessels could not be proper
ly handled to perform the functions
for which they are designed. With
the small crew operating them, they
could not maintain their maximum
speed of 2S knots, which is the most
essential quality in craft of this type.
Outside the matter of their per.
sonnet the type of torpedo craft pass
ing the Wyoming in review, would i
present poor comparison with the !
destroyers of the foreign powers. A |
large number of vessels of the same |
class in the British and German ma
vies have speeds Of from SO to SO
knots an hour. Leading the torpedo !
fiotila came tho Birmingham, sad |
reminder that We have only three
light cruisers Of considerable speed,
and these vessels, when compared to
tho numerous craft Of this type In
the British and German navies, would
present sorry contrast in their rel.
CHvcly low speed and weak arma.
mcnt. Today what few torpedo boats
wo possess would be easily swept or
the seas by the fast cruisers OF the
enemy possessing speed far superior
10 cur dcstroyers and torpedo craft,
sea going qualities enabling them to
ram down these torpedo boats, and
N armament that in IN engagement
would soon turn our boats into scrap
iron. On'sottiug the stimulation OF "a /
pleasant picture, the passing Of the
fctiIla, left a number Of unpleasant
Queries in mind as to what on earth
We would do II our international 8I1.
U1t'on cam1 70 a showdown.
"A few minutes later 10 Of our
canitol lAins steamed past in i'm,
rTs3siyo Inc formation. To the nm.
Initiated they seemed invulnarable, |
10 those Interested in naval dc 5olup. |
r,rnt II Was obvious that only rom |
ut Of tie 10 ships would maze n |
zeal Oh wing under modern battle
corGiiir. These vessels also were
only about half manned, and, as it
takes four years to train a sailor,
they will have to fight in this condi-
ton should the occasion arise any
time within the next four years. The
speed of the best OF these vessels is
six knots less than the Bluecher
whose inferiority OF speed spelt her
destruction in the naval action in the
North Sea.
"As we watched these massive
structures pass, some OF us wonder.
ed how long they could contest with
the superior ranges gun power and
speed OF the modern battle cruisers,
I'VE should have II battleships to
protect our Atlantic coast; we have
only II ships in commission, four
are useless to the nation, as there
are not enough men even to run
them. With every resource tapped we
are 10000 men short in our navy. We