Evening star., 1924-12-07
NAVY.

Approval has been given by the
President of the appointment or Rear
Admiral Josiah Mexican to command
the scouting fleet, with the rank OF
vice admiral. At present Admiral
Mexican is commandant of the Mare
Island Navy Yard, which assignment
he has held since September. 1s2l.
Admiral Mexican will relieve Vice Ad-
miral Newton A. McCully, who, upon
reverting TO his rank of rear admiral,
will be assigned as chief of the Amer
lean naval mission to Brazil. The
assignment of Admiral McCully to
cad the Brazilian mission will re-
eve Rear Admiral Carl T. Vogel-
gesang, who. upon returning to this
country, will be given sea duty.
Within the next few weeks there
will be two or three other changes
in important naval commands. Capt.
Frederic b. Bassett, jr., photographer
OF the Navy, will be automatically
transferred to the refred list of the
Navy on January 4, 1925. while on
February %. 1925. Rear Admiral
Henry e. Wilson, superintendent of
the Naval Academy, will retire, due
to his reaching the statutory age
limit. Another rumored change is
that of Vice Admiral Philip Andrews,
at present commander, United States
naval forces in Europe, who, it is
understood, will be given a different
assignment in the near future.
During the 1928 target year 1859
men qualified in rife marksmanship,
or 76.5 per cent of the total enlisted
strength of the Marine Corps. Dur
ing the period January l, 1924, to
June 80, 1924, S.041 marines fired the
rife for qualification, of whom 1856.
or 90.4 per cent of those firing, quail
ified as marksmen or better. 1t is
estimated that between July l, 1924
and December 81, 1924. the latter half
of the target year, about 1000 men
Will have fired.
interest is being evinced by officers
and men of the fleet in the approach
ing radio and sound competition,
which Will take place after the first
Of the year The rapid development
of this method of communication and
the Importance of its efficiency as
part of the fleets work is being en-
phasized. In making the arrange
mepts for this competition the COM
mander-in-chief,U United States Fleet,
has fixed the following figures upon
which the competition will be rated:
Ten per cent credit for efficiency in
radio transmission 10 per cent for
opera tions of radio compasses; 80 per
cent for general communications
while at battle stations; 10 per cent
for the operations of sound apparatus
while the balance will be credited for
miscellaneous items of efficiency in
communications.
Between December 81 and April 22
certain officers of the line, Supply
Corps and the Construction Corps, will
become eligible for promotion to the
rank of lieutenant. That the re-
quired examinations may be disposed
of prior to the date of examination
of those officers who will be pro-
moted In June. 1925, 1t Is expected
that the Bureau>of Navigation, Navy
Department. will Issue orders that
these examinations be conducted in
January.
The officers concerned are within
the groups listed below. and by check
ing these signal numbers against
those in the 1924 Navy Register their
names can be quickly ascertained
They are as follows: Line, signal
numbers 2791 to 2937, inclusive; Sup
ply Corps, signal numbers 650l to
6541, inclusive, and the Construction
Corps signal numbers 6sS5 to 6903,
inclusive.
The queenstown Association, of
which Capt. J. R. p. Pringle, U. S. N,
is president, and whose membership
is composed Of commissioned officers
of the Navy who served at Queens
town during the World War, recently
held its annual dinner at the Colum-
bia Country Club, near Washington.
The guest of honor this year was
Comdr. Harry Brown, r. N, the as
sistant British naval attache, who
was unanimously elected an honorary
member of the association. Capt
Pringle was POSTMASTER. In addition
to the speech of Comdr. Brown, who
ably presented the ties that bind the
two great English-speaking nations
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