The first of a series of articles in the Morning
Post on the manning of the Navy drew attention on Monday to the shortage of men.
" A careful calculation shows that, if the existing Fleet were to be fully manned, approximately 149,000 men would be required. Tho difference between the number of men in the Fleet and the number required to furnish full crews to all ships is thus about 16,000. This calculation omits altogether 78 old destroyers and 50 old torpedo-boats figuring in the official lists. It also omits all new vessels