As a foreword, the writer wishes to make it clear that this article is in no way intended as criticism or derogatory comment on the present preparations of the Quartermaster's Department of the Marine Corps in dealing with expeditions, a subject on which he does not feel himself sufficiently well informed to speak. Rather may it be regarded as the observations and suggestions of a line officer who has been called upon to fill that most confusing of billets, acting assistant quartermaster attached to a unit suddenly organized for duty over seas. It is hoped that these observations and suggestions may be found of value, in view of the fact that the viewpoint of an officer serving in such a capacity would naturally be free from that corps feeling of either line or staff which sometimes leads each department to ascribe any trouble that may arise to the poor headwork of the other.
When one considers that an hour's delay may mean the difference between the peaceful assembly of a force of marines at an advanced base and an armed intervention with attendant loss of life and property—not to mention the cost of maintaining a large force in the field in a foreign country—the first word in expeditionary work is speed.
To be sure, we have already obtained a celerity of movement that is a source of pride; but the careful thinker will be forced to admit that it has been obtained in a great measure at the cost of the comfort of the men, which, when all is said and done, is the principal psychological factor of their morale.
Speed, as applied to the subject in hand, may be subdivided under the following headings: Mobilization of personnel and matériel; loading the transport; proper stowing of the cargo; unloading the transport—all of which primarily depend, for their efficient accomplishment, upon the amount of forethought and preparation devoted to them.
Every company officer who has been on expeditionary service knows the disheartening effect of the stowing and restowing of cargo on the eve of sailing, by men already fatigued by long journeys in heavy marching order. This effect is heightened by the fact that the work must be done by hand, without proper mechanical appliances, up and down ladders and in all sorts of odd corners, and with the full knowledge that the next few days will be spent in frantic search for articles needed at once, articles that should have been the last things put on board but which are generally the first on account of their importance, and which have been carefully consigned to the most inaccessible corner of the deepest hold.
When the expedition disembarks, it is necessary to land first whatever stores and equipage may happen to be on top, regardless of the order in which the articles may be needed by the troops on shore. This is no particular disadvantage when the entire force is landing unopposed and in sheltered waters. On the other hand, if it is necessary to sort out a complete equipment for part of the force, if the presence of a stronger body of hostile troops makes it inadvisable to land all the cargo, or if rough weather makes it necessary to reduce the number of boatloads to a minimum, the delay in separating what is to be landed from what is to remain on the ship may seriously affect the success of the expedition.
The evils described above are as apparent as they are prevalent and unnecessary, but will continue to exist until a proper amount of the antidote of forethought and preparation is administered. It remains, then, to consider the ways and means of making the preparations which will result in the attainment of the desired speed with a minimum of discomfort to the men and of confusion to the officers.
Speed of mobilization (of matériel) can be disregarded in this article, in view of the fact that in the future practically all of our expeditions will start from Philadelphia or some other basic point, where equipage and commissary and ordnance stores have already been assembled at a depot. The arrangements already in force at the depot in Philadelphia seem to be excellent and difficult to improve upon, as far as they have been completed. These include the assembly and segregation of the various quantities designed to accompany certain units. Here the work of preparation seems to cease, and the trouble begins when the correct quantity in bulk of all kinds of stores is dumped on the wharf and thrown on board the transport in one grand potpourri, with no eye to the assignment of the accessible storage space to the articles that will in all probability be needed first.
The work of supplying the remedy for this state of affairs should devolve upon the officers on duty at the base depot, whose worst handicap at present is the ignorance of the character of the vessels with which they will have to deal. In the past the choice of the means of transportation has run the gamut of battleships, cruisers, gunboats, and colliers, but in the future we can be reasonably certain of the Hancock, Prairie, or Dixie, as these craft seem to be kept in readiness for duty of that nature.
At this point, while on the subject of transports, a few comments on the ones now in use might not be out of order, although the subject is foreign to this article in that there are none belonging to the Marine Corps nor are there any in charge of the Quartermaster's Department.
The trouble with the ships in present use is that they were neither built nor altered for transport service, nor ever intended to be transports; and there could be no higher tribute to the officers and crews of these ships than the way in which they have cheerfully and efficiently adapted themselves to a service foreign to their profession, and achieved results little short of miraculous. The Prairie has no redeeming features as a transport, while the advantages of the facilities on the Dixie for baking and distilling are overbalanced by the room taken up by these plants and the machine shops installed for work in connection with the torpedo flotilla.
To return to the work of preparation at the depot: The officers there should be furnished with plans showing all the storage space on all vessels available for use as transports; the number and capacity of the compartments for this purpose should be shown, as also their adaptability for certain kinds of stores as regards shape and ventilation, the shape, size and character of the passageways leading to them, and the facilities, mechanical and otherwise, for filling and emptying them after others have been filled.
The commanding officers of these ships should be instructed that certain compartments are to be reserved for expeditionary stores, and that all ship's stores contained therein are to be removed at the first word of prospective service.
