The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-04-24
NAVY PREPARED FOR EMERGENCY.
 DANIELS AYERS
Secretary Tells of Progress Made In Plans For
 Preparedness. |

Philadelphia, April 24.-The Public Ledger today prints sn account of an interview which Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels recently gave to representative of that newspaper
 There are now in active service, fully commissioned" MT. Daniels is quoted as saying when asked the pres ent strength of the navy, "'255 vessels Iof various classes. This is 66 more than were fully commissioned when became secretary, in MarcA, 1913- There are also 95 vessels of various types in reserve and in ordinary and ucommissioned, capable of rendering service in war.
 ftNo navy ever makes announce
 nents of the quantity of ammunition and torpedoes, mines, and other inn p1ements of naval warfare which it keeps ready, but our supply is ample, may say, for all emergencies. The torpedo plant shortly will have five times it's presnt capacity, thanks to the generosity and wisdom of the Sixty-third Congress, which appropri- ated the money for it's enlargement. We have also arranged for the equip ment of a plant to construct mines. | To-day there are assigned to the submarine 1otil1a with the Atlantic l fleet, rear admiral, a commander, a | lieutenant commander, 15 lieutenants, | 35 junior grade Heutenants, and three ensigns- Ten additional officers are with the f1otilIa under instructions i The reorganization of the submarine fotfl1a has involved the training of men, as well as officers, preparatory to their being assigned to submarine duty. Only recently 40 officers and 85 men concluded a course of instruction | in battery work at the plant of the Electric Storage Battery company and that of Thomas A. Edison. This pre- lninary training of crews will result highRT effectiveness the operations of the new underseas craft as they are delivered to our men.
 Recruited to Maximum Strength. l ''The navy at present is composed of 4,355 line, staff, and warrant officers and 54,151 enlisted men. About 1000 candidates for the Naval Academy, the largest number ever examined for tlon to enter the 1916 class, which as- sembles in June. The number of en- listed men is today recruited to the
 maximum strength allowed by law
 There are now with the coIors 6,8O4 more men-an increase of oyer 14 per cent.-than there were on March 1. 1914. During the nine months preced- ing my appointment the number of men in the navy had actually de- creased, although Congress had dur ing that period authorized an increase of 400O men,
 i've are today re-enlisting s5 per cent. of the men whao have received discharges permitting their re-enlist- ment. This is all have to say to | those who criticise my policy toward the enlisted man.
 'fOur present air fleet is not more
 than two years old. Upon my recom- mendation Congress gave us $1,OOO,OOO to begin upon an elaborate plan the real development of aviation in the
 navy. At that time the navy had but four aviators and no satisfa ctory ma chine A special training school for
 aviators has been established at Pen
 sacola, Fla. and we have about 40 ma chimes now in operation down there. The armored cruiser North
 Carolina has been equipped success
 fully as a mother ship for aerop1anes
 and participated in the recent exer-