Evening star., 1925-09-22

In his prepared testimony before
The aircraft board today Secretary
of the Navy Wilbur advocated a naval
air service in its present form. and
declared that the creation Of q de-
partment of national defense would he
well nigh irreparable mistake" He
also opposed a naval air force as a
separate corps analogous to the Ma
rtne Corps. He promised the board
that AL information in the possession
OF the Navy Department or any of it's
officers desired by you Is at your dis
posal."
We wish" he said. Ito present the
matters involved in the fullest and
talrest manner possible by those best
qualified to give the information
The Secretary then launched into
broad discussion of the tactical re-
lation of the Air Service to other mill
tary arms.
Mission of Service.
The mission of the Army and Navy
in peace or war" he said. lis to sup
port and defend the national policies.
The Air Service. even If an independ-
ent arm. can have no other or dis
tinct mission. If it should. unhappily,
become necessary to maintain the ma
Navy operate under specific missions
for each
THE great war mission of the Navy
may be briefly stated as to gain and
exercise command of the sea- This in
its essentials means the control of
the sea communications-tha is. the
seizure of these communications for
our own purposes. and. conversely.
their denial to the enemy.
The objectives which would he
taken by the Navy in order to accom-
plish this great war mission would
probably be, in order: First. to de-
stroy or blockade the enemy fleet:
second. to protect our commerce;
third to destroy the enemy's COM
merce in orde, to bring economic
pressure to bear on him: and to
transport the Army in order to break
down remaining enemy resistance.
The mission of an air force of the
Navy in time of war must necessarily
be to assist the Navy in carrying out
its war mission. Naval aviation is to-
day organized as an integral part OF
the Navy and constitutes an arm
thereof in the same manner as do
battleships. cruisers, destroyers. sub
marines or mine layers.
Air Service in War.
Acting as such integral part OF the
Navy, its employment in time Of war
will fall into the following general
classes:
First. as an auxiliary with the
other units of the Navy: to control or
spot gunfire; to reconnoiter or scout
for enemy forces: to lay smoke
screens: to counter-attack enemy air
forces seeking to attack our other
naval units.
Second as combat units, to gain
control of the air in order that we
employ such control to assist in gain
ing a decision.
Third as combat units, to launch
torpedoes or drop bombs and depth
charges directed at enemy targets.
Aviation can best accomplish the
above tactical and strategical mis-
sions by operating as an integral part
of the Navy and not as an inde-
pendent arm.
The mission of the naval air force
in time of war may, then, be thus
stated: The air force is an arm Of
the fleet Its mission is to aid the
surface units in gaining and MAIN
tanning command OF the sea. 1t may
best carry out this mission by gaining
and maintaining control OF the air in
the theater 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 a general order on July Z,
1924.
British Swinging Back
Press comment from Great Brit
ain, where the pendulum is alreary
swinging back toward naval control
for sea going aviation, recognizes
the soundness of our air policy.
The United States Navy is at
present organized to handle it's air