NAVAL MATTERS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 99, 20 January 1908, Page 9

NAVAL MATTERS.

NUCLEUS CREWS. The .scheme failed to fulfil its own conditions. It was a condition that tlio men should lenrn to know their own ships, so that . the disadvantage of tho old Reserve should • bo obviated. But, as efficiency with cconomy concurrently reduced the personnel (by 30U0 in three years) and tlio Uockvard establishments (by over SOOO in tlire'o wars), the maiming arrangements necessitated tho constant shifting-of ineli from ship to ship, and their employment upon dockyard duties. Results, discontent and. npou oiio occasion, mutiny. After tho mutiny the men in barracks wero sent aboard thoir ships, ]caviii<v several acres of expensive builililK's Un° tenanted. 0 • It was a condition that tho Reserve Fltet should bo ready for war. Jt has never been ready. It has never mobilised under several weeks notice. - Tho "surpriso mobilisations were carefully .prepared for. Tlie lleservo Fleet had uo night training. Not a ship in it was fit to tight until tho full crew of officers and men had done 0110 to Uireo months' training. "Tho brain and .muscle theory did not work. Tlio officers and men ncccssury for complete tiro control— »r gunnery practicer-wero not included in tho'nucleus crows'. As an expert writer lias recently explained, tho returns of. gunnery advertised in tho newspapers, and proclaimed in both Houses of Parliament, boro no relation to war conditions, and as comparative estimates of even a particular kind ot excellence, wore demonstrably worthier WHY IT FAILED. But, it will bo objected, admitting all theso things (Lord Tvecdmoutli. Mr. Robertson, or .Vlr. Lambert may confidently bo expeotfr'j shortly to walk angrily round tho subject amid tho cheers of their friends and constituents), it. may still bo true that tho nucleus crow principle is better than tho old Keserve system. By no means. For this reason:— Every ship in the Reserve Fleet (now called, the Homo Fleet), being in partial commission, and therefore suffering wear and tear, is accumulating repairs every day Mo provision has been made, or is being made, for executing those repairs. This is a matter of common sense. A vast eouinHn'it ma <jhmery m use will constantly dei elop small defects. In time these detects will render her unseaworthv. Many of the Homo Fleet ships are now actually in that condition. In the course of a year or two they will all bo 111 that condition. Tho country will then bo required either to spend millions in repairs, or to scrap the ships and spend more millions m new vessels, unless it rests content with a fleet that can neither steam nor light. Under tho old system, the ships in tho Reserve were not used, but maintained. 1 here ore they did not require repairing , lhercioro thoy woro lit to go to sea That the intentions of tho nucleus crew system were excellent, and that—if tho scheme had ever been carried out—sonio good would have resulted, 110 one will denv But what can possibly compensate for 'tho tremendous and appalling mortgage on tho immediate luture which it entails B Nnthin.r ■less I him a gigantic (loot in « stale of pro" gross,™ decay whoso _ ruins will presently have to be either repaired or replaced Or (if you prefer llio alternative) the dcercnci. of tlu« British Navy by one-half Utucnsi '

The: ll.rn.UKli uf Oi.sl.m- (.a.s M'lnl iiik to a proposal to I';»ise si spiM-ml loan «!' .i'f.vm lor l.h» purpose „r ct»n>(rucUujr and providing wjilmvorks. Tin' sliilijlury ni.'i'liiiK.i.f Kim* .....I (u., Uil„ luib bufji adjourned imtil Friday, January H.