Evening star., 1937-09-22
NAVY PREPARING
FOR SUDDEN WAR
High Command Checks
Shore Stations-SeCtion of
Fleet Being Reorganized.

The Navy Department is getting
prepared. ashore and af1oat, should the
United States become involved in war.
Quietly, an inventory of shore bases
and their war needs is going forward,
under the direction of the various bu-
reau chiefs. Officers close to the war
plans set-up are assessing the require
ments of the different navy yards and
torpedo stations should the Nation sud-
denly be called to assume a war bur
den.
One OF the surface indications of ac-
tivity looking toward potential war
came yesterday when Secretary Swan
son announced reorganization of
section of the United States fleet. Pro-
ponents of better tactics and strategy
In the feet won over advocates of
pure administration in this move,
which will send all the destroyers of
the Scouting Force to the Battle Force
and shift practically all patrol plane
squadrons to the Scouting Force. This
is calculated to improve the maneuver-
ability of the fleet.
Scouting Falls to Planes.
Under the new set-up. which the
Navy is losing no time in making eff
fective as it goes into operation on Oc-
tober !, three rear admirals, former
Washingtonians, will get new billets.
The new theory of the feet operation
Is that aircraft will now be given a
larger share in scouting and that de-
stroyers, hitherto assigned a goodly
share of that work, will operate as an
integral section of the Battle Force.
Admiral Arthur j.. Hepburn, COM
n1ander-in-chief of the United States
Fleet, came to Washington last week
from the West Coast and this week
has been comforting with Secretary
Swanson, Assistant Secretary Edison
and Admiral William D. Ieahy, chief
OF Naval Operations, on various phases
of the work afloat to make the feet
more of a fighting unit On his re-
cent return to Washington from a per-
sonal inspection of the forces afloat,
Edison pronounced the fleet fit"
Under the changes announced yes
terday at the department, the de-
stroyer squadrons will be organized
Into two fotillas. With the exception
OF the Utility Wing, all patrol plane
squadrons will be shifted from the
Base Force to the Scouting Force.
Henceforth, Aircraft, Scouting Force,
Will comprise the aircraft tenders
Wright, Langley, Thrush and Owl.
with the Fleet Air Bases at Coco Solo
IN the Panama Canal Zone and Pearl
Harbor near Honolulu, T. H, and at
tending craft.
A recent member of the General
Board, Rear Admiral Walton R. Sex
ton, commander destroyers, Battle
Force, will become commander. de-
stroyers, Battle Force of the United
States Fleet and in addition COM
mander, Destroyer Flotilla 2, Battle
Force.
Until recently assistant chief of ma
val operations here, Rear Admiral
William S. Pye, now commander, de-
stroyers, Scouting Force. becomes
commander, Destroyer Flotilla l, Bat
tie Force.
The former chief of the Bureau of
Aeronautics. Navy Department, Rear
Admiral Ernest j. King, now COM
mander, aircraft, Base Force, will be-
come commander, aircraft, Scouting
Force.
The Navy Department said Comdr.
Allen I. Price will continue as COM
mander, utility wing, Base Force, COM
prising two squadrons, based on the
Rigel, now acting as tender for de-
stroyers at San Diego, Calf
Program Being Pushed
The war plans group in the Office of
naval operations is whipping pro-
gram into shape so it can be set in
action should need arise.
Rear Admiral George T. Pettengill,
commandant of the Washington Navy
Yard and head of the naval gun fac
tory here, IS joining in the inventory
Of shore requirements in time of war.
This study, which is more than mere
paper work and includes a first-hand
investigation by senior officers of the
wartime demands of the Navy ashore.
touches not only continental United
States, but the Panama Canal Zone,
Alaska, Hawaii, the Philippines, the
Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and Guam
tanamo Bay in Cuba, where the Navy
has permanent base.
While the Navy Department at pres
ent possesses no funds for immediate
war expansion of its shore bases, it
Is considered likely that Congress
would appropriate sufficient money to
enable the plan the Navy is now work.
ing on to be carried quickly into effect