Show is WCO r TO PLAY pa SECOND FIDDLE ca officers officers at vera cruz outranked Out ranked by the british ing TO AVE NO ADMIRAL IN NAVY Z mexico exico situation calls attention to policy by which american prestige Is sacrificed clash at port narrowly averted yera vera cruz mexico exico mobilizing the lactic fleet oft off vera cruz has d disclosed closed an astounding situation in the american kmer ican navy says james D B wood to a chicago dally daily news with the largest fleet this nation has ever as A embed for active service one of the largest any nation has ever had in one port its ita commanding rear admiral Is out ranked because of seniority by tho the british rear admiral whose entire command has been from one to three i small cruisers representing not one twentieth of tile the strength of the amerlean battleships in the event of 0 any united action rear ilear admiral craddock of the royal navy cavy would command unless there should be special agreement between the british and united states governments the entire american naval forces would be under his orders washington by which Is IB meant congress and the national administration this ibis and preceding ones Is responsible for or the situation with all its ita claims to a world power with a i L year navy including the largest su of any nation the american officers in foreign waters ire e usually outranked out ranked by those of oth r nations because america ilas has neither ans r nor vice admirals its 1119 hest rank is rear admiral except the grade of admiral of the navy which Is held by george dewey ills ilia duties are seldom on sea and the rank goes out when lie he goes in medicos cos waters the situation already lias has threatened serious consequences quen ces hear admiral craddock an and d rear admiral fletcher were on the arge of friction at vera cruz but tile the government diplomatically ad rinsed craddock to waive ills hla rights of before the Alex mexican ican situation as nuni d its serious phases great britain itt customary alertness to in affairs inar rear admiral cameron winslow er national assured itself of having ile he ranking officer among the navies of the world that might come here As soon goon as the united states at antic fleet started to assemble at vera ruz admiral craddock in the west indies was nas ordered to proceed at all speed to this spot As aa soon as ho he a ar tved ived on the cruiser essex flying a ear admirals flag ho he was the ranking ran officer in port in rase ease of any concerted ted move by the world powers ho be would have commanded and great britain with its one cruiser now the cruisers berwick and Jan dancaster lancaster caster have joined the essex would have dominated the situation rather technical says the layman true but in affairs of tile tho sea and nations rules of precedence are strict consequences have been serious and far reaching from a similar situation S A rear reap admiral henry T mayo in the time of the boxer uprising in china when the allied powers landed their forces to restore order it was ne de loved that kaptain mccalla an american can campaigner of long experience in china would command but great britain with foresight in 1900 just as today had hurried vice admiral seymour to the scene of action ile ha out ranked tile tha other officers great britain wanted to dominate the situation vice admiral seymour surprised everybody by going ashore and ana taking command himself to the chinese from mandarin down to coolie great briz arlt alii airi was waa the ruling power american naval officers office raqu an tho the asiatic static say that tho the opinion formed then cow con finues tl ti 1 among I 1 1 af pf 00 th knerl cad navy whose duties take them on a con sinuous round of foreign capitals there Is cop co stant al most moat invariably the american after tho the I 1 german austrian italian dutch danish swedish norl nor beglan ve glan russian japanese frenchi french spanish portuguese greek turkish argentine brazilian chilean peruvian chinese all outrank him all have vice ad and most of them full grade ad foreign war vessels which come into vera cruz today salute the british colors colora first arst steaming silently past the rowa of american ships some of them as large us as all three limays limeys li fl meys ineys as tho the Britis hers bers are called native mexico sees bees mexico also pays respect to the british it if america had admirals or even vice admirals in command of its imposing fleets the situation might bo be reversed in the atlantic fleet along the ca east t 8 coast a of mexico centered at vera cruz are six rear admirals all are 1 ft f equal ual rank but hold precedence a according ee to the date of their promotion tile tho commanding organization according to precedence among the rear admirals consequently is charles J badger commander ln in chief atlantic fleet march 8 1911 cameron Wl command ing special service squadron september 14 1911 frank F fletcher commanding fl first division october 17 1911 frank E beatty commanding third division april 27 1912 clifford J boush commanding second secand division march 26 1913 henry T mayo alayo commanding fourth division june 16 15 1913 in any american commercial organization of the magnitude of the atlantic fleet there would be an ascending order of ranks the officers diminishing in number as the rank ascends in almost any other navy thero there would be an admiral in command of such a large fleet and two or more vice alce ad in murals brals and rear admirals in command of each division the men in a division ot of a fleet outnumber those in a brigade of the army A single ship compares to a regiment in men in armament it equals three or four regiments of artillery the smallest battleship has between and men the entire twenty eighth regiment of infantry here has only men A dreadnought dread naught has between 1100 and 1200 men the seventh the largest regiment here has not 1000 A battleship Is a city in itself homes and workshops in which the population must bo be drilled and when occasion requires turned out to fight A division consists of five battleships one of which usually is docked for repairs and when in fleet organization a varying number of auxiliary cruisers gunboats gun boats destroyers colliers and other craft A fleet of five divisions would be much larger than art an army division A captain in the navy ranks with a colonel in the army A rear admiral ranks with a major general rear admiral farragut after the civil war was made an admiral david porter was made a vice admiral and on Farra guts death succeeded to the full rank of admiral the rank of admiral died with porter appointment of temporary admirals admiral for command of fleets has bee been suggested they would always bo be out ranked by admirals of other nations because of length of service as political pressure would be strong to pass the honor around as rapidly as possible tile the result la Is that the great american navy which has been built up to hold the nation in a place as a world power is always at a tactical disadvantage when its comin commanding anding aro are forced into back seats by the ona ofil cers of other nations |