Evening star., 1923-04-08
ARMY AND NAVY NEWS
BY NJ. HI. MCINTYRE


conference. and Rear Admiral S. S.
Robson. also on the general board
are said to be under consideration for
command of the battle fleet and of the
scouting fleet.
The only bureau chief slated for
immediate change is Rear Admiral
Charles B. McVey. jr.. chief of the
bureau OF ordnance, who will prob
ably be given command of one Of the
battleship. divisions.
number of other changes Of
officers OF lesser rank have already
been decided on. Capt. Joel r. r.
Pringle, commanding the L. s. $.
Idaho. is to succeed Capt. Dew.
Blamer as chief of staff. Naval War
College, as yet unassigned.
Capt. Frank IL. Clark. now in oper-
atoms; Is soon to take command OF
Capt. David Sellers. former aide to
Secretary DENLY. who will take COM
mand OF the naval training station
at San Diego. which will be opened
on June Is. Commander Percy w.
Daniels and later Secretay DENLY. is
to be assigned TO duty as officer in
charge Of recruiting bureau in New
York, succeeding Capt. r. D. White.
who is to go abroad on leave of
absence.
It's moving day" for the Navy
again. general shift of quarters is
being made to provide space for the
Office of public buildings and grounds.
now occupying rented space in the
Lemon building, on New York avenue.
This change is being made at the
request of Senator Reed Smoot. chair
man of the public buildings commits
sion. in the interests of economy.
Desiring to cooperate with the
government-owne buildings to the
maximum capacity" the Navy has
agreed to release space on the first
floor, sixth wing. now occupied by the
Office of naval intelligence. compen-
sation board. national advisory COM
mittee for aeronautics and bureaus of
ordnance, construction and repair and
navigation.
The transfer will be made about the
18th of the month and will effect a
very considerable saving.
Tentative plans to send the L. S s.
Langley. the Navy's only airplane
carrier. TO the west coast following
the maneuverS with the feet have
been changed and she will remain at
Pensacola for six or seven weeks car
rying out experiments with planes
in landing and taking off. At the
conclusion of these tests she will re-
turn to Hampton roads for further
experimental work in the develop
ment Of aircraft in connection with
the air station there.
The next sailing of a naval trans
port for ASiatic waters is scheduled
for July To- according to tentative
plans just completed by the depart
ment. The Argonne, now at Phila-
delphia. will sail for the west Goa 81 t
on June 9. stopping at Annapolis. and
Cavite. stopping en- route 1t Honolulu
and Guam.
Decision for the midshipmen's s
cruise to include European ports has
been reached by operations and only
awaits formal ratification by the Sec
retary on his return. The Delaware.
North Dakota, Florida and Arkansas
will be the battleships making the
cruise. and ii will probably be under
the command of Rear Admiral A. H.
Scales. formerly superintendent of the
Naval Academy.
Leaving Annapolis on June % the
mfdshipmen will start across the At
lantic. and before their return to the
academy will have had forty-two
days OF cruising. thirty EIGHT in for
etgn ports, and will have sailed about
ten thousand miles. Their ports of
call, if approved finally by the Secre-
tary, Will include Copenhagen. Swe-
den, GLASGOW. Scotland. Lisbon. Por-
tugal. Cadiz. Spain. with a stop at
Gibraltar on the return trip.
Following the sinking of the radio
controlled Iowa during the maneuv-
ers or Panama. plans are under con-
sidera ton for fitting out two other
old ships with radio equipment for
further experiments with the air
force. and the fleet using them as
targets. No decision has been reached
as to which ships will be used pend
Ing the return Of the chief of opera
tions and Capt. c. Shackford, director
of gunnery exercises. both of whom
witnessed the Iowa tests There has
been some discussion of using the
Delaware and North Dakota when
they are stricken from the list this
fali on completion of the Colorado
and West Virginia. Under the treaty
these ships must be scrapped or
otherwise destroyed when the new
warships are put in commission.
A request has been received by the
Navy from the Army air service that
one OF these battleships be turned
over to the Army f1iers for use as a
target for the aerial bombers, fully
equipped" 1t is understood il would
be ftted out with radio control and
serve as a moving target for the land
bombers. No action has as yet been
taken.
registered by the sonic depth sounder
with which the naval hydrographtc
office has been making extensive ex-
periments In sounding out the ocean
bed. Reports that a dangerous shoal
existed just off the eastern mouth of
the Panama canal led to the sending
OF the destroyers Hull and Corey,
which made the soundings off the
California coast, to locate it. Accord
ing to a report just received the
Whole vi area has been gone over and
reported shoals stricken from the
charts. The two destroyers will Join
the fleet for the present, but later on
t is planned to carry out more ex-
tensive soundings with them.
The cruiser Denver has recently
been fitted out with the sonic depth
Under and will leave Boston, April 10.
TO investigate reports Of existing
shoals off the east coast of Central
South America. She will run some
in an area never before
explored, depths that have never
been plumbed and will investigate
the reported existence of banks and
shoals never verified.
An Eagle boat has also been fitted
but and late in the summer will make
extensive soundings around the
Hawaiian Islands for the Carnegie
Institute in further attempt to 10
SotO tiit CAUSE iOT tludl waves and
that have occurred there
To keep the Navy up to the autor-
zed enlisted strength. 12,712, first
enlistments must be secured before
July l. $4,000 were needed for the
entire year and of this number s3.74I
have been secured. From this mum
Der due to underage and physical dis
ability discharges, 1,453 have been
dropped leaving shortage of 12,7I2.
Line officers due for promotion to