billets that are non-Navy or at least are not directly connected with the operation of the fleet, rather than attempt to go through all of the justification because, as I say, you are going to find a great deal of repetition.

Mr. ARENDS. Which two did you suggest that we take up?

Mr. BLANDFORD. Chief of Naval Operations, departmental.
Mr. ARENDS. All right.

Mr. BLANDFORD. Which is No. 3. And DuAir, DCNO
Mr. ARENDS. No. 2.

Mr. BLANDFORD. Fleet Air Activities, No. 2.

Mr. ARENDS. Let's start on No. 2. Could these go into the record? Mr. BLANDFORD. No, sir. It is all restricted, security information. Mr. KILDAY. Well, as to combat ships, for instance, so far as I have noticed, with a casual glance at it, these captains are all commanding ships, practically.

Mr. BLANDFORD. Yes, sir. That is why I say I don't think there is any necessity of going into it.

Mr. KILDAY. You can put in the record just a general description. I think everybody understands

Mr. BLANDFORD. Supposing I make this statement, Mr. Kilday. I have read the combatant ship captain billets. In the main, I think there is little field for argument. I think they are all justified.

Mr. KILDAY. The majority of them are commanding ships, are they

not?

Mr. BLANDFORD. Well, commanding ships or assigned to staffs in connection with the commanding of ships.

Mr. BATES. On that point, Mr. Chairman, I wonder if the captain could tell us how far down you go in the size of ships, where you stop a captain and assign a commander.

Captain COOPER. We have captains in command of tankers, fleet tankers, and cargo ships, sir. Those are about the smallest. I am speaking personwise.

Mr. BATES. And during the war you had what rank in those? Captain COOPER. Actually in command of tankers, we had officers from lieutenant commander to captain.

Mr. BATES. Depending upon the background?

Captain COOPER. Depending upon the background...

Mr. BATES. Many of them were merchant mariners?

Captain COOPER. Some of them were ex-merchant mariners. But today the captains of nearly all the tankers, the commanding officers of nearly all the tankers are captains.

Mr. VAN ZANDT. It depends on the mission of the ship?

Captain COOPER. The fleet tankers have captains.

Mr. VAN ZANDT. That is what I have in mind.

Captain COOPER. The port-to-port tankers are commanders.
Mr. BATES. And how many men do you have for the fleet?
Captain COOPER. The fleet tanker?

Mr. BATES. Yes.

Captain COOPER. 270.

Mr. BATES. And what functions are there for a fleet tanker that you don't have for, say, a destroyer escort, that require a captain in that billet? You don't have the ordnance that is required on a DE, we will say. Certainly navigational problems are the same. Opening valves is not too much of a strain.

Captain COOPER. They are on independent operations more than smaller ships are, sir.

Mr. VAN ZANDT. I think the activities of a tanker in ComServ Pac is the best indication of the experience and the ability they must have there.

Captain COOPER. They are frequently called on to control their own supporting forces, their own screen.

Mr. BATES. That is where you get into that area that it is maybe yes or maybe no. That is where you have drawn the line.

Captain COOPER. That is correct, sir.

Mr. BATES. But, of course, a captain of a DE has got to know navigation, just as well as the captain of an oiler?

Captain COOPER. It takes a little more experience to handle a big ship like a tanker in a harbor than it does a small ship like a DE, sir. Mr. BATES. Of course, if you have a tug to pull you in, it doesn't make too much difference.

Mr. VAN ZANDT. Is it not true, Captain, that a skipper of a DE may have a lot more gadgets on the bridge than the skipper of a tanker has but the tanker's mission, in many instances, is far more broader than that of a DE?

Captain COOPER. That is correct, sir, particularly insofar as independence of operation is concerned. Frequently a tanker might have four DE's under his command in his screen to support him.

Mr. VAN ZANDT. I think your fleet tanker today is not the tanker you had years ago. It is a more modern ship. It has a greater flexibility.

Captain COOPER. They are called on for replenishment at sea and the development of replenishment at sea took place in World War II, something to the extent that we never considered before the war.

Mr. VAN ZANDT. The mobility of your task forces today is far greater than it has ever been in the history of the Navy. And it is all possible because of your ServPac, which includes these fleet tankers.

