Norwich bulletin., 1916-02-26
NAVAL SYSTEM
 SEVERELY CRITICISED
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officers, was a vital necessity. To- day he amplified this view, declaring the system of education at Annapolis naval academy was wrong. He urged restoration of the old grade of mid shipman in the fleet. Boys should enter the service at from fl to 16 years of age, he said, spend two years in preliminary schooling ashore, then go to sea to acquire the sea habit" from actual contact with things of the sea before completing their edu- cations ashore. The polytechnic edu- cation now given midshipmen at the academy is utterly unsuited, the ad- -miraI declared, to the training of of ships at sea. He could see no value to be gained from making all navy officers experts in higher mathe- matics and thought constructors, en- gineers and ordnance experts should be trained as specialists and never be called upon to command ships.
 Elimination of Men Unfitted.
 From the day boys enter the aca- denny, he said. a system of selection tions, eliminating men unfitted for the daring, nerve-racking tasks that would be theirs in war. He added that fellow officers should determine these qualifications and that plan of this sort was being worked out by the navy department.
 How He Trained a Squadron.
 With opposing fleets sweeping to- ward each other over the sea for an of twenty knots or more, the admiral insisted there would be no time for hesitation by aUy ship commander. He told of how he trained a squadron of four dreadnOuShtS which he com manded two years ago until his or ders were carried out within six sec onds of the time he gave them, sixty maneuVers being carried out in a single forenoon. Even this, he de- clared, represented only encouraging progress" on the road toward complete efficiency and application of such in tensive methods to the fleet as a whole could never be accomplished unless men were selected to command the ships because of fitness, not because of seniority.
 Asked how many flag officers in the navy he thought were capable of de- velOpment to complete fitness for high command, the witness said:
 Higher Officers Lack Experience.
 "I do not think any of us in the up- per grades have had sufficient experi- ence to work up to our highest eff ciency." He added that something might be accomplished if a number of captains or commanders were set aside and trained for flag officers, the men best fitted to be selected for act ual commands.
 Representative Oliver said he had gained the impTessbion from the ad- miraPs remarks that he considered himself possessed in a high degree of efficiency other officers did not pos sess.
 Not Better Than Other Officers.
 "I probably have had greater ex- perience with ships and combinations of ships than any other officer of the navy" Admiral Winslow replied, but don't for one moment want to say that I am any better than other off, cers. I have realized that in order to equip myself for what the country paid me for, it was necessary for me to go to sea with ships and to study the war college game board"
 The admiral indicated he believed that while American ships were stead fly improving in design it was doubt ful whether they now equalled ships abroad.
 Fleet Could Fight and Would Fight. "that our fleet could not fight. II could fight It would fight"
 Representative Britten sought to in terject the question of what amount of armament made a ship of war craft as against a defensively armed mer- chantman.
 'I want to ascertain" he said, in reply to Chairman Padgett's sugges- tion that such discussion was not per tinent to the committees work, just how heavily a merchant ship would have to be armed before the president of the United States would warn Americans to keep off her"
 Representative Padgett suggested that the president was better able to answer that question than Admiral WinSlOw.
 Admiral Winslow said he had had occasion recently to study the sub ject and form an opinion. It was purely a question of international law, however, he added and as such he thought it unwise for him to discuss it publicly at this time.