Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-12-08
AIRCRAFT CARRIER
PARITY, NAVY HOPE
Secretary Adams Asks. Pay
Raises and Increased ACad-
envy Personnel.


Parity in aircraft carriers, increased
enlisted personnel to man new ships
coming into commission, a higher ratio
of officers to enlisted men and upward
revision of pay for all ranks were asked
for the Navy by Secretary Adams in
his annual report, made public today.
No reference was made in the report
to the postponement of work on three
cruisers by presidential order nor to
the possible reduction of future con-
struction under any limitation agree
ment that may be reached at the Lon
don conference in January.
The problem of maintaining the fleet
in good engineering condition was
said to be an increasingly difficult one
as the ships grew older. The Secretary
said that grave concern was being felt
because of the inability to grant all the
repairs asked by the forces af1oat, but
that an experimental budget plan vas
being tried out for individual squadrons
of the fleet in an effort to secure more
efficient expenditure of the engineering
appropriation.
Most Urgent Air Need.
Mr. Adams said the parity of air
crsft-cdrriar tonnage provided for in
the Washington limitation of arlEa-
mantS treaty is the most urgent nacd
of naval aviation"
TIE total cost to date of scrapping
the battlcships and battle cruisers sac
rifced under the Washington treaty
was set as S42 ,796,386 in the report.
Some claims are yet to be settled
The increased proportion of small
vessels in the feet, the introduction of
new auxiliary weapons and the needs
of naval aviation require that the old
ratio Of line officers to enlisted men,
fixed al per cent in 1926, be raised to
6 per cent, the report said.
To effect this increase it was rec
commended that appointments to the
Naval Academy be increased from four
for each State to five. Under the five
appointment plan the Naval Academy
could. by 1884. produce IS to 100 more
officers annually than at present.
The Secretary also urged enactment
of legislation amending the system of
promoting officers and furnishing
means for retirement of staff officers
not selected for promotion.
Regarding construction of the three
cruisers whose keel-laying had been
postponed until after the London limi-
tation conference, the department es-
tinated that the first of these should
be completed by November. 1882, and
the two others by February and June
1888, respectively. The two ships con-
tracted for at the same time with pri-
vate firms were to be completed by Au-
gust Is 1882 It is understood that
the dates for completion given in the
report did not take into account the
postponement of construction, but were
based upon first expectations.
Construction Of guns, mounts and
turrets for all five of these cruisers has
been undertaken by the Naval Gun
Factory. at Washington: the Army Ar
senal at Watervliet, N. Y, and the Mid
vale Co. of Nicetown, Pa. Twelve
S-inch guns are to be built by the
Army, the same number by the Mid
vale Co. and the balance of the 8-inch
guns, all secondary battery guns and
accessories by the naval factory.
Modernization Work.
The Secretary reported completion of
modernization work on the battleships
Oklahoma and Nevada last Summer
and the beginning of modernization on
the Pennsylvania and Arizona.
All cruisers now under construction
and the modernized battleships are be-
ing provided with the latest type of
fire control and battery for defense
against airplanes. Similar installations
are being made on all other ships as
fast as possible.
Discussing the operations of the
feet, the Secretary gave high praise
to the performance of the aircraft car
riers Lexington and Saratoga, which,
he said. proved themselves to be eff
fective, efficient and vital units Of the
fleet"
AS usual, the lack of cruisers" he
said, was severely felt in all tactical
and strategical exercises"
The battleships Of the fleet were re-
ported to be in good condition and so
were the light cruisers of the Omaha
class. The Denver class cruisers are
approaching the end of their useful life
and their upkeep cost is mounting, the
report said. Disposition of IS old
cruisers and the decommissioning per-
msnently of about so destroyers having
unsatisfactory boilers also was reported,
Commencing the five-year aviation
expansion program, the Secretary said
that it was proceeding satisfactorily,
but that the construction of / aircraft
carrier and Is cruisers authorized by
Congress would require expansion of the
program to take care of the airplane
requirements of these ships.
THE outstanding results attained
during the recent Panama maneuvers, -