Even the most casual thinker about things maritime realizes that, for any extended operations, the strength of the fleet must take into consideration many factors other than actual fighting ships and their complements. Fuel, foodstuffs, general supplies, and ammunition, must be delivered when and where desired, and in needed quantities. Miscellaneous ships of many kinds must be improvised and provided for the use of the commander in chief. Naval personnel must be transported to and from the base of operations. Troops may have to be moved in great numbers. To carry out these auxiliary tasks will require a large number of merchant vessels under the immediate control of the government of the United States—in all probability, under the direct supervision of the Navy Department.
It is a matter of the greatest importance for the safety of the nation that there shall be an adequate merchant marine under the flag of the United States, but, since this paper deals primarily with personnel, that phase of the question will not be discussed in detail. However, the establishment of a large and efficient Merchant Marine Naval Reserve depends directly upon the maintenance of an adequate number of ships under the American flag, for the personnel cannot be developed, commissioned, enlisted, or what not, without ships upon which to serve. The law does not permit the Merchant Marine Naval Reserve to become an organization of city-dwellers or rural husbandmen.1
For the purpose of discussing the organization of this new branch of the Naval Reserve, it must be assumed that the ships exist. The task presented is to take such measures as will assure the nation of their most efficient use in time of national emergency. It is apparent that the ideal condition' from the Navy’s standpoint would be to have all merchant vessels immediately available for use as adjuncts to the fighting forces and to have each vessel manned with officers and men trained in the Navy’s methods of conducting business on the seas and subject to the orders and discipline of the Navy Department. Such an ideal is, of course, impossible of achievement. The best that can be done is to make a beginning and to go as far along the way as existing conditions both in the Navy and in the mercantile world will permit.
In a previous article on this same general subject, the writer described the relations between the Navy and the merchant service in the following paragraphs:2
In the beginning, we may as well recognize that the Merchant Marine Naval Reserve problem is one properly referred to as triangular. It has three distinct sides or faces, each one somewhat opposite to the others, yet joined to them in an inseparable way. Like the triangle, if we remove one side, the others are of no avail for they cannot constitute the whole. The three sides of the problem, each representing one of the great elements concerned, are, the United States government (represented by the Navy Department), those American citizens who make their livelihood upon the sea, and the owners and operators of merchant vessels under the American flag. While each of these recognizes the needs and desires of the others, it must keep its own necessities paramount and ever in the foreground.
The Navy is primarily interested in building up in the merchant service an organization which will be available, at short notice, to come to its aid in the defense of the country. To have such an organization, it is essential that the requisite ships be under the American flag. The Navy’s paramount interest, therefore, extends to every legitimate means which will foster shipbuilding to the degree necessary to provide the needed merchant shipping. While the Navy is intensely interested in many other phases of the situation, all else must be secondary to the one great problem of national defense.
The seagoing American citizens of the merchant marine (both officers and men) are primarily interested in whatever will best promote their own welfare. With few exceptions they are intensely loyal to their country and would scorn anything which is derogatory to its interests. Almost unanimously they are loyal to their employers and would not look with favor on any move calculated to damage or discredit them. Nevertheless, even with all these most commendable traits and qualities, a different viewpoint often causes a totally different opinion of what should be done to achieve a desired end. Thus, differences arise which at times are so serious as to cause hotheaded men and women to shout “bad faith.”
Reasonable dividends are the paramount issue with owners and operators. Of course, they are interested in the national defense, in the welfare of the personnel operating their ships, in the comfort and safety of passengers, and in the adequacy of their freight handling facilities. But if dividends fail year after year, the ships cease to operate, the lines cease to exist, and the owner either sells out or pockets his loss. In the end, merchant shipping must be profitable or nonexistent.
The limitations must be recognized. Merchant vessels are ordinarily private property. Their characteristics cannot be dictated, except in so far as the national government is willing to pay for certain features, such as speed or displacement, by either direct or indirect subsidy. They must go when and where remunerative business offers unless some paternal agency makes it worth while to do otherwise. No merchant ship is manned with even a fringe of superfluous personnel. It is logical to assume that every officer and man gives a full day’s work to his employer every twenty-four hours. To require an individual to do additional duties may mean that the quality or the quantity of work done for his employer will suffer and profits may come down accordingly. If, then, an individual is to do something which will better fit him for the Navy’s requirements, this "something” must be an act which will redound to the ultimate benefit of the operating corporation.
