Evening star., 1923-08-19


| the constantly growing needs of this
| new branch of the naval service.
!, With the war stock of planes and
! material practically exhausted and in
need OF replacement. 60 per cent of
| the personnel in service with the
; fleet afioat and the widening scope of
! their activities. larger appropriations
must be forthcoming If aviation is
| to play It's impartant role as an in
tegrai part of the fleet In the nation
al defense.
Just how the department will be
able to meet the budget figures and
maintain the Navy even at its present
strength Is the problem departmental
| nothing official is forthcoming re-
garding the Navy's plans in face of
the budget cut, ii is generally underN
i stood that the budgets say-so will
not befinal so far as the proposal to
| build the gunboats, cruisers and sub
probably will be asked to make a
special appropriation for the work
of rounding out the Navy to con-
form to the treaty ratio.
Target Ships Ready.
Anticipating the formal exchange
OF ratifications of the naval treaty of
the Limitation of armament confer
pleted plans for carrying out the
scrapping program, and formal re-
quest for bids will be issued within
the next ten days for the ships to
be sold to be scrapped.
In order to have the two old bat
! tleships. the Virginia and New Jer-
| sey. available without delay for the
Army air service to use as targets
In the aerial bombing maneuvers off
the Virginia capes about the 5th Of
! next month. orders were sent the first
of the week to the commandant of
the yard to get them in readiness
In these orders the department
specified that merely such work be
done az was necessary to guarantee
their watertight integrity sufficiently
towed to the capes No attempt will
be made to put them into f1rst-cla SIS
condition. They are old ships, long
out of commission and the cost of
| putting them into first-class condi-
tioE would be prohibitive and almost
| impossible.
An interesting report from the
| naval air station at Pearl Harbor
tells of how the station has added
scientific exploration. to its list Of ac-
tivities. Johnson's Island, tiny dot
| in the Pacific 700 miles southwest of
Hawaii. vas visited recently by an
aerial exploration party headed by
commander. The men and planes
We're transported in a mine sweeper.
A scientific expedition of the Depart
| ment of Agriculture. headed by DR..
Wetmore, the wild bird man.. ac-
companied the aviators and was left
for IA ten-day stay on the island.
While there the flyers made extensive
aerial surveys. and will make a
Photographic mosaic map which is
expected to prove OF value from both
nayigational and strategic point OF
view. The island is one of Uncle
Sans possessions.
Desertions Are Checked.
Reports to the bureau of naviga =
ton indicate that the recent action
taken by the department to check the
flow of desertions is having very sat
isfactory results and a marked fall
ing off in the wholesale numbers OF
recent months is expected.
Another result accomplished by the
Secretary's orders to follow up" de-
serters more carefully is flood Of
requests being received by the de-
ps.rtment for reinstatement by young
sters who took French leave. In
many instances parents have written
in asking that their boys be given a
chance to come back and make good.
and in a few instances members of
Congress have interested themselves.
In considering these cases the de-
partment handles each one on its mer-
its, voluntary offers to give them
ing strongly in their favor.
Another interesting development in
the personnel situation is the num-
ber OF fleet reservists who are seek
ing to re-enter the active service.
Scores of the old-timerS have recently
filed applications for reinstatement
in the active service. men who have
gone into the fleet reserve under the
sixteen and twenty years service clause
who, after Il few months away from
the ships. have tired of inaction. None
of them is being taken back into the
service. but as many as possible are
being taken care of by placing them
on active duty in charge of the re-
servists' ships.
1882 Enlistments Expire.
During the rest of the present fis4
cal year there will be 1859 expira-
tions of enlistments among the en-
listed personnel and an estimated loss
of 1926 from desertions. discharges.
deaths and other causes. Ofsetting
this will be an estimated income from
establishments, extensions and surren-
ders of approximately 5000. leaving
nearly 10000 vacancies to be filled
by new enlistments.
At present the service is short
nearly 1000 men of its authorized
strength, but il is estimated that this
recruits are secured according to
schedule at the rate they are. now
coming in.
Scout CFuisers Near Completion.
Two more of the scout cruisers are
nearing completion. The Concord Is
due for commissioning at Philadelphia
about November Is, and Will go on a
cruise through the Mediterranean via
Madeira. through the Suez canal and
Red sea and down the east coast OF
Africa, returning to the United States
via Cape Town.
The Cincinnati, due for commits
sioning at Puget sound about Octo-
Der 1, will visit on her shake down
cruise" Marshall and Caroline Islands.
Japan and the Philippines, returning
by the northern route.
The itinerary for the Raleigh, the
! been completed. but will be as ex-
tensive as those Of her sister ships.
The following named officers have
been selected for a postgraduate
course in ordnance at the Naval Acad-
envy, beginning September 20; Lieuts.
Carmine. William c. Nose, Festus f.
Foster and Ralph II. Roberts.
The U. S. S. Quiros, one Of the river
! gunboats in service in Chinese waters
from the list and placed on sale at
Shanghai. The Quiros was one of the
Spanish gunboats sunk by the Span
| ish in Philippine waters during the
Spanish-American war and later
! raised by the Navy and put into serv-
| ice.
Wyoming Gets An "E."
The battleship Wyoming has earn
| ed the right to paint a white "E'' on
each side of her coming tower, sig
| nifying that she attained the highest
merit in her class in gunnery during
the fiscal year just closed. The gun
| merry trophy has been awarded her,
and Capt. c. w. Laws. her command
| ing officer. will receive a letter OF
| CONNIE ndation from the Secretary of
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