Mr. BATES. What do you have on the DE today, Captain?
Captain COOPER. Lieutenant commanders in command.

Mr. BATES. No questions, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. ARENDS. No more questions. All right.

Mr. BLANDFORD. All right, sir. The BuAer, DCNO, fleet air activities, which consists of a total of 268 captains.

I would suggest, Captain, that since this is security information, it would be very difficult to separate the two at this time, that we proceed with whatever you are going to read and then that in correcting your testimony you delete from the testimony that portion of it which you think violates any security regulations.

Captain COOPER. We will do so, sir.

1. General

(a) In any attempt to justify the rank assigned to a specific billet or billets, certain basic concepts must be understood concerning the over-all billet and rank structure within the Naval Establishment.

(b) The Officer Personnel Act of 1947 provides a basis for the number of officers that are authorized in each rank. This, in turn, has been used to establish the rank structure of the Navy.

(c) The billet rank structure of the Navy is determined primarily by the responsibilities assigned to a given billet with a concurrent requirement that the billet be filled with an officer who has had sufficient experience to discharge these

responsibilities. Thus, the more responsible billets require higher ranks in order to insure that the billet will be filled by a person with adequate maturity and background to perform assigned missions satisfactorily.

(d) The billets presently authorized for aviation captains are grouped by categories in the following paragraphs and a brief justification in each category is given.

2. Naval air stations (continental and overseas). Total, 66 code, 1,300 captain billets

(a) The commanding officer of any of the 66 continental and overseas air stations is required to have a broad military background and experience in order to be able to cope with the administrative and operational problems that will be ever present for command decision. This background and experience can only be achieved by many years of active naval service, including tours of duty in shore activities as well as at sea. The total amount of time required to fulfill the above requirements consumes approximately 19 to 20 years of active service. This, in itself, dictates the utilization of an aviator of the rank of captain.

Mr. BLANDFORD. Captain, what are the functions of a commanding officer of a naval air station?

Does he have to possess all of the qualifications of a line officer with respect to administrative work, in addition to knowing the particular specialty of flying?

Captain COOPER. He has a big administrative job. He may have many thousands of people, depending on the size of the particular air station, under his command, civilian personnel as well as military. Every air station has a good-sized overhaul and repair facility that is under his command.

Mr. BLANDFORD. Now, do you take captains for that type of an assignment who have had a reasonably long period of service in preference to a captain with the rank, but without the length of service?

In other words, is that usually an assignment that goes to an officer who has the more length of service than some of his colleagues? Captain COOPER. The commanding officers of the naval air stations are all unrestricted aviation naval officers.

Mr. BLANDFORD. Now, which do you think is more important in commanding an air station: An officer with rank, or an officer with length of service.

Captain COOPER. Experience is really the guide. I really don't see how you could separate rank from length of service too much. Mr. BLANDFORD. I think we will get into that a little later on. But the point is I am looking at it from the Navy viewpoint.

Is the Navy position that you are looking for men with long years of service and experience to command these air stations?

Captain COOPER. That is correct, maturity and experience being the governing factors.

Mr. BLANDFORD. And you are not primarily concerned with the man's rank, or do you feel that a man has to have the rank to properly command the air station?

Captain COOPER. The rank is an end product, as far as I am concerned.

Mr. BLANDFORD. In other words, you think

Captain COOPER. The governing factor is maturity and experience. Mr. BLANDFORD. To you that is the most important factor? Captain COOPER. That is correct.

Mr. MILLER. Mr. Chairman. At these air stations where you have great overhaul and repair facilities, aren't other officers rather skilled

in that particular work sent in there and in effect take the full responsibility for overhaul and repair work?

Captain COOPER. They are under the overall command of the commanding officer, of the air station.

Mr. MILLER. He is the general housekeeper for the organization? Captain COOPER. He has to coordinate the overhaul and repair activities with the other departments.

Mr. MILLER. In effect the specialists who were sent in there are the people who run the shop?

Captain COOPER. They run the technical details of the shop.
Mr. MILLER. They run the technical details.

Captain COOPER. That is correct, sir.

Mr. MILLER. Now, aren't there some cases where other facilities, air facilities, may be assigned to the station?

