| Show americans will salute their mighty sea fore force spearhead of the he attack on navy day october 11 27 tonnage of warships and auxiliaries Is doubled since 1940 by ELLIOTT PINE released by western newspaper union this year as every year for the past twenty two the nation pauses briefly to salute the navy the marine corps and the c coast 1 guard on navy day october 27 for that is the birthrate birth date of theodore roosevelt who sired the beginnings of our modern navy and it was the late president who backed up his word by donating part pari of his nobel peace award to the navy league and its program the navy leacue Is now a nationwide organization with a vice presa president tor for every state in the union and the district of columbia its new honorary president is governor charles edison lormer former secretary ot of the navy its pies president Ident Is comma commodore sheldon clark chicago business man under a directive issued by frank knox knot secretary of the navy all commands of the navy department part ment are directed to operate cooperate co with the navy league in this annual observance on october 27 thus navy day while having the official sanction of the vavy department Is actually a civilian eni deavor a civilian salute to our far flung fleet and shore establishments and the men and women wha make them function this is exactly what theodore roosevelt had in mind when he de da dared in that letter 40 years ago for the building and maintaining in proper shape of the american navy we must rely upon nothing but the broad farsighted far sighted patriotism of our people as a whole and it Is of great importance that there should be some means by which this patriotism can find an effective utterance your society offers just the means mean needed the navy league is thus seen also as not of the character of just another emergency organization or war baby designed to function only under the duress of conflict it is a permanent gathering of citizens who pay homage not alone to the dead heroes but to the living and growing organization of ships and planes and men ot of the united states navy its purpose is one of patriotic education and its membership fees are nominal for it is a nonprofit non profit organization this year the official slogan of the leape league dpn n the occasion of navy day I 1 Is your navy spearhead of victory this is in contrast to the old traditional slogan of first line of defense and it is also in contrast with the 1942 slogan which read your navy first line of attack 4 commodore sheldon dark clark president of navy ae league a gue these sharply contrasting slogans tell a changing story of a navy under changing conditions and the final slogan suggests the promise ot of victory the question is raised does the league and its patriotic membership cease to be a robust booster for ar the navy at the cessation of hostilities officials of the league say no that that is when the real work ot of the league must begin anew perhaps the peace slogan on an a navy day yet to come will le be at once a grim reminder and a solemn warning that the men and implements of the navy must not again be relegated to the shelves of complacency ency over our national security in ahat event the slogan may well read freaa your navy comes first in wr and in peace spearhead Is big and sharp but this year in the midst of at the greatest war ever to sweep this troubled earth the slogan spear bead of victory is eminently fitting and what a the mightiest navy ot of all time being created already it Is immense beyond the dreams of any nation even the united states until three thre years eyears ago still it grows day dalty by day week by week more ships more planes more men the navy demanded and the american people have responded without stint in a report boldly revealing details previously considered tight secrets the united states navy flaunts its strength to the axis and particularly to japan in three years the report states the total tonnage ot of all navy craft has risen from tons tn in july 1940 1040 to more than tons in july 1943 the navy measurements are in displacement not deadweight tonnage which latter figure Is more than twice as great as the displacement warships meaning battleships light and heavy cruisers destroyers destroyer escorts submarines and carriers have been increased from in 1940 to in the july 1943 report and new ships are being delivered every month some new combatant ships have been added in three years totaling dis expansion of navy M in three ethree year period joiy 1940 warships War shins au 0 july 1943 Q 1 t 7 t other N aval vessels july 1940 july I 1 1943 I 1 1076 96 sissil my 2943 planes july 1940 1744 8 placement tons and costing more than three billion dollars of the original ships over have been transferred to other nations or converted to noncombatant combatant non uses other naval vessels have been increased from 1076 1078 to the great rise being accounted tor for principally by landing craft other new ships were 1274 mine layers and patrol craft yard bard and district vessels and auxiliary vessels such as oil tankers repair ships etc indicating the emphasis on air power the navy has multiplied