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THe Marine REVIEW : 19 ENGINEERING IN THE NAVY. Attention is very forcefully called to critical condition of engineering in the United States in the annual report of Rear Admiral Rae, Chief of the bureau of steam engineer- ing. He refers to the accident on the gunboat Bennington and says: "Five and one-half years ago a momentous step was taken regarding the performance of duty in the navy. A whole corps of. specialists was virtually abolished, and the duties performed by these specialists were transferred to the line. The intent of the so-called 'personnel bill,' the instrument by which the congress authorized this change, was that all the younger officers of the engineer corps, the corps in ques- tion, were to perfect themselves. in seamanship, gunnery, and navigation, and were thereafter to perform both line and engineering duties indiscriminately, and at the same time the younger officers of the line were to perfect themselves in engineering and thereafter likewise perform indiscrim- inately the joint duties. The older officers of the engineer corps, although transferred to the line at the same time, were for obvious reasons to continue in the performance - of engineering duty only. Thus. eventually the line would be wholly composed of officers fitted to perform all duties connected with the movement of ships. "The younger officers of the engineer corps were given two years in which to qualify for these new duties. How well they did it the records of the examining board and the fitness reports on officers bear striking testimony. As all midshipmen at the Academy had been given for years ex- cellent practical instruction in engincering, no examination, other than that required for promotion, was demanded of them for qualifying for the performance of these joint duties. The intent was, however, that they should be ordered at once to the performance of this duty in subordinate capacities, as assistants of the older engineer officers. Owing to the absence of specific instructions to that effect in the per- sonnel bill, combined with powerful adverse influences within the department, for three years absolutely nothing was done by the younger line officers in acquiring engineering ex- perience, and later, owing to the large number of ships kept in commission and the scarcity of officers, but little in that direction was accomplished. So long as the older offi- cers of the former engineer corps remained available for ser- vice at sea, supplemented by a new body of warrant officers called warrant machinists, the engineering duty of the fleet was properly performed. Credit must not be withheld also from a few officers of the line who by their own personal exertions perfected themselves in engineering, and served, or are serving, with marked efficiency in most responsible en- gineering positions afloat. The older officers of the late _engineer corps are rapidly disappearing from active service. In my last annual report I stated that there were sixty-six such officers at that time. The number has since been reduced to forty-three, and were it not that the services of certain retired officers are available, the Bureau would already be experiencing great difficulty in finding officers for the various responsible positions both on shore and at sea. "So few officers of the line are taking up engineering ser- iously that the situation is becoming alarming. That the de- partment must do something to relieve this situation, and that something at once, is only too obvious to the most casual observer of present conditions. Were the country suddenly plunged into war the navy would find itself in no condition to win battles. As necessary as good markmanship is the abil- ity to carry our guns to the firing line and to keep them there amidst the havoc created by modern ordnance, and this will never be done with amateurs in charge of the machinery. That line officers can become good engineers has already been proved, but they must have experience to become so, and that experience must be acquired in subordinate posi- tions. No young officer out of the Academy but a short time, who would not be given charge of the deck except under the supervision of a senior officer, should be placed in charge of the engineer department of a ship, as has been done. "Engineering logically belongs to the line, and the line should be made to perform that duty earnestly. | "In addition to the care and manipulation of the machinery of ships at sea, there are other duties which the engineer must perform and for which he must be fitted; these duties are the designing, inspection, and superintendence of con- struction of that machinery. The. bureau holds, and it is. not alone i in the opinion, that the most successful designers of marine machinery are those who have had charge of it at sea. It therefore considers it most, necessary that in the' line of the navy there should be a certain number of engin- eering specialists--officers who devote all their time and at- tention to engineering, for'in this way only can the most com- petent designing engineers be obtained. As before stated, the situation is critical, and something must be done. The bureau therefore submits the following plan for quickly 'supplying the navy with a body of efticient engineers: "All younger officers of the line must be given engineer- ing duty, and must be made to realize the importance of their responsibility. This duty must be at first in a subordinate capacity, and no officer should be given charge until his record shows his fitness for such duty. The examining board must be strict in its examinations for promotion, and before the board engineering must rank with seamanship, gunnery and navigation. "That in the line there shall be a number of engineering specialists, whose duty both at sea and on shore shall be engineering. These officers shall not perform duty at sea after reaching the rank of commander. A careful study of the necessities of the case has resulted in fixing the number of such officers at one in every ten ahove the rank of lieu- tenant, junior grade. These officers shall be recruited at the foot of the list of lieutenants--that is, when ten officers reach the rank of lieutenant below the last engineering specialist, the department shall order an examination to be held of so many of those ten who volunteer for the purpose of selecting one officer to be assigned permanently to engin- eering duty. In case there are no volunteers, that, by a careful scrutiny of the record and fitness reports, one of the ten be selected for assignment to engineering duty. "That 'officers so selected shall be given a course in higher marine engineering for at least one year at some school of engineering of reputation. "Immediately, that any officer of the line may request assignment to engineering duty permanently. "The final result of the foregoing plan would give a body of engineering specialists in the line of the navy of about the following numbers and ranks: Restiadwmivale . 2005 2. 6s ies eee. Kh ss oe 2 Captaiie: .<: oh. eee ee ? Commanders > .:- ms elles Cale hn tn den Cen ee II Laeutenant-commanders . 6.5 .o56e ins a os 33 \ < TP reuterante" 2.050. 61s o i ca ao 82 "Of this number, sixty-two--the lieutenant-commanders and lieutenants--would be available for sea duty. say 30 at sea at any one time. This would give a sufficient number in each fleet.to have a thoroughly competent engineer as chief engineer of each of the larger vessels, and a sufficient number to enable the commander-in-chief at all times to have avail- able officers qualified to act in any case in which expert en- gineering knowledge is necessary. These officers would have among their assistants the younger officers of the line acquiring experience, among whom would eventually be found those who would take up engineering coer and become specialists themselves.