The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-12-10
INCREASED NAVAL PROGRAM
 IS EXPLAINED BY SECRETARY
 DANIELS OF NAVY DEPARTMENT

road home. From NOFemDer to the date of the report, there had been 289 additional sailings of Amer tcan troop and supply ships, the aver ave being about one ship every five | hours.
 Writing with pride of the record l of the marine brigade in France, the l Secretary shows that with only 5000 l men of the corps engaged, the casu- alties numbered 69 officers and 1,531 men dead, 7S officers and 2,435 seri- ously wounded, while but 57 marines are reported officially as captured by the enemy, Illustrating the desperate character of the fighting in which the brigade participated and the fact that it was always advancing.
 '"To the United States Marines" MT. Daniels says, fighting side by side with equally brave and equally courageous men in the American Army, to that faithful sea and land force of the Navy, fell the honor of taking over the lines where the blow of the Prussian would strike the hardest, the line that was nearest Paris and where, should breach oc- CuII dil "OuIu D0 lOSl.
 ''The world knows today that the United States Marines held that line; that they blocked the advance thal was rolling on toward Paris at a rate of or miles a day; that they mel the attack in American fashion and with American heroism; that Mar ines and soldiers of the American Army threw back the crack guard divisions of Germany, broke their ad- vance, and then, attacking, drovs them back in the beginning of re- treat that was not to end until the cease firing signal sounded for the end of the worlds greatest war"
 A striking picture of the fighting. at Belleau Woods, now renamed in honor of the Marine Brigade, is giv- en.r The place was jungle filled with machine gun nests, the Secretary says, impossible to reach with artil- lery or grenades.
 There was only one way" he con- tinues, Ito wipe out these nests-by bayonet. And by this method were they wiped out, for United States Marines, bare chested, shouting their battle cry of 'E-e-e-e-e y-a-a-h-h-h i yipH charged straight into the mur- | derous fire from those guns, and won! Out of the number that charged, in more than one instance, | only one would reach the stronghold. | There, with his bayonet as his only
 weapon, he would either kill or cap ture the defenders of the nest, and
 then swinging the gun about in it's | f11r inG hn iT7- ing German positions in the forest.
 'In all the history of the Marine
 Corps there is no such battle as that
 one in Belleau Wood. The heroism
 and doggedness of that battle are un-
 paralleled."
 The report describes the laying o:
 the North Sea mine barrage, wholly
 an American enterprise While there
 is no way of ascertalning definitely
 what that 250 mile barrier did to en-
 emy submarines, MT. Daniels say.
 there Is reason to believe that ter
 U-boats had ended their career a
 the barrage before the middle of Oc
 tober"
 , The building and manning of tht 14-inch rifle naval batteries uorkint T
 scribed- There have been no equal in the fighting of these highly mo bile weapons with range of 8 miles, the report says, adding: . Briefly, the American Navy ha
 designed, built, and is now mannini 5 with bluejackets specially trained fo land service, the largest and mos t high-powered mobile land artillery Il the world. So successful have thes s guns been that additional orders fo many more were requested befor ; the armistice''
 The depth bomb has proven tn = most effective means of combattin l the submarines, the report states, an T it. shows that American enterpris e was responsible for very largely in 0 creasing that effectiveness. The earl y 50 pound charge bombs were crud y and of low destructive force com e pared to the 300 pound and 50 - pound charges now being produced
 Many allied ships have been equippe : with these American improvements. 0 Another ordnance development ths n is noted is the perfection of 16-inc s rifles for all new battleships. The n will make these vessels, it is sail e the heaviest armed craft in the worl = with broadside projectile weight h 25,200 pounds against 17,50S pound y for the Pennsylvania, the biggest ar g most powerful now in commission. n The report emphasizes also in u y record of small arms training du
 ing the year, 40,O0O,O00 rounds ha II ing been fired without an accidel t. due to carelessness. Since last Ju ,e the Navy has qualified 54,14 mark le men, 25,222 sharpshooters and 11,St 'n expert rifiemen.
 le Today" the report says, "practi SC ally every cOmbatant ship is able s. organize a landing force of as maj h men as it can send ashore, with evel d, man a trained ritieman and many d, them trained machine gunners." es To Capt F. P. Jessop, engineeri e. officer at the New York Navy Tar h. the report gives credit for havi Tn recommended the revolutionary pra a tice of electric welding when repa of of the damaged German shipping W lis undertaken. Careful estimates ha -l- shown that this one innovation say
 twelve months in time and S20,O0t as 900 in money, while the ships tn at made quickly available carried half ed million soldiers in France.
 % Another engineering achieveme a of the year is the completion al tn testing of the first electric drive b. d; tleship, the New Mexico. Desp if adverse criticism which met the ( % termination to employ this mecha lis ism on battle craft the report sa at- the New Mexico has not only met rst cry requirement but has passed ma ter additional tests with the result u