WHY IT IS. WHAT IT IS. WHAT IT OUGHT TO BE
There was a time not so very long ago, when there was no great difference between the man-of-war and the merchantman except in gun power; when both alike depended on the winds of heaven to waft them across the. broad bosom of the mysterious sea; when those who went down to the sea in ships bore the impress of the sea and the Navy boasted iron men and wooden ships; when it required only a letter of marque and a couple of guns to convert any merchantman into a more or less efficient man-of-war; the words “Train” as applied to the fleet and “Logistics” were yet unborn as were also the words "Naval Militia” and “Naval Reserve.” There was no need for them or what they represent.
But gradually and in the process of time a mighty change has taken place, until today we have merchant ships of special types scattered over the seven seas and not suitable for war purposes except in an auxiliary sense, and their crews not suitable for man-of-war’s men except through special additional training, nor immediately available in time of need even if they had this training; we have fighting craft fit for nothing else than to fight, in commission and out of commission, those in commission manned below their war time complements with especially trained officers and men, and those out of commission, more or less immediately ready in case of emergency but manned not at all.
If war should come, we must have immediately available sufficient trained officers and men to bring the complements of our ships in commission up to fighting strength, to man the ships out of commission, to man the auxiliaries in and out of commission, and to perform such shore activities as training the additional officers and men who will be required as the war goes on, and to perform inspection and other technical duties. If we could maintain a peace time naval establishment sufficient to do all this, a naval reserve would not be necessary. But no great nation can afford to maintain such a peace time naval establishment; all great nations must perforce maintain reserves of officers and men especially trained and immediately available in case of sudden emergency, but who derive their means of sustenance from other lines of endeavor, who are producers rather than consumers so far as the public purse is concerned.
The British Empire maintains a naval reserve composed as follows: (a) The Royal Naval Reserve, composed of officers and men serving on merchant vessels, fishing vessels, etc.; (b) The Royal Fleet Reserve, composed of ex-enlisted men from the Royal Navy; (c) The Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, composed of land-faring people who undergo drills and training for duty on board combatant vessels; (d) The Special Reserve of Engineer Officers, composed of ex-temporary Engineer Officers of the Royal Navy; (e) The Officers on Emergency List, composed of cx-officers of the Royal Navy; (f) The Royal Naval Auxiliary Sick Berth Reserve, established to provide a supply of hospital corpsmen in time of war; (g) The Royal Australian Naval Reserve, which is the active reserve of the Commonwealth of Australia; (h) The Royal Canadian Volunteer Reserve; (i) The South African Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, and in addition there should be mentioned the Reserve of Retired Officers and Pensioners. All of these are required to undergo certain training both afloat and ashore, and are paid very nominal fees for maintenance of efficiency. The strength of the British Naval Reserve is approximately 2,200 officers in all grades from midshipman to commodore, and 44,000 men.
Likewise Japan maintains a naval reserve, consisting of approximately 1,800 officers and 30,000 men.
Our own Navy Department has enunciated the following policies in this regard:
To create, organize, and train a naval reserve sufficient to provide the supplementary personnel necessary to mobilize the fleet and all its auxiliaries. To make the Naval Reserve Force secure in its status and organization as a part of the Navy and to guard its best interest. To cultivate a close association of officers of the active Navy and of the Naval Reserve. To emphasize, in the training of the reserves, the duties most likely to be assigned them afloat upon mobilization. To be generous in assigning officers to duty with the Naval Reserve and to educational institutions.
The need for a body of trained civilians ready to augment the Navy in time of war appears first to have been seriously realized by the state of Massachusetts, which passed an act in 1887, “To create a Naval Battalion to be attached to the Volunteer Militia.” It is interesting to note this date in relation to the transition from the old to the new Navy. Thereafter naval militia organizations were established by legislative acts in various states, as part of the national guard of those states; until, at the outbreak of the Great
Mayor Kiel or St. Louis Commending Seaman Edw. V. Burke, U. S. N. R. F., for Heroism |
War most of the Atlantic Seaboard, Gulf, Pacific Coast and Great Lakes states maintained naval militia organizations. These organizations were state controlled, but looked to the federal government for assistance in the way of floating equipment, arms, uniforms, etc.; and through this means the federal government eventually came to exercise a limited control of prescribing standards of fitness both for individuals and for organizations, which must be met in order to retain this assistance. Membership was entirely voluntary and no remuneration was received for maintenance of efficiency; enlistments of men and appointments of officers were for a definite period of years, and, once enlisted, men could be punished for failure to attend drills, the same punishments being prescribed for petty offenses under the civil code. Several of the states built up organizations of considerable size and efficiency, and expended large sums providing armories, etc. At the outbreak of the Spanish American War they constituted the only readily available reserve on which the Navy could immediately draw and furnished 4,216 of the 10,373 additional men taken into the Navy for that war; these were assigned to duty on all classes of vessels, certain of the auxiliaries which were acquired and converted at that time being manned exclusively by naval militiamen. On January 1, 1899, nineteen states maintained naval militia organizations totalling 492 officers and 6,300 men. On June 30, 1916, twenty-one states, one territory and the District of Columbia, maintained naval militia organizations totalling 638 officers and 9,170 men.
