Show NEWS THIS WEEK by LEMUEL F PARTON NEW YORK this department flushes a swarm ot of rumors about drastic changes in our naval building plans said to have been inn deuced by new r british disasters problems of debring check on bense erase against abal planes and sub our IN plans marines as disclosed by british disasters so far as we can learn leam there are impending some possible changes in personnel 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 in coordination ot of ships planes and submarines at the highest peak of american saval naval construction in peacetime history rear admiral alexander hamilton van keuren Is made chief of the bureau of construction and repair that puts him right in the wheelhouse of the he navy effi efficiency clency drive as this is the acid testing bureau for fighting ships and it bears the responsibility for their being sound and fit structurally and in design defects have been found and are being remedied in i several ton cruisers admiral van keuren a navy technician for 30 36 years Is one of 0 the tha most highly rated specialists in naval construction he smokes a drop stem pipe carries on easily and informally and marshals engineering data with a precise mastery of detail 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 0 michigan graduated from annapolis oli s in 1903 his predecessor in the bureau bu beati rear admiral W G du bose becomes commander of the new model basin at carderock Car derock md GEN DANIEL VAN MAJ M HIS assigned to the supreme command in the panama canal zone is an officer up from the ranks w who ho has been our gold cold guard entrusted with now gets canal many critically zone to watch important 11 sign ments in the past among them the guardianship of the bulk of the nations gold reserve at fort knox ky the tact fact of 0 his selection la Is evidence of the crucial importance of the canal defenses in the eyes of the high command from zanesville Ohi Ob ohe lohe enlisted in the tenth pennsylvania infantry in 1898 and won a commission as second lieutenant in the philippine insurrection he Is the army specialist in mechanized defense and attack and just now the canal Is a concentration of swift mechanization in the world war he was chief ot of staff at brest and holds the distinguished service medal the navy cross the silver star sta r and the legion of honor decorations IN TN HIS new book the defense of I 1 britain capt liddell hart the british military expert says our chiet chief risk of losing a war lies in try ing to wm win the britaina Brit danger ains war his gen Is in trying to eral finding is win says hart that modern be war cannot supported in the style to which it has been accustomed and observes that war will only be ended when the power lusting nations recognize I 1 its futility 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 hope 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 1 d just forget it but the trouble aou with i th a war expert is that you cant bottle him up and other nations in the past have used him as a military consultant in the world war a stripling just out of cambridge a captain and ad 0 a war correspondent he gave the generals a lacing to the he limit of the he censorship and although they growled menacing ly they took him into their counsels he invented a lot of new trick plans including the he indirect approach anil and the he expanding corrent Jor torrent rent system and nd his reputation was well on an its way before the he war endee he has scolded many of the main pan panjandrums drums of the big war in the post postwar 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 humin human cryptogram knew more about war than all the generals put together features 8 t r ex W atu perv lc 4 N |