UNITED STATES NAVY.

Taranaki Daily News, 19 February 1921, Page 9

UNITED STATES NAVY.

AN ALARMING REPORT. An article in the North American Review gives an alarming account of the United States Navy. The writer, Archibald Douglas Turnbull, a graduate of the United States Naval Academy, who has been IS years in the service, charges Mr. Daniels, secretary for the navy, with political interference to the detriment of discipline, and with spreading distrust and jealousy throughout the service. Then at the close of the war Mr. Daniels’ main object became a rapid demobilisation. To appreciate the result of too-rapid demobilisation, he says, oi)"”' has but to visit any navy yard. This will prove a distressing—more, an alarming experience. At. first sight, a very forest of rnarsts and spars may be inspiring. But a little closer approach will bring out the. fact that the majority of the ships fly no colours, that no soul moves about their decks. To all intents and purposes they are dead shells of once living entities. Such few as may still be in commission will be found undermanned in mere numbers, woefully inadequate in trained personnel. This includes all classes of vessels, notably battleships, submarines, and destroyers. In the autumn only two battleships, the Delaware and the North Dakota, were considered by naval commanders as even fairly fit for service. To-day it is a freely-discussed question whether the flagship Pennsylvania and her sisters of the Atlantic Fleet, with the4r shortages and their green crews, can safely leave the docks for anything more than short cruises along the coast. Among a number of submarines based upon Newport there will be found about enough trained men to man one boat. The last war was fought, on the sea, largely by destroyers. Tn a flotilla of more than 309 of these vessels it is now possible to keep in active operation 18 on each coast. Any personnel that can be begged, borrowed, or stolen for destroyers in excess of the needs of the 36 boats in full commission, will be spread in , a pitifully thin layer over the remainder. Quite unable to operate, the reserve squadrons have been gathered in the back waters of several navy yards. From time to time new vessels, fresh from the hands of the builders, will be added to these potential scrap-heaps. A modern destrove’’ costs about a million and a-half. Tt takes men, and trained mon, merely to lay up her machinery in grease and tallow. Practically speaking there are no such men left in the navy.