Evening star., 1923-07-25
D. c. NAVY RESERVE
SOON TO ENDCRU|S
Aboard U. S. S. Eagle Com
pleting Maneuvers Which
Will Terminate Saturday.
Special Dispatch to The Star.

ABOARD THE L. S. S. EAGLE No.
Sc. anchored PatuXent river. off Solo
mons, Md.-With both officers and men
of the United States naval reserve of
the District on their annual training
cruise aboard this ship. getting the
maximum of training. many of them
are viewing with regret the approach
of the end of the cruise. In addition
to giving the men every opportunity
to do everything that man-o'-war's
man must do, or be ready and trained
to do. Capt, John Balch Blood is
training the junior officers in impor
tant control duties of the ship. This
part of the training is considered
most essential, as in time of war
these officers may be ordered to COM
mands. and the training they are
getting now will f1t them for inde-
pendent duty rather than a part of
a big ships organization.
Avoid the Crooks and Shoals
Recruits on the cruise received
their first introduction to. and old
timers renewed their acquaintance
with "rocks and shoals" These. in
naval circles, are important. and to
run afoul of them is rated as quite
dangerous In concise terms the crew
and the punishments provided. BY
regulation. the articles must be read
to ''all hands" every Sunday. 1t is
a dignified ceremony. when all Off
GERS and men of the ship are mustered
on the quarterback.
The ship arrived here Sunday. and on
the way up the bay from Yorktown
Il target was launched and the gun
crews fired under service conditions
While cruising. and considering the
the fact that the gun crews have only
worked together for a week. they
obtained excellent results. tribute
10 the training and drilling given
them by the officers and petty Of
fcers
Pass Out Into Bay.
Yesterday morning the vessel got
under way and steamed down the
PatuXtent river and out into the
hay. where it cruised for several
hours. During this time Capt. Blood
had the watch and division officers
assume control of the vessel and
maneuver it as they would be ex-
pected to handle Il command if or
dered to one during war. The
division officers We're required to get
the vessel ready for sea. up anchor
and get under way and then return
the vessel to the anchorage. Also.
while cruising. more target practice
was held. The crews of the guns
received better training from this
run of shots because of the fact that
the sea was choppy. and there was a
roll and pitch, which require the gun
pointers and trainers to exercise eX-
treme alertness to keep on the tar
gets
Members of the crew say they are
on a happy ship. and the officers
pointed out that this is evidenced bv
the fact that there has been no
liberty breaking and every man is
performing his duty without a COM
plant Capt. Blood. in addition to
having Rocks and Shoals read, has
mustered all hands aft and explained
TO them the system of naval courts
martial. and how discipline is main
tanned in the Navy
While the vessel cruisel during the
day. il came back to its anchorage
here each evening for liberty. and
the men have been entertained by
the populace here at dances Many
of the people have visited the ship.
as Capt. Blood is doing all possible
20 acquaint the people of the sections
he visited with the duties of the
Navy.
Target Practice in Program.
The vessel Will get under way
tomorrow shortly after daybreak
and there will be maneuvering in
nior officers an opportunity to hanJle
the vessel, both in cruising. coming
to anchor and getting under way
The Potomac river will be entered
In time to make the Marine Corps
dock at Quantico. Va. where the
landing force will be sent ashore for
target practice. Arrangements have
been made for the use of ten targets
on the Marine Corps range, for small
arms practice. for which a silver
cup has been provided Lieut. Will
bert L. Locklin and Ensign Moore
are training their men and there is
keen rivalry.
The vessel will arrive at Wash
ington Saturday morning. completing
the fifteen-day cruise. After lay
over of two weeks it will make it's
fourth and last cruise. this timk;
In command of Commander John A.
Schotield. Recruits now are being
taken at Washington for this cruise