New Britain herald., 1929-12-09
Adams Reviews Conditions of Equipment in Annual Report - Problem of Maintaining Fleet Crow ing More Difficult.

Washington, Dec. LP}-Parity in aircraft carriers, increased enlisted personnel 10 man new ships coming into commission, a higher ratio Of officers 10 enlisted men. and upward revision of pay for all ranks were asked for the navy today by Sccrc- tary Adams
 No reference was made in his an nual report to the postponement of work on three cruisers by prcsidcn- tial order nor 10 the possible rcduc- ton Of further construction under any limitation agreement that may be reached at the London confer cnCc in January.
 Problem More Difficult
 The problem of maintaining the fleet in q good engineering condition was said to be an increasingly diff tICult one as the ships grew older The secretary said that grave con cern was being felt because of the inability to grant all the repairs asked for by the forces afloat, but 'llttI till 'hDti illItillIl puuStJ pldl was being tried out for individual sQuadrons of the fleet in an effor, to secure moro efficient expenditure 1 Of the engineering appropriation.
 Mir, Adams said the parity of air craft-carrier tonnage provided fol in the Washington limitation of arm. | ament treaty is the most urgent need of naval aviation"
 The total cost to date of scrap. ping the battleships and battle. cruisers sacrificed under the Wash. inEton treaty was set as S42.796,3St to be settled.
 The increased proportion of smal vessels in the fleet, the introduction of new auxiliary weapons and the l needs of naval aviation require tha the old ratio of line officers 10 cn ! listed men, fixed at per cent ir 1926. be raised to per cent, the re port said.
 To Increase Appointments
 To effect this increase it was rec commended the appointments to th, Naval Academy be increased iron ! four for each state to five. GndCl ! the five appointment plan the Maya Academy could. by 1884 produce :, 1 10 100 more officers annually thal at present.
 The secretary also urged enact men of legislation amending the sys tenn of promoting officer and fur nishing means for retirement of staf officers not selected for promotion.
 Regarding construction of tn three cruisers whose keel-laying ha, been postponed until after the Lon don limitation conference, the de partment estimated that the first 0 these should be completed by No vember 1892, and the other two b, 1 February and June, 1923, respective i ly. The two ships contracted for a the same time with private firm were to be completed by August 1 ! | 1882. It is understood that the date for completion given in the repor did not take into account the post ponemcnt of construction but Wer based upon first expectations.
 Construction of guns. mounts an' turrets for all five of these cruiser has been undertaken by the nava gun factory at Washington. tn army arsenal at Watervliet, N. Y and the Nidvalc company of Nice town. Pa. Twelve eight inch gun are 10 be built by the army, tn same number by the Midvalc com pany and the balance of the Sine guns. all secondary battery guns an accessories by the naval factory.
 Completion of Work Reported
 Tn" secretary reported complctiol of modernizatiOn work on the bat tlcships Oklahoma and Nevada las summer and the beginning of mod crnization on the Pennsylvania am Arizona.