Defenseless America . s a very large per-centage of the population who believe that weought not to have any at all. But there is oneground, I think, for common agreement: AdmiralAustin M. Knight, President of the Naval WarCollege, one of the best-informed and ablest of-ficers in the Navy, as well as one of the mostscholarly men in the country, says: If we are to have a navy it should he as effi-cient as it can possibly be made. And everybodywho Icnoivs anything about the Navy knows thatthis is not its present condition. I shall quote further from a recent speech ofAdmiral Knight: There is much
Defenseless America . s a very large per-centage of the population who believe that weought not to have any at all. But there is oneground, I think, for common agreement: AdmiralAustin M. Knight, President of the Naval WarCollege, one of the best-informed and ablest of-ficers in the Navy, as well as one of the mostscholarly men in the country, says: If we are to have a navy it should he as effi-cient as it can possibly be made. And everybodywho Icnoivs anything about the Navy knows thatthis is not its present condition. I shall quote further from a recent speech ofAdmiral Knight: There is much about the Navy ivhich is splen-didly efficient. But as a whole it is far less effi-cient than it can and ought to be. Our ships arefine. Our officers are capable, industrious, andambitious. Our enlisted men are the equals ofthose in other 7iavies. But efficient ships and of-ficers and men do not alone make an efficientnavy. They must be welded into an efficient wholeby a unity of organization and administration [150]. Photo by Ernst ^^U^Pt/.J^^ TEE NEEDS OF OUR NAVY and purpose which coordinates their capabilitiesand directs their efforts towards a common end,wisely selected and very clearly seen. Here isthe first point at which we are lacJcing. We arelacking also in that harmonious composition ofthe fleet which is needed to give to every elementof it the support that it needs from other ele-ments, to make up a symmetrical and well-bal-anced whole. And we are lacking to a markeddegree in absolutely essential facilities for thecare and preservation of our ships, especially inthe matter of dry-docks. Finally, we are lacking in efficient organiza-tion of the personnel. Here, so far as officers areconcerned, the conditions are altogether deplora-ble. In a service like the Navy, where spirit iseverything, where enthusiasm must be the driv-ing power back of every activity, I ask you to pic-ture the effect of a condition where a young of-ficer, graduating from the Naval Academy full
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