The sun., 1916-10-29
The battleship New Hampshire, idle now for lack of a crew.
Grave Doubts Cast Upon Secretary's
Statement That the Efficiency of
Navy Has Been Increased
The battleship New Hampsl
.pshire, idle now for lack of a crew.

q
ssf PLEAD guilty to having been
dreamed of q navy with .
ton enlistment. having found It short
about 5000 men on entering upon the
duties Of Secretary. This dream has
been fulfilled. and in three years 1854
men have been enlisted" So Josephus
Daniels has felicitated himself within
the past two months.
But has the public. which ultimately
II most concerned In the matter Of
naval preparedness, the same reason
for satisfaction? DO the facts which
Mr.. Daniels deals with pear him out?
Are our seagoing defences able to
draw upon . full enlistment? Is the
available personnel really quite equal
to the demands Of the available ma
terial? Are there enough men to man
every gun and to work efficiently
every ship?
On May 10 OF the present veal
Secretary Daniels put six Of the older
battleships in reserve. n the pri-
mary purpose OF their retirement from
the active fleet was 10 provide men
for a destroyer division and the super
Creadnoughts oklahoma and Nevada.
To the ordinary MIND 1t Is puxzling to
reconcile this procedure with the ex-
istence Of "A full enlistment. In order
to commission the Arizona. built at
the Brooklyn navy yard, Secretary
Daniels again found 1t necessary to
order three more battleships to the
reserve graveyard at Philadelphia,
This happened within the last few
days.
The situation thus brought about,
despite h ample warnings Of men
like Admiral Fiske. Admiral Fletcher
and others competent to advise. Is d.
rectly luz to Mr.. Dan.els's persistent
opposition to a sufficient and speedy
increment of the navy's enlisted force.
II 10 Q matter of RECORD that. notwith-
standing the retirement of three other
ships. the Arizona was put In commits
sion 164 men short OF a full compile
msnt, and It Is equally true that she
VA not added to the active feet until
after some weeks Of delay In getting
men for her.
The public h given to understand
that the efficiency OF the navy has ac-
tuAlly been increased by this shifting
process, and that the Arizona as a bat
tie unit makes Dur mobile defence
stronger. even though the active feet
10 reduced in numbers. Figures arc
given that are intended to convey the
impression that the Arizonais great Ia
inch guns. though but twelve in num-
Der, will DO more to check q menacing
foe than ~ inch rifles distributed
ameng the three ships placed in re-
serve. namely. the Kansas. New
Hampshire and Vermont. Inferen-
italy the layman is led to suppose
that tho six other battleships placed
on the reserve list In May-the New
jersey, Virginia, Rhode Island. Ne
braAka, Connecticut and Louisiana
were more than offset by the addition
to the active fleet of the superdread-
noughts Oklahoma and Nevada and
division Of d%estroyers.
II the navy has all the men II needs
why should any useful fighting ship bs
retired from active service? me re-
tention of the vessels in the reserve
squadron implies that they are not OBJ.
solete and therefore would be poten,
units in time of war. But as a matter
Of fact, does this system OF reserve
make for military efficiency, and ISM
the Navy Departments practice tow
ard these vessels not only an admission
Of n shortage OF men but also a etey
toward making these craft ineffective
Il not useless elements in our schem,
Of national defence upon the sea?
1t must be remembered that when
warship IL so retired she is left with {
so-cailed skeleton crew, something lik,
40 per cent. of her active full compile
ment, and the bulk of these men ar,
generally those that can best b,
spared for this service. On more thai
one occasion New York has beer
treated to a naval review, and thes,
parades have been designed to carry
message Of laval readiness to the en-
tire nation. Capt. William S. Sims ha
dealt with them in a ~deliciously satiri
cal manner.
"We have had 'mobilizatlons' in on
navy for years back he has said
W have had them in the Mort
River, where every ship in the Nortl
Atlantic fleet has been present, an,
every ship In reserve has been pres
ent, n they have taken ships out q
the navy yards. without being finished
n have dragged them u to tn
mobilization and then they have ha
q great blare OF trumpets and a 10
OF speech making. &c, in which the
have said to MS: There Is the flee
all ready to go out and fight and nc
one OF those reserve ships was able
90 IL and TO steam full speed an
to use her guns effectively.