American Naval Pay
(The Army and Navy Gazette, 15 November 1919)
In common with our own [British] service, the American Navy has been hard hit by the increased cost of living, Admiral H. B. Wilson, who commands the Atlantic fleet, made a startling admission which showed how acute the personnel problem had become in his command. He said there were barely enough skilled men to keep the navy anywhere near standard, and instanced the battleship North Dakota as “the only ship in the Atlantic fleet able to move.”
Disagreement Among Admirals
(Scientific American, 6 December 1919)
[British] Admiral Sir Percy Scott says: “The battleship is dead. . . . Battleships were dead before the war, and I think they are more dead now. . . . The battleship waddles along at 20 miles an hour and cannot waddle far. . . . When a battleship nears the end of her coal and ammunition supply she must waddle home, and it takes several hours to refuel her, even if she uses oil. An airplane will return at 100 miles an hour, and takes only three minutes to load again.”
Alcohol Still King
(The Literary Digest, 6 December 1919)
King Alcohol has not been dethroned by prohibition. He has only moved his throne over into an adjoining building, and will reign over industry instead of the club and the cabaret. Instead of putting a stop to the use of alcohol, prohibition will eventually increase it about tenfold. As gasoline gets higher, alcohol will be more and more used as a motor fuel; for compounds of it are even now sold at a price but little higher than that of the familiar petroleum product. Alcohol yields more power to the gallon than gasoline, it is claimed; and it does not clog carburetors.
Mitchell Predicts 3-inch Guns Will Be Put On War Aeroplanes
(Aerial Age Weekly, 12 January 1920)
Brigadier General William Mitchell, Army Air Service, in an address at Washington, D. C., made the prediction that artillery would soon be mounted on and fired from American aeroplanes. He said: “Many persons believe aeroplanes cannot stand the strain caused by the firing of cannon mounted on them, but I believe the plan is perfectly feasible and that artillery will be effectively utilized on aeroplanes in the next war. Nearly two years ago I saw a French 75-mm. gun mounted on a French aeroplane, and the gun was fired without damaging the plane. I believe 3-inch artillery will be mounted on American aeroplanes in a comparatively short time.” General Mitchell also said that a new use in war would be made of parachutes and that men armed with machine guns would be dropped from aeroplanes into enemy territory with demoralizing effect.
Parachute Drop Successful
(Army and Navy Journal, 17 January 1920)
The Air Service Engineering Laboratory, Dayton, Ohio, recently demonstrated the successful use of parachutes as a means of safe exit from an airplane in full flight, which will eliminate all those dangers which have been a bugaboo to flyers. The parachute drop was made from a DH-9-A plane, Liberty motored, flying over 100 miles per hour at an altitude of only 400 feet. The parachute with a 200-pound loading, opened in one and one-half seconds and reached the ground in twenty seconds with its living load with no oscillations whatever. From time to time it has been demonstrated that successful drops could be made at high altitude but at an altitude of only 400 feet, with a high-powered plane, such as a DH-9-A, it is considered remarkable. The parachute used was a reconstructed Martin flat topped with spread of 27 feet when fully opened.
Aviation To Be Included In Naval Academy Courses
(Army and Navy Journal, 17 January 1920)
The plan for inclusion of instruction in studies related to aviation has been practically arranged by a board of officers at the U. S. Naval Academy. Flying instruction is not contemplated at Annapolis, though there is some sentiment that it should be a part of the postgraduate course. In this connection it is recalled that the first flying by officers of the Navy was done at Annapolis, the school afterward being removed to Pensacola, Florida.
United States Is Rapidly Using Up Its Oil Resources
(The Nautical Gazette, 24 January 1920)
In a paper to be read at the February meeting of the American Institute of Mining and Metalurgical Engineers, George Otis Smith, Director of the United States Geological Survey, dwells on the importance of taking action at this time to secure an adequate oil supply for the United States. He will say in part as follows:
“The position of the United States in regard to oil can best be characterized as precarious. Even though the United States may to-day be the largest oil producer and though it consumes nearly 75% of the world’s output of oil, it is not a minute too early to take counsel with ourselves and call the attention of the American geologists, engineers, capitalists, and legislators to the need of an oil supply for the future.”
