Naval Inquiry

There are two distinct schools of belief in regard to U. S. naval strength. One holds that the Navy is practically adequate--needs a bit of repairing and some incidental building, but should be viewed with no alarm because of weakness. The other holds that our Navy is outranged, outweighed, outsailed by the British and, in no small measure, by the Japanese. The holders of the first opinion include the Administration. The holders of the second are more scattered. They have been represented in particular by William B. Shearer, onetime U. S. naval expert (TIME, May 12, 19, Nov. 24).

In the course of a number of speeches and statements designed to show the inadequacy of our Navy, Mr. Shearer has quoted letters alleged to have been written by naval officers who gave secret data* from the files of the Naval War College.

Last week, Secretary of the Navy Wilbur appointed a Board of Inquiry to investigate how this secret information escaped into the press. If the Board so recommends, court martial proceedings will be instituted.

Proposals to hold an investigation of the strength of the Navy by committees of the House and Senate, although pressed by a few members, appeared to have been sidetracked by wish of the Administration.

*This data was not particularly startling. One letter given out told that an enlisted man of the U. S. Navy had been aboard a British ship during practice two years ago and had seen the British ships firing at ranges of 30,000 yd. by flooding their blisters. Another told of a war game conducted by the Board of Strategy at. the Naval War College at Newport, R. I., m which, a miniature British fleet sank the entire miniature U. S. fleet.