The Washington times., 1917-02-12
ALL NAVY OFFICERS
WANT THEIR CHANGE
Flood of Requests PourS In
From Men of Every
Rank.
ALL READY FOR ACTION
Willing to Take Any Command,
Writes Captain Now on
Leave.
ALL READY FOR ACTION

GSoNSs
by today's mail have made a for
NAL written request for duty afoat, in
command Of anything. 1 mean exactly
what 1 said in my letter. as 1 would
most, graRfuIly accept the command Of
any ship. however obsolete or weak.
Il will not let the question Of rank
or dignity stand in the way Of accept
ance of the command Of even a gum
boat. il no other command is available.
In my opinion, an officer can make his
own opportunities for doing good work
If he is given half a chance"
This letter, received by the chief Of
the Bureau of Navigation OF the Navy
from one OF the most capable captains
in the service, who stands nearly at the
top of his grade, and from a man who
has only half completed his tour Of
shore duty. is typical of the flood Of re-
quests that are piling in upon the Navy
Department from naval officers wha
want their chance" IL there is to be
war with Germany.
Spirit of Readiness.
Seldom in the history Of the American
navy has there been displayed more Of
spirit Of readiness for conflict among
the officers Of the feet. From admirals
to ensigns there is an eagerness all down
the line for a chance to be in the thick
OF it, If fight is to come.
Men on shore duty are besieging the
powers that be for transfer to sea as
signments, and grizzied old retired Of
ficers are hanging about the Navy De
partment, grumblingly insistent that they
are feeling fit and ready for anything"
Naturally, the men OF the navy feel
that IL there is to be war with Ger
many it will be the sea force OF the
United States that will play the lead
ing part. As far as preliminaries go,
the war, as far as the navy organiza-
tion goes, is already under way.
Where the Atlantic fleet is at the
present time no one except the de-,
partment heads precisely knows.
Bulletins Suspended.
The department several days ago
suspended the customary daily bulle-
tins of ship movements. and Secre-
tary of the Navy Daniels, at the sug.
gestion of Admiral William E. Ben
son, chief Of naval operations, has re-
Quested the newspaper correspond
ents in Washington not to speculate
as to the whereabouts of the feet.
All officers on leave have been re-
called, and officers on the retired list
and in the reserves, eligible for ac-
tive duty, have been notified to hold
themselves in readiness for assign
fn Gfa In. ri ~ hnu
.tilities beginning, it is understood to
be the plan to have most OF the retired
officers assigned to shore duty, thus
leaving those on the active list avail
able for service with the main fleet
and reserve fleet.
To Convoy Merchantmen.
1t is assumed that the first duty
that will be required of the navy
will be to convoy American merchant
ships across the Atlantic, for in the
event of war IL is taken for granted
that the Germans would not confine
their submarines to the war zone, but
would send them to this side of the
Atlantic to prey on American com
merce.
For conveying duty and for aEgres-
sive campaigning against the subma-
Tines the plan would probably be to
use light cruisers and torpedo boat
destroyers, which, with a "mosuuito
patrol OF light gasolene launch craft
for coastwise work, are most effective
against the submersibles.
The main fleet OF dreadnaughts, il
is assumed, would keep for the most
part in the harbor behind mine fleets
awaiting any opportunity that might
present itself to engage heavier
forces of the enemy. Inasmuch, how
ever, as the German fleet is likely to
be kept bottled up in Kiel harbor by
the British fleet, little opportunity
is foreseen for the American dread
naughts, unless President Wilson de-
cides to send them to the North Sea
TO add their strength to the British
blockade force or to lombard Ger
man shore stations.
The "MOsduIto Fleet
wNh the possibility always pres
snt that the Germans would send their
submarines across the Atlantic to
launch raids against shipping in
American ports, considerable atten-
tion is being given by the Navy De
partment toward perfecting plans for
handling the mosquito fleet"
This fleet, a volunteer organization,
made up of private launch owners,
now a part of the naval reserve, has
already held a number of maneuvers
which have been watched in Eng
land with considerable interest.
The British have themselves de
veIoped these "mOsquito flotillas" to
a high degree, and is understood TO
have already turned loose largo num-
bers of these small craft in the Ger
man submarine area to operate
against the U-boats.