He concludes by recommending that American capital be encouraged to assist in the development of foreign oil fields, thus assuring the additional supply of oil required to cover our needs for a long time to come.
Future Power Supply Discussed
(Tech. Engineering News, March 1920)
Dr. C. P. Steinmetz, of Schenectady, N.Y., gave his annual lecture recently before the Chicago Section, A. I. E. E., and Electrical Section, Western Society of Engineers, on “Power Supply and Generation of the Future.”
In our civilization of to-day, two things are vitally necessary, said Dr. Steinmetz. One of these is materials, the other energy. As regards energy, the question is how to obtain and how to supply it. In obtaining energy, man has called upon nature’s most readily convertible sources of energy, coal (including oil and gas), and water power. Chemical and electrical energy may be transmitted, but for general distribution only electrical energy is available.
The modern industry of power supply is covering the country with transmission lines at high voltage, some of the generating stations being at the mines to eliminate coal transportation. There might well be more. In this country 800,000,000 tons of coal (including oil and gas) are consumed annually.
Consideration of water power as an alternative source of energy shows that if every drop of rain were utilized the water power would equal only about one fourth of that now supplied by coal.
Of course this could not be done but taking one fifth of that amount as available for power production through the use of dams and lakes, etc., (about 200,000,000 kw.-yrs.) and assuming that a ton of coal is equivalent to one kilowatt-year, it is seen that possible water power is only one-twentieth of the present ever-increasing power supply derived from coal. But water power should replace coal where possible and would result in a big saving.
Turning to other sources of energy, Dr. Steinmetz next spoke of energy derived from wind and suggested windmills and small generators upon transmission-line structures as a possibility. Referring to tides, he said it would be necessary to change tidal energy to ordinary hydraulic energy, equivalent to a low head waterfall with a changing head, in order to secure results.
Solar energy, while not feasible today, presents vast possibilities for the future and 100 times as much energy, theoretically, is available from that source as from coal and water combined. He also touched on obtaining volcanic heat from shafts sunk into the earth, radio activity, the energy of atoms and divers other complex aspects of future power production.
Radio Message From Aeroplane Sent 175 Miles To Land Base
(Aerial Age Weekly, 1 April 1920)
Recently during the regular maneuvers of the 37th Infantry at Fort Mackintosh, wireless signals sent from an aeroplane were recorded on the receivers of the U. S. Intelligence Station at Del Rio, Texas, a distance of 175 miles. An altitude of 300 feet was maintained during most of the time and a general north and south course was flown. Several messages which were coded and repeated were received without a break although the operator listed in his report that they became faint at times and the distinctness varied which was likely due to the direction of the flight.
This is perhaps the greatest distance that messages have been received and will probably go down as a new record. A wave length of 550 meters was used.
Japanese Occupy Vladivostok
(The New York Times, 6 April 1920)
On 5 April, Japanese troops carried out a surprise occupation of the port of Vladivostok, under shell fire from Japanese ships. The move resulted from efforts of the Red government in the city, by boycott and otherwise, to force Japanese evacuation.
In a notice to the U. S. State Department on 3 April, Japan declared that the protection of Japanese interests demanded the temporary retention of her forces in eastern Siberia, but affirmed that the troops would be withdrawn as soon as these conditions were overcome. The last of the American troops left Vladivostok on 1 April.
Japanese Ambassador Denies Fortifying Pacific Islands
(The New York Times, 6 April 1920)
Japan has not fortified any of the former German islands in the Pacific and has no intention of doing so, Ambassador Shidehara said to-day in a statement commenting on reports recently published both in this country and Europe.
