Evening star., 1928-09-09
NAVY CONDUCTING
HUGE SCHOOL HERE
Courses of Study Cover Wide
Field, Ranging From Med
iCine to Diving.
BY REAR ADMIRAL RICHARD II.
LEIGH. z. s. r..

CnleI OF bureau OF Navigation NAVY Depart
ment.
The chief of the Bureau of Naviga
tion is charged with the rSs,)Nnsio q
for the education and training of Off
GERS and enlisted men for the naval Serv
ice. Taken together, the many school
and training activities carried on ii
discharging this responsibility CORE
spond to a great university of nationa
scope, with widely distributed branch
and curriculum embracing every trade
and professional subject that enters int
the training of naval officers and men
The Training Division OF the bureau o.
Navigation serves as an administrative
center, where the Navy's widel~ varied
training activities are coordinatnd and
directed under the chief of the Bureau
of Navigation.
The lack of all trades and master OF
none" has no place in the complement
of a modern warship. The great dyna-
mos and other electrical equipment, the
engines, the powerful radio plant, the
vast amount of ordnance material, the
delicate instruments of precision used in
modern naval warfare. must all be
operated and maintained. by m n
thoroughly trained for the highly spe-
cialized duties they must perform. The
complement of modern battlesnip m
ratings" and each rating corresponds
to a trade in civil life.
Specialists i'm Demand.
The task of supplying & corps of Off
GERS to direct all the activities of the
Navy is even more difficult, in some of
its phases, than that of training en-
listed personnel. In addition to the basic
training given officers at the Naval
Academy, a wide range of schools is
required to supply the specialized in
struction and postgraduate instruction
necessary to enable them to meet the
almost unlimited demands Of the naval
profession today.
Much of the instruction of enlisted
men is carried on at sea, wherever war;
ships go on their wide range of duty. for
all men are kept under continuous
training. Much instruction must also
be done in service schools ashore, where
promising men are assigned for periods
of intensive instruction in their special
naval trades. Most of the larger service
schools, such as those for electricians,
machiniSts, "a d IN e n, blacksmiths.
Eh1pfitterS, etc. are concentrated about
the great naval training stations at
Hampton Roads, Va; San Diego. Calii..
and the Great Lakes, Illinois, but
other schools, such as the lighter than
air school at Lakehurst, N. j. and the
aviation school at Pensacola, Fla, are
located where there are special ad-
vantages for the particular t.pe of in
structlon given.
Education Centers Here.
The average resident of Washington
may be surprised to know the wide
variety of educational activities carried
on by the Navy in the vicinity of Wash
ington Most of the schools located here
are not large, for they prepare men in
tended for highly specialized types of
service, but they represent wide
variety OF instruction. In most cases
they are located here because the
peculiar type of instruction carried on
can be done here best, either because
OF laboratory or research facilities avail
able, because the type of instruction is
new and needs to be carefully observed
by the Navy Department or is closely
related to other activities carried O.,
within the District.
Many of the officers and men assign
ed to duty in the District of Columbia
take advantage of the opportunities for
education onered by civilian institu-
tons, and in the case of Navy and
Marine Corps officers assigned 10 the
ofiice of the judge advocate general
an are required to study law in one OF
the local colleges In addition To their
regular duties. Wherever the Navy can
utilize the facilities of already existing
institutions it does So
Trains Medical Officers.
The Navy Medical School located at
the Naval Hospital has been in exist
ence for 20 years. Its chief mis-
sion is to furnish postgraduate in
struction for officers of the Medical
Corps and Dental Corps of the Navy.
particularly In phases of their profess
sion especially applicable to their prac-
tice in the Navy. The school also serves
as valuable center of research, dealing
with medical problems peculiar to the
Navy, such as tropical hygiene. At
present much effort is being centered
upon the training of medical officers in
the problems Of respiration, heart con-
dltlons, vision, psychology and other
phases Of medical science particularly
involved in aviation. The proper Sc
lection OF men who are physically and
psychologically capable of becoming
aVlators is not only pressing problem
IN the Army and Navy, but it is COM
paratlvely new science in which much
pioneering research must continually
be done
Another important mission of the
Naval Medical School is to train enlist
ed men of the Navy Hospital Corps as
dental technicians and laboratory tech
nlcians, who serve as assistants to off,
GERS OF the Medical and Dental Corps
During the past year 56 men were
trained here for this important duty.
Wide knowledge Needed.
The school for pharmacists mates
is also located at the Naval Hospital.
The naval pharmacists mate must first
have all the qualifications of hospital
apprentices who serve as nurses and
assistants in naval hospitals and in sick
bays on naval ships and stations. To
qualify the hospital apprentice as a
pharmacists mate he must be further
instructed in chemistry, pharmacy. diet
and messing for the sick and anes-
thesia, as well as in the clerical pro-
cedure, medical forms, etc. that will
enable him to serve as responsible
administrative assistant to the medical
officer of ship or station On the
small ships without a medical officer
many serious duties fall to the phar-
macist's mate in case of emergency OF
when the ship may be isolated from
others carrying a medical officer. He
must be a master of first aid. must
have an elementary idea of medicines
and dosage, and most important of al
must be able to recognize a case which
needs immediate treatment by more eX.
perienced hands. The Naval HoSpita
and Naval Medical School also have
this facility for training men for thi
highly responsible duty.
Another important school oca te
H~re is ;ne Radio Materiel School al
Bellevue, D. c. where men are trained
to care for the highly developed radio
plant used on Naval ships and stations
Men learn the more elementary phases
nf of al enl,A oV1l II