ALASKA COAL TO BE DEVELOPED
FOR USE OF UNITED STATES NAVY
Secretary Daniels Tells of Plans for Two Mighty
Fleets—Oil-Burning Dreadnaughts to Be Or
dered to the Pacific Until the Great Coal Fields
of Alaska Are Opened Up, Work Upon Which
Is Soon to Begin.
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♦ “We hope soon to begin the ♦
♦ development, for naval pur- ♦
♦ poses, of the great coal fields ♦
♦ of Alaska," is an official state- ♦
♦ ment of Secretary of the Navy ♦
♦ Josephus Daniels, recently ♦
♦ made to the New York Times ♦
♦ for publication. ♦
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Since America went to war three
great supordreadnaughts, the largest
afloat, have been added to the navy;
more than one hundred modern de
stroyers have been added or soon will
be added; two superdreadnaughts,
which are the pioneers of the class to
he armed with 16-inch guns, will be
ready for service within the year; con
tracts have been let for five giant bat
tle cruisers, and an unsurpassed fleet
of fast scout cruisers is authorized,
while scores of submarines have been
completed or are on the ways.
At a glance thi3 pictures the Ameri
can navy in 1919, a navy which within
a few weeks is to be expanded into
two mighty fleets, one in the Atlantic
and the other in the Pacific. At the
beginning each fleet will include two
piiuniilnnnniniiiii
divisions of dreadnaughts, with two
divisions of predreadnaughts held in
reserve in each ocean. The destroyer
strength will be about 100 vessels in
each, and of them 125 are destroyers
which have been added to tho navy
since this country entered the war.
All these new vessels either are in
commission or soon will be.
With the approval of Secretary of
the Navy Josephus Daniels, the New
York Times is permitted to print the
main details of the great navy now on
the waters, with the principal facts
regarding the dreadnaughts, battle
cruisers, scout cruisers and torpedo
craft now under construction or au
thorized.
The units of the new torpedo fleet,
which is now treble the offensive
strength of the flotillas in commis
sion before the war, are now published
for the first time, a3 well as the facts
regarding the construction of the new
superdreadnaughts, which in power,
offensive as well as defensive, are
to be the greatest the world has ever
seon.
As Secretary Daniels pointed out a
few days ago, the two fleets are to
be as near as may be fleets of equal
strength. The two are to be brought
together once each year for joint bat
tie exercises under a single command.
The officer to command the first Joint
exercises probably will be Admiral
William S. Benson, the present chief
of operations, who is now in Paris.
"After the war in which the United
States has engaged," Secretary Dan
iels said, "the navy has gone back
ward. When the civil war ended the
American navy was one of the strong
est and most efficient afloat, yet
yet within a few years it retrograded
and continued to do so until along in
the ’80s it was one of the weakest on
the seas. It had taken on new life
some time before the Spanish war
broke out, but after that war it be
gan to decline.
“When the United States entered
the European war, in April, 1917, the
navy was at a high state of efficiency,
the highest in the history of the coun
try. Now the European war is ended,
and we do not wish to see the retro
gression which followed the Civil war
repeated. This is one of the minor
reasons for the organization of two
great American fleets.
"The organization of these fleets
will create a healthy rivalry in the
service. It will provide a method of
competition within the service which
is bound, in our opinion, to act as
tonic for both officers and men, and
will give to America a personnel with
out a peer for efficiency in the world.
Instead of retrogression we will have
progression based on the lessons we
have learned in this present war.
"Before this war I made a study of
the best disposition of the navy in
time of peace, and I reached the con
clusion that instead of one great fleet
in the Atlantic we should have one
great fleet in the Atlantic and an
other in the Pacific, and that these
two fleets should be created Just'as
soon as sufficient units had been built
to justify the division. Now we have
those units, and we expect to have
the fleets in being within the next few
months.
ror a time mere was some opposi
tion to the two-fleet proposition, and
so I took up the matter with our most
experienced officers, Admiral Ben3on,
Admiral Badger, Admiral Mayo and
others of long experience and unques
tioned ability. These officers hailed
the plan with enthusiasm.
“I wish to make It clear that while
we will have two fleets, they will
nevertheless in the larger and national
sense remain a single interchangeable
fleet. The Panama canal makes pos
sible the holding of joint maneuvers
whenever they are necessary^
“The organization of the two fleets
will begin as soon as Admiral Benson,
chief of operations, returns to this
country from Europe, lx
within the next few weeks. THe prob
able that a first the oil-burning dread
naughts will be ordered tpthe Pacific
and the coal burners kept in these
waters.. The reason for this Is, of
course, due to the fact that oil is
plentiful on the Pacific side and coal
on this side. Eventually we will be
in a position to ignore this fact, for
we hope soon to begin the develop
ment, for naval purposes, of the great
coal fields of Alaska.’’
It is probable that the Pennsyl
vania, which Is now the flagship of
the Atlantic fleet, will be the flagship
of the new Pacific fleet, and that the
New York, which was the American
flagship In the grand fleet under Sir
David Beatty, will fly the pennant of
the commander-in-chief of the new At
lantic fleet.
The placing of the oil-burning
dreadnoughts in the Pacific will mean
that at first this fleet will offensively
be somewhat superior to the Atlantic
fleet, as all of the oil-burning dread
noughts mount 14-inch guns, while
about half of the coal burners are
armed with 12-inch weapons. The new
ships which are now under construc
tion are all of the oil-burning type,
and when they are commissioned they
will be equally divided between the
oceans. Three of these new ships, all
of them larger than any dreadnaught
in any foreign navy, will be completed
this year. They are the Idaho, which
will be commissioned this month, and
the California and Tennessee, which
are due to enter the service about the ^
end of the year. The first of the iron
clads which will mount the new 16
inch guns will be completed in 1920.
1 a
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Firemen’s Ball 1
1 The Annual Masquerade
■ Ball of the Cordova Fire 1
Department, which was I
ears Eve on account of jj
the flu, will be] held at |
I EAGLES’ HALL _ |
1 Washington’s J |
j§j .* *. p
Saturday, Feb. 22, 1918
■ i 9
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M SB
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-L '"hi
Mr. Business
Man
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i
Cordova Daily
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■ , a
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