Mr. Shidehara said that Japan was adhering strictly to the terms of the Peace Treaty, and that under the League of Nations covenant it not only could not fortify the islands, but could not even train the natives for military purposes beyond police work.
Naval Reserve Flying Corps Will Consist Of About 2,000
(Aerial Age Weekly, 21 June 1920)
The Navy Department has decided that the Naval Reserve Flying Corps (Class 5) will consist of approximately 2,000 officers, all of whom must be qualified naval aviators. In order to obtain and maintain the officers the following plan has been adopted: The required percentage of graduates of designated universities and colleges, who have completed a syllabus of training in aviation approved by the Navy Department, and who meet all other requirements defined by the Navy Department, will be enrolled in the Flying Corps as midshipmen. They will immediately be sent to Pensacola, or other naval air stations, for an intensive course of training for three months or longer. Upon completion of the course graduates will be commissioned either as ensigns in Class 5 or will be discharged, according to whether or not they are considered qualified for all the duties of an officer in the Flying Corps. Every officer in the Flying Corps will be confirmed in appointment after graduation and thereafter will be required to take at least two weeks’ active duty for training at a naval air station or with a fleet aviation detachment each year.
Facilities will be open at all times to officers of the Flying Corps at all naval air stations to engage in flights at their own convenience. In order to remain in the Flying Corps each officer must have at least 15 hours’ actual time in the air each year of his enrollment.
Flying Academy Considered
(The Scientific American, 10 July 1920)
When the American flying service really gets into going order, serious consideration will have to be given to the establishment of an academy similar in type and standing to the military and naval colleges at West Point and Annapolis. Since it is certain that in a few years’ time the flying service will be of equal importance if not of more importance than the other services, an air college from which men may be commissioned direct into the service after strenuous tests will become a necessity. The practical interest already taken in aviation by the big educational institutions promises well for the future.
Lessons Of The War—French Admiral’s (Daveluy) View
(The Royal United Service Institute, August 1920)
The fleet of the future must comprise surface craft and submarines. . . [in World War I, the battleships] . . . were expected to keep the sea and finally to overcome . . . the enemy’s battle fleet. They were unable to keep the sea. Mines and submarines restricted them to short and carefully planned cruises. . . . We may conclude, therefore, that this nation which intends to dispute the control of the seas must have a force of surface capital ships, while a nation which foresees a defensive campaign will do well to place all her resources in submarines.
Enormous ships are the outcome of rivalry between the first-class maritime powers, and it remains to be seen whether England and the United States will engage in a competition to outbuild each other. But it is not yet proven that a mammoth ship is better than two or three moderate ones.
We may be quite sure that the modern capital ship will be furnished with weapons against submerged approach, possibly in the shape of a number of light howitzers to throw plunging shells. Controlled from a kite-balloon (which every big ship will tow in the future), these howitzers would, on the detection of submerged approach, covet the sea in all directions with a rain of shells. As for dreadnoughts, their day is done.
Japanese Official Concerned Of Dangers Caused By Friction
(The Literary Digest, 9 October 1920)
If permitted to go on, the sort of irritation and pin-pricking that has been indulged in by both the Japanese and by the Americans “may lead to almost anything,” is the warning issued by Mr. Hanihara, Japanese Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs, in an official statement issued at Tokyo. Mr. Hanihara can see no possible cause for a crash between his country and the United States, yet the condition of irritation is so frequently eruptive that he declares “we must go straightway to the root of every anti-Japanese and anti-American agitation or movement with the acts of less publicity and education,” and he adds: “Light must be thrown upon dark places; no sore must be allowed to fester unseen. If both parties are determined on a square deal we may look forward with absolute confidence to lasting peace and friendship on the Pacific.” The possibilities of cordial relationship and harmonious cooperation between Japan and the United States, he maintains are “so tremendously great and the interests at stake so vast and far-reaching that we cannot afford to trifle or muddle with any question, however trivial in itself, that is of common concern to us.” Press reports quote the Vice-Minister as saying further:
“Many far-sighted men have predicted that the Pacific Ocean would become the chief theater of world-events, and this prophecy seems now in a fair way to be realized. Never before have the relations between the United States and Japan, two of the principal countries bordering on that ocean, attained their present degree of importance. It is high time, to my mind, for people on both sides of the Pacific to awaken to the significance of the new era that has dawned and ponder with deadly earnestness things that concern them jointly.
