Lapas attēli
PDF
ePub

Sept. 12. Senator Sheppard of Texas, author of the bill, made this statement after its passage:

The bill gives the present Aircraft Committee of the Council of National Defense a legal status and puts it under the joint control of the War and Navy Departments. All production contracts are subject to the control and approval of the Secretaries of War and Navy.

The board is authorized to supervise and direct, under the requirements prescribed by the War and Navy Departments, the purchase, production, and manufacture of airship equipment and machinery, including purchase, lease, or construction of plants.

The board will co-operate effectively with our allies in developing an aviation war program on a gigantic scale.

The bill provides that the personnel of the board shall consist of the Chief Signal Officer of the army, the Chief Constructor of the navy, and not more than seven other members, to be appointed by the President with consent of the Senate.

The Liberty Aircraft Motor

What is regarded by American experts as the greatest military airplane motor yet built in the United States has been evolved by the combined efforts of American scientists, engineers, army officers, and Government officials. Secretary Baker on Sept. 12 announced that the Government had procured designs for such a motor and that it had been built and successfully tested. Secretary Baker's statement was issued after careful preparation of the material submitted to him by the Signal Corps and the Aviation Production Board. His statement follows in part:

The United States aviation engine has passed its final tests. They were successful and gratifying. The new motor, designated by the Signal Service as the "Liberty Motor," is now the main reliance of the United States in the rapid production in large numbers of highpowered battleplanes for service in the war. In power, speed, serviceability, and minimum weight the new engine invites comparison with the best that the European war has produced.

I regard the invention and rapid development of this engine as one of the really big accomplishments of the United States since its entry into the war. The engine was brought about through the co-operation of more than a score of engineers, who pooled their skill and trade

secrets in the war emergency, working with the encouragement of the Aircraft Production Board, the War Department, and the Bureau of Standards. The story of the production of this engine is a remarkable one. Probably the war has produced no greater single achievement.

An inspiring feature of this work was the aid rendered by consulting engineers and motor manufacturers who gave up their trade secrets under the emergency of war needs. Realizing that the new design would be a Government design and no firm or individual would reap selfish benefit because of its making, the motor manufacturers nevertheless practically revealed their trade secrets, and made available trade processes of great commercial value. These industries have also contributed the services of approximately 200 of their best draftsmen.

While it is not deemed expedient to discuss in detail the performances and mechanics of the new motor, it may be said that standardization is a chief factor in the development of the Government's motor. Cylinders, pistons, and every other part of the motor have been standardized. They may be produced rapidly and economically by a great many factories operating under Government contracts. They may be as rapidly assembled, either by these plants or at a central assembly plant.

The standardization of the new engine does not mean there will be no change in it during the war. There will be continuous experimentation as new types and improvements develop at the front and new ideas are born of the war emergency. If the engine can be improved, it will be improved, but as the motor stands today it is one of wonderful success and produced under dramatic circumstances. [See also Page 77.]

What the Navy Has Done

The doings of the navy in the last six months are less obvious than of the land forces; but, relatively speaking, this branch of the United States defense service was at a much more advanced stage of preparation when America entered the war. The fleets had been mobilized before the declaration of hostilities. From the moment that President Wilson decided that he could by Executive act arm merchant vessels, the Navy Department had been busy arming and manning such ships as needed protection against the German submarines. Altogether, two hundred merchant vessels were supplied with gun crews and gunners in the first

few months, and this number has been added to almost daily.

The Navy Department has rendered a great service to the British Admiralty by sending destroyers to the British Isles to help in the work of checking the ravages of the German submarines, and has taken over the cruiser patrol in the Western Atlantic all the way from Brazil to Newfoundland. Fuel and supply ships to serve the United States naval vessels in European waters have also been sent across the Atlantic so as to relieve the Allies of this service, and several small craft have been placed at the disposal of France. Two United States naval bases have been established on the French coast, as well as the one in the British Isles, from which the destroyers are operating against the German submarines.

The navy has even gone to the aid of the Allies' aerial service by sending a hundred navy aviators to France. In addition to taking over the cruiser patrol of the coasts from Brazil to Newfoundland, the Navy Department has taken over the Coast Guard and Lighthouse Services.

To meet the demand for a larger personnel, two classes at Annapolis were graduated far ahead of their time, thus providing 380 new officers, while the enlisted strength of the navy has increased from 53,000 to over 120,000, and is gradually reaching the 150,000 maximum strength authorized by Congress.

Not the least important accomplishment of the navy has been its work in convoying Pershing's army to France. Under Admiral Gleaves this was so well carried out that neither a ship nor a single man has been lost. To sum up, it may be said that so far all the real burden of the war has fallen upon the navy, and that it has in no single case yet failed to live up to its traditions of the past or to the emergencies of the present.

War needs have caused the reorganization of the Atlantic fleet, which has been doubled in size and divided into two forces. This reorganization did

not affect the division under Vice Admiral Sims, which is operating in European waters.

The naval vessels in which the greatest development has been taking place are those classed as destroyers. Secretary of the Navy Daniels conferred on Aug. 20 with representatives of twentyfive ship and engine builders for the purpose of providing the United States Navy with more destroyers than any other power. "Destroyers," he said,

"are the one thing that a submarine fears." He indicated that the Navy Department would order all the destroyers the builders could produce. The sum of nearly $400,000,000 was mentioned as necessary to carry out this program. On Aug. 29, President Wilson approved the Navy Department's estimate of $350,000,000 for new destroyers. The main building program under the fouryear plan will not be interfered with. Under the speeding-up régime a destroyer can be produced in about half the time it took before the war, that is, from ten to twelve months, instead of from eighteen to twenty months.

America had been rendering valuable medical aid in France and Belgium before becoming a belligerent. Work of the highest importance had been done by the American ambulances and hospitals organized by private effort; and when the war came these services were co-ordinated with new war medical activities. Special camps have been provided for thousands of civilian doctors for military service, and special hospitals built in the United States, while the number of medical units sent to France has been steadily increasing. The war has imposed a very severe strain upon the medical resources of the allied countries, so that one of the greatest services America has been able to offer to the Allies has been the prompt dispatch of doctors, nurses, and medical supplies.

[Next month's issue will present the no less interesting story of what the United States has done on the economic side of the war.]

Thirty-two great training camps, each a city in itself, have been established and constructed for the drilling of the new recruits, and are now the chief centres of the nation's military activities. Besides these there are nine training camps for new officers, sixteen organization camps for the regular army, and similar centres for the drilling of aviators, medical officers, engineers, and Naval and Marine Corps. The following table gives the names and other details of the National Guard mobilization camps, national army cantonments, regular army camps, second series of officers' training camps, medical, engineers', and aviation camps, army departments, and navy training camps and stations:

National Guard Mobilization Camps

[blocks in formation]
[graphic][subsumed]

Front row (left to right): William C. Redfield, Robert Lansing, David F. Houston, President Wilson, William G. McAdoo, A. S. Burleson. Back row (left to right): Josephus Daniels, William B. Wilson, Newton D. Baker, Thomas W. Gregory, Franklin K. Lane (Photo Harris & Ewing)

[graphic]

Accompanied by Field Marshal Lord Grenfell, the Primate Is Inspecting a Battalion Recruited From the Church Lads' Brigade (Photo International Film Service)

« iepriekšējāTurpināt »