NAVAL EXPANSION

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 90, 18 April 1939, Page 11

NAVAL EXPANSION

MANNING NEW! Slffi&

DIFFICULT PROBLEM

As the pace of delivery of •new Sjws» ships from the builders increases the problem of manning becomes more and more difficult for the naval depots.. This applies particularly to skilled ratings like artificers. The 4emand for partially trained men who nave done from three to five years in workshop* ashore is such that in the next twelve months it will be necessary to enters. 900 of these men, and this«effort will be followed by a steady recruitment of 700 a year for the two succeeding years, states the naval correspondent of the "Manchester Guardian." The authorities are confronted by. the hard fact that the nine new battleships now building will need 515 artificers, the six aircraft-carriers about 300, the eighteen cruisers another 700, and the thirty destroyers about 250. This is apart from the men required for new submarines and escort vessels and the large number of auxiliary craft now building. During the past nine months the average monthly entry of trained artificers has been only 36i More than double that number must be found every month this year. I have seen some of the recent recruits. They come from all parts of the country, and have left work in; engineering shops of all descriptions to enlist. I did not find one who had joined up because he was unemployed. The artificers rank as petty officers from the start of their career (they, have acting rank in the preliminary,' stages) and enjoy all the privileges of a separate mess, both in barracks while they are receiving their training in' naval ways and when afloat. One batch of men I saw drawing their kit, a full supply of underclothing, uniform, boots, cap, and such personal domestic gear as boot brushes. This is a free issue, and the men have a quarterly, allowance with which to buy replace-, ments. The pay ranges from 56s a week on entry at the age of 21 up to 125s a week at the age of forty. They. can then retire on a pension of £87 a year. Artificers are. divided into, three branches —the engine-room men, those ■ who deal with electrical equipment, and those who look after the guns and their fittings. Among these last are some highly skilled instrument makers, for much of the gear of a modern gun N and its controls is as fine as jeweller's work. As one of the officers who was showing me round said, "You can't let a man loose on a telescope with a sledge-hammer."