Evening star., 1934-12-09
Naval Reserve Radio
Station Being Improved
Two Officers Placed on Active Duty Status
for Brief Period to Make
improvements.
Improvements.

r IMPROVEMENTS are being made
in the operating plant Of the
Naval Communications Reserve
i Division located in the Reserve
Armory on Eleventh street SOUTH
east. Two officers have been ordered
into active service for the purpose Of
rearranging not only the operating set,
known as Station NED, but to improve
the arrangements for the training and
instruction of the enlisted men as op-
orators Of radio for naval purposes.
Lieut.. ]. H. Nicholson was ordered
to duty for q period Of five days this
week and Ensign H. T. Rothrock was
ordered into service for period Of II
days which began last week. These
two officers, it was said, with the aid
of enlisted men on indefinite active
duty at the armory, will change the
arrangements of the radio station in
the armory and will improve the
wiring system which is used for in
struction purposes.
When the work Is completed, II
was said, the local communication
sailormen will have one of the finest
stations it is possible to have under
the circumstances, crowded as 1t is in
one section of the armory, which al
ready Is too small even for the three
divisions composing the feet reserve.
However. the fleet reservists, the
men who serve on the surface ships
are doing considerable work In fixing
up the. armory for training work. In
the basement Of the old storehouse
which serves as an armory the engi-
neers force have set up q boiler and
a number Of pieces of auxiliary ma
chinery which they use on each drill
night for training purposes. Each
night the engine force, under an office,
gets up steam and the various auxili-
aries are shown in operation. The
boiler which is used Is gas-fired, so
that the men escape the handling Of
coal. 1t is more like a modern OIL
fred boiler.
Chief Boatswain's Mate Joseph Slat-
terry Is engaged in making improve
ments to the wardroom on the second
floor Of the armory, so as to make it
more inviting for the use Of the bat
talon officers both during their leisure
movements and for meetings.
With the movement on foot to OBJ
tain . specially-built armory for the
National Guard of the District Of Co.
lumbia the reservists are hoping that
Of the conditions under which they re-
ceiye their training. The building
which they occupy is in the section
Of the Navy Yard which was taken
over during the war, and formerly was
used by a private firm as store. The
drill hall Is nothing more than lean
to which was added to the building
during the war and was used in con-
nection with Red Cross recreation &C.
tivities in the Navy Yard. It is so
small that only one Of the three divi-
sions which composed the battalion
can be drilled infantry at once. Be-
cause Of its size, it is impossible to as
semble the whole battalion at one time
for drill purposes and each division
has to take a different night IN the
week.
Plans were drawn several years ago
for n building which would be suited
for the training of the citizen sailors,
but it never got any further than the
plan stage. Any move for an armory
for the Reservists would have to come
through the official channels of the
Navy Department. On the other
hand the National Guard officials are
not hampered in their efforts to OBJ
tain armory facilities here.
The site proposed for the armory
was on the water front in the Ana
costa River on the Navy Yard res
ervation. The naval Reservists feel
keenly the need Of . training station
on the water front where they can
have small boat equipment and the
facilities for lowering 1t into the