HOW AMERICA STANDS

Greymouth Evening Star, 22 February 1917, Page 3

HOW AMERICA STANDS

• FLEET THIRD JN RANK. . ' ' OF BATTLE CRUISERS. FUTURE BUILDING PLANS. AN UNTUTORED ARMY. ~. {Auckland Star.) The position of the United States as a , naval power is vastly better than her J military: position, the disproportion beiujj \ much greater than it was in the case of Britain before the war. „ The American Navy, which ranks third on the world's list, is at present composed of 12 dreadnoughts and super-dread-' nought battleships, 19 pre-dreadnoughts, four old battleships, 15 armoured cruisers, 16 light cruisers, about .60 destroyers, and from 50 to 60 submarines, The superdreadnought battleships are largo, fairly fast, and heavily armed vessels six, in number. Their main armament ranges from twelve 12-inch' guns in the Wyoming and Arkansas to t<m 1-in. in thtj Nevada, and Oklahoma, which were completed last year. The Pennsylvania and Arizona, which should bo completed' this year, have a displacement of 32,000 tons and an armament of twelve 14-inch and twenty.two 5-lnch guns. Of the older ships,- eleven might be able to take their places in the battle line, but the remainder are deficient in both armament and speed, The cruisers include a useful class of four, armed with four 10-inch and sixteen 6-inch guns, but none of the rest carry anything bigger than the 8-inch weapon. Even the later vessels have n speed of only' 22 knots. Only three of the light cruisers are up to modern requirements in the matter of speed'. THE NAVY'S WEAKNESSES. The weaknesses of the United States < Navy are notorious. They have been discussed very freely during the past few years, and'especially since the outbreak 'of the war. The programmes of the Naval Board have been cut down by Congress, and politics are believed to have interfered seriously with the Navy's efficiency. The Fleet fa entirely without battlecruisers, very short of light craft, and is not pronerly manned. There is no ado- , quate General Staff. In 1914 Rear-Admiral Fisher said this in his evidence before the House Committee on Naval Affairs: "I would say it would take about five years to get ready with our Navy to fight successfully against an effective navy. I am not thinking so much of the material of the ship as of the operations. What I have in mind all the time is what I would do if I wore to have war to-morrow or next month. When I think of the number of things that ( wo would have to do to get the Navy into reallv effective shape—by which I mean . having plans, plans of preparation and plans'of conduct of the war, and properly drilled mine-layers and mine-sweepers, and the aeronautical branch—when I think of all that has to be done in pro-. paring general plans and detail plans of war, in getting the personnel enlisted and trained, ready to fight our _ battleships that are now*in roservo and in ordinary, and figure it all out. I conclude that it" wi'l take five years." Recently Admiral Fletcher stated to m same committee that every one of the battleships nn active duty was eight to e»venteen officers short, and between them thev needed—the«e fifteen ships—6ooo more men. Of the other six vessels of the Atlantic Squadron, .throe were so crippled for want of officers and men that they could not go with the fleet. The want of battle-cruisers was recognised in the bier £63,000.000 vote -passed hist August; when it was decided to lay down four vessels with a displacement of 33 000 000 tons, the othpr details being : Lenn+Vi 850 ft: beam. 97ft; horse-power, 200 000 • speed', 32 to 33 knots; armament, ten I4iu ; cost, 31 millions. It is also • pm'wrl to lav down four 32,000-ton bnttleships carrying eight 16-in guns, togelher with four scout cruisers, 20 destroyers, and 30 submarines.

STATE OF THE ARMY. Th* peace strength of the United States Army is about 100,000. The regulars, who'have a very high reputation for efficient, number about 30,000, and the K.,lnnc'e is made up by the National Guard, or volunteers, and the reserve militia. Enlistment in the regular army is for seven vears, of which four are snent with the colours. The National Guard, which has a strong "paper" organisation, is a generally disci-edited'body and has never entered into the schemes of the "preparedness" advocates. In general it lad'ks equipment, and the efficiencv of the training varies a pood deal in different localities. Its unreadiness for native seiwe. has been shown during- the past year, when much of it was mobilised for service on the Mexican border. A large percentage of the men-were found to be phvsieallv unfit for active service,, and m«m'-others arrived, at, their destination without uniforms or eqni-mwj. The militia reserve consists of practically all citizens between the ages of 18 and 45 vears. and mav be cored ud by the President in times of national crisis. It exists on Paper only. There are various proposals, official' and otherwise, for putting the citizen forces on a better basis, but very little 'has yet been done in the matter. :