Evening star., 1937-10-10
Commandant of Macy Yard
Will Inspect Naual Reserve
Rear admiral George Pettengiu VIII
Reuie,U Local Battalion as Part of
NaUy Day Celebration.

AS its contribution to the formal
festivities celebration Of Navy day here
the 1st Battalion. United States Naval
Reserves In the District of Columbia,
Will put on formal inspection.
Friends and relatives Of the men, as
well as others interested in observing
the formalities of the Navy, are in
vited to visit the armory on the
Eleventh street side Of the Navy Yard
the night of October 81 to see this
formal naval procedure.
Rear Admiral George Pettengill,
U. S. NJ, commandant of the WASH
ington Navy Yard, under whose direc-
ton the local Reserve battalion comes,
will review the battalion and will make
an inspection.
The spectators will be able to view
the ceremonies rendered an officer of
flag rank when he boards a ship. Fol-
lowing the formal inspection and re-
view. a number of special drills will
be staged by the various divisions to
show to the public some of the naval
activities.
The armory will later be open for
inspection of the public, and the bat
TALON members will give dance in
the drill hall.
A score Of officers and men Of the
local organization, principally quar-
termaSters and signalmen, will be
taken Tuesday evening to the United
States Naval Observatory, where ar
rangements have been made to observe
the instruments used in navigation.
They also will be given e lecture in
the rudiments of navigation, which
will be of material assistance in i'm
proving their service so that they may
become valued aids to the naviga tor
and officer Of the deck while on the
bridge Of ship
During the course Of the lecture the
use and care of the various instru-
ments used in navigation aboard ship
will be explained to the group. and
at future drills at the armory they will
be given an opportunity to indicate
what they learned during this visit to
the observatory.
The recently inaugurated practice OF
giving each division the duty" for a
month at time is working out very
well. 1t was said. During this period
the duty" division must furnish the
officer Of the watch, who sees to the
various details incident to the opera
ton of the armory on drill nights,
keeps the log, meets visitors a. the
gangway and otherwise sees that the
orders for the drill period are carried
out with dispatch.
Drills and exercises which the Off
GERS and men will be expected to per-
form for the Naval Inspection Board
on March l furnish the primary goal
Of the training for the current period.
This means, OF course, that practically
the entire scope of drills and class
room instruction must be learned in
detail, as they have no advance no.
tice of what is expected of them.
And they are expected to perform
these in the very best manner in
order to get a high mark.
Every petty officer must be thor
oughly drilled in the particular duties
Of his branch of the service. These
men. or part of them, are given writ
ten examinations. and the mark of the
battalion depends on the showing of
the man selected For instance, the
inspectors will go to one specialist
group and single out one man to
take the written tests If he makes a
poor mark, the entire group gets
poor mark. and this brings down the
general average of the battalion.
All divisions. individually, and COL
lectively as battalion. are striving to