ADMIRAL BENSON.

Hokitika Guardian, 26 May 1917, Page 3

ADMIRAL BENSON.

Brains of the United States Navy He is a man of about sixty-two and since he was seventeen years old he has been at work on one task tc have the American Navy ready for war (says the “ Literary Digest ). His name is William S. Benson. He is the ranking Admiral of the Navy, with the title of “ Chief of Operations,” a position which corresponds with that of the First Lord of the Admiralty. With the United States at war, it is his task to direct the naval campaign, to see that every ship, from the super-Dreadnought Arizona to the smallest converted launch of the “ mosquito fleet,” is in its proper place. He is the brains of the Navy, and if we may trust those who know him his plans for any eventuality are already laid. Forty-five years ago (says the; “ Kansas City Star ”) Admiral Benson was appointed to the Naval Academy as a midshipman from • Georgia. He was one of the first Southerners to enter the institution following the end of the Civil War. His first duty afloat was as a junior officer of the old Hartford, then the flagship of the South Atlantic fleet. He was with the Hartford two yea,r«. Then he was transferred to the Essex, of the same fleet. When he was detached from that ship and ordered home he already was considered an officer of great executive ability and unusual judgment. ON RELIEF EXPEDITION. For six months* Benson was on duty at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. He soom was ordered to sea a second time, and w'as on board the Yantio when that ship made its historic expedition for the relief «<f MajorGeneral Adolphus Washington Greely, the polar region explorer. On the return of the relief expedition Benson, then a captain, was again given shore leave and assigned to duty under what was then known aa the Navy Advisory Board. Later he was ordered to the Naval Academy aa an instructor. Subsequently he served in the Washington Navy Yard, with the Coast Survey, on several ships, and again at Annapolis as commandant of midshipmen. Hi 3 most recent sea was as captain of the super-Dreadnought Utah and temporarily as the commander of the first division of the Atlantic fleet. He knows the warship game from top to bottom. During the eighties he inspected the material for the construction of the first modern fighting vessels, and has had a hand in the building of the Navy of to-day and the training of the men who man it. THE CHIEF OF STAFF. He undertook his present responsibilities in the spring of 1915, when Congress established the office of “ Chief of Operations.” Admiral Benson’s position is that of Chief of Staff for the Navy. He is entrusted with the operations of the fleet, and the preparation of plans for use in war. It is his duty to see and care for- the needs of the service as a whole. Since his appointment in 1915 the Naval War College, the intelligence office, aeronautics, training operations, and all tactical matter" have been brought under his control. Admiral Benson was able to improve each of these without having the development of one interfere with that of another, and in consequence Congress authorised him lant year to issue orders within his jurisdiction in the name of the Secretary of the Navy. He is the “ boss ” of the Stars and Stripes afloat. The “ Stars ” goes on : “ In the bare room in tike State War and Navy Building, at Washington, in an office just large enough to accommodate a flat-top desk and a few chairs, Admiral Benson works far into the night after his helpers have gone home. He undoubtedly already has taken to the Secretary of War the plans this nation should follow should Germany force us into war. Any plans followed wauld be submitted by Benson to the Secretary of War, who in turn would carry them to the President for his approval. 40,000 AT HIS COMMAND. “ And when the day comes, if it does, Benson will give the word which will 1 strip 40,000 men into fighting trim and set the machinery of our war-dogs to grinding. All the Baval material resources of the country will be under his direction—naval reserves, yachts, power, boats, provision houses, supply bouses, fighting vessels,. munition makers, taxpayers, banking houses, inventors, labourers and marines. “ Is he the man to handle the job ? Said a brother officer and former shipmate of Admiral Benson : “ ‘No matter what his personal feeling for me might be, there is no officer in the Navy whom I would fear more if I were on trial for 1 an offence ot which I was guilty, for nothing would make him swerve from what he conceived to be his duty.’ ”