The Waterbury Democrat., 1946-08-27
Ships Idle AWaiting Sailors
 As Big US. Navy Shrinks

missioning surplus ships, putting most of them in the "mothball" re- serve fleet. and going about the la porous task of closing up surplus bases at home and abroad. The Bi- kini tests also took a lot of the NaVy's manpoWer.
 But by next spring the Navy should be well along its course toward an efficient peace-t time operating basis, Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz predicted in ar exclusive interview. And year la- ter it will be time ito rest on the oars, take a big breath and see how big a Navy we should have after that" said the Chief of Maya, Operations.
 Right now too many men are nec- essarily engaged in the unproduc- tive work of winding up the war Nimitz pointed out. He said 1t is the same as after a big dinner; you have to wash the dishes and clean up before you can sit down and play cards.
 Peak strength of the Navy dur ing the war was 3,4OO,O00. Today it is a htle short of 100000 officers and men. Approximately SOC, 1000 men is what most experts now say the Navy should have for peace.
 Whether the peace time Navy should be 50O0O0 men or more or less, not even Nimitz can say for sure He felS the sensible thing to do is periodically take stock of all the factors involved and on the basis of that keep adjusting the size and strength of the Navy.
 Most of the men who fought with the Navy during the war were reservists. When peace came they were returned to civilian life in droves. The Navy has had no trouble getting recruits to build up it's au- thorized strength, like the Army is experiencing. In fact there is a waiting list for Navy enlistments And the caliber of men the Navy is getting is just as good as during the war, the Navy claims. But at the present time they are green and un- trained. The confusion of demobili- zation has held up their training The Navy appears to have enough good officers.
 Typical of the difficulty in getting ships to sea is the case of the Bat tlesIlip Wisconsin, tied up at Nor folk, Va. Since her crew of veterans was discharged she has been able to collect only about TOO men. The Wisconsin was supposed to go to sea months ago, but she needs about 1000 more men to get it out of the harbor. Most of the 700 men now in her crew have never been to sea before.
 One of the important perma- nent changes made in the Navy by the war was the recent decision to make the famed Seebees a perman- ent part of the peacetime Navy. A force of 1000 Seabees is being kept on active duty for secret and emer- gency projects and to provide a skeleton force which can be expand ed quickly in an emergency.
 The Navy's air arm probably sur vived demobilization better than the rest of the Navy. Although losing many experienced men, 1t was able to keep fairly high percentage Of them. Enough pilots asked to be given permanent commissions so that standards could be kept high and qualifications kept rigid. And the Navy was able to virtually hand pick the men it wanted as regulars in aviation.
 In spite of all the difficulties caused by demobilization. morale among the enlisted men appears to be high.
 One of the petty gripes of the men is the attitude of the battle veterans. The veterans call all the new men boots" regardless of their rating. And the new men feel left out when these old salts rehash their war experiences, which they do frequently.