Bisbee daily review., 1918-12-15
AMERICA HAD 264
 BOATS AND MANY 3 THOUSAND 'CObS'
Our Fleet in European Waters Carried 24,O00 Yankee Sea- men, Says Admiral Grif- fins Report
CRv Review Leased wrel

(By Review Leased Wre)
 WASHINGTON, Dec. IA. - One month before the armistice with Ger many ended the war, the American navy was operating total of 1859 vessels of all descriptions, of which 264 carrying 42.000 men were active ly participating in the war in Euro pean waters.
 These figures were disclosed in the annual report of Rear-Admiral Grif- fin, chief of the bureau of steam engi- neering Daily expenditures of the bureau during the war year covered by the report exceeded S777,OOO.
 Admiral Griffin said the regular navy on the date of his report consist CT 570 ships, supplemented by 93 yes sels from the coast guard, lighthouse service, coast and geodetic survey and fish commission. In addition the navy was then operating 937 convert ed merchant craft, yachts and the like, and the naval overseas transport serv- ice, consisting -of PAT shipping board and other supply vessels, with 112 more about to be commissioned. Con- struction under way for the regular navy at that time included 376 new ships of all kinds and 52 tugs.
 Since the United States became a belligerent," the report states, the magnitude of the engineering work of the navy, both mechanical and cleo trical, not only in its actual amount but in its actual amount but in the rapid development of facilities for it's execution-has been without parallel for the same period of time in the his tory of the worlds navies."
 To keep up the fleet abroad, three repair bases were established in France, one in Great Britain, one at Gibraltar and two in the Mediterran- can. These were supplemented by six repair ships which achieved remark able results in repairing vessels at sea.
 The report makes the first official announcement 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, how ever, the report in this connection con-
  graph:
 Previous to July 1, 1917, there were two devices for submarine de- tection in service. One was the Fes- senden oscillatOr primarily intended for sending and receiving underwater signals; the other was a device devel- oDed by the General Electric company. Since then eight other devices for sub- marine detection have been developed and made in quantity, not only for our own navy, but for the British ad- miralty and the French ministry ma rine. Modified forms Of these devices have also been designed for use in protection of the Atlantic coast of the | United States"
 Taking up naval radio development, l Admiral Taylor shows that through | the new high power plant at Annapol- l is and the station built by the navy in France and nearing completion, pro- vision had been made which would | have kept the United States govern l ment in touch with it's forces in Eu- l rope constantly even if every subma- | rine cable had been cut The radio | communication system has been ex- tended vastly, S4 additional main sta | tions having been built during the | year.
 Striking achievements are noted in | development of radio outfits for naval i aircraft. Communication from ma chimes in flight to shore stations is | now possible at a distance of 200 | miles, the report says, while the land | station can communicate with a ma chine in air 50 miles away Through | the radio telephone, the aircraft can talk to stations 50 miles away and re- ceive verbal instructions from stations 15 miles distant. Both systems have been employed with the coastal patrol maintained by aircraft
 Tables annexed to the report show that the battleship Mississippi, F desToyers, eight of which are 35-knot boats. and 14 submarines had been de- livered prior to the first of last July At that time destrOyers Nos. 70 to 344 inclusive, were under construction, all but the first two being 35-knot craft. The chief difficulty to be overcome in carrying out the huge destroyer pro- ject was building the engines, yet on July l the driving plants or the Z15 II boats then building were well ad- vanced. Many of the vessels since have been delivered.
 Of the big ships, engines for five out of eight new battleships had pass ed the 20 per cent mark. No work beyond preparation of plans apparent ly had been done on engines for the six authorized hattie cruisers and work had not much more than started on plants for three of the six author ized scout cruisers.
 Submarines building on July 1 mum bered l00. and the tables show the engines for 2S were more than so per cent ready; II of them being well past the 90 per cent
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