Evening star., 1941-05-18
Naval Reserve
Here 10 Recruit
Officer Candidates
Drilling Units
Have Been Ordered
To Active Duty

With the 1st Division, the last OF
the Organized Reserve units, pre-
pairing to depart tonight for the
Naval Training Station at Norfolk,
the local Reserve activities will be
concentrated here during the next
several months on the acquisition
of recruits for the highly specie hzed
services, such as enlisted men for
future training and service as COM
missioned officers and pilots Of the
Air Corps an das officers Of the line
for surface-ship operation.
The officers indicated they have
not yet been furnished with infor-
nation as to what the latest two
divisions to go on active duty will
do. 1t was said to be probable that
they will be kept at the Norfolk
Training Station for about a month,
when they might be sent TO trans
ports or district vessels, despite the
fact that practically all of their
training during the past few years
has been for the purpose of serving
on duty with deStroyerS of the feet.
However, it might be said that their
training has been broadened for
some time and even to the extent of
having taken several cruises aboard
battleship of the fleet to familiar
ize themselves with the larger YES
sells, just in anticipation Of the
fact that destroyers might not be
available for them when mobiliza-
ton day came. And this appears to
have been proved a fact.
Although the two divisions have
been sent to a training station,
where ordinarily drafts of men of
various numbers are taken to fill
billets on various ships, 1t was the
opinion here that the two organ
izations might be sent intact to
particular ships. That is the hope
of the men. OF course, the battalion
officers are not attached to any
regular divisions, but for the most
part they have been given indi-
vidual orders to various ships, such
as the assignment of the local bat
/ talon commander, 1t. w. Croft
Jennings, to the command of the
U. S. S. Opal, converted yacht.
The departure Of the last Of the
regularly drilling divisions has
brought out new regulations for the
Naval Academy candidate divisions.
These are groups Of young Naval
Reservists, most of them not of le-
gal age, who entered the organiza-
ton to seek appointments to the
United States Naval Academy. In
the past all of these candidates, who
have enlisted in the Naval Reserve,
have been required to be part of
regularly drilling organization, to
make at least one cruise year
aboard a vessel of the feet and to
have attended at least 81 drills of
the organization to which they have
been attached.
The latter requirement was
amended somewhat in view Of the
fact that the fleet units have been
ordered into active service. Some
time ago the Navy issued new regu-
| lations which provided that mem
bers of the Naval Reserve on active
duty, who were interested in OBJ
| tanning one of the appointments
to the naval officers school could
be credited with three drills a
month. While It was explained that
this would be satisfactory from the
| drill credit standpoint, nevertheless
the candidates were unable to OBJ
tain any special instruction which
would prepare them to take the
rigid competitive examinations.
The Navy has prepared new regu-
lations for the qualification for the
appointments. 1t was pointed out
that 1t does not desire to have the
100 appointments a year allowed to
lapse because provision has not been
made for the enlisted men to qualify
to the changed conditions brought
about by the current emergency.
| In addition to the three fleet di-
visions, which were allocated to the
District, it was said that 50 many
candidates applied here for the
naval school examinations that 1t
was necessary to form three special
divisions to give instruction to these
men. They were not ordered to
active duty with the feet divisions
and probably will not receive any
sea orders until the report on the
competitive examinations which
they have Just completed shows
whether they were successful.