The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1925-09-22

fleet; second, to protect our COM
merce; third, to destroy the enemy's
commerce in order to bring economic
pressure to bear on him, and if our
rights still continued to be denied,
fourth. to transport the Army. in or
der to break down remaining enemy
resistance.
THE mission of an air force of
the Navy in time Of war must nc
cessarily be to assist the Navy in
carrying out its war mission. Naval
aviation is today organized as an in
tegral part of the Navy and consti-
tutes an arm thereof in the same
manner as do battleships, cruisers,
destroyers, submarines, or mine-I lay
ers. The mission Of the Naval Air
force in time Of war may thus be
stated:
'The Air force is an arm Of the
fleet. Its mission is to aid the sur
face units in gaining and maintain
ing command Of the sea. 1t may best
carry out this mission by gaining
and maintaining control of the air
in the theatre of naval operations.
"The relations of the air service to
the Army and Navy are officially set
forth in the policy Of the Army and
Navy relating to aircraft, signed by
the secretaries of War and of the
Navy. This policy was issued to the
Navy as general order on July
7, 1924.
Points To Britain
"Press comment from Great Bri-
tain where the pendulum is already
swinging back toward Naval control
for sea-going aviation recognize. tAe
soundness of our air policy.
"The secretary explained the syt-
TEN employed in the purchases of
supplies. the production of specific
types of planes and other such mat
ters of operation. adding that there
was Il close interrelat ationship with
many activities Of other branches of
the Navy,
"The close relationship" he said,
"of aviation to the Navy and the
absolute interdependence of aircraft
demonstrated time and again not on
ly in our own but in other navies"
The Secretary at this point dis
closed the conclusions in report
submitted by the commander in chief
of the fleet under date of June "a.
last. following the Hawaiian maneu-
vers, which reads as follows:
File Report
The commander in chief, as re-
suit Of his close personal observa-
tions, desires to inform the depart
ment that he considers any further
agitation or argument in favor of
united air service or in favor of
separate aviation corps for the
Navy as being entirely out of date.
The commander in chief is unable
to predict what will be the ultimate
development of aviation material, but
the developments, now present in
the fleet and in sight, clearly indi-
cate that the air squadrons exist as
an arm of the fleet just as the des-
troyer squadrons and the submarine
divisions exist; that they are part and
| parcel Of the fleet, and of the naval
establishment, and air squadron can
not exist as any other basis for CO.
operation, coordination, and indoc-
| trination.
In order to cooperate with the
J fleet the personnel must 60 through
the same training, at the same mill
and be made up of officers and men
| who are one and the same, mentally
and spiritually, as the others in the
fleet. They must not and cannot
properly exist on basis Of different
broad training or different statutes
in any respect, and any attempt to
promote such existence is against
the best interest of the fleet and the
navy, and hence of the country as
| whole.
"'After the experience cited above,
the commander in chief desires to
inform the department that were he
required to conduct campaign he
would want aeronautical units whose
material had been developed and
produced by naval experience and
dictated by naval requirements, to
work with the fleet at sea, and to
work around fleet bases; and he
would want personnel which had
been trained homogepeously in all
the varied duties with the fleet at
sea and around fleet bases. Both
the personnel and material must be
under the sole control Of the Navy
department, and Of the commander
in chief when with the fleet or in
the fleet areas. Any other arrange.
ment would be entirely unsatisfac-
tory to any commander in chief.
"'The commander in chief informs
Continued on page three)