PACIFIC CRUISE.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 17 December 1924, Page 5

PACIFIC CRUISE.

■ —— *♦— ——— ■ OP AMERICAN FLEET. EXTENSIVE PREPARATIONS. ; REASON FOR MANOEUVRES. BY CABLE—PRESS ASSOCIATION—COPYRIGHT WASHINGTON, Dec. 15. Complete details of the reasons for the Pacific manoeuvres and the visit to Australia and New Zealand are contained in recent testimoney by Mr Wilbur (Secretary iror the Navy) and Admiral Eberle, chief of naval operations, before the Appropriations Committee of the House of Representatives, which granted the necessary appropriations. These details have now been published. - , ; Mr Wilbur said the advantages of the manoeuvres off Honolulu and the visit to Australia and New Zealand “are to the navy purely tactical. There, is the training of the men in the actual management of the ships; there is the advantage "to the personnel in a foreign cruise in masters such as recruiting; and there ■ is.«the added advantage of contact with Australians and New Zealanders., Thsy are eager to have us come.': '■ }■

“From the naval standpoint, however, while the desirableness of cementing friendship with foreign nations is to be considered, our primary purpose is the training of the fleet. My conclusions have been . redfched after discussing the-situation with my officers, byt the problem of extending the trip to Australia and-New Zealand has been consideredfim council, and is the result of the combined judgment of officers of the fle^t;”

Admirii Eberle said: ‘‘The Australian cruise is the culmination of a programme that was laid out for the operations of the fleet in order to givejlong cruises for training and manoeuvres; and. see if the fleet could be self-supporting away from home •bases, be., by its own supply ships. In order to ascertain that we had to make a rather extensive cruise.

: “It. will be very beneficial to the ihoraK of the men to take a cruise awaytrom home ports. Four years ago we ngdo a cruise to the west coast of South. America. Then in February, we had joint manoeuvres off Panama, and later in the West- Indies. The plan for this year was for all to haw combined operations off the coast of California. The problem was to diafoyef how to proceed against the Hawaiian Islands with an army defendiig. That was very important, because tie army there had not had exercises yith the fleet since 1920. Then they are .to test particularly the anchorages &r the fleet, which are very limited. ?hen, on the outward trip, the fleet 'Nill touch Pago Pago. .1 “Afterwards all the battleships will go to Sydney, and all destroyers with tenders and four light cruisers to Melbourne; Then all the destroyers, tenders and four light cruisers will go to Wellington, and the battleships from Sydney to Auckland, where all the vessels will assemble for the return trip. Throughout the cruise they will test their material and steaming radius, and determine whether the ships can be self-supporting, and whether they can be. maintained in all kinds of weather. ”

Asked by members of the committee how the programme compared with Britain's, Admiral ‘Eberle said: “Britain has had combined manoeuvres, either in the Atlantic, the Pacific or the Mediterranean. She has not held such extensive manoeuvres recently, but this year she sent a special squadron round the world.”

Admiral Eberle said the mileage of the proposed trip was 13,000, -compared with 12,000 miles covered in the Panama trip last year.