Evening star., 1942-06-09

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OF that branch of the service in
any major war.
The Navy suffered blow in pres
tige when the lack of alertness at
Pearl Harbor and the failure of
reconnaissance to detect the enemys
approach cost America not only sew
eral warships, but the lives of 5000
American soldiers and sailors
Promptly reorganization of the
administrative side of the Navy was
ordered and the realignment of high
personnel in the important staff
commands at sea came to pass.
Today the United States Navy is
at peak efficiency and is disclosing
that which those who knew what
the years of training and practice
could achieve always felt would ma
terialize once we entered the war
To this day it may be questioned
whether the twilight status of our
relations with Japan and the fact
that Washington never issued any
mobilization orders to the fleet be-
fore December may have kept our
Navy from showing the alertness
then that it is revealing today.
Lack of confidence comes when
defeats are suffered. AS victories
grow, confidence comes back. The
victory in the Midway area, follow
ing as 1t did a similar gain in the
battle of the Coral Sea, shows that
there no longer is any divided re-
sponsibility, but complete co-opera-
ton and synchronization of action
as between the Army and the Navy
and the Marine Corps.
Stimulant to Effort.
The criticism of the Navy which
followed the Pearl Harbor tragedy
served as stimulant to redoubled
effort. The Navy has redeemed
itself and will show from now on
till the end of the war that its
aviators are among the finest marks
men in the world and that air
craft carriers can be handled eff
GENTLY along with other warships
in major operations.
There need be no fears about the
Navy in the coming months of the
war. Its surface ships will give a
good account of themselves and
there may come a time when our
battleshipe will vindicate them
selevs, too. 1t will be noted that
the japanese did not discard the
battleships, but carried three in
that raid on Midway as we'll as four
cruisers.
The controversy between the
school that favors the battleship
and the school that thinks it has
been displaced by air power is by
no means over. There is room for
both in a well-balanced fleet. Un-
fortunately for the battleship, mis-
takes in tactics and in handling that
type of ship have been more reSpon-
sible than the capital ship itself for
the blow to its prestige. America
has obsolete battleships and first
class battleships. To have a we'll
balanced fleet the outworn vessels
should be replaced now for future
safety. There are rumors that the
anti-battleship school has succeeded |
in sidetracking future construction
in favor of modernizing old ships
or in favor of greater expenditures
for aircraft. If America is to have
a seven ocean Navy it will have to
build all the battleships hitherto
planned.
Air Power Recognized.
IT is obvious that air power has .
been given deserved recognition by
the Navy. The demand for more
aircraft carriers has been met by |
congressional appropriations and
executive interest in expanding that .
program. But air power alone can
not be depended upon to carry
through when carriers have been
damaged or sunk and the battle is
fought out by the remaining units.
AS confidence IN the Navy grows,
80 will confidence in the men who
know battle strategy. Confidence,
incidentally, will grow in the Navy
as artificiality disappears in the
Government agencies in handling
so-called propaganda. The Navy
Department has not been guilty OF
any of this, but it suffers from the
general distrust which the public
has toward propaganda agencies.
The mere existence of an Office of
Facts and Figures which does not |
confine itself to either but tries to
tell the public what to think and
how to think is an influence that |
casts discredit on official commu-
nioues.
The rumor that good news has |
OeeIl Ilclu DdCk 81 dS W UC IllIlCu
to offset the effect of bad news is
unfounded, but nevertheless has
been widely believed by newspaper
men. The truth is the Navy is not
q party to such political tricks and
the rumors grew only because New
Deal agencies have insisted on set
ting up the European propaganda
devices instead of furnishing facts
and figures to legitimately operating
press associations and news agen-
cies which can soon separate the
artificial from the natural and the
unreal from the real. The Navy
announcements can be believed. be-
cause the Navy lets its own officers
write their communiques without
editing fren any outside source.
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