NAVAL LEADER

Wairarapa Times-Age, 23 January 1942, Page 4

NAVAL LEADER

ADMIRAL T. C. HART BLUNT-TONGUED AMERICAN. ACTION PREFERRED TO TALK. Although he has passed the usual retiring age of United States Navy officers, Admiral T. C. Hart, newlyappointed to the command of all Allied naval units in the South Pacific, under the direction of General Sir Archibald Wavell, was kept in active service by no less a person than President Roosevelt. The President decided that Admiral Hart was indispensable in the East. Nicknamed “Turtleneck,” Admiral Hart is said to be no glib, soft-spoken naval diplomat. His tongue is salty, and blunt truths are one of his predilections. “In normal times," said one of his officers recently. "I might like to be under someone a little easier than Admiral Hart, but in times like this in the Far East, I would much prefer to be under him.” DISLIKE FOR “0.K.” Admiral Hart is possibly unusual in the United States Fleet in his dislike for the favourite American expression. An “0.K., sir,” instead of an “Aye, aye, sir,” is said to turn him purple with rage. But when anyone complains about seeing sailors staggering round Manila under the influence of liquor, he stoutly avers that they sometimes have a right, after weeks at sea, to “make a rough liberty.” Repute has it that Admiral Hart is no talker. He prefers action. He has always, it is said, been ready to shoot. He has also always been independent. When he was captain in command of the battleship Mississippi he was once leading 11 other battleships in a pea-soup fog when he heard a destroyer's warning siren somewhere off his bow. Without consulting his fleet commander he promptly ordered the whole line to stop. When he was summoned to answer a charge of committing a breach of regulations he exploded: —“If I couldn’t see, how could the flagship at the end of the line?” He was officially rebuked but unofficially applauded.

TWO YEARS’ PRAYERS ANSWERED A few months ago Admiral Hart’s Asiatic Fleet consisted of two cruisers, 13 destroyers, 17 submarines, three gunboats, and miscellaneous small craft. It has since been reinforced, its new strength being a strict secret. “Every darn thing I begged for two years ago,” said Admiral Hart recently, “I can have now. But it takes time, time, time to get it here. Meanwhile I get along on a shoestring.” He is a wiry little man who once served as coxswain for the United States Naval Academy’s first cutter crew. That was in 1897. He received his first command when in the late ’twenties and he has forged steadily ahead since then. He won the American Distinguished Service Medal for his work when in command of two divisions of United States submarines which operated out of bases in Ireland after the United States entered the Great War. His sphere of duty hitherto has been from Wake Island to China, and it is said he knows it, like the back of his hand. He is an admiral in whom the United States has great confidence.