You might have an admiral on the station, too, along with the captain.

Captain COOPER. Yes, sir; many air stations do have admirals. Mr. MILLER. Is there any reason why he shouldn't command the naval air station, along with the thing, and why you should have another captain to have this setup?

Captain COOPER. I don't think it would be fair to the admiral, sir, to ask him to command the air station in addition to the duties-other duties and responsibilities which are assigned to him.

Mr. MILLER. It merely means delegating that work to a competent officer or coordinating; doesn't it?

Captain COOPER. That is really what happens right now, sir. The commanding officer of the air station would come under the overall command of the admiral.

Mr. MILLER. Does he come under the overall command? I have in mind one in my district, where this command of the admiral seems to be quite divorced from that of the housekeeper of the air station. Mr. VAN ZANDT (presiding). Alameda?

Mr. MILLER. Alameda; that is right.

Captain COOPER. Well, I think that Admiral Ewen's command covers a much wider space in the naval air station, Alameda, if that is the one you are speaking of, sir.

Mr. MILLER. That is the one I am speaking of. He is there. The admiral is there. He has a full staff, including generally a captain as his chief of staff. And then you have a captain commanding the air

station.

Then you have a captain in charge of the overhaul and repair functions of the air station.

Captain COOPER. I feel that the captain is necessary to command the air station, in view of the fact that Admiral Ewen is not present there all the time. He leaves frequently. He has responsibilities for rather farflung activities.

Mr. MILLER. I appreciate that, but then I am getting down to this thing where his chief of staff is a captain, and there is a captain commanding the air station, and I may say a most efficient one at the present, I think one of the finest gentlemen I have met, and then he has a captain in command of the overhaul and repair functions at the air station, that represent 90 percent of its activity, at least, to a lay

man.

I just wondered why there couldn't be some combination in this setup.

Captain COOPER. I think you would need the same people whether they were captains or not, and you would need

Mr. MILLER. You would need people, but I just wondered whether they all have to be captains.

Captain COOPER. You would also need officers of considerable experience and maturity in those positions.

Mr. MILLER. That is right. There is no question of that, Captain. It is just a question of rank in these things. If we are going to screen this, in my estimation-I don't know. I am personally convinced to the contrary.

Mr. VAN ZANDT. Captain, let's review Alameda, since he is discussing that.

Admiral Ewen, as I recall, is the commanding officer of a specific organization with a specific mission.

Captain COOPER. Fleet Air Wing.

Mr. VAN ZANDT. That is right. And he is stationed, his headquarters, at Alameda.

Captain COOPER. That is right.

Mr. VAN ZANDT. His job is to look after the function of the fleet air wing.

Captain COOPER. Yes, sir.

Mr. VAN ZANDT. Administratively, and maintenance, and logistically and otherwise. But the captain of the base there has a little different mission. The Alameda Naval Air Station is given the responsibility of not only maintaining certain types of aircraft that are used by that facility, but also to repair specific types of aircraft; is that correct?

Captain COOPER. That is correct.

Mr. VAN ZANDT. And he has a staff, of course, and they represent the superintendent of various buildings there that have a specific mission in this overall problem of repairing certain types of aircraft. Now, isn't it possible that Admiral Ewen could be lifted right out of there some day and probably sent to San Diego; is that not right? Captain COOPER. That is right.

Mr. VAN ZANDT. Or sent up to Seattle or probably sent to Pearl or Honolulu.

Captain COOPER. He could, indeed, sir.

Mr. VAN ZANDT. Isn't it true that in the same area you have a naval supply depot with an admiral, at Oakland?

Captain COOPER. Yes, sir.

Mr. VAN ZANDT. Across the bay you have Admiral Hall, who has the Reserve Fleet.

Then you have Admiral Rodgers in San Francisco who has the naval district.

So when you talk about an admiral commanding the naval air station, you could pick on Admiral Ewen or any of those admirals, but all of them have specific missions, as does the commanding officer at Alameda.

Captain COOPER. That is right, sir.

Mr. MILLER. Yes; that is the general justification, Mr. Van Zandt, that we are getting at.

I thought one of the things we were doing, though, was examining into some of these things to justify them for our own satisfaction. Mr. KILDAY. I wanted to make this