The naval militia system which thus came into being, had certain objectionable features, principally lack of sufficient federal control; they were purely state forces and when inducted into federal service they had to be mustered in as individuals volunteering for this, federal service. The following is quoted from the annual report of the Assistant Secretary of, the Navy for the year 1898, following the Spanish American War:
Our experience in the Spanish War has really been the only opportunity we have had with the system of an auxiliary naval force organized as a naval militia, and while such organizations responded with eagerness and showed the greatest patriotism and earnest desire to render service to the government, it was found that the existing system had elements of weakness, which, under severe stress and against a powerful enemy, would have caused great anxiety; that for the actual needs of warships and such auxiliaries as were required for deep sea work there was needed a reserve which could be promptly mobilized under the call of the President, and which would be so enrolled that such call could be at once sent out to the individuals making up such a reserve through the Department. Thus the attention of all has been turned to a national naval reserve ......... To this end such a force must necessarily be maintained absolutely out of federal appropriations, and no other appropriation could be considered, as complications of this sort would lead to friction, which could only impair the efficiency of the force as well as tend to a divided authority.
The establishment of a naval reserve force exclusively under federal control was seriously considered from time to time after this, but no enabling legislation was secured till March 3, 1915, when the flames of war were raging in Europe and were threatening spread to this country. This act authorized a naval reserve of two classes, to be composed of men discharged from the Navy and assigned to the one or the other of these classes according to length of time intervening between service in the Navy and in the Naval Reserve. The first class received from $30 to $120 annually and was required to keep outfits of uniform clothing on hand; the second class received $12 annually and when called into active service was allowed an outfit of clothing not exceeding $30 in value. Provision was made whereby members of this Naval Reserve might be required to perform from one to two months’ active service afloat each year on board vessels of the Navy. There was no obligation as to drills or other training between cruising periods. An inappreciable number of men joined, thereby obligating very little of the $130,000 appropriated for this purpose.
By the Act of August 29, 1916, the present Naval Reserve Force was brought into being; it provided for a body of officers and men in various classes, six in number, who, in joining, obligated themselves to serve in the Navy in time of war or during the existence of a national emergency. The Naval Militia was federalized under this act, and was known as the National Naval Volunteers, but later, by the Act of July 1, 1918, the National Naval Volunteers were transformed to Class 2 of the Naval Reserve Force thereby wiping out all distinction between the Naval Militia and the Naval Reserve Force.
The Acts of August 29, 1916 and July 1, 1918 and certain portions of subsequent appropriation bills, give us the Naval Reserve Force as it is today, composed as follows:
Class 1-A. Ex-officers of the regular Navy who have left the service under honorable conditions. Enrolled for four-year periods. Required to perform thirty-six armory drills per year or other equivalent duty, and to perform sixty days’ active duty in periods of not less than fifteen days, during each enrollment. Receive two months’ base pay of their grade per year, provided they perform the minimum drills and active duty required, plus certain additions for longevity; active duty pay and allowances while performing active duty; uniforms to the value of $50 during each enrollment. (Due to lack of funds which may be used under the law for continuing this class, no enrollments or re-enrollments are being made therein at the present, hut those who are eligible may he enrolled in Class 2 or Class 6.)
Class 1-B. Ex-enlisted men of the regular Navy who have been honorably discharged after at least one complete enlistment. Enrolled for four- year periods. Required to perform thirty-six armory drills per year or other equivalent duty, and to perform sixty days’ active duty in periods of not less than fifteen days, during each enrollment. Receive two months’ base pay of their grade per year, provided they perform the minimum drills and active duty required, plus certain additions for longevity; active duty pay and allowances while performing active duty; uniforms to the value of $80 up to $100 during each enrollment. (Due to lack of funds which may he used under the law for continuing this class, no enrollments or re-enrollments are being made therein at the present, but those who are eligible may be enrolled in Class 2 or Class 6.)
Class 1-C. Enlisted men of the regular Navy compose this class, by transfer thereto after sixteen years’ service, and they continue therein until placed on the retired list of enlisted men after thirty years’ service in the Navy and the Naval Reserve. Subject to call to active duty in case of war or national emergency. Not required to drill or train in peace time. Receive one third their rate of pay at time of transfer plus all permanent additions thereto.
Class 1-D. Enlisted men of the regular Navy compose this class, by transfer thereto after twenty years’ service, and they continue therein until placed on the retired list of enlisted men after thirty years’ service in the Navy and the Naval Reserve. Subject to call to active duty in case of war or national emergency. Not required to drill or train in peace time. Receive one half their rate of pay at time of transfer plus all permanent additions thereto.
