COMPLEMENTS OF AIRPLANE CARRIERS Mr. FRENCH. Admiral, during the coming fiscal year you are going to have two airplane carriers put into commission. What will be the complements of those two ships? It Admiral SHOEMAKER. About 1,600 enlisted men for each one. makes about 3,200 altogether. However, those ships are not allowed for in the distribution sheet I have given you. Mr. FRENCH. What are your plans as to the men to be placed on those ships? Admiral SHOEMAKER. We did have plans, and we expected to have an increase of 3,000 men for 1926 for the complements of those two ships; but word was given us that the Budget estimates would provide for but 86,000 men. So we are at present without any of the complement necessary to man those two ships. The men necessary, upon a personnel of 86,000 can only be obtained by limiting other activities. We wanted an additional 3,000 men over 86,000 for 1926. The two carriers are supposed to be ready about the 1st of July, 1926; I think the date of commissioning will be several months later. But if we had the 3,000 men allowed we would begin recruiting, filling up, and getting them ready five or six months in advance; for we would require their services in advance of the time that they go aboard ship. In other words, we must get and train the extra 3,000 men some months in advance. The force-operating plan for 1926 has no provision in it now for manning those two airplane carriers. OFFICER COMPLEMENT FOR AIRPLANE CARRIERS The problem also arises of the officers for those two ships. A carrier requires many more officers than a battleship. The number of officers is about 180 for each ship. That is because they have about 117 pilot officers-pilots for airplanes. The complement of a battleship, for example the West Virginia or the Colorado, is 80 officers. So, an airplane carrier requires more than twice as many; and if we did not have a sufficient total of officers available, we would, for example, have to put out of commission about four battleships in order to supply officers for two airplane carriers. In fact, it would require about 411⁄2 battleships to give us enough officers for them. Both of them are to be fitted with quarters for flag complements. There are 151 in each case for the regular complement of the ship and the airplane squadrons on board, and adding those that are on the staff brings it up to about 180. The estimate sent me first from Aviation was 192, but it was reduced to 180, and that number seems to be the minimum required. OPERATION OF UNDER-AGE ENLISTMENT PROVISION Mr. FRENCH. Admiral, there is another question that we wanted to discuss. Last year the Connolly amendment was added to the bill, modifying procedure touching recruiting. Have you a statement to make on that which would indicate how you are handling the question and how the work is going on? Admiral SHOEMAKER. I have a statement that will cover it from the beginning of the fiscal year up to the present time. We now have data up to and including the month of October. The increase in 17-year old enlistments is believed to be due to requiring consent papers, thereby forcing many 17-year old boys, who would otherwise have given their age as 18, to get consent papers. A study of the table between the ages of 20 and 23 would indicate that selective recruiting has perhaps kept from enlisting many men between these ages due to the difficulties of proving their age. From the above figures for the month of October it is believed it can be justifiably deduced that the average age of recruits since the operation of the Connally amendment has been lowered by one-half a year. EFFECT OF CONNALLY AMENDMENT ON AVERAGE AGE OF NEW RECRUITS The statistical section of the Bureau of Navigation has compiled data for the months of October, 1923, and October, 1924, which is as follows: Average age 1923, 19.5; 1924, 19. Average age, eliminating minority enlistments, 1923, 19.4; 1924, 19.7. If you compare in the foregoing tabulation the enlistments for October, 1923, and October 1924, you will find that this is the situation. We find in 1923 at the entrance age of 16 there were 3, and in 1924 there were 2. At 17 years of age there were 1,162 in 1923 and 329 in 1924. At 18 years of age there were 809 in 1923 and 393 in 1924. At 19 years of age there were 516 in 1923 and 209 in 1924. At 20 years of age there were 236 in 1923 and 93 in 1924. You will notice there is a drop to 209 in 1924 at 19 years of age and to 93 in 1924 at 20 years of age. Mr. FRENCH. A man who is above the legal age must furnish proof to that effect, or else you will not accept him? Admiral SHOEMAKER. That is the point, and the consequence is that there has been the drop to which I have called your attention. These men will not take the trouble or do not care to furnish the information required, so they do not enlist. There is another curious thing about this, and that is this. You will notice that at 17 years of age, in 1923, there were 329, and at 18 years of age there were 393 in 1924, and then it drops to 209 at 19 years of age. That larger number, 393, is probably due to the fact that boys used to enlist and call themselves 17, whereas now they have to produce evidence of their age, so they are not enlisting at 17 to as large an extent as