THE BRAINS OF UNCLE SAM'S NAVY

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3073, 8 May 1917, Page 5

THE BRAINS OF UNCLE SAM'S NAVY

ADMIRAL BENSON

He is a man of about sixty-two, and! since he was seventeen years old ha has been at work on one task—to have the American Navy ready for war. His name is William S. Benson. He is the rankino- Admiral of the Navy, with the title of "Chief of Operations," a position which corresponds with that of tha First Lord of the Admiralty. It is his task to direct the naval campaign, to see that every ship from the superdreadnought; 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 ;iQre already i lauL 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 ihe< institution following the end of the Civil War. His first duty afloat was as a junior officer of the old Hartford, then the flags Kip of the South Atlantic fleet. He was with the Hartford two years. 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. • "' . • For six months- Benson was on duty at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. He soon was ordered to sea a second time, and was on board the' Yantic when that ship made its historic expedition for the relief of Major-General Adolphus Washington Greely, the polar-region, explorer. On the return of the reliefi. expedition Benson, 'then a "captain, was again given,shore leave and,assigned to duty under-what was then known as the Navy Advisory Board. Later he was ordered to the Naval Academy as an instructor. Subsequently he served in the Washington NavyYard, with the Coast Survey, on.several ships, and again at Annapolis as commandant of midshipmen. His most recent sea service was as captain or the super-dreadnought Utah,'and, temporarily, as the commander or the first division of the Atlantic fleet. He knows the'warship game from top to bottom. During the '80's he inspected the material for the construction of the first modern lighting vessels,, ancl has had a hand in the building of our Navy of to-day aud the training of the men who man it. •' Ho undertook ,his present responsibilities'in the spring-of 1915, when Congress established the office _ot "Chief of Operations." Admiral Benson's position is that of Chief, of Statt for the Navy. ,He is entrusted with the operation of Hho fleet, and the preparation of plans for use in war. It is his duty to see and care for .the needs of the service asia whole. Sincehis appointment in 1910 the Aaval War College, the intelligence ornce, aeronautics, mining operations, and all tactical matters 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 last year to issue- orders within his jurisdiction in the name of the Ly of the Navy. Ho is the "boss", of the Stars and Stripes afloat. The "Star" goes on: . . „. In the bare room in the State, war, and Navy Building, at Washington, in an office just large enough to accommodate a flat-top desk and a few_ chaw., \dmiral Benson works far into the night after his helpers have goneta* Ho undoubtedly already has taken « tlm Seorotarv of War the plans this 2*2 will -follow should Germany force us into war. Any plans followM would bo submitted by Benson to :tfo Secretary of War, who in turn Tvould carry 4em to the, President for his aP Cd when the day comes, if it do*. Benson will give, the word jhmh. wfl strip 40,000 men into fighting trim ana fefc the machinery of our war-dogs to Srindin-.. All the naval material n-direction-naval _ ? esoI ™°» "„ lpp i T iS.tSSen-.Sisho-es.U,. venters', labourers, aud marines.