Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1924-04-13
Army andNavyNews
BY W. I'll. MCINTYRE,

ncINI l NE.
Lieut.. Col. A. II. Davidson, 14th Cav
airy, Will be given its instruction
and training at Fort Des Moines,
Iowa and it Is understood that Maj.
Clarence l.. Sturdevant, Corps of En-
gineers. has been selected as the 1924
representatives. The engineers will
train at Fort Dupont. Del. For
the coast artillery Maj. c. w. Baird,
Coast Artillery Corps, has been Sc
lected as captain, and First Lieut.. II.
c.. Barnes, jr., as coach. Maj. Baird.
who has been on duty in the coast de-
lenses at San Francisco, has been
ordered TO Narragansett bay, while
Lieut. Barnes is now student in the
Coast Artillery School, Fort Monroe,
Va
Lieut.. Col. Harry c. Barnes, execu-
tive officer. office of the chief of coast
artillery, has inaugurated a system
whereby series of lectures on the
functions of each section of this Of
hce are being given before the facul-
ty, students and officers on duty at
the Coast Artillery School, Fort Mon
roe, Va. Col. Barnes delivered a lee
ture March 90 at the school. his sub
ject being regimental reorganization.
On April II, Maj. Clifford Jones. chief
of the personnel section of this office,
spoke on personnel matters. Other
officers from this office who will de-
liver lectures at Fort Monroe in the
near future are Col. William E. Cole.
chief of the training section, who VIII
speak on training matters; Maj.
Homer r. Oldfield. who will speak on
organization and war plans, and Maj.
Lincoln b.. Chambers, chief of the ma
terial section, who will talk about
material questions.
1t is believed that by the first &C
next week orders will be approved
which will eventually relieve more
than so per cent of the officers IN
Washington who are on duty with the
general staff and the various
branches. This is believed to be the
largest turnover that has ever oc-
Cured in the Army, and those in
charge of this wholesale change In
assignments have called upon corpS
area commanders for recommends
tions. In making these assignments
the question of foreign service, the
command roster and a number If
other factors have all oeen con-
Sidered
NAVY.
Secretary Wilbur is now consider
ing the matter of appointing mem
bers of the selection board, when
will convene in Washington May ~
for the purpose of recommending SIN
officers for promotion to the grade
of rear admiral, twentyone to be
nromoted 70 the grade of captain and
forty-one to the grade OF command
er. In making it's selections the
board will consider the records of all
CAPTAINS. commanders and lieutenant
commanders who have served IN
these grades for four years. Serv-
ice under temporary commissions in
these grades will be counted in the
four years.
In order to avoid the appearance
of placing the control of selections
in the hands of faction or d group
OF flag officers, efforts will be made
to appoint rear admirals who have
not served on the board or who at
least have not acted in this capacity
more than once or twice. The funds
available for transportation will be
a paramount factor in the conSidera-
ton of the appointments to the board
and the Secretary will even hesitate
bringing an admiral from the Pacific
coast. The board is of such i'm
portance, however. that this may be
waived. OF the forty-nine rear adj
mirals on the active list of the Navy,
eight have been members of one
board, three of two boards and thirty
have never served as a member of
the selection board.
The three who have served on two
selection boards include Rear Ad-
mirals Clarence S. Williams, Andrew
T. Long. chief bureau of navigation
and Ashley 3. Robertson, Pacific
coast. Those who have been mem
Shumaker, Newton a McCully,
Thomas F. MagI uder Samuel S Rob-
ison, Charles +. Hughes, BENJAMIN +.
Hutchinson, William V. Pratt, Louis
NJ. Mutton.
Of
Navy Department, this week approved
the itinerary of the L. s. s. Pitts
burgh, as follows: Malaga Spain;
April Fl. Leaving this port April 20
the Pittsburgh will arrive at Cadiz
April 80 She will leave here Nav .
arriving at Bordeaux, France. Nav
10. She is due at Brest. France. May
II; Belfast, May IS; Dublin, May %;
ton, June Z; Havre, June 10; Amster-
dam, June 10, and Christiania. Nor
way, Juno 81.
OF the 6.1so declared Navy de-
serters during the current fiscal -
up to and including March "a ie9a
there have been 1850 surrenders and
1,449 deliveries, or pererntapn of
return of 59.S per cent. Since the
bureau of navigation, Navy Depart
IneHl- HAS duopIeO the policy of send
ing out finger prints with COMES of
declarations for deserters within
twenty-four hours Of the report of
desertion in the bureau, a consider
able increase in the number of an
prehensions has been noted.
AS of January l, 1924, to February
%, 1924, a total of SO separations
have occurred in the naval service.
over a third of which have severed
their connections with the service
due to having reached the retirement
age. Over half of the total rendered
their designations for various rea-
sons.
Rear Admiral Andrew r. Long,
chief of the bureau of navigation,
has instructed the commander-in-
chief. United States fleet, to direct
the commander of the scouting feet
to take up with the commandants
of the LIST, Sd, 4th, 5th, 9Th, 9TH, and
8th naval districts, the question of
training members of the Naval Re
serve force during the summer of
1924 on vessels of the fleet 1t is the
opinion among officers in the Navy
Department that this is the best