Class 2. Officers and men enrolled for four-year periods and available in case of war or national emergency for seagoing duty on combatant vessels. Made up of officers and men and ex-officers and men of the Naval Militia, ex-temporary officers of the Navy, officers and men with war experience in the Navy at sea, and recruits without previous sea experience taken into the lower grades since the war. Required to perform thirty-six armory drills per year or other equivalent duty, and to perform sixty days’ active duty in periods of not less than fifteen days, during each enrollment. Receive two months' base pay of their grade per year provided they perform the minimum drills and active duty required, plus certain additions for longevity; active duty pay and allowances while performing active duty; uniforms to the value of $50 for officers and $80 to $100 for men, during each enrollment.
Class 3. Officers and men of the merchant marine actually engaged in the sea- faring profession, enrolled for four-year periods for duty in case of war or national emergency or auxiliaries. Not required to drill or train. Officers receive one months’ base pay of their grade per year, and men two months’ base pay of their grade per year.
Class 4. Officers and men enrolled for four-year periods and available in case of war or national emergency for the coast defense and for special technicist duty on shore. (This class has been permitted to die out, those eligible now being carried in Class 6.)
Class 5. (This is Bureau of Navigation classification, the legal designation of this class is 6.) Composed of qualified aviation officers and men qualified for aviation ratings, enrolled for four-year periods and available for aviation duty in case of war or national emergency. Required to perform thirty-six drills per year or other equivalent duty, and to perform sixty days’ active duty involving flying, in periods of not less than fifteen days, during each enrollment; there must be included in drills and active duly at least fifteen hours’ flight per year. Receive two months’ base pay of their grade per year, provided they perform the minimum drills and active duty required, plus certain additions for longevity; active duty pay and allowances while performing active duty; uniforms to the value of $50 for officers and $80 to $100 for men, during each enrollment.
Class 6. (This is Bureau of Navigation classification, the legal designation of this class is 5.) The Volunteer Naval Reserve, made up of officers and men eligible for any of the preceding classes, who enroll for four years and are available for duty in case of war or national emergency. Not required to drill or train. Receive no retainer pay. May be given active duty if they desire it, in which case they receive active duty pay and allowances, plus the uniform allowance given the other classes.
No reservist may be enrolled or promoted in peace times beyond the rank of lieutenant commander. Officers are assigned running mates of tbc regular Navy for purposes of promotion, and go up with their running mates within the limits of certain percentages allowed in each grade, provided they pass the required professional and physical examinations. If a reservist fails to perform three months’ active service in an enrollment lie receives no retainer pay for the last year of his enrollment, and receives >$I2 per year retainer pay during his next enrollment until such time as he has completed the required three months. No retainer pay is received while performing active duty. Reservists are given provisional rank, grade or rate, until such time as they have demonstrated their fitness to hold the assignment given them, when they may be confirmed in such rank, grade or rate, provided they have had three months’ active service; no reservist may be confirmed in any rank, grade or rate, until he has had a minimum of three months’ active service. Retainer pay is given according to confirmed rank only, and not according to provisional rank; so no one may receive retainer pay until lie has been confirmed in some grade.
Prior to the National Defense Act of June 3, 1916, for the Army, and the Act of August 29, 1916, for the Navy, members of no organizations had been paid for attendance at drills; it had, however, been discussed and considered for several years, due in large measure to a change of conditions of training and administration permitting more federal control and supervision.
At the conclusion of the Great War there were 21,985 officers and 273,094 men on the rolls of the Naval Reserve Force. These were released from active duty and an attempt was made to form them into various drilling organizations, but, due to lack of facilities
Turku-Inch Gun on U. S. S. C. “330” Mannkh bv Members of the Reserve Force |
such as armories, etc., and lack of funds for the purpose of securing these things, and also due to the fact that attendance at drills was not made a prerequisite for the payment of retainer pay until 1920, and also due to the fact that following their demobilization, most of these reservists were in a measure satiated with martial affairs; satisfactory results were not obtained. Then in efforts to remedy this situation certain additional enactments were made from year to year, hut while these did help very considerably, they also led to varying interpretations as to their real meaning when taken in conjunction with laws already in existence.
Adverse decisions by the Comptroller and others detrimental to the Reserve, have also now and again been made.
In September 1921, the Department, finding it impossible to carry on the Naval Reserve then in existence under existing laws and with the amount appropriated for that purpose for the fiscal year 1922, disenrolled the entire Naval Reserve Force, with the exception of Class 1 and those of the other classes who voluntarily transferred to Class 6 to avoid disenrollment. A board of experienced officers was called to make a thorough study of the entire naval reserve situation and to make recommendations as to remedial measures. This board was composed of the following officers of the Navy: Rear Admirals Thomas Washington, T. P. Magruder, and J. L. Latimer; Captains W. R. Cherardi and John W. Timmons, and Lieutenant Commander R. R. M. Emmet, recorder; it was known as the “Washington Board.” Meetings were held over a period of several weeks and a very complete report submitted, reference to which will again be made later on, recommending remedial legislation substantially in the form as is now pending before both houses of Congress, in H. R. 9634, known as the Britten Bill, and S. 1807.
