Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-12-19

Secretary Of the Navy Wilbur has
submitted proposal relating to the
assignment to duty of certain Navy
officers as fleet and squadron en-.
gineers. The existing law governing
the assignment of certain officers as
feet and squadron engineers pre-
Scribes that Officers of the line of the
Navy not below the grade Of lieuten.
ant may, upon application, and with
the approval of the Secretary of the
Navy, be assigned to engineering duty
only. and that when SO assigned and
until they reach the grade OF COM
mander, they shall perform duty as
prescribed in section 4 of the per-
sonnet act approved March 3, 1899
Under this law officers for
Engineering duty only" of the rank
of commander may be assigned to sea
duty as fleet or squadron engineers
and no other sea duty. and of the
rank Of captain to shore duty only.
In order to meet the growing de-
mand for an increase in rank OF en-.
gineering officers on the STATS Of the
commanders in chief Of our fleets, is
the reason why the Navy Department
strongly favors this proposal This Is
due TO the increased demand for ex-
perienced supervision of the material
conditions afloat. The services Of such
officers above the rank of comman-
der. it is pointed out by Secretary
Wilbur, who have acquired a vast ex.
perience in the design. construction,
operation and repair of ships, should
be available to the commanders in
chief Furthermore, the number Of
officers in commander rank available
for this duty is limited In the next
few years, the Secretary explained.
more than half of the officers on the
engineering duty only" list will be
captains. The change proposed by
Secretary Wilbur will allow greater
selection in the detail @of experienced
engineer officers to this important
duty on the staffs of the commanders
in chief, and it Will mean the utiliza-
ton OF the services of experienced
engineers in special cases, such as
new ships and ships with experiment.
tai or advanced machinery which re.
quire special knowledge and expert.
ence Of engineering while building and
for certain period of operation after
commission.
1t will be some time. it is expected,
before the Marine Corps board, head
ed by Brig. Gen. Ben II. Fuller, which
is now engaged III preparing a rem
edy for the stagnation Of promotion
IN tnat corps, Will submit its findings.
Indeed, it Is not intended to have ii
introduced during the present session
or Congress, except. perhaps, for the
purpose Of having it printed On the
contrary, ii is planned TO have the
boards proposals placed before the
service and considered for a year, so
that officers may be afforded an Cd.
portunity To suggest alterations In
brief, general agreement has been
made that seyen-year periods in the
several grades produce the best re.
suits, the average total of service Of
&11cers being AZ years--that is, from
~ to 64-to be divided into six
periods of seven years each, the sec.
end and first lieutenants being placed
n the first period
In the event that this plan is feast.
Die it appears that officers would be
retired in any of the grades below
that Of general officer because there
are more officers in each lower grade
than are needed TO fill the next higher
grade; that promotions are made by
placing on eligible lists prior to COM
pletion of the designated periods and
that transfers from the active list
that follow are made solely on &C.
count Of not being placed on the eligi-
BILE list; that every officer regardless
of age or number of cotemporaries
en- entry into the service. should. at