Evening star., 1915-01-10

| (&Y6R9@ @
- FFICERS and men Of the
Naval Battalion Of the Ma
tional Guard of the District
~ of Columbia are wondering
Just how high their organiza-
tion stands in efficiency in view Of the
alleged inconsistencies in the report to
the Navy Department made by Capt.
c. 8. Williams, U. s. NJ, commanding
the U. S. S. Rhode Island, on which the
local militiamen made their annual
cruise to Bermuda last July.
Capt. Williams, discussing the Dis
trict militiamen in general, declared
that they were not prepared to go
aboard ship in time Of war and take
their places along with the regulars
However. the heads Of the various de-
partments of the ship, the officers who
were in direct contact with the militia
officers and men. and who were re-
sponslble for and conducted the drills,
praised the District militiamen.
For instance. Lieut.. w. R. Van
Auken, ordnance officer of the Rhode
Island. who directed the gunnery of
the District naval militia, had this to
say OF the District citizen sailors:
Discipline, good; condition of person.
mel, excellent; smart in drills
OF the Medical Corps, of which Capt.
Williams particularly complains, Sur
geon r. B. Henry, U. s. N, said this: .
"rhe hospital corps. men were all
from the District of Columbia bat
talon. Their senior man is a practicing
physician and an instructor in a
prominent medical school, and rendered
The others were, for the most part,
students of medicine or dentistry in
their second or third years, or pharma-
cists. One was chemist in the bureau
| and willing and, while they, in many
cases lacked the practical experience
which would be obtained in the cor
| responding rating of the regular serv-
| ice, they represented probably the best
material available for recruiting the
| hospital corps of a naval militia or
ganization.-
"They had been instructed in frst-aid
| and hospital corps drill, and with a
| few weeks training in active service
| would do excellent work. While aboard
| this ship they received practical in
| struction in the duties of the hospital
| corps. and they performed the work
| assigned in manner that betokened a
by the opportunities offered by i'm
| provement."
| With such reports as these from the
| heads of the various departments, the
officers are wondering from whom Capt.
Williams drew his conclusions. Pre-
liminary reports made by Capt Will
liams and sent to National Guard head
quarters here over his signature show
the District miitiamen as having done
excellent work on the cruise, and give
the officers an efficient rating, and Of
fcers familiar with the two reports are
at loss to understand why the gen.
eral report to the department Is incon-
sstent with the preliminary reports,
the originals of which are now on file
at National Guard headquarters.
| officers of the local naval militia
point out that the reason for the de-
lay of one day in getting down to the
target practice, necessitatlng the coal
| ing of the Rhode Island on Sunday, was
due entirely to the fault of the regular
| officers in laying off the range wrong.
| This blunder was common talk about
the ship at the time, it is declared. and
the range was SO far out that boats
had to be sent out to raise all Of the
range buoys which had been planted.
| Commander Joseph A. Dempf, COM
manding the local naval battalion, and
Lieut.. Frank w. Sigourney, executive
| officer. are preparing a report pointing
out alleged discrepancies in Capt. VIII
liams' report, in an attempt to have
them corrected.
| Speaking of the inability to get the
militiamen on duty during the night
watches. Lieut.. Sigourney yesterday
pointed out that this happened only
during the first two nights of the
cruise, and was due to no inattention
| on the part of the naval militia officers.
hn
place to sleep; they had to sleep wher-
ever they could. When the sentries
went to find few men out of a thou
sand. with the ship dark. it was diff
| ficult job. 1t was the fault of the sys-
tenn, not the militiamen, it was pointed
out.
During the drill period last Thursday
| night Commander Dempf. before the
men, who were assembled in the drill
hall. publicly contradicted some of the
statements of Capt. Williams. He de-
;clared that naval work was not the
business of the naval militiamen, as
In the case of the regulars. Where a
regular does thing automatically day
IN and day out, militiaman does the
same duty only once or twice a week,
and yet the commanding officer of the
Rhode Island, instead of treating the
militiamen as such and assuming them
as on board for instruction, has taken
the position that they are navy men
and should know the duties of big
DdlliSSHlp anu jump III INTO Cnem as
soon as their heads show over the
gangway. Yet. it is pointed out, even
when new ship is placed in commits
sion she is allowed from three weeks to
a month by the department to train the
already trained sailors at their sta
items aboard the vessel, this process
being known in the service as the
shaking down trials But the militia
two weeks. and without shaking
work of regulars. If called into serv-
ice they would have to be allowed such
time to shake down" in their assign
ments, according to Commander Dempf
X
The U. S. S. Sylvia, training ship of
the local naval militia. is scheduled to
leave her dock this morning at 10
o'clock for a practice cruise down the
! river She is due to return about
o'clock in the afternoon. Routine drills
. and exercises will be held during the
voyage, which is the first in the new
! year.
* 4 = *
The officers school, recently estab-