The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1918-12-13
AMERICAN NAvYS
PART IN THE WAR
ADMIRAL GRIFFIN TELLS SOME
OF THE WORK ACCOMPLISHED
BY OUR SHIPS

WASHINGTON-One month before
the armistice with Germany ended the
war, the American navy was operating a
total of 1859 vessels of all descriptions,
of which 264 carrying $4,000 men were
actively participating in the war in Euro
| pean waters.
| These figures were disclosed today III
the. annual report of Rear Admiral Grif-
| fin, chief of the bureau of steam engi-
neering Daily expenditures of the bu-
reau during the war year covered by the
report exceeded SIT, 900.
| Admiral Griffin said the regular navy
on the date of his report consisted of
! $40 ships, supplemented by 90 vessels
| from the Coast guard, Lighthouse serv-
ice, Coast and Geodetic Survey and Fish
commission. In addition the navy was
then operating o37 converted merchant
craft yachts and the like, and the naval
overseas transport service, consisting of
247 shipping board and other supply YES
sels,, with liz more about to be commits
stoned. Construction under way for the
regular navy at that time included 376
new ships of all kinds and 81 tugs.
'Since the United States became a
belligerent," the report states, ''the mag
nitude of the engineering work of the
navy, both mechanical and electrical, not
only in its actual amount, but in the
rapid development of facilities for its
execution-has been without parallel for
the same period of time in the history of
the worlds navies."
To keep up the fleet abroad, three re-
pair bases were established in France,
one in Great Britain, one at Gibraltar
and two in the Mediterranean. These ]
were supplemented by six repair ships |
which achieved remarkable results in re-
pairing vessels at sea.
The report makes the first official an
nouncement regarding development Of
the Submarine detection devices and
shows that American equipment for this
purpose has been placed abroad both
British and French naval craft. Details
are not disclosed, however, the report in
this connection confining itself to the
following paragraph:
Previous to July l, 1917, there were
two devices for submarine detection in
service. One was the Fessenden oscil- |
lator, primarily intended for sending and
receiving underwater signals; the other
was device developed by the General
Electric company. Since then eight other
devices for submarine detection have
been developed and made in quantity, not
only for Our own navy, but for the Brit
ish admiralty and the French ministry of
marine Modified forms of these devices
have also been designed for use i'll pro-
lection of the Atlantic coast of the United
States"
Taking up naval radio development,
Admiral Taylor shows that through the
new high power plant at Annapolis and
the station built by the navy in France
and nearing completion, provision had
been made which would have kept the
United States government in touch with |
its forces in Europe constantly even if
every submarine cable had been cut. The
radio communication system has been
extended vastly, "a additional main sta
tions having been built during the year
Striking achievements are noted in de-
velopment of radio outfits for naval air
craft Communication from machines in
flight to shore stations is now possible
at a distance of 200 miles, the report
says, while the land station can cornmu-
r1Cdte W1Cn a machine III dlI OO lIlllSS
away Through the radio telephone, the
aircraft can talk to stations 90 miles
away and receive verbal instructions
from stations IS miles distant Both
systems have been employed with the
coastal patrol maintained by aircraft.
Tables annexed to the report show
that the batt1eship Mississippi, II de-
stroyers, eight of which are 35knot
boats, and ID submarines had been de-
1ivered prior to the first of last July. At
that time destroyers Nos. 20 to 344, in
elusive, were under construction, all but
the first two being 35-knot craft The
chief difficulty to be overcome in carry
ing out the huge destroyer project was
building the engines, yet on July | the
driving plants of the 275 boats then
building were we'll advanced. Many of
the vessels since have been delivered.
Of the big ships engines for five out
of eight new battleships had passed the
20 per cent mark No work beyond
of plans apparently had been
done on engines for the six authorized
battle cruisers and work had not much
more than started on plants for three OF
the six authorized scout cruisers.
Submarines building on July num-
bered 100, and the tables show the en-
gines for % were more than 90 per cent
ready; ID of them being well past the
90 per cent