Evening star., 1946-05-13
9Th Fleet Will Apply
Pacific Lessons in
Drills Off Puerto Rico
By Mormon A. Kohl
r. -

ABOARD CARRIER ROOsE-
WELT, South of Haiti, May 49,
The 9th Fleet, under command of
Admiral Marc A. Mitscher, today
was steaming toward the desolate
Island of Culebra, off the east coast
of Puerto Rico, for full-scale aerial
assault based on lessons learned in
the Pacific War.
Primary purpose of these first
peace-time maneuvers in five years
is to train the combat ships to the
level of efficiency under which they
operated during the closing months
of the war, according to Capt.
Charles D. Griffin, fleet operations
officer, whose home is at 1910 Idaho
avenue NV.
Radical personnel changes, owing
to rapid demobilization, have SO
badly dented feet efficiency since
VI day that it is necessary to train
officers and crew almost from the
ground up. The peace-time fleet
complement is only about 10 per
cent of its combat strength, and
many crew members are compelled
to perform double duties on the
guns and the flight decks.
Third of Crew Newcomers.
Roughly one-third the present
complement of Admiral Mitscher's
flagship, the new carrier Franklin
D. Roosevelt, were newcomers to the
fleet when the first phase of the
maneuvers began off the Virginia
eapes on April 10. When the ship
reaches New York on May 81, again
q little less than half of the crew
will be discharged.
Despite personnel difficulties, the
current Caribbean operations are be-
ing carried on to indoctrinate the
combat vessels in the mobile tactics
which were developed the hard way
in the Pacific.
The Eighth Fleet, comprising the
Carriers Roosevelt, Midway and
Princeton as the nucleus of the
striking force, sailed from Guam
tanamo Bay, Cuba, yesterday. The
fleet of 30 ships organized as a
task force, will be complete when it
is joined by the Missouri tomorrow.
The first aerial strike will be made
against Culebra on Wednesday,
leading up to actual bombardment
of the deserted northwest peninsula
of the island on Friday.
Marines to Stage Landing.
A brigade of Marines, commanded
by Brig. Gen. David r. Nimmer, of
Beverley Hills, Alexandria, Va, will
make an assault landing at Medic
Mundo, on the east coast of Puerto
Rico, on Saturday The invasion,
involving about 5000 Leathernecks,
will be given simulated support by
the fleet.
Final phase of the maneuvers will
be continuation of make believe
battles along the Atlantic Coast as
the fleet heads for New York.
Admiral Mitscher declared yester-
day that the United States Navy is
about 10 years ahead of any other
Navy in the world. Basis of the
peacetime fleet will be its self sufh-
cient character, he said. Supply and
service ships remain close to the
striking force, replenishing the
fighting ships with everything from
a pair of seaman's socks to spare
engines for the Corsairs aboard the
carriers.
The admiral pointed out that ad-
ditional large permanent installa-
tions like Pearl Harbor and Singa-
pore should not be needed. Another
feature of the new Atlantic Fleet
is its fexibility. When the spring
maneuvers end in New York, the
vessels will be detached for other
assignments. Actually, the fleet is
made up of the number and type
of vessels needed for each specific
problem.