Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-11-23
ARMY and NAVY.

Z
| for the Navy. After considerable in
vestigations.. the Navy board charged
with making the selection recommended
Charleston, w. Va. where. on bend in
the Kanawha river. the plant was ulti-
mately located. t..'-
| The construction work was not begun
until August 3. 1917, and it's projectile
plant was completed in August, 1918;
| but for several months before compile
ton the bureau of naval ordnance had
begun the manufacture there Of forgings
and projectiles for the largest guns
! made.
The projectile plant is now operating
with great efficiency. turning out am
munition for ten-inch guns. The plant
is also producing hoops for these huge
guns and it is making air TASKS for tor
pedoes-all from the raw steel. Rear
Admiral Earle, chief of the bureau OF
ordnance, who recently inspected the
plant, says that the steel forgings made
in that plant show better results than
the bureau has any record Of from pri-
vate manufacturers.
| The armor- making plant. on which
work was not rushed after the armistlce
was signed is steadily developing and
| will produce 10000 tons of armor and
10000 tons of gun forgings annually If
pushed to capacity. That means that,
if the war had continued, the Navy, by
| TuSHlHS lHlS arthur pldHl, COulu nave iS-
lieved the commercial steel manufac-
turers of 10000 tons of steel work an
| nually.
Although the work was not begun I'M
til August 1917, the Navy actually re-
ceived from this plant forgings for five
| and six inch guns before the fighting
was brought to close in November,
| 1918.
| At this plant the Navy has erected the
| largest gun heating and treating pit in
q yTnr a N
krupp plant ever possessed.
| The work has from its inception been
in charge of Capt. J. B. Rhodes. U. 8.
/ n. who. however. has recently been as
signed to other duty.
| To the American Navy is due the
real credit for the installation of the
| North Sea bar
/ American Mines rage by means
of the mines that
U-boats we'll within the northern
waters after they lost their bases
opening on the Atlantic. The British
laid only some $4,000 mines of the
| total put down in that operation.
| than $4,000 mines. each charged with
$50 pounds of TINT. The Americans
by the adoption of quantity. produc
ton methods, were able to turn gu
| their anchorage 1.-THE rate of thou
sand a day. Accordingly. a compari
son of the results obtained by the two
| nations in the production of mine9
! is interesting. since it also gives sofns
| idea of the number of mines employed
in the war. The British produced l.
all something more than 10000
mines. of which British vessels lait
10000 generally. In addition the.
put down $4,000 in the North sea bar
| rage. $4,000 on the east coast to pro
| tect the British channel. $4,000 off the
coast of Yorkshire, 1900 more of
other parts of England and 5000 in
the Mediterranean.
The American Navy during the short
time it was in the war produced 1922
40 mines. of which it. put down S.,
600 in the North sea barrage, and
brought back $4,000, which are stored
ready for any emergency that may
/ arise.
The development of the mines by
Rear Admiral Earle and the laying
of the barrage by Rear Admiral Jo-
seph Strauss and the subsequent re-
/ moval and destruction of the mines
laid by the Navy in the barrage re-
mains one of the successful and mon
umental undertakings of the naval
| warfare.
The statement in the House by Rep
resentative Kahn concerning the
progress of
Interest Is Keen Army legisla-
in Army Program. eiv.a with
great interest. 1t is known that the
members of the House military COM
mittee have given close attention to
matters before the committee. realizing.
as they do, that never before have the
results been more momentous.
| To quote the words of Mr.. Kahn. ct
is only fair to state that there is a
diversity of opinion among officers Of
the regular establishment as to the
final solution of the problems" The
problems he referred to were the re-
tanning of various corps created by
the department during the war, and
include the tanks. chemical warfare
transportation corps and many others
| The committee will hear when i
can the representatives of the Ma
tiona1 Guard (whose proposed bill has
been submitted to Congress) and this
will involve the question of return
to the pre-war system with quite
radical notifications or the adoption
of universal military training. Al
that point will arise the question OF
policy, which is far the most i'm
portant subject on which the com
mittee will pass judgment
| The announcement that the commit
itee would recommend an Army of ap-
proximately 100000 combat troops
with something more than $4,000
auxiliary forces was no surprise. as
| it was well known that the commit
ltee looked with no favor upon the
recommendations for an army of more
than half million men, especially as
there were unsatisfactory conditions
attached to the methods of raising
the required force.
| officers nearly all favor the prom
Use of the single list as basis FOL
promotion. They seem to think, with
few exceptions that it will. help to equal,
lie promotion. Mr. Kahn was silent on the
Ivexed question OF promotion-whether
it should be confined to a severe ap-
plication of elimination or should in
clude selection in greater or less de-
| gree.
He was silent also on the more per-
sonal question Of Army pay. 1t is re-
garded as unfortunate that this mat
ter should have to go over to the next
| session.; for in the meantime the
Army is losing some of its best men
for the simple reason that they can
not solve the problem of fighting high
| cost of living in the Army. Then
| comes an attractive offer to enter
| commercial business and the Army
has lost some more of its cream.
ipI ANc lIM0ER WAY FOR