In the meantime, pending the enactment of remedial legislation, it was desired to carry on the Reserve as a going organization as far as possible with those members who had remained in the Reserve by transfer to Class 6 and with such recruits as could be obtained. Several of the states reorganized their Naval Militia, and congressional assent having been secured, these functioned as naval militia organizations with dual membership— Naval Reserve and Naval Militia. This arrangement is still in existence in these states and has proved very satisfactory in many ways. Sufficient money was appropriated for the fiscal year 1923, hugely through the efforts of Senator Newberry, to resume activities in a small way, sufficient to give fifteen days’ training cruises to 1,500 officers and 5,000 men, and to transfer this number out of Class 6 back to Classes 2, 3 and 5, where they could receive retainer pay for six months of that year. The appropriation for the fiscal year 1924 permitted active duty for fifteen days and drills for 1,640 officers and 5,400 men. The appropriation for the fiscal year 1925 will permit giving the fifteen days’ active training duty and drills to 1,255 officers and 6,000 men of Class 2, and 200 officers and no men of Class 5, and fifteen days’ cruises to 500 officers and 2,000 men of Class 6, and carrying ninety-one Class 3 officers in a retainer pay status.
Since July of 1922, the drilling and training of the Naval Reserve Force has, therefore, been steadily going ahead, in spite of these adverse conditions, and in spite of occasional new and adverse interpretations of existing laws, until now we have drilling organizations at the places shown below, with enrolled strength at each as indicated:
| No. | No. |
| No. | No. |
Place Officers | Men | Place | Officers | Men | |
Boston, Mass. | 47 | 299 | Allentown, Pa. | 10 | 70 |
Worcester, Mass. | 12 | 54 | Pittsburgh, Pa. | 23 | 102 |
Springfield, Mass. | 6 | 34 | Baltimore, Md. | 83 | 390 |
New Bedford, Mass. | 7 | 38 | Washington, D. C. | 98 | 235 |
Lynn, Mass. | 10 | 89 | Richmond, Va. | 20 | 104 |
Fall River, Mass. | 9 | 59 | Newport News, Va. | 12 | 53 |
Portland, Me. | 9 | 63 | Norfolk, Va. | 64 | 67 |
Providence, R. I. | 9 | 46 | Charleston, S. C. | 4 | 68 |
Newport, R. I. | 3 | 36 | Georgetown, S. C. | 3 | 45 |
New York City, 97th St. | 34 | 364 | Greenwood, S .C. | 7 | 5i |
New York City, 23rd St. | 34 | 184 | Columbia, S. C. | 4 | 81 |
Ft. Hamilton Air Sta. | 21 | 40 | Atlanta, Ga. | 29 | 196 |
Brooklyn, N. Y. | 41 | 413 | Birmingham, Ala. | 7 | 22 |
Tompkinsville, N. Y. | 5 | 64 | New Orleans, La. | 27 | 68 |
Whitestone Lndg., N. Y. | 6 | 57 | Galveston, Tex. | 3 | 35 |
Ossining, N. Y. | 3 | 59 | Dallas, Tex. | 10 | 50 |
Dunkirk, N. Y. | 1 | 62 | Chicago, Ill. | 240 | 747 |
Watertown, N. Y. | 6 | 58 | Waukegan, Ill. | 7 | 106 |
Niagara Falls, N. Y. | 5 | 54 | Highland Park, Ill. | 1 | 20 |
Buffalo, N. Y. | 9 | 94 | Peoria, Ill. | 3 | 46 |
Oswego, N. Y. | 4 | 64 | Burlington, Iowa | 3 | 129 |
Rochester, N. Y. | 13 | 156 | Cincinnati, Ohio | 7 | 36 |
New Rochelle, N. Y. | 3 | 43 | Cleveland, Ohio | 41 | 209 |
Bridgeport, Conn. | 5 | 96 | Columbus, Ohio | 6 | 136 |
New Haven, Conn. | 13 | 64 | Toledo, Ohio | 36 | 182 |
Hartford, Conn. | 5 | 47 | Crosby, Minn. | 1 | 33 |
New Brunswick, N. J. | 2 | 46 | St. Paul, Minn. | 11 | 108 |
Newark, N. J. | 20 | 141 | Albert Lea, Minn. | 3 | 42 |
Keyport, N. J. | 1 | 20 | Bemidji, Minn. | 1 | 37 |
Jersey City, N. J. | I5 | 95 | Minneapolis, Minn. | 29 | 392 |
Perth Amboy, N. J. | 11 | 173 | Duluth, Minn. | 22 | 206 |
Camden, N. J. | 13 | 196 | Virginia, Minn. | 3 | 55 |
Philadelphia, Pa. | 77 | 340 | Grand Rapids, Mich. | 7 | 99 |
Eric, Pa. | 5 | 54 | Detroit, Mich. | 109 | 329
|
Muskegon, Mich. | 2 | 18 | Brawley, Cal. | 15 | 68 |
Mt. Clemens, Mich. | 2 | 30 | San Diego, Cal. | 17 | 163 |
Hancock, Mich. | 3 | 114 | San Francisco, Cal. | 168 | 288 |
Saginaw, Mich. | 2 | 68 | Fresno, Cal. | 6 | 46 |
Benton Harbor, Mich. | 9 | 100 | Vallejo, Cal. | 18 | 14 |
Michigan City, Ind. | 4 | 86 | Santa Cruz, Cal. | 2 | 87 |
Indianapolis, Ind. | 14 | 306 | Palo Alto, Cal. | 3 | 98 |
Milwaukee, Wis. | 46 | 437 | San Jose, Cal. | 5 | 25 |