its planes planed from 1744 in 1940 to last july and more are being put into action daily the importance of air strength both for offensive and defensive operations Is so momentous that the traditional definition of sea power has been changed to sea air power the ability to build this huge naval force and to continue to build at the present rate is one of the foundation stones of our military straw strategy gy says the navys report it underlies our amphibious attacks in the pacific the atlantic and the mediterranean goes on the statement it protects our long exterior supply routes running across thousands of miles of oceans most important it makes fes feasible sl a strategy of attack with all the risks it implies ability to build 0 er if necessary to rebuild on this scale is one of the basic advantages which the american navy holds over fleets of other nations so great Is this construction capacity in fact that the navy has been able to sustain severe losses without serious kossof loss of strength fifty eight warships have been sunk or damaged so as to be considered useless of these one was a battleship nine were cruisers four aircraft carriers 32 destroyers and 12 submarines by transfer to the navies of f our allies or by conversion to nono non ca combat imbat purposes the U S navy has lost ships many of 0 them classed as overage over age the ultimate measure of a shipbuilding programs success is the array of new vessels completed and ready to fight which it turns out the navy report comments by this yardstick U S warship construction passes the test with flying colors ships ire are being built faster and faster aster and being delivered complete armed and supplied for combat on the high seas the rise in naval ship completions is without parallel goes on the report the number of 0 vessels completed in the single month of june 1943 2943 tor for example approximates the number completed in the first 18 months month ol 01 the defense pr program combatant ships battleships aircraft carriers cruisers destroyers st Bt destroyer escorts and submarines make up the largest part of the navy program and the step up in their production has been especially sharp the tonnage of combatant ships completed in the first six months of 1943 Is more than 20 times the tonnage completed during the first six months of the defense program to make this astonishing output more graphic the report states that in july ot of 1940 the navy received five newly finished vessels while in june 1043 the number was almost 1200 0 of various classes an even more remarkable multi catlon has taken place in airplanes from 25 aircraft delivered in june 1940 the figure leaped to 2000 by jurie june of 1943 the report states state that airplane production tor for naval use has grown faster than any other branch of the aircraft industry in the 36 month period the report says cays the navy has obtained planes built under its own contracts end and in addition about planes constructed under army cognizance ot of these army planes were trainers and utility planes and combat aircraft the program is concentrated on combat planes continues the report recent emphasis is on bombers of its new fighter planes based on carriers the navy proudly declares they are capable of matching performance for mance with the worlds best land based fighters they fire in one minute live five times the weight of projectiles jec tiles that their 1940 predecessors fired ordnance department all ali combat ships and planes depend upon their guns tor for both offense and defense it is the business of the ordnance department to arm these nearly new fighters and to provide replacements the navy Is highly satisfied with the work of its ordnance department according to the report contracts for guns of every caliber and type and mountings ings and ammunition have been successfully cess fully filled by dozens of private manufacturing companies in addition to L the lie navys own manufacturing plants meeting exacting standards the rate of production in ordnance has increased 24 times over the 1940 rate more than of the four main ma in types of naval guns and mounts have been turned out since july 1940 shore installations during the three years mention fl the navy has constructed docks buildings and shore facilities costing 6 billion dollars this program is being continued too to keep pace with overall over all expansion contracts tor for almost two billion dollars worth of work Is in process of completion the whole construction program totaling is approximately 81 per cent completed on july 1 of thi this vast sum has been allotted to shipbuilding and repair ordnance and aircraft facilities one third of the appropriated for bases has gone into naval bases the remainder has been devoted to advance bases storage fleet facilities etc only the advance base program was less than 15 per cent finished on the first of july this great navy will be manned by a force of more than three million men the navys goal for the end of the year is if including some WAVES so the two ocean navy long considered an impractical dream is becoming a reality long the worlds best navy the united states navy is now to be the worlds biggest also |
