Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-03-01

With but one more drill night before
the board of regular naval officers ap-
pears to put the LIST Battalion, United
States Naval Reserves, of the District Of
Columbia. through its annual inspection,
the officers and men Of this organization
are using every minute Of time to have
everything ship-shape. The drill night
for last week was shifted to Tuesday on
account of the holiday, but the men
were put through a strenuous training
program, which will be continued right
up to the night of the inspection.
This week the board will be In the
East. Tomorrow it will inspect the
Portland, Me, Reserves; Tuesday, the
Springfield, Mass, organization: We'd
nesday it will be at Ossining, N. Y, and
Thursday at Perth Amboy, N. J. The
board to inspect these units will be
composed of Capt. c. A. Blakely and
Comdr. C. G. Slayton, from the Navy
Department. Lieut.. Comdr. H. A. Ellis,
attached to headquarters, first naval
district, will aid in the inspections at
Portland and Springfield. Lieut.. H. w.
Won HaSseln, attached to headquarters,
third naval district, will aid in the in
spections at Ossining and Perth Amboy.
Lieut.. Comdr. M. B. Durgin is in
command of the Sd Battalion, Portland,
Me-, and the following officers command
LIE ulVlSlOIlb u bIllS OIBdIilZdttONs 11Chu~
quarters, Lieut.. Comdr. A. l.. King; 18th
Division, Lieut.. C. j. Stockman; goth
Division, Lieut.. L. E. Eastman. Lieut..
Elmer A. Stevens Is In command of the
18th Division, Springfield; Lieut.. Comdr.
B. L. Dombrowski is in command of the
800 Division, at Ossining; Lieut.. D. q.
Davis Is in command of the 9th Bat
talon, Perth Amboy, and the following
officers command the divisions: Head
quarters, Lieut.. F. H. Flagg; 26th Divi-
sion, Lieut.. w. B. Griswold.
All officers of the rank Of commander
and below now must familiarize them
selves thoroughly with the work of the
Naval Reserve. The Navy Department
has just announced that the Naval Elk
aiming Board will soon include in the
examinations for promotion in the case
of officers up to and including COM
manders questions on the subject of the
Naval Reserve. The examination will
cover matter found in section H Of the
Bureau of Navigation Manual.
The Naval Reserve has become an
important component of the naval es-
Enlistment and very strict regulations
have been adopted for its training, since
the passage several years ago of the act
recognizing this branch of the service.
Greater opportunities have been pro-
vided for training, and the contacts be-
tween the regular establishment and
the reserve are being drawn closer all
the time, as 1t is realized that with a
small Navy the reserves will fill an i'm
portant part of the service in time Of
war, most of the organizations being
trained now to take their places as de-
stroyer crews in the event Of an emer-
gency.
AS the local reserve divisions will
form the nucleus of destroyer crews in
the event of call to the colors, the
following statement of the Bureau of
Navigation will prove of interest In
vestigation by the bureau shows that
the average engineering experience Of
the engineer officers of all destroyers
now in commission Is slightly more
than three years. This marked improve
ment as to experience of engineer ON
GERS over that obtaining six years ago is