What does the Navy offer to the shipoperator to induce him to cooperate in the establishment of the Merchant Marine Naval Reserve on board his vessels?
The Merchant Marine Naval Reserve Flag. When the master and 50 per cent of the officers of a vessel are members of the Merchant Marine Naval Reserve and the vessel has been “designated by the Secretary of the Navy as suitable for service as a naval auxiliary in time of war,”3 a warrant may be issued by the Navy Department authorizing her to display the Merchant Marine Naval Reserve flag. This symbol of direct approval by the Secretary of the Navy is certain to instill confidence in passengers and shippers and to give an added dignity to a vessel warranted to show it. It indicates to all who care to observe, that the officer personnel and the ship itself have been subjected to the searching investigations of the Navy and have been found worthy of a place in the scheme of national defense in time of emergency.
Stability of Personnel. The Navy looks forward to the time when certain financial remuneration may be paid to members of the Merchant Marine Naval Reserve serving on seagoing vessels under the American flag. Undoubtedly, regulations covering such payments will be so drawn as to require previous continuous service on the vessel to which attached before establishing eligibility for a place on the pay list. This requirement will tend to stabilize the personnel of ships on which the reserve is organized and, by reducing turnover, increase the efficiency of the whole organization.
Higher Standard of Personnel. As time goes on the Navy will increase gradually the requirements (educational, professional, and physical) for a commission in the Merchant Marine Naval Reserve. This gentle pressure will bring about a betterment in the mental and physical standards of officers and men on merchant vessels cooperating with the Navy.
Greater Operating Efficiency. The Navy hopes to organize and conduct voluntary courses in professional subjects of value to the merchant marine. These correspondence courses will be available to Naval Reserve personnel without cost. There is every reason to believe that a study of the courses provided (based on sound Navy experience and practices) will be reflected ultimately in dividends due to more efficient operation.
Better Conduct. It is somewhat of an axiom that the more pride a man has in himself, the less liable he is to disgrace either himself or the uniform he wears. The conduct of seafaring men in the ports of the world is not beyond reproach at times. The Navy hopes and trusts that the confidence it manifests in a merchant officer when it commissions him in the Naval Reserve, will cause him to keep in mind the high standard of conduct expected and demanded of an officer of the Navy and will cause him to act accordingly.
Retention of Personnel. The operator has every reason to expect that if his ship is taken over for the use of the government, the personnel then on board will be retained on the vessel for the time being. This is a feature of tremendous importance to the owner or operator, for it permits him to keep his skilled personnel intact for a time; is an assurance that the vessel will not meet with damage or abuse due to being commissioned hurriedly with officers and men unfamiliar with her machinery or peculiarities; and holds out the hope that, unless hostilities are long drawn out, the vessel may be returned to her peaceful duties as a commercial carrier with the company’s personnel almost undisturbed in their billets.
Less Probability of Loss. The chances of losing the ship during the first few weeks of hostilities will be lessened if all, or a great part, of the officers are members of and have been trained by the Naval Reserve. Such officers will have received preliminary instruction in the art of cruising in formation, in zigzagging, the handling of torpedo-defense guns, use of smoke boxes, signaling, and in other things kindred to the profession of a naval officer. Since proficiency in the means of defense is a great safeguard in modern warfare, the knowledge thus gained cannot but reduce the hazards to which the ship must be subjected.
Greater Security in Foreign Ports. The time may come when American vessels will be lying in foreign ports and the government under whose jurisdiction they are for the time being will be considering their seizure in the same way that the United States took possession of the Dutch vessels in our ports during the World War. In such an event, if the officers on board are members of the Naval Reserve, the United States may have the ships placed in commission as vessels of the Navy and thereby protect them from seizure and possible confiscation.
What does the Navy offer to the individual officer to induce him to enter the Merchant Marine Naval Reserve?
Assured Position in the Event of Mobilization. The acceptance of a commission in the Naval Reserve assures the recipient of the maintenance of a commissioned status during the commencement of hostilities and places him in line for promotion as the Navy expands. It removes him from all the uncertainties of draft laws, hasty recruiting, and hurriedly formed examining boards. It gives him an opportunity to become familiar with the customs of the service and thereby gives greater opportunity to obtain more important positions as hostilities continue.
