Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1946-06-18
Navy Seen Weakened
By Merger Proposals
Truman's Ideas on Air Forces
to Cause More Duplication
By David Laurence

BY David Laurence
While certain parts of President Tru-
mans plan for unification of the Army.
Navy and Air Forces are commendable
and the new proposals are vast i'm
provement over the originals of few
months ago, some of the recommends
tons he makes still set the clock back
considerably. Indeed. If, as is now pro-
posed. the Navy had turned over to
Army Air Forces the handling of recon-
Nuisance and scouting, and naval planes
could not have used shore bases during
the last war, the hostilities against ia
pan would still be going on, assuming,
OF course, that no atomic bomb had
been dropped.
The Presidents plan has in 1t the
following recommendation: "Land-based
planes for naval reconnaissance, anti
submarine warfare and protection Of
shipping can and should be manned by
Air Force personnel. If the three serv.
ices are to work as team there must
be close cooperation, with interci1a- %
OF personnel and special training for
specific duties"
This means that instead Of cutting
down the duplication there will be more
and more duplication. Thus Army Air
Force personnel will have to be trained
by the Navy to take of from or come
down on the decks of carriers and will
have to be educated in ship identifca-
ton and all the other phases of naval
aviation training This, of course. will
have to be under Navy discipline or
else the Navy will have to take the
chance that Air Force personnel on
land will be able to simulate naval
training.
Pacific Cases Cited.
The truth Is that the Army Air Force
cannot and never has furnished recon.
Nuisance for naval vessels except in
places where they already had good
bases. In the case of Bougainville and
and the solomons and on Okinawa the
naval aircraft carriers furnished the
scout planes and even the tactical air
force for ground opera tions because the
land troops had not gotten enough air.
felds or repaired them for use by land
based planes. The decks of naval air
craft carriers were the bases used to
protect the Navy on many an occasion
IN the Pacific when our Marines and
our Army troops had been landed and
1t is no reflection on the Army Air
Forces that they were not in a position
to do the job. 1t was merely because
they had no bases near enough to Oki-
naWa from which to operate. Nor could
they help out when the Marines and
the Navy were capturing Guadacanal.
1t would seem that the President has
made a serious mistake In the language
above quoted, which, of course, has al
ready caused considerable surprise in
the Navy
Most serious of all mistakes, however,
is the Presidents proposal that land
based planes for antisubmarine warfare
be turned over to the Army. Only those
persons who are familiar with the anti
submarine operations of the war of the
North Atlantic will understand how Diff
ncult 1t Is to protect shipping across
the vast expanse OF ocean when two Diff
ferent kinds Of planes are trying to do
the same job under divided control and
with different training.
The antisubmarine naval pilot must
know how to communicate with ships
and must know something about the
operations of naval craft lest he FIRE
on our own ships. Many American sub
marine commanders will testify that
they feared as much the bombs from
our own planes as they did those from
the enemy In the Pacific. Unless anti
submarine warfare is handled by pilots
especially trained to work with ships
there is danger that there will be q
very big loss of life.
Question Of Confidence.
Actually it shouldn't make much diff.
ference whether naval plane comes
down on a land base or a carrier deck.
1t should have that right if it is oper-
ating ever water. To say that the Navy
shall be deprived of based planes
is to say that it shall have fewer bases
available to it for naval operations.
There is the question of confidence,
too. The Navy men have little faith
in Army-trained flyers who fly over
water areas. This is because the Army
Air Forces have, in a relative sense. no
interest In naval operations and believe
that an Army flyer can do anything
well just SO long as it is connected with
flying. The only way to settle the ques-
ton is to open the records and tell the
public what happened in the operations
OF Army flyers over water areas in the
Pacific and of the difficulties encoun-
tered because of the differences between
Army and Navy training in the missions
Entrusted to each. Each corps is equally
brave and energetic, but to put all land
based aviation together would be as
absurd as to put all 1e-ipch and IA
inch guns, as well as all other guns used
in the Navy, under the Field Artillery
Corps of the Army just because all hap
pen to fire gunpowder.
1t seems doubtful whether Congress
will accept this new plan, which will
weaken the United States Navy in flu
ture wars
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