Green Bay, Wis. | 4 | 133 | Watsonville, Cal. | 1 | 54 |
Racine, Wis. | 1 | 37 | Oakland, Cal. | 45 | 72 |
St. Louis, Mo. | 58 | 407 | Santa Rosa, Cal. | 7 | 25 |
Kansas City, Mo. | 20 | 273 | Portland, Ore. | 42 | 135 |
Omaha, Neb. | 9 | SS | Tacoma, Wash. | 18 | 166 |
Lincoln, Neb. | 2 | 82 | Seattle, Wash. | 117 | 379 |
Los Angeles, Cal. | 12 | 317 | Aberdeen, Wash. | 10 | 147 |
Pasadena, Cal. | 8 | 83 | Bremerton, Wash. | 8 | 62 |
San Pedro, Cal. | 17 | 57 | Bellingham, Wash. | 5 | 26 |
Santa Monica, Cal. | 4 | 90 | Honolulu, T. H. | 13 | 127 |
Santa Ana, Cal. | 7 | 102 | Not attached to any |
|
|
Santa Barbara, Cal. | 7 | 88 | drilling organization | 1823 | 2690 |
|
Drills are held in the evenings, one or more nights per week, generally from 7:30 to 9:30; they consist of about fifteen minutes of setting up exercises, followed by such assemblage drills as infantry, etc., loading drills, etc., with special instruction m seamanship, signals, engineering subjects and radio, and with officers’ classes in navigation and ordnance and regulations; boat drills, and outdoor target practice are held at the convenience of those participating; week-end cruises on the vessels assigned to the various organizations, of from one to two days’ duration, are carried out from time to time. Recruiting officers, hydrographic officers, inspection officers, etc., of the regular Navy doing duty near these organizations are assigned additional duty as inspector-instructors of these organizations.
The annual period of fifteen days’ active duty for training is generally made on board the vessels assigned the various naval districts for the special purpose of training the Naval Reserve Force, the vessels cruising up and down the coasts or about the lakes, or occasionally to such foreign ports as Havana or Bermuda, officered and manned entirely by members of the Naval Reserve Force. The following vessels are assigned to this duty, and are stationed at various places maintaining naval reserve organizations; they are kept up, under the direction of the district commandants, entirely by reservists:
Subchasers, to the number of 16 Eagle Boats, to the number of 22
U. S. S. Fox Wheeling Friarcliff Commodore Wilmette Newton
|
U. S. S. Wilmington Paducah Cheyenne Hawk Yantic |
Five-inch Gun at the U. S. N. R. F. Armohy, St. Louis, Mo., 1923 |
U. S. S. Illinois Dubuque Sturgeon Bay Essex Wolverine Topeka
Reservists are permitted to cruise on vessels of the fleet when their employment is such as to permit their getting in their fifteen days on board and as they can be accommodated on the individual ships. Special arrangements have been made for cruising those on the east coast on vessels of the scouting fleet for the summer of 1924, and on the west coast, in the battle fleet.
Aviation training is given to qualified aviators at the regular aviation stations and on ship board. Three naval reserve aviation training stations have been established for the purpose of training new blood, officer material, to become aviation officers in the Reserve. These stations are located at Squantum, Mass.; Ft. Hamilton, N. Y., and Great Lakes, Ill. Young men of officer caliber are enrolled as seamen second class in Class 6 of the Naval Reserve Force, the recruiting being done mostly among college students; those selected are required to put in forty-five days' active duty at the reserve aviation station, where they are given a course of primary instruction, involving ten hours' dual flight with instructor and thirty hours' solo flight in training planes; the ground work is carried on during drill periods mostly at other times than during the forty-five days' active duty for training. The solo flying before completion of the course includes stunting, formation flying, scouting, night flights, etc. After
Cutter Race Between Naval Reserve Crews |
satisfactory completion of this course the student is given forty-five days at a regular aviation station for advanced training in naval aviation; after which he is eligible for commission as ensign, Class 5. After this the requirements for maintenance of efficiency are the same as for other Class 5 officers.