Educational Opportunities. At the present time, the Bureau of Navigation is offering a course in navigation conducted in accordance with the generally accepted standards of correspondence schools. It is also prepared to furnish pamphlets covering many other courses for self-education in subjects of interest to the seagoing profession. The privilege of obtaining these courses without charge should be one of value, especially to the younger merchant marine officers, since a study of them is almost certain to bring advancement in their chosen profession. Training duty with the fleet, one of the opportunities which will undoubtedly come in the future, may be classed as a most important part of the whole educational program.
Personal Satisfaction. A member of the Merchant Marine Naval Reserve may feel that he is doing his duty toward the national defense in no less degree than his brothers- in-arms in the regular services. That knowledge, together with the satisfaction which must come to him through the possession of a commission from his government, will enhance his personal pride, improve his position in society, and will enable him to perform more efficiently the duties of his office. It will also serve to elevate his standing with the operating officials of his company, who, he may rest assured, are ever on the lookout for men of ambition and ability.
And what does the Navy expect to gain by enrolling officers of the merchant service in the Naval Reserve and admitting them to that great brotherhood of combatant officers of the world’s fighting fleets?
The Right to Their Services. First and foremost, it obtains the undisputed right to the services of such officers immediately upon a declaration of hostilities or national emergency, to be used in such manner and in such places as may be deemed for the best interest of the government. This is a right the Navy possesses only in a limited degree while the merchant officer is in civil status, since he is not subject to draft except for certain specific purposes.4
Adequate Safeguards to the Government Interests. The complicated process of commissioning these officers in the federal service is effected in time of peace, in an orderly and efficient manner; adequate records are prepared; thorough physical examinations are carried out; the character and ability of the applicant determined; and the interests of the government properly safeguarded. To those who have struggled with the glaring errors made in the appointment of officers during the stress of war, with records which one would compliment immensely by speaking of as fragmentary, this reason alone is sufficient to justify the establishment of a Merchant Marine Naval Reserve.
Knowledge of the Individual. As the years go by the Navy will receive reports concerning the ability and the integrity of the various officers appointed in the Merchant Marine Naval Reserve. These will become a valuable means for determining the character and capabilities of the individual concerned and will assist greatly in the Navy’s efforts to utilize him to the best advantage if ever called to active service.
Education of the Individual. The gradual dissemination of information regarding naval customs and methods of conducting business will reduce somewhat the percentage of errors made in past emergencies. The study courses and training provided by the Navy will improve the professional ability of those taking advantage of them, and thus simplify the tasks of the commander in chief when he finds it expedient to place great responsibility on the shoulders of merchant officers.
“The mission of the Naval Reserve is to procure, organize, and train the officers and men necessary in the event of war for the expansion and operation of the United States Fleet and Naval Transportation Service.”5
In view of this there can be no object in taking into the Naval Reserve individuals whose services would not be utilized by the Navy in the event of mobilization. Since the best interests of the United States would not be served by mobilizing all licensed officers of the merchant marine as a part of the Naval Reserve, and thus crippling the nation’s water-borne commerce at a time when its continued operation would be most essential, the Merchant Marine Naval Reserve cannot be considered as a reservoir of trained personnel for general detail. The mission of the Merchant Marine Naval Reserve must, therefore, be considered as much more restricted than that of the reserve as a whole. It may be stated briefly as the training of officers and men serving on seagoing vessels of United States registry for service on their own vessels when commissioned in the Navy in time of war.
The basic act which authorized the creation of the Merchant Marine Naval Reserve provided that officers and men “shall be paid per annum, under such regulations as the Secretary of the Navy may prescribe, at the rate of not exceeding one month’s base pay of their corresponding grades, ranks, or ratings in the regular Navy, which pay shall be additional to any pay to which they may be entitled for training duty: Provided, That funds equal to the amount required for the purpose of this section shall first have been made available by the Congress for this specific purpose.”6 While funds for the above purpose have been included in the annual budget estimates on two different occasions, the specific appropriations needed have not been made by Congress.
