Evening star., 1922-02-20
NAVAL MEN REPLY
TO KELLEY. CLAIMS
Deny Representatives Asser-
tions on Cost of Present
i Department Policy.


ferenees with prominent naval onn-
cials. The attack Of Representative
Kelley on the retention in commis-
sion by the Navy Of Vessets OIL NJ
niptary value Is met with the state
ment that such vessels as ne mas
po,nted to are Nept in commission
h...r.. thew are cheaper than the
MavaI ofticers are reluctant to dis-
euss nublicly the charges OF NaIious
congressmen, for fear OF thS
of propaganda or lobbying, ou. .n.
will show their records 70 coo ,,esssl
roneous statements of cost OF Vessei
oneration. They are struggling naro
to keep the Navy strictly up 10 sne
ha sfa provided by the Hughes piah'
but, In their view. any euttlhs VI ~
appeopriations below the Ioch ~.
tom ssttmated fSs %srn Is heIaw He i. the g ratio
~ Janan from an actual fighting
standpoint
:. speeinl Factors Important.
A. one naval official put 1t today.
the Navy Is actually getting sleaier
efficiency and saving mucn money ~
retaining in commission Ness
which could not be USED W. IN tue ,f 1he
line in a case of war. MOST Oh !ns
ships of non-military value wnich
ora st,lI In commission or which have
NOT been ordered out OF comhission a
at an early future date are ships
doing duty in waters wne d1aft s. psbif.
ahiItty for tropical service. etc, are
such vessels, 1t was pointed out. re-
ouire very small crew ana DuIn
very small amounts OF fuel, ano .n
total cost of upkeep Is very smAi
comnsred to that Of larger combatant
shin II assigned to this duty. In
other words, the Navy Department
has carefully studied. from an econom-
icaI point Of view, the use OF such
vessels and has decided tnat m plat 70
tically every case a direct SAVING 70
departmental appropriations can be
Answering some of the specific
cases of costs Of operation, omcers
pointed out. for instance ina. IN IN rns
nointed to by Representative kelley
as an example Of high cost last year
this vessel was placed out OF com
mission on March last and sold De-
cember 20 last.
In the case of the Olympia, former
na1.hin of the late Admiral Dewey,
this vessel was assigned as hagshfp
of the train, because She needed no
large expenditure for repairs upon
her return from European "aters
about the middle OF last year. y., 70 70
become flagship of the train, 70 re-
lieye the Columbia, which the Olym-
pia did. would have cost $zoo.ooo.
The whole question was carefully
gone over and in the interests o.
sacrifice to the desire of the Navy
Department to place non com oatant
ships out Of commission, the oroefs
for the decommissioning OF the Olym-
pia were revoked. Her ma.eai e.aa ,eine eTz
ordered as flagship. Navy omcials oe-
cIare, her maintenance has been very
small and nothing like the ngufes
quoted by Representative keiiey Ao1
Naval officials admit that the cruiser
Rochester Is costing more than q new
vssseI Of the same class. but they nave
no similar vessel to take her place. ano
sneed. seaSoing. vessel to act as nag
min for the destroyer force. Until sucn
q yessel is provided the Rochester must
he considered as combatant vessel ana
would be so used on the scouting AAe
In case Of q war tomorrow.
View CONSTRUCTION Planned.
It was pointed out that Representa- a.
tive Kelley Is not cognizant OF al
the facts when he says that there
win be no new construction. Inc
House naval affairs committee az the
present time II drawing up plans 1or
Vn,eh otherwise would be scrapped.
into airplane carriers: This construc-
tion is declared to be necessary IN
the interests Of national security; as
the treaty allows $4,000 tons. Wnne
at the present time this country has
only one such vessel. with a displace-
ment of 10000 tons.
There is no present-day naval rule OF
four destroyers for every battlesnip.
Such rule was fonoweo peIole s i .ne
anced with battle and light cruisers But
the American Navy today has better
cruisers. They have under construction
ten light cruisers. whereas the naval au-
thorities state that there should be
four or five times that number In
order to effectively forr. advance
scouting and screening lines. SO nee
essary to obtain information OF the
enemy, while. at the same time, deny
ing the enemy information OF our own
fIeet. The lack of scouts necess1tates
the use Of destroyers. which must be
trained for that work. Four destroy
ers for each battleship, therefore, are
not enough.
Representative Kelley the suomsrsne snane
attack has become serious menace
to the battleship fleet In order to
Euard against this attack the world
war proved that destroyers must De
stationed in q screen around the pat
tleships so that at the first tndica-
tion Of an enemy submarine they
could Immediately get after II with
depth charges: therefore, the destroy
or training OF today involves train
ing in scouting. screening, attack
and defense against enemy suoma-
rines and torpedoea
Naval officials have been assured
that the present first class OF the
naval Academy will be commissioned!
REPRESENTATIVE Padgett, according to
naval officials, has had put In tine
Record the statement that the hrst
class will be commissioned: At any
rate, they point out. legislation would
be required to prevent the midsnip-
man class from graduating this year;
This ia new legislation and would
have to be first framed by tho naval
comu,ittee and not by the appropria-
II NUT In the bill by the appropria-
r,ons committee it would be subject
to q point Of order on the floor OF the
The need for onicers in the Navy, 10
very great at this time, even under
the Hughes plan, it was pointed out:
Out of 5.44s allowed, there are st
Dresent only 400 commissioned Of
fcers. of whom half have been COM
missioned less than six years.
frhe report of Representative
Keiley's statement concerning the
Navy appears on page OF The Star.)
CAIRO MUST SURRENDER
FIREARMS IN FOUR DAYS