heretofore. They can not produce papers showing that they are 17, so they do not try to enlist. But you will notice there were 393 boys at 18 years of age. We do not have as many at 17, but we get more at 18, and 18 is the age at which they can be enlisted. They used to declare that they were 18, the legal age without consent papers, when they were not, so there were many special discharges issued by the Bureau of Navigation for under-age enlistment. The age limit appears to have gone up on this account. The average age for 1923, eliminating minority enlistments this is for one month-was 19.4 years, and in 1924 it is 19.7. So the average is a little bit higher. Mr. FRENCH. In spite of the care you have excercised, have you taken in many young men who have been permitted to take advantage of the opportunity to be discharged in 60 days? Admiral SHOEMAKER. There have been three to date. We do not get many of these cases now. They are largely eliminated, and it saves us a good deal of money. Mr. FRENCH. Is it working any hardship among the Navy? Admiral SHOEMAKER. None, except that it will cost more. I think the Army estimated, and so stated, that it would cost them a million dollars a year more. We think it may cost us a couple hundred thousand dollars more. Mr. TABER. The Army has not operated under this rule until within the last few months? Admiral SHOEMAKER. This was last year when they made that statement. Mr. TABER. That was in connection with the straight out and out absolute prohibition of enlistments under 21, but this is not based on that? = Admiral SHOEMAKER. Yes. We think it may cost us more, because recruiting parties have to go farther and travel more, and those recruited have to come from greater distances. This adds to the expense. Mr. FRENCH. I was going to ask you what elements enter into the additional cost. Mr. TABER. Do you not save nearly as much as a result of the small number you have to discharge as the extra expense runs to? Admiral SHOEMAKER. That would certainly have to be considered. We have not data enough to tell just what that would be, but that counts in our calculations. We accept now only about 25 per cent of all applicants for enlistment. All the rest of them are rejected because of physical or moral reasons. Mr. HARDY. You are giving the reasons why those at 18 and 19 years are reduced in number. How about those at 21, 22, and 23 years of age? They are greatly reduced in number. Admiral SHOEMAKER. I think men in those age classes can not furnish birth certificates to show they are over 21, so probably a great many of them do not try to enlist. We take in no men of the class called "drifters" now. Every man who comes in has to have a family history. The drifters are those who make a nucleus of trouble aboard ship. A man of this class who is older becomes a leader among half a dozen or so younger recruits, and generally we find that such a group desert together. By eliminating such older men we get along very much better. Mr. TABER. Is it not true that in 1924 you did not need so many men to fill the complements as you did in 1923, and that that is the reason why your enlistments are lower? Admiral SHOEMAKER. I think we have always tried to get up to the number. Mr. TABER. I mean they did not have to do so much recruiting, and therefore the number, at all events, is a good deal lower than it would be if they had had to crowd the recruiting a little harder; is not that right? Admiral SHOEMAKER. Yes. When we get the number up to the limit we have to stop. Commander SMEAD. The purpose of this paper was to try to define the relation between the Connally amendment and the relative age. Mr. HARDY. I do not think it proves anything at all regarding that matter because of the conditions that enter into this proposition of recruiting. Mr. FRENCH. I realize that the short time you have been operating under it would hardly give you a basis on which to form a conclusion. Admiral SHOEMAKER. Before a man is enlisted he is required to produce evidence of age, references as to character, and consent papers. The evidence of age, consent, and reference papers are required to be forwarded in each case to Washington for examination in the recruiting division of the Bureau of Navigation. Irregularities discovered are sent back to the recruiting officers for correction. This system leads to greater care being taken by the recruiting personnel in the preparation of these papers and a reduction in losses due to underage is hoped for. The effect has been noticed in a reduction of underage discharges, as shown by the following table: The discharges in column 2 occurred, due to applications of parents for men who were already in the service, on July 1, 1924. In accordance with the naval appropriation act for the fiscal year 1925, the bureau has directed that written consent of parent or guardian be secured before enlistment. This has been done for all first enlistments since July 1, 1924. Up to November 1, 1924, but three men have been discharged under the provisions of the act of May 28, 1924; two of these furnished consent papers which were later proven to be forgeries; the other, while presenting consent papers signed by his mother, had been given into the custody of his father by a court order. |