The Washington times., 1916-01-20

the British navy. and the Helgoland, OF
the German navy, all battleships of APP
proximately the same speed and dts
placement"
Great Difference. Shown.
Here Admiral Fletcher inserts a table
showing, rank by rank, the number of
Officers on each OF these three battle
ships The German vessel counts up
nfty-four officers, the British fifty
three, and the American thirty-three.
He continues:
"A personnel board appointed on the
Delaware I'm 1914 stated that the com
PIGMENT OF officers necessary was fifty
four. A similar board working indie
pendently on the sister ship North Da-
kota, reported that their complement
should be flfty-three."
ADMIRAL Fletcher, summarizing, finds
tnat In officers OF experience the Della
ware has only half as rlany as the
Bellerophon and One-third as many as
the Helgoland. In the total of officers,
the Bellerophon and Helgoland exceed
cent
The shortage of officers" proceeds
the admiral, lis not confined TO the
battleships. but exists in ali types OF
ships. For Instance, assigned to the JIM
Dortant duty Of guarding the APP
proaches to the Panama canal, there
Is division OF five submarines, in each
OF which there is but one officer, and
In four of these five the officer Is of
the rank OF ensign but recently grad
uated from Annapolis.
I'm the recently completed battle ef-
hciency inspection of the second divis-
ION of battleships. the division COM
mander makes the following comments;
At general quarters In the battle
SLIP Utah, a chief petty officer is In
charge of one turrett and an ensign
graduated in 1914 Is in charge OF
another. There are no officers in
handling rooms and no officers
available for the after range finder.
The torpedo room is In charge Of a
chief petty officer and the torpedo
officer stationed I'm the coming tow
er is of the class of 1914. In the plot
ting room pay clerk and yeo-
man are performing work which re-
quires commissioned officers of the
line. The following shortages exist:
Florida, % Officers; Utah, % OF
Ulcers Michigan. p Officers South
Carolina. IA officers.
Shortage of Men Too.
Second in importance TO the shortage
OF officers is the shortage Of men. The
shortage of men in the Atlantic fleet.
coupled with the shortage Of officers
has prevented the fleet from attaining
the efficiency that is to be expected.
Too much emphasis cannot be placed on
what I believe the most serious weak
ness in the fleet today-lack of trained
officers and shortage of enlisted men.
To equaliZe the shortage In the diner
ent vessels there results constant
exchange of officers and men; tending
to promote instability and TO weaken
the efficiency of the various units OF the
fleet. With few exceptions every vessel
In the Atlantic fleet is short OF the
complement of officers and men neces-
sary for battle. The shortage Of en-
listed men in the battleships alone. az
reported in January. 1915. exceeds 900
men.
This shortage OF men has been re-
vealed in every operation OF the feet
and has been reported in inspections
throughout the year. Conditions have
not improved and at the close OF the
fiscal year the shortage OF men was
greater than at any other time of the
year. In one division of four battieshtps
the. division commander in his June in
spection. reported a shortage OF 1850
| men or an average of more than $50
men I'm each ship.
The shortage OF enlisted men. like
that Of OFFICERS, exists in all types cs
| ships in the fleet. A captain OF one of
the mine-laytng cruisers reports: The
existing shortage in the vessels compile
| ment now amounts to twenty-five per
| cent of the whole and thirty per cent
| in the seaman branch. resulting in a
serious handicap to the ships work "
Complement Reduced.
Admiral Fletcher notes that during
the year the department reduced the
allowed complement OF destroyers ap-
proximately twenty-five per cent and
| these important vessels are now Cd.
Grating with reduced compliments.
turning from personnel to material
the Admiral reports that the shafting
| OF battleships of the Connecticut class
six in ALL Is bad. making the ships un.
| reliable at fleet speeds between twelve
| and fifteen knots. There Is excessive
vibration at these speeds, causing tho
breaking OF many shafts. Concerning
the cruiser squadron he says:
THE machinery condition of the
cruiser squadron cannot be said to be
satisfactory Owing 10 the small num-
Der OF vessels in a squadron and the
number OF stations to which they have
been assigned, II has been impracticable
TO nave these ships regularly oyer.
hauled or TO have them conduct tafEet
practice and exercises with the fleet
turing the past year only two of the
small vessels of this squadron completed
their target practice. An increase an
the number OF ships will improve condi.
lions and permit a more efficient deyek
opment of this squadron"
Taking up the DESTROYER SQUADRON
Admiral Fletcher reports II in good ma.
terial condition. except:
The Warrlngton's machinery n d.
fective in design.
The Henley's machinery is defec-
tive in design, with some defective
material.
The Aylwin has developed excess
sive vibration at speeds above fifteen
knots. and defective alignment of
shafting.
The Downes, which mas not yet
been finally accepted by the Govern
ment, shows excessive fuel consump-
ton.
The Mayrant and Duncan are out
of commission, due to defective ma
chtnerN design.
Most Severe Criticism. E.
Admiral Fletcher's comments on tn,
condition of the submarine hotilla ar
rather the most severe In which he in
duEes, lie says
THE condition of the submari9
hotilla has been very unsatisfactory
particularly the machinery. SO muC
time has been required To- keen tin
machinery in condition that little ha
been available to train officers an
crew. The submarine totilla even NOR
tCan other types OF vessels has bee
lRmpered by lack of officers OF eS
peTience. While there are twelve sui
marines in full commission assigned [
operate with the fleet, oQly six wer
in condition to proceed t. Pensacol
for the winters work. All twelve Wer
assembled in May in New York, ~
only ten were available for the wa