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A Battleship Manning Proposal
The possibility of bringing one or more of the Iowa-class battleships out of mothballs seems to be in favor with the new administration. Opponents to reactivating battleships point out that the Navy has a hard enough time manning its existing ships. Normally, coming up with the 3,000 or so personnel required by a battleship would severely tax the Navy’s manpower resources. I have a solution for the manpower problems, which will not cost much and will offer many significant side benefits.
The battleships should be Naval Reserve ships and manned by reservists. A small number of regular Navy personnel can be assigned, but primarily for security purposes. (A regular Navy officer should probably serve as the operations officer.) The reserve
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crew would take the ship out for two days each month. A two-week cruise would be made each year. At least two battleships should be reactivated right away, one for each coast. The other two should be returned to duty as soon afterward as is economically possible. The ultimate plan would be to operate the battleships from New York (or Boston), Norfolk, San Francisco, and San Diego (or Long Beach). Adequate port facilities and large numbers of reserve personnel are available around these ports.
Because battleships would principally be needed in a major U. S. conflict—a time with the reserves would be called up, anyway—having reserve crews seems sensible.
The battleships' very existence in the active fleet would provide the U. S. Navy with a great psychological boost. With the proper management, the Navy could receive a fair amount of publicity from these ships. Keeping them in the forefront of the news (with their "civilian” crew) would be extremely "good press.”
The ships could even be docked in locations reasonably accessible to the civilian population to facilitate periodic open houses. Those occasions would be beneficial public relations activities. One could even conceive of taking a few guests on some, if not all, of the monthly drill cruises.
The ships’ most beneficial publicity would occur during their annual two-week cruises. During these cruises, the battleships would show the U. S. flag in at least one major foreign port. Visiting a South American, Mexican, or Canadian port would present an ideal opportunity for both good will and show of strength.
Once every four years, each ship should probably make a four-week cruise. This voyage would allow for visits to Europe and Mediterranean countries by the East Coast BBS, and visits to the Western Pacific ports by the West Coast BBs. When all four ships are in service, the U. S. Navy would have one battleship visiting d>5' tant ports every year. The publicity and recognition could be overwhelm' ing.
To think there would be problems manning battleships with reserves is to underestimate the motivation of the reserves toward meaningful, exciting involvement. The chance to serve in a battleship’s crew, under the circumstances proposed, would, in and of it' self, be a strong incentive. Some skeptics may believe that the four-week cruise would pose a problem. But the opportunity to make such a cruise is rare, and carries its own reward. Many crew members might have to take extra time off from work, but that is not a problem without solutions. The reserves will answer all bells.
The crews of these ships will probably tend to be a bit rate-heavy, which is to be expected. The typical Naval Reserve organization with good reten tion usually has more petty officers than a regular command. To keep ships like these running with parttime crews, however, requires maturity and experience. Therefore, the rate-heavy reserve crew would be bene ficial. The ships’ reserve officer corps could also be expected to be rank- heavy. In fact, 0-6s should probably fill both the CO and XO billets. Seni°r reserve officers would stand in line r years for such a chance!
This plan puts four battleships online in the U. S. Navy without the as sociated active duty manpower costs- It also goes a long way toward demon strating to the reserves and the wori that the regular Navy is committed t0 total force.
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Proceeding's / June l0®