One (or more) of the officers serving at the base depot should be assigned to each particular transport, or rather, to the stores that will be placed on board that transport, and the storerooms in which they will be placed. It should be regarded as his particular problem to work out, and he should be held responsible for the successful solution. He should go over the ship again and again, blueprint in hand, until he has a mental picture of the various routes and destinations and the various means of handling every pound of bulk that has been set aside as the impedimenta of the largest force that will occupy that ship. His next step should be to divide the storage space into as many districts as there are avenues for filling them, and over each district he should place a reliable non-commissioned officer, requiring him to become perfectly acquainted with his district. Together they should figure out the exact location and strength of the working parties necessary to handle the stores assigned to each district.
From this data a table can be made out, showing just which articles leave the depot first and are stored first, the point at which they will be taken from the trucks and put on board the ship, the district leader to whom they are consigned, along what passage ways they will be handled and where they will be finally stored.
In compiling this table the officer must take into consideration the possible tactical requirements of an expedition by making variations to allow for a flexibility in the distribution. In other words, he must make his arrangements so that the stores and equipage of a company or battalion can be separated from those of the entire force. These preparations having been thoroughly attended to, the depot is ready to load the transport.
Let us imagine that an expeditionary force has been ordered to mobilize at Philadelphia and the officer in charge of the depot has been notified to that effect, the same notification designating the Prairie as the transport, and containing the information that the destination of the expedition will be a certain portion of a specified coast. It further intimates that, though the present intention is to land the entire force in one place, it may be necessary for the ship to distribute one or two battalions by companies at various towns along the shore. If the latter course is decided upon, orders will be sent the ship by radio.
The officer in charge communicates with the navy yard by telephone and is informed as to the present berth of the Prairie. He also sends for Captain "X," a depot officer, to whom the Prairie has been allotted, shows him the orders, informs him as to the location of the transport and tells him to go ahead.
Captain "X" goes to his desk and takes out the file containing the data for supplying one regiment and stowing the stores for the possible disembarkation of part of the force of the company.
Now let us further suppose that the Prairie has been divided into four districts, two of which are fed by cargo ports, and two by cargo booms.
Captain "X" consults his list and telephones the commanding officer of marines at the barracks, requesting that so many noncommissioned officers and men report to Quartermaster Sergeant "A" at such a time, on such a dock, at the forward cargo port of the Prairie; so many to Sergeant "B," at the forward cargo boom; so many to Sergeant "C," at the after cargo boom; and so many to Sergeant "D," at the after cargo port. He then assembles the four sergeants in charge of districts, assures himself that they have their lists showing the strength and distribution of the various working parties assigned to them, and gives each the typewritten information showing the order of arrival of each truck at his district, its contents, and where they are to be stowed.
The four non-commissioned officers proceed at once to the Prairie, where they station and instruct the working details from the barracks. Large signs numbered "I," "2," "3" and "4" are placed on the dock for the information of the drivers, and all is ready for the arrival of the trucks.
Captain "X" now furnishes the shipping force at the depot with the lists showing the quantity and location of the desired stores, the order in which they are to be loaded on the trucks and the destination of each truck and its load. Having assured himself that the work is progressing favorably, he departs for the navy yard, arriving in advance of, or with, the first truck. Once on the dock, he assumes charge of the loading, remaining as far as possible in a fixed position, to facilitate the receipt of communications, and controlling the situation by means of messengers.
As soon as a truck is loaded at the depot, the driver is furnished with a slip showing the district to which it is consigned, the number of the truckload and the number and contents of the boxes and packages of which it is composed. This slip is received by the sergeant in charge of the district, who checks it off on his list and sees that the stores are started along their proper channels and reach their intended compartments.
By means of a portable telephone, Captain "X" keeps the depot informed of the progress of the work and increases or decreases the flow of stores into each district according to the rapidity with which each district is able to assimilate the quantity delivered. For instance, if district No. I should show signs of congestion, the depot would be directed to truck only to the other three districts for a stated period of time. The depot, from its end, keeps Captain "X" informed as to the time that each truck leaves, its contents and destination. In this way Captain "X" can tell from a glance at the check marks on his sheets just what he has on board, on the dock, and en route.
By the time that the troops are mobilized, the loading of the transport should be practically completed, and upon its completion Captain "X" turns over to the expeditionary quartermaster the invoices for the stores in bulk, a diagram showing the location of the storage spaces and their contents, the avenues best adapted for breaking them out, and the districts into which the ship has been divided. He further furnishes him with copies of his data regarding the position and strength of the working details, and those showing the order in which stores should be moved to be best adapted to meet possible future tactical distributions of the troops.
The transport having sailed, it now becomes necessary for the expeditionary quartermaster to acquaint himself thoroughly with the data given him by Captain "X." Having done this, he selects men from his department and assigns them to the four districts previously mentioned, furnishing them with the necessary information to enable them to locate and handle without delay any and all articles that may be desired.
The adjutant should be required to detail from the last unit to be disembarked the necessary non-commissioned officers and men for the working details, who should be instructed in the names of the compartments in which they are to work, their location, and the persons to whom they are to look for orders.
The next duties of the quartermaster are to inform himself concerning the means that will be available for transferring his supplies to the shore and to make arrangements to meet any contingency that may arise. It he is compelled to use the ship's boats, he must ascertain which are at his disposal, the capacity of each, and of what each boatload will consist. If other means can be obtained and it is not necessary to use the boats, he should acquaint himself with them well in advance, bearing in mind the satisfactory completion of his task depends on being prepared in advance for any emergency that may arise.