The foregoing is briefly a sketch of the conception and birth of the Naval Reserve Force, and its development to date. It has now reached a stage where consideration must be given to its further development and training. Does it, as it exists today, satisfy the needs of the Navy? If continued in its present methods of training and development, will it eventually satisfy the needs of the Navy, and if so, how soon? What is its loyalty and temper? Or is a change in method of training and development required, and if so, how drastic a change? These questions can not be answered until the ends sought are known. A determination of the ends sought will require a statement of general policies; such a statement was formulated by the “Washington Board” previously referred to, and is quoted as follows:
The board herewith states the policies which in its opinion should govern the creation and operation of a Naval Reserve.
- Components of the Navy of the United States. The naval policy of the government of the United States should provide for the organization of our naval personnel into one harmonious, well-balanced, and effective Navy—the Navy of the United States—consisting of the regular Navy and the Naval Reserve.
- Mission of the Navy. The Mission of the Navy may be stated as follows:
- The Mission of the Regular Navy. (1) To provide an adequately organized, well-balanced and efficient naval force, which will be available for emergencies and which will serve as a model for the organization, the discipline and training of the Naval Reserve.
- To provide in time of peace crews for the vessels of the Navy in commission required by the policy of the government.
- To man such naval stations as are requisite and necessary for the fleet.
- To provide the necessary personnel for the development and training of the Naval Reserve.
- The regular Navy is the first component of the Navy of the United States in peace and in war.
- The Mission of the Naval Reserve. (1) To provide, train and organize an effective force which, together with the regular Navy, will be sufficient to man and operate the fleet, aviation units and merchant marine.
- The regular Navy may be employed in all emergencies, but the Naval Reserve should be employed only in event of a national emergency proclaimed by the President.
- The Naval Reserve in the second component of the Navy of the United States.
- Development of Components— (1) A clear understanding of the missions of these components and a spirit of mutual support and cooperation between them are essential to the development of an efficient Navy. A well- defined mission for each component must be definitely established. Both components are interdependent and must fulfill their respective missions in harmony.
- The Naval Reserve is an integral part of the Navy. Upon declaration of war naval reservists must take their place in the regular Navy with as little disturbance in the assignment of the regular officers and men as practicable. Therefore, naval reservists should know as far as is practicable the duty to which they will be assigned upon mobilization and their training should be directed to that end.
- All plans for the mobilization of the Naval Reserve should be incorporated in the war plans of the Navy.
- Coordination of Duties, Relating to the Naval Reserve, of the Offices and Bureaus of the Navy Department—(1) The existence and maintenance of an organized Naval Reserve affects all the offices and bureaus of the Navy Department.
- All the functions of organization and administration necessary to the efficient operation of the regular Navy are necessary also to the efficient operation of the Naval Reserve.
- The development of the Naval Reserve depends primarily on the aid of the personnel and the use of the material of the regular Navy that can he assigned to that task.
- The Navy Department should determine the classes and numbers that form the Reserve; discover and develop sources of personnel and supply; decide on the organization and the assignment of quotas to districts; Prescribe the general principles for administering, training and mobilizing the Reserve; make available the fleet or portions of the fleet for the annual active duty training of fleet reservists; determine the proportion of officers and men of the regular Navy to be employed regularly with the Reserve; determine the amount and character of the material of the regular Navy necessary to the development of the Reserve. In short, the Navy Department should have the responsibility of organization and regulation of the Naval Reserve.
- The foregoing important and varied duties cannot all be performed by any one bureau of the Navy Department. They must be distributed among all the bureaus. It is, therefore, recommended that the Office of Naval Operations be made responsible for the carrying out of approved naval reserve policies and coordinating the resultant duties imposed by such approved policies.
- The Bureau of Navigation should remain charged with the duties Pertaining to the personnel of the Naval Reserve just as it is with the personnel of the regular Navy.
- Organization of the Naval Reserve—(1) The organization and administration of the Naval Reserve should be carried out by the various offices and bureaus of the Navy Department exactly as the regular Navy is organized and administered in so far as is practicable.
(2) The Naval Reserve should be organized into three classes, to be failed the Meet Reserve, the Merchant Marine Reserve, and the Volunteer Reserve.
(3) The Fleet Reserve should he composed of officers and men capable of performing duty in combatant units of the fleet.
The obvious and best source of personnel for the Fleet Reserve is the large body of officers and men who during the late war saw active service in the Navy. As a result of such active service these men have absorbed those special qualities of loyalty, self respect, cheerfulness, enthusiasm, initiative, resourcefulness, aggressiveness, and tenacity that are necessary to be complete development of military and naval character and which together with the professional experience gained, eminently fit them for service in the Fleet Reserve.
As the years pass their efficiency will progressively decline. They must be replaced, barring the national misfortune of another first class war, by men of limited or no previous training in the regular Navy. It, therefore, becomes a matter of vital importance for the Navy Department to discover and develop the best possible sources of recruiting both the officers and enlisted personnel of the Fleet Reserve.
