Evening star., 1929-12-15

For the first time in several years, a
battleship Of the Scouting Fleet, the
U. S. S. Arkansas, has attained first
place in Short-range battle practice.
Two 12-inch 50-caliber turrets of the
Arkansas, No. 6, commanded by Lieut..
Edmund w. Whitehead, and No. 3, COM
manded by Lieut. Harold E. Mccarthy,
broke all previous Navy records for tur-
retS Of any kind in short-range battle
practice during the firing of that prac-
tice for this competitive year. TurTet
No. made only slightly better score
than No. 8. With reports from the U.
| S. S. California and Tennessee, which
have fired, yet to be received, and with
the u. S. S. Nevada and Oklahoma yet
to fire short-range battle practice while
with the fleet in the Guantanamo area
| after the first of the year, the Arkansas
now stands No. in that practice. The
| Arkansas is commanded by Capt. Hayne
! Ellis, with Comdr. Robert r. M. En-
met as gunnery officer.
Unless the record of the Arkansas is
eceeded by the California, Tennessee,
Nevada or Oklahoma, the Arkansas will
win the Spokane Cup for attaining the
highest merit with turret guns in the
| battleShip class at Short-range battle
practice (won by the U. S. S. West Vir-
ginia last year, and the American De-
Tense Society Cup for attaining the
| highest merit at Short-range battle prac-
tice (won by U. S. S. Maryland last
| year,, and the crew of turret No. will
be awarded the Marjorie Sterrett Bat
tleShip Fund prize. This prize was won
last year by the crew Of turret No. 3 OF
the U. S. s. Pennsylvania. On the basis
OF reports that have been received so
| far by the director Of fleet training in
the Navy Department, the following
| light cruisers are leading in the prac-
tice indicated: Short-range battle prac-
tice, U. S. S. Omaha; anti-aircraft prac-
tice "B," u. S. S. Memphis; anti-aircraft
| practice &C. u. S. S. Raleigh, and anti
aircraft practice d." u. S. S. Memphis
Lieut.. Comdr. oliver M. Read, U. S.
NJ, navigator of the U. S. S. Idaho, will
be relieved of these duties in March
/ and will come to duty in the Bureau of
Navigation, this city. Lieut.. C01ndr
| Morris H. SpriggS, u. S. N, will be de-
tached from the U. S. s. Mississippi, and
will proceed to Camden, N. j., in con-
nection with the fitting out Of the u
S. S. Chester, and to duty as engineer
officer Of that vessel. Lieut.. Comdr. AL
fred H. Balsley, U. S. NJ, will 60 from
duty as gunnery officer of the Raleigh
to duty in the Bureau of Ordnance
Lieut.. Comdr. William T. Dietrich, u
s. N, will be detached from duty in the
Bureau Of Construction and Repair
about the middle of January, and will &c
to duty in connection with the fitting
OUT and as first lieutenant of the u.
S. S. Northampton. Lieut.. Comdr' Den
mis- l.. Ryan, U. S. NJ. will be detached
from the Nitro about January 20 and he
will go to duty in connection with the
nttlng out and as engineer officer of the
| Northampton.
Army.
The War Department has approved
the proposal that would regulate COM
putation of percentage of active pay to
be paid as retired pay to officers of the
Regular Army. Under this proposal, Of
hcerS on the retired list who have been
eliminated and whose time is computed
on the percentage basis will be per-
mitted to count all inactive duty in
stead of only that portion served be-
fore retirement. This, if enacted into
law, will, in effect, do for officers who
have been retired on an annual per-
centage basis what the act Of May 26
1928, did for officers who were retired
on Is percentage basis.
With the retirement December % OF
Col Edmund P. EaSterbrook, chief OF
chaplainS, on account of reaching the
statutory retirement age limit of 81
years, there will exist three vacancies
in the Corps Of Chaplains Of the Reg
ular Army. At this time there are two
vacancies, one being Protestant and one
Roman Catholic. With the recent ap-
pointment of Andrew T. F. Nowak, a
Roman Catholic priest, to be a chaplain
in the military establishment, the Ro-
man Catholic chaplains in the service
: numbered 80, one short of their pre-
scribed quota Of 81. Chaplain Nowak's
first station will be Fort d. A. Russell
Wyo., where he IS due to report about
December 20.
The single Protestant vacancy was
created by the retirement on account
of physical disability, on November "a
of Chaplain Horace r. Fell, but it is
expected that both the Protestant anc
Roman Catholic vacancies will be filled
in the near future. Col. Easterbrook's
retirement next Sunday will increase
the Army chaplain vacancies to three
but it is likewise expected that his sue
cessor will be announced shortly per-
haps some time next week.
A board of Quartermaster Corps Off.
GERS, headed by Lieut.. Col c. A. Meals
has been appointed to meet in the of.
flee of the Quartermaster General Of
the Army to grade the examination pa.
pers pertaining to the general educa.
tional and professional examinations o.
applicants for the three higher grade.
In the QuartermaSter Corps. The Other
members of the board are Mai. w. r
White, Capts. E. C. Gere, F. D. Shawr
and B. E. McKeever and First Lieut.
E. G. Mathews.
In spite Of the efforts made by the
military authorities to bring the COM
missioned complement of that corps tc
its authorized figure, there still exists @
shortage among the officer personnel
AS of NoVembeg 80, 1929, there was 8