President-Elect Harding’s Message To Shipping Men
(The Nautical Gazette, 6 November 1920)
The phenomenal emergence of a great American merchant marine is one of the most striking economic consequences of the World War. In 1914, the total tonnage registered for foreign trade under the American flag was 1,066,000 gross tons; to-day, thanks to the quick sense of the American people as to the critical importance of shipping in the World War, and to the invincible genius of American industry in surmounting governmental delay and administrative inefficiency, there is ready for our flag some 12,500,000 gross tons of seagoing vessels.
This importance of our new merchant marine is not alone that it salvages and puts to use a vast and costly body of war material, nor even that it adds a great new activity to the nation’s business life, as well as a wholesome safeguard to the country’s security; but, more significant still, it provides the mechanism wherewith we can retain and enlarge the economic vantage-ground in world commerce and world finance which we now enjoy.
A well-equipped merchant marine is a prime essential of successful commerce; it is the best agency of trade development. Nothing else will supply the same enterprises in the search for new markets, nor contribute the same energy in the opening up of new trade routes, nor offer the same encouragement for the investment abroad of our surplus capital. Over-seas transportation in American bottoms is of the root and essence of American commercial expansion.
Schwab Wants Navy Control Of American Merchant Fleet
(The Nautical Gazette, 6 November 1920)
American ship owners must receive government aid of some sort or our mercantile fleets will be worse than useless, according to Charles M. Schwab, who expressed his views in Washington a few days ago.
Assailing present shipping laws as entirely inadequate if the American merchant marine is to maintain the supremacy gained during the war, Mr. Schwab declared that the United States must intervene if our flag is to be kept on the seas.
“My theory is a novel one,” he asserted. “I believe that American mercantile shipping should be operated in conjunction with the Navy.
“Americans naturally shy at the word ‘subsidy,’ but, call it what you will, I think that merchant ships should be under the control of the Navy. The government should be able to pay the difference between the cost of wages of American and foreign seamen. With our merchant shipping under the control of the Navy it would be possible to press these ships into immediate service in the event of war.”
Notes on International Affairs
Prepared by Allan Wescott, Associate Professor, U.S. Naval Academy
(From 13 December 1919 to 13 January 1920, February 1920 Proceedings)
American Forces to Quit Siberia—On 12 January it was announced by Secretary Lansing that all American troops would be withdrawn from Siberia by the middle of March, or as soon as the removal of the Czechoslovak contingents and the Stevens Railway Mission could be accomplished. The United States was requested by Czechoslovakia to undertake the transport of 32,000 of the 50,000 Czechs in Siberia, and Great Britain the remainder, which include some Poles, Yugoslavs, and Romanians. These will be taken to Trieste via either Suez or Panama. There are approximately 9,000 American regulars now in Siberia.
Renewal of Anglo-Japanese Alliance in Doubt—Renewal of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, which expires next year, is now under discussion in Japan. It is pointed out that conditions have changed by the weakening of Germany, and that Great Britain can now maintain an ample naval force to protect her interests in the Pacific. Continuation of the alliance is nevertheless strongly advocated.
(From 10 June to 10 July 1920, August 1920 Proceedings)
Riots in Londonderry—During riots in Londonderry, 18 and 19 June and later, between Sinn Feiners and Unionists, five were killed, ten severely wounded, and many others injured. Incendiarism and food stoppage added to the seriousness of the situation in the city, military forces having difficulty in reestablishing order between the hostile factions.