The Fleet Reserve of the future must necessarily include many men of limited or no previous naval service. It is important that the interest of the youth of the country in the Naval Reserve be aroused and facilities be created so that young men who are interested may receive instruction in the elements of the naval profession. The Navy Department should, therefore, in selected colleges and schools throughout the country, provide facilities for the elementary naval instruction of young men who may desire to join the Fleet Reserve in the future.
All enlistment contracts of men enlisting in the Navy in future should provide for four years’ service in the Fleet Reserve in addition to the four years’ service now specified in the regular Navy. Men so enlisted should be under no obligation to perform drill or training during their first four years in the Fleet Reserve.
- The personnel of the Fleet Reserve should be organized into divisions, battalions and brigades, with the division as the unit of organization.
- The Merchant Marine Reserve should be composed of officers and men in the Merchant Marine or those who are qualified to do duty on vessels of the Merchant Marine.
The Merchant Marine as it develops will attract in increasing numbers boys of energy and intelligence. Steamship lines or associations of lines may and probably will establish schoolships for the training of cadets. The best of these will be the deck officers and engineers of the future. States have established and will establish similar schoolships. The Navy Department should cooperate with these to the extent of furnishing personnel and material under suitable agreements to the end that all cadets in schoolships may receive elementary naval instruction which will increase their value both to their employers and to the country.
- The Volunteer Reserve should be composed of men who in time of peace serve without pay and are under no obligation as to training. Included in these are those who have already demonstrated their value to the Navy as well as those who by the practice of their ordinary occupations in time of peace fit themselves for service in the Navy in time of war. The numbers of the Volunteer Reserve should be based on the probable immediate expansion of the shore activities of the naval establishment in time of war.
- Transfers to and from the three classes of the Naval Reserve should be made in accordance with such regulations as the Secretary of the Navy may prescribe.
- Appointments and promotions of officers and enlistments and changes in ratings of enlisted men of the Naval Reserve should he made in accordance with regulations prescribed by the Secretary of the Navy.
- In time of peace no officer or enlisted man of the Naval Reserve may be discharged except upon his own request or for just and sufficient reason in the discretion of the Secretary of the Navy.
In time of war officers and enlisted men of the Naval Reserve should tie subject to separation from the Reserve in the same manner that is prescribed by law and regulation for separation of officers and men from tbc regular Navy.
- The officers of the Naval Reserve should have rank not greater than that of lieutenant commander, with the exception of a small percentage of higher ranks, not above that of captain, needed for the purpose of organization, administration and training.
Officers of the Fleet Reserve should he honorably discharged or transferred to the Volunteer Reserve when they reach the following ages in grade: lieutenant commander and below, fifty years; commander, fifty-five years; captain, sixty years.
Officers of the Merchant Marine Reserve and the Volunteer Reserve should be placed on an honorary retired list without pay or emoluments upon reaching sixty-four years of age.
The provisions of this paragraph should not apply to any officer now in the Naval Reserve during the period covered by his current enrollment except that all officers should be retired at sixty-four.
- Members of the Fleet Reserve should be required to perform such active training duty as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Navy, hut not to exceed fifteen days annually. However, reservists may, upon their own application approved by the Secretary of the Navy, he given additional active training duty with or without pay.
The annual active training duty of the Fleet Reserve should he, when practicable, carried out on board seagoing vessels of the Navy, including battleships, cruisers and destroyers; plans for such training should he formulated sufficiently in advance in order that the commandants of naval districts, commanders of naval forces, and reservists may plan for the training.
- Line officers of the Fleet Naval Reserve should he appointed for deck duties, engineering duties, or aviation duties in accordance with their qualifications.
6. The Administration of the Naval Reserve—(1) The administration of the Naval Reserve should conform, as far as practicable, to that prescribed for the regular Navy.
- Commandants of naval districts should be charged with the organization, administration and training of all units of the Naval Reserve within their districts in accordance with instructions laid down by the Secretary of the Navy.
- Commanders of naval forces of the regular Navy to which fleet reservists are assigned for their annual active training duty should be responsible for such training as prescribed under their command, and further, should realize such duties are an important part of the Navy’s mission to prepare for war.
- Commissioned and enlisted personnel of the regular Navy should be detailed to each naval district by the Navy Department for duty in connection with the Naval Reserve in that district.
When the regular Navy personnel assigned to a naval district is inadequate, the commandant of the district should request the Chief of the Bureau of Navigation to place on active duty such capable officers and enlisted men of the Naval Reserve who have consented to accept such active duty.
- Because of the limited time that Reserve officers not on active duty can he expected to devote to the Navy, the successful development of the Naval Reserve is largely dependent upon the efforts of the officers of the regular Navy detailed to naval districts for duty with the Naval Reserve. Entire cooperation in the carrying out of approved policies and training plans must exist between such officers and the officers of the naval reserve organizations. In organizing the Naval Reserve within the naval districts many of the duties of administration and training should devolve upon officers of the regular Navy assigned thereto.
