ARMY AND NAVY.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 18906, 22 January 1927, Page 19

ARMY AND NAVY.

FLAG APPOINTMENTS,

FIRST BATTLE SQUADRON

'F2OK OCT OWU COSXESJOSTjEST-)

LONDON, December 15. It is announced officially that t_e Kin 2 nas approved the following appointments : ' Vice-Admiral John D. Kelly to be \ iceAdmiral Commanding the First BattleSquadron and Vice-Admiral Second m Command, Mediterranean Fleet, in succession to Vice-Admiral Sir Michael H. Hodges, to date April 30th, ISM-Rear-Admiral William W. Fisher to be a Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty and Chief of Supplies and Transport, in succession to Vice-Admiral John ->• Kelly, to date April 30th. Rear-Admiral Frederick C. Dreyer to be Rear-Admira! Commanding tje Battle Cruiser Squadron, Atlantic Fleet, in succession to Vice-Adrmral Cyril T. M. Fuller, to date April 2LsX, 1927. Rear-Admiral Alfred D. ±\ *•• Pound to be a Lord Commissioner or the Admiralty and Assistant Chief or the Naval Staff, in succession to KearAdmiral Frederick C. Dreyer, to date April 21st, 1927. , , . Rear-Admiral Frank Larken to be Rear-Admiral Commandine the Second Cruiser squadron, Atlantic Fleet in succession to Rear-Admiral W. A. aKelly, to date Mav loth, 1927. RearAdmiral Eric J. A. Fullerton to oe Naval Secretary to the First Lord or the Admiraltv, in succession to KearAdmiral Frank Larken, to date April Ist, 1927. „ _,, Rear-Admiral Percival H. HallThompson to be Rear-Admiral Commandine Third Battle Squadron, Atlantic Fleet, in succession to Rear-Ad-miral Roger R. C. Backhouse, to date May sth. 1927. Rear-Admiral P. H. Hall-Thompson, who returned recently from service as First Naval Member oj the Australian Naval Board, had previously seen other Dominion service as Naval Adviserto the New Zealand Government during the war. Before his promotion in 1923, he was Coastguard Captain in the Portsmouth Command, a post he took up after commandine the battleship Royal Oak in the Fleet in which he is now to command a squadron Rear-Admira] F. C. Dreyer, the wellknown eunnery expert, has been assistant Chief of the Naval Staff sin-e October. 1924, before which he commanded the battle-cruiser Repulse. He was Flag-Captain to Admiral Jellicoe in the Iron Duke during the war, and was gazetted a C.B. for service at Jutland. Later in the war he was Director of Naval Ordnance, and in 1919 was Commodore and Chief of Staff to Lord Jellicoe during his Dominion tour in H.M.S. New Zealand.

Lieutenant J. Y. G. Torlesse _ has been advanced to third-class Assistant Surveyor. Lieutenant (Flying Officer. R.A.F.). C. P. V Pugh, has been appointed to Vindictive, and for No. Hi Flight (November 19th). Canadian General Staff. The Military correspondent of the "Daily Telegraph," writes:—"The ties between the Army at home and the Dominion Forces, and their future cooperation, should be greatly strengthened by Canada's selection of one of her chief officers to be a student at the Imperial Defence - College. I understand that her Deputy Chief, of the General Staff, Colonel (Hon. Brigadier-General) A. G. L. McNaughton, C.M.G., D.5.0., is coming to attend the first course at the newly-founded Imperial Defence College, in Buckingham Gate, which opens on January 1. An artillery officer, who won distinction in the war, he is also of high academic attainments,. and is M.Sc. and LL.D. of McGill University. His youth also—he is only 36—is an asset, for elasticity of mind is vital in such a new venture as the Imperial Defence College, and the virgin grOund which they will have to explore."

Imperial Defence Eeserve. "The Times" says that one of the students joining the Imperial Dafonce College next month for a year's study in the higher strategy of Imperial protection has written a paper Which has attracted cbnsiderable attentibn. The officer is Lieutenant-Colonel R. H. Saining, of the Royal Artillery. He considers that the only way to deal with possible contingencies in different parts of the Empire is to have some form of Imperial local reserves in each Dominion and Colony which would be available for immediate dispatch. The nearest Dominion would thus deal With any locil trouble and obviate the delay caused by long sea voyages by British or Indian troops. Lieutenant-Colonel Haining indicates a more important Indian part in the general scheme of Imperial defence.

2nd. Cavalry Brigade. The reference made in the recent statement on defence to the selection of an Australian officer to command the 2nd Cavalry. Brigade for a training period has interested the Army from the point of view of the more free interchange of commands between the various services (says "The Times"). The officer selected is Brevet-Colonel W. J. Foster, 0.8., C.M.G., D.5.0., who is serving in the department of the Chief of the Australian Staff (Lieuten-ant-General Sir H. G. Chauvel) as Director of Military Operations and Intelligence. He is an officer of the Australian Light Horse, was a brigade major with the Australians in France, and the Mediterranean, and served also with the mounted troops in Egypt. He will come to Salisbury Plain for the 1927 training season, and temporarily take over from Colonel Commandant B. D. Fisher, the 2nd Cavalry Brigade, which will then consist of the 7th Hussars, the 16/sth Lancers, and the 3/6 th Dragoon Guards. It may be recalled that Colonel R. H. Davies was sent from New Zealand in 1010 to take over the 6th Infantry Brigade at Aldershot and took it to France, afterwards coming On the British establishment as a major-general. The number of oversea officers coming to England for training purposes is to be increased, and the Army Council plan of affiliating oversea units to British Army regiments, now in course of completion, will provide 6, basis for this attachment both at home and in India.