STRAINING FOR THE FOE.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 14449, 8 November 1917, Page 5

STRAINING FOR THE FOE.

AMERICA'S IDEALS IN THE NAVAL

WAR,

WASHINGTON, Sept. 5

"The American navy is ready for war. There is not a. ship or a gun or a man that is not at the top pitch, and every man is confident of b.ging m at the victory which is assured."

This statement was made to me today by the Hon. Josephus Daniels, Secretary of the Navy, m his office m the State War. and Navy building m Washington.

The civilian l'uler of Uncle Sam's. navy has been the butt of a good cmany jokes because of his fight against alcohol and his banning of all intoxicating drink from the ships of the navy. I confess, that I expected to meet a mail with some of the familiar stigmata of the crank, but I was agreeably disappointed. Mr Daniels .i« just* the sort; of '•shrewd business man' thlat one would expect to find' at the head of, a great trading or manufacturing organisation, which, after all, is just what the army or navy of a great State m wartime is.

AMBRJiOA'S PLANS.

In reply to my request for some concrete facts about . what the American navy is going to dp m the . war Mr Daniels said :

Just before war was declared between the United States and Germany the authorised strength of the. navy, was 53,500 men. Now the actual strength is 122.0C0 men. We have doubled the navy m a few weeks without the ' slightest trouble, and you must remember that there is no draft for the navy. We hto-ve not only had no ti'ouble m getting men; our difficulty has been to find a place to put them. We have had to say to thousands, 'Go home and wait' tintil we are ready to deal with you.' Every shipyard m thfe United States, public and private, is working overtime to build additions to our fleets. I gave an order recently for 60 new destroyers of a much improved type, and I expect to get. some of them before the year is out. I shall get all of them within 12 months. I have also just ordered a large number of submarines, and am hastening construction on those already ordered. We are building scout cruisers) battle cruisers, Dreadnoughts, trawlers, and shnps of every class that will be useful m war, and we have under construction thousands of submarine chasers, which ought to go far; towards solving the problem of dealing with thfe U-boat. Our policy is to, build everything which our shipbuilding yards, our labor supply, and our material resources will permit us to build : and with the help of Congress, •which has beeji most generous with its appropriations, this policy will he pressed to the uttermost. We are most actively arming our merchant ship" and all our revenue ctitters and coast defence vessels. As fast as we can train new crews we are increasing the armament of these vessels. Our policy is to utilise every plan and hew inven* tion thlat the experts indicate will be useful m winning the war. Everyman, every ship, every ounce of material is dedicated to the victory of which we are certain. Our people have great confidence m the navy, and it is very gratlfyine to learn that this confidence is shared by the Admiralties of Eneland and France. 'Its spirit is admirable, its efficiency is high, and it is ready at the word to do' anything or go anywhere "