The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1917-04-21

I bv volunteers ~ individuals. ~
enth 500, goo by s6lective conecx3r
the eighth 100000 by volnKtee1
units OF any size, the ninth soO.0oN
selective CONSUMPTION. and 90 on,
ternating volunteers with conSck
| ton.
! In the early process Of conocl
| ton, large discretion should be p1J
ticed, gradually narrowing down
I the armies grow.
In the operation against the -
! danelles, as in other combined nxSJ
and military operations so freQne
! in war. no force Is 30 handy, - n
| hcient and effective as the max1Ml
corps. / would suggest that IN
strength of the marines be dOu6l~
at once and then in four months thm
the full strength be doubled again
| The combination of land and nat9I
| operations will require fully loo. H.
! marines and we can make no bett4
preparation than to proceed to Gs
pand the corps to that strength With
out delay.
| As pointed out in my previous s1
| ticie, our naval strength must -
| prepared on the basis OF the larUo93
navy in the world, with vast strenGell
of auxiliaries and anti-submax1uM1
corps requiring great many men.
! Enlarge Navy Personnel.
! The authorized strength of the per-
sonnet of the navy should be tusl
: creased at once to 10000 men as1d
/ In six months this number should h1
| doubled. 1t takes time to train Altd.
| develop an efficient seaman. W.
should proceed on this line Of prepa
ration without delay. or course tho
strength of the commissioned 0f1ceH4
must be increased proportionatety
and 1t takes still longer to develops
an efficient naval officer.
| In my previous article / pointed out
that we should build to the limit o.
! our yards and we should purchase
| from abroad up-to-dat vessels. e.
! pecially hattie cruisers. This should
! be carried to the limit.
In addition, we should place orders
| for the building of war vessels abrO4ts
wherever the allies can offer ship
yards No doubt warship construed
ton is easing off in British shipyard1
| by this time.
We should lose no time In reachSl
ing the basis of the largest navy. In
the allotment Of the funds of the BIZ
war authorizations we should devot41
| half of the total to naval expansto4|
until we have attained the deSiro1I
strength. This should include cur
plans to gain the mastery OF the a1x]
and mastery in submarines, which,
/ wish to emphasize again as OF TIL
utmost importance.
/ At the present stage our actual WA&g
operations will probably be confined5
to operating against U-boats. We
should proceed at once to master aJA
| the art attained. abroad in operating
against these craft. We should send
officers and petty officers to actually
! serve in the French and British navie4
and coast patrols to prepare to RETURN
to give our navy the benefit.
We should carry on continuaA
mimic operations against our own
submarines, learning to use to the
limit the powers of air craft In los
eating submarines The technica1
thought of the navy. the coast art1I.s
lery and of our inventive Citizenship
should focus on solving the problemE
OF successful attack upon submarines
on soundings and at sea.
This steadily will prepare us 70
utilize to the utmost the arts Ok
modern warfare in mine planting ana
forcing entrance to channels ana
harbors like the Dardanelles, ZA~
brugge and the harbors of Germanys