Norwich bulletin., 1916-07-20
NAVAL MILITIA ON
 BLOCK ISLAND SOUND
BattIeshiPs, Cruisers and Gunboats Ar
 rive at Mobilization Base.

The most important manoeuvres in
 which the naval militia of the Eastern
 territory of the United States has ever
 participated opened Monday when
 battleships, cruisers, and gunboats
 having on board the civilian sailors
 from eighteen states arrived at the
 mobilization base, Block Island. Near
 ly 4,5G0 naval militiamen are on the
 fifteen day training cruise. About
 1000 of the men are from New York
 and Brooklyn.
 The battleships on board of which
 the navy's civilian reserves have gone
 to sea are all units of the Atlantic
 Reserve Fleet under command of
 Rear Admiral John M. Helm. U. $. x.
 The vessels are the Kentucky, Kear- sarge, Maine, New Jersey, Illinois, AL
 abama, Rhode Island, Louisiana and
 Virginia, with the Alabama as flag
 ship. The states represented by mili-
 tia battalions are New York, Pennsyl-
 vania, New Jersey, Rhode Island,
 Massachusetts, Maine. Maryland, South Carolina, Florida, Minnesota,
 Missouria, Ohio, Illinois, North Caro-
 lima, Louisiana, Texas, Michigan, and Connecticut.
 The Manhattan miIitiamen are on the Kentucky, which has been assign ed to the First New York battalion as a training ship and will be perma- nently stationed in the Hudson after the conclusion of the citizens train ing cruise which has been planned to follow the navy militia nanoeuvres. Commander Charles L. Poor N 04, N. Y, is in command of the Man haitian battalion of 470 men on the | kearsarge, while the 400 men of the Second Battalion of Brooklyn on the | Maine are commanded by Command | CT Edward T. Fitzpatrick. Also on the 1 Maine are 160 men from the New | Jersey battalion.
 l During the cruise the enlisted men
 will be paired with bluejackets of the l regular service of corresponding
 grades, and it will be the duty of each i bluejacket to instruct the civilian l tia1nen would have to perform in the 1 event the Naval Militia were called | into active service in time of war. For 1 instance, Q regular gunner will be 1 paired with a militia gunner, a regu- i lar qUartermaster with a militiaman or like rank, and so on through the various grades.
 1 The same procedure will be follow 1 ed with the officers, the regular navi- gator having as his pupil the navd- 1 gating officer of the militia battalion. l The executive officer of the Kentucky is paired with the officer who holds that rank in the First Naval Batta- | lion, while Commander Poor will have as his chief instructor Commander | Douglass K. Dismakes, U. s. N., the | COI1lnanQlnS OJIlC6r or the hSnTUCkys 1 Commander Poor it may be mention 1 ed, is a graduate of the Naval Aca- denny, and served many years as an 1 officer in the regular service before 1 he resigned to enter private business. ] The only thing that the miIitiamen 1 knew about the program of the cruise when they started was that the Re 1 serve Fleet would assemble at Block ] Island. The orders for the trainin g l to be followed after that are seal 1 ed and were not to be opened until the entire training squadron has mo 1 biHZed off the Block Island base. It is known, however, that target work with the main, as well as sec ondary batteries of the ships will be | a feature of the work during the next | two weeks. Torpedo exercises have all so been included in the program, 1t 1 was said yesterday, as well as search light drills and landing exercises. A l battle problem may bring the man | oeuvres to a close.
 AIassac chusetts militiamen are on 1 the Aearsarge, the rest of the New Englanders are on the Virginia, the ] Illinois and Maryland units on the
 Alabama, the First Battalion of Penn | sylvania on the Minnesota, Missouri | and Ohio units are on the Rhode Is- l land, the North Carolina, Texas, Flor 1 ida, and Louisiana units are on the 1 Louisiana, while the Second Pennsyl- vania Battalion and the South Caro- l lima and Michigan units are on the 1 Illinois.