Show W ho S NEWS THIS WEEK by LEMUEL F PARTON EW YORK this department dep artmen NEW Nf flushes lushes a swarm ot of rumors rumor about drastic changes in our naval nava building plans said to have been in deuced by new nev british D i disasters r i problems of de bring check an bense against ON our naval plans Plan planes and sub magines as dis closed by british disasters so far as we can learn there are impending some possible changes in per personnel bonnel and a general check and overhauling of work on new ships to date but nothing revolutionary it is indicated that there will be intensive studies and training tn in coordination of ships planes and submarines at the highest peak of american naval construction in peace time history rear admiral aamir a I 1 alexander hamilton van keuren 1 is made chief of the bureau batira of construction and repair th that a t puts him right in the wheelhouse of the navy efficiency drive as this Is the acid testing bureau for fighting ships and it bears the responsibility for their I 1 being sound and fit structurally and in design defects have been found and are being remedied in several ton cruisers admiral van keuren a navy technician tor for 38 36 years is one of the most highly rated specialists in naval construction he smokes a drop stem pipe carries on easily and informally formally y and marshals engineering data with a precise mastery basteri of detail ills his previous post has been that of industrial manager at the philadelphia navy yard he is a dependable safeguard against pitted or pithy armor plate such as we heard of years ago he is a native of michigan graduated from annapolis in 1903 Ms his predecessor sor in the bureau rear admiral W G du bose becomes commander of the new model basin at carderock Car derock md AS GEN DANIEL VAN VOORHIS M MAJ assigned to the supreme command in the panama canal zone Is an officer up from the ranks who has been our gold 11 guard entrusted w with ith now gets canal many critically Zno zone ta WaS watch important as sign ments in the past among them the guardianship of the bulk of the nat nations Jons gold reserve at fort knox ky the fact of his selection is evidence of the crucial importance 0 of the canal defenses in the eyes odthe of the high command from zanesville ohio he enlisted in the tenth pennsylvania infantry in 1898 and won a corn mission as second lieutenant in the rhilip philippine pine insurrection insurrections 1 ile he is the army specialist ini in mechanized defense and attack and just now the canal is a concentration of swift mechanization in the world war he was chief of staff at brest and holds the distinguished service medal the navy cross the silver star and the legion of honor decorations 0 N HIS new book the defense of 1 IN britain capt emdell hart the british military expert says our chief risk of losing a war lies in try in ing 9 to win the tha brit britaina I 1 ains danger bange f war ills his gen Is in trying to oral eral finding ending is win says say H hart that modern war cannot be supported in the style to which it hasteen has been accustomed and observes that war will only be ended when the power lusting nations recognize its futility fut lUtY the growing power of modem defense is bringing that prospect in sight in his preceding book europe in arms published in august 1937 he thought there was lope llope of ending war in the limitations of the military mind fatheaded fat headed generals would cling to gaudy mass attack and make war so stupid and ridiculous that anybody surviving would just forget it but the trouble with a war expert is that you cant bottle him up and other nations in the past have used him a a military consultant in the world war a stripling just out of cambridge a captain and a war correspondent he be gave the generals a lacing to the limit of the and andal al though they growled menacingly they took him into their counsels co he invented a tot lot of new trick plans including the indirect approach and the ex banding torr tnt system and his reputation was well on oa its way before the war ended ile he has scolded many of the main panjandrums drums of the big war in the postwar post war years apparently with public approval judging from the sale of his books he was a war buddy of lawrence of arabia and insisted that this human cryptogram knew more about war than all the generals put together consolidated features service |