AMERICA'S NAVAL CHUISE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18894, 17 December 1924, Page 11

AMERICA'S NAVAL CHUISE.

VISIT TO THE DOMINIONS.

EXPLANATIONS OF REASONS.

TRAINING FRIMARY PURPOSE.

By Telegraph—Press Association— Copyright

(Received 7.5 p.m.)

A. and N.Z. WASHINGTON. Dec. 13. The reasons actuating fie United States Kavy Department in planning the Pacific manoeuvres of the fleet, and its visit to Now Zealand and Australia, were disclosed by the Secretary to the Navy, Mr. Curtis Wilbur, and the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Eberle, in their evidence before the Appropriations Committee of the. House of Representatives, which has granted the necessary vote. This evidence has now been published. ' Mr. Wilbur said the advantages to the na vv of the manoeuvres off Honolulu, and the "visit to New Zealand and Australia would bo purely tactical. In the training of men in the actual management of ships there would be advantage to the personnel in a foreign cruise, and there would be the added advantage of contact .with the people of New Zealand and Australia, who, he said, were eager for the visit to be paid. From a naval standpoint, although the desirability of cementing friendships with foreign nations had to be considered, the primary purpose was fleet training. His conclusions had been reached in discussing the situation with naval officers, but the problem of the visit to New Zealand and Australia had been considered in council and the decision was the result of the combined judgment of the officers of the fleet. The Hawaiian Manoeuvres. Admiral Eberle said the proposed cruise was the culmination of a four-year programme which was laid out for the operations of the fleet, in order to give long cruises for training and manoeuvres, and to see if it could be self-supporting away from its homo bases, by it 3 own 6upply ships. In order to ascertain that they had to make rather an expensive cruise. Ifc would also be very beneficial to the morale of the men to take a cruise away from home ports. Four years «go the fleet made a cruise to the west coast of Bouth America. Then, in February, 1923, joined in manoeuvres at Panama. Last year there was a West Indies cruise. The plan for the coming year was to have combined operations off the coast of California. They were to start with the problem of a supposed attack against the Hawaiian Islands, with the army defending them. That was very important, because the army there had not had exercises with the fleet since 1920. Then the operations were to specially test the anchorages of the fleet, which were very limited. Important Tests to be Made. iOn the outward trip the fleet would touch at Pagopago, Then all the battleships would go to Sydney and all the destroyers, 1 with tenders and four light cruisers, to Melbourne. From there the destroyers, tenders and four light cruisers would go to Wellington, and the battleships from Sydney to. Auckland. All the vesselj would subsequently assemble at- Auckland for the return trip. Throughout the cruise the ships would test, material and steaming radius, and determine- whether any of them were not self-supporting aud whether thej could be maintained in all kinds of weather. Asked by members of the committee how the programme compared with Britain's, Admiral Eberle said Britain had combined manoeuvres either on the Atlantic, the Pacific, or the Mediterranean. She had not held such extensive manoeuvres recently, but this year she had sent a Special Service Squadron round the world. Admiral Eberle said the mileage of the proposed trip of the United States Fleet was 13,000, compared with 12,000 miles on the trip to Panama last year.