However, the Navy Department decided to proceed with the building up of this important class of the Naval Reserve on a strictly non-pay status. In setting about this task, it was realized that the value of the new branch of the reserve would have to be sold to both the operators and the ship’s personnel, and that, without the allurement of pay of some kind, this might prove to be no easy task. It was, accordingly, determined to restrict our first efforts to the appointment of commissioned officers in the Naval Reserve, from the licensed personnel of seagoing merchant vessels under the American flag, of not less than 2,500 tons gross. In making such appointments, the Department wished to eliminate as far as possible all probability of personal favoritism, of company influence, or of political complexion. It was easy to see that any attempt to place each candidate in accordance with his individual qualifications would be a task requiring years of effort, endless investigations, and hopeless confusion. The fairest practicable method seemed to be to divide desirable merchant vessels into classes in accordance with their tonnage, characteristics, or probable use by the Navy, and then to assign a certain rank in the Merchant Marine Naval Reserve to each licensed position in each class. This policy was adopted, and it will remain the best until some equitable method of determining the relative merits of individual officers is developed. When one considers the difficulties of determining the relative merit of officers of the regular Navy, even with fitness reports covering 100 per cent of their time and with the large personal knowledge gained by years of association at sea and ashore, it should require no large imagination to foresee the pitfalls in the paths of well-meaning individuals who contend that every officer in the merchant service should be appointed in the rank for which he is best qualified.
While the position held on board his own vessel largely determined the rank assigned to a prospective officer, it had little to do with his precedence in grade, once he was appointed. When the first appointments were made, there were several hundred of the same grade issued as of the same date. The seniority of these officers among themselves, in any grade, was determined by a board of officers which considered all the data available in each case, giving due weight to previous naval service, age, length of seagoing experience, character of credentials submitted, size and type on which serving, and other matters of record. The investigation was thorough, and each individual may rest assured that his precedence was determined on an impartial basis.
The Merchant Marine Naval Reserve is in only the first phase of its existence and should ultimately become one of the bulwarks of the national defense. It has seemed wise to those engaged in the work of organization that the Navy move slowly; that it make certain of its ground before going too far in developing this part of the reserve. It is a new venture as far as the United States is concerned. A few missteps and misunderstandings might undo all the good work that has been accomplished so laboriously. It will require some few years of operation and administration before the Navy will understand so thoroughly the viewpoints of operators and merchant-ship personnel that it will be able to appraise them at their true value.
Naval officers as a whole will watch the progress of the Merchant Marine Naval Reserve with the greatest interest; will hope that those officers of the merchant service honored with a commission in the Naval Reserve meet every expectation of the Navy Department and of the American people; and will expect them to so shape their conduct in the ports of the world that they may enjoy, as a common heritage, the high regard in which the Navy’s commissioned personnel is held among all nations.
The Merchant Marine Naval Reserve is an organization conceived and built up for the mutual benefit of the owners and operators of American vessels, the personnel of the seagoing merchant marine, and the government of the United States. It will be of value only in so far as it helps one or all of the interested parties.
The Navy and the merchant marine need each other to round out their spheres of usefulness to the nation. Each can and should understand the other’s necessities, capabilities, and aspirations. In such a spirit of cooperation, the Merchant Marine Naval Reserve will move forward until it becomes a credit to the Navy and to itself.
1 Section 30 of the Act of February 38, 1925, reads as follows: “That the Merchant Marine Naval Reserve shall be composed of male citizens of the United States and of the insular possessions of the United States who follow or who have followed the sea as a profession and who are employed, or who have been employed within three years, on public vessels of the United States or such other seagoing vessels documented under the laws of the United States as may be approved by the Secretary of the Navy.”
2 From an article prepared by the writer for the Neptune Log, the official publication of the Neptune Association.
3 Section 33, Act of February 28, 1925.
4 ‘‘No master, mate, pilot, or engineer of steam vessels licensed under title fifty-two (R.S. 43994500) of the Revised Statues shall be liable to draft in time of war, except for the performance of duties such as required by his license; and while performing such duties in the service of the United States every such master, mate, pilot, or engineer shall be entitled to the highest rate of wages paid in the merchant marine of the United States for similar services; and, if killed or wounded while performing such duties under the United States, they, or their heirs or their legal representatives, shall he entitled to all the privileges accorded to soldiers and sailors serving in the Army and Navy under the pension laws of the United States.” (Act of 22 May, 1896, sec. 2).
5 Article H-1101 Naval Reserve Regulations, 1925.
6 Section 33, Act of February 28, 1925.