Arizona republican., 1918-07-23

cates marked efficiency in the fire and engine room.'
 They did a finished job of preparing the ship to the highest state of prepar- edness to fight the enemy among the ice fields, the Wintry winds and sweep ing gales of the far north where they shook off one hurricane only to come up for another and never cried quits. Trip after trip with short intervals be- tween were made in this frozen north during the long cold winter and the ship was always ready to leave, always ready to go anywhere and did not leave this station till ordered to do so in the spring. This particular job referred to was the decking over of the spar or upper deck, making the ship tenable for below zero weather. build ing fire control, bridge and other houses, accomplished by the ships force in ten days-navy yard estimate forty days.
 Built deck house to keep enough vegetables in zero weather to last the crew of twelve hundred men forty days, or over to Europe and back again without having to obtain them from the allies.
 Closed up six inch gun ports in
  navy yard job
 Several big jobs were done by the ships force, thus keeping the ship away from yards and ever ready for duty.
 The manner in which the men con- duct themselves ashore has been fav- orably commented upon by higher au, thorities and especially in foreign ports.
 The spirit of the crew is all that could be desired, the commander cruise force remarking especially that There is fine spirit in the crew of the San Diego which is shared in by others and particularly the officers of this ship who are prone to see all that Is going on.
 In my twenty 1.-two years in the ser vice, I have always been with a good crew, but this crew excels in that it has the added advantage of having the real problem immediately confronting us. However, too much credit cannot be given the crew for their willingness and cheerfulness and I am proud to say that in my close utilization with the crew, which the duties of an exec utive officer happily bring me I have lnever heard a groWl or a grumble.
 
 mand that the men coal ship well into the night. take on stores till midnight after coaling all day which they have done, coal in a real binding snow storm twice month which they have Idone, this work is done cheerfully and willingly with no more ado than the ordinary routine work.
 I have always made study of the individuals of the various crews oi which have been shipmates. taking 3 particular and keen interest in then and know whereof I write.
 Too much praise cannot be given the Iengineer's force who have not only kept their machinery in splendid work ing condition, ready to get underway ir a moments notice and making higf powered runs, but they are anxious tc make high speeds all the time, the extrs Iamount of work required being self-ev- ident-a fine spirit.
 The engineers force co-operatet wonderfully with the deck force anC the discipline was a joy and a relief tC the executive officer as well as tht commanding officer.
 The boats crews stuck to their guns manfully, carrying out an hourl, schedule from a. m. to l a. m. anC later, an average of four boats run  ming nearly all the time in the daytime and two at night under almost impos sible weather conditions, snow, ice storms and below zero weather.
 This ship set such a high standarS for the individual that it was neces sary to discharge eleven men as unde sirable in order to maintain this stan dard.
 In all. the yearly accomplishment , sum up in a most praiseworthy man , ner. due to the one big family get-to : gether spirit and the San Diego neve had to turn back and did all her worl in seamanlike manner with practi cally green crew of boys and wha ] is more, never lost ship. Any shortcomings are that of omis , sion rather than commission and ar due to newness to the service rathe than deliberation. They will be over come in time but fortunately every bi thlng has been gracefully hurdled an ) the San Diego is looked upon with ia : svor by the chief of bureau of naviga