(6) Commandants of naval districts should indoctrinate all naval reservists within their districts with their mission as members of the Naval Reserve, which may be stated as follows:
- The mission of the naval reservist is to subject himself to training in time of peace so as to be fitted to perform the duties of his rank in the Navy in time of war.
- To fulfill this mission he should (1) Diligently perform such training as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Navy.
- Keep the commandant of the naval district informed of his address: this, in order that he may be included in the plan of the Navy for mobilization in time of war or national emergency. (This necessitates prompt reporting of any change of residence from one naval district to another to insure the transfer of service records.)
- Respond immediately to a proclamation of the President ordering mobilization of the Naval Reserve.
(7) Each naval district should be assigned by the Navy Department a definite percentage of the entire Naval Reserve as its quota, to recruit, organize and administer, in accordance with the following special principles:
- Fleet Reserve should be assigned to naval districts on a basis of population of seacoast towns and cities of each district. Great Lakes is to be considered seacoast.
- Merchant Marine Reserve should be assigned on a basis of the number of American owned steamships operating from seaports of each district. Ultimately, the basis should he ships designated by the Navy Department to be taken over by the Navy in time of war.
- Volunteer Reserve should he assigned on the same basis in general, as the Fleet Reserve.
7. Mobilisation of the Naval Reserve—(1) Under instructions of the Navy Department, commandants of naval districts should prepare the plans for the mobilization of the Naval Reserve in their districts. These plans, when approved by the Navy Department, should be incorporated in and form a part of the war plans of the Navy. There should be maintained at all times by the commandant of each naval district complete orders, except as to date, for the mobilization of the naval reservists in that district in accordance with approved mobilization plans.
(2) In the event of a national emergency proclaimed by the President, the President may direct the mobilization of the Naval Reserve in whole or in part, and may thereafter retain all or any part thereof in active service for such period as he may deem the conditions demand.
The foregoing general statement of policies may be said to constitute the ends being sought in legislation which must be had, and in the administration and training of the Naval Reserve; but to carry through these policies and meet these ends, new legislation must be had.
As stated, such legislation is now pending, quite similar bills having been reported out by both the Senate and the House Naval Affairs Committees, to their respective branches of Congress, recommending enactment into law, which enactment seems probable during the second session of the present Congress.
The principal objectionable features in existing laws necessary to change in order to accomplish that which is desired and intended, are as follows: Past service being a prerequisite to entitle a member to payment for attendance at drills, it is impossible to attract and utilize the very ones that it is imperative to have—young men. The pay in the higher grades for drill attendance does not compare favorably with the National Guard, and appears to be unduly high. Reservists performing volunteer training afloat, such as week-end cruises, are obliged to subsist themselves. Reservists injured or killed while performing active duty for training are not entitled to any relief from the Government on that account. Reservists who are civil service employees of the Government are not entitled to “Military Leave,” for the purpose of performing their annual periods of active duty for training, as are national guardsmen and members of all other military organizations. Due to their multiplicity and varying provisions, existing laws are subject to varying interpretations.
Pending legislation* in the form of the “Britten Bill,”, is designed to accomplish the following: It takes away no privileges now enjoyed by any classes of the Naval Reserve, except it provides that instead of retainer pay there shall he pay for service; this will result in somewhat less pay for officers in the higher grades. It establishes a Marine Corps Reserve absolutely on a parity with the Naval Reserve. It repeals all old laws which have been so difficult of interpretation. It establishes in the Naval Reserve the same grades, ranks and ratings as exist in the regular Navy. Officers are commissioned at the pleasure of the President, as are officers of the regular Navy, and enlistments of men are established for the same period as enlistments in the regular Navy. It provides that no officer or man shall be discharged except for full and sufficient cause. Officers and men are placed under the same laws in time of war or national emergency as are officers and men of the regular Navy. It permits commissioned grades up to commodore. It authorizes the appointment of a certain number of midshipmen to the Naval Academy from the Naval Reserve. It provides for promotion in time of war up to the grade of lieutenant commander with running mates of the line, and by selection for ranks above that of lieutenant commander. It provides for pay for drills, training and active duty based on the pay allowed the National Guard. It does away with confirmation in grade and provides that drill, training or active duty pay shall begin upon appointment or enlistment. It provides for a liberal uniform gratuity. It provides for properly caring for reservists injured in line of duty under the civil service provisions and the United States Employees Compensation Commission. It provides for an honorary retired list without pay upon reaching the age of sixty-four. It provides that men enlisting in the Naval Reserve within four months after their discharge from the regular Navy lose none of the benefits of continuous service. It safeguards the interests of enlisted men of the regular Navy who have been transferred to the Fleet Reserve after sixteen and twenty years’ service, and provides the same privileges for men at present in the Navy. It provides subsistence for week-end cruises. In addition to the Fleet Reserve, it establishes a Merchant Marine Naval Reserve and a Volunteer Naval Reserve. It gives reservists who are employees of the United States the same leave of absence for training duty that is now granted the National Guard. It provides for the continuance of the Naval Militia of the various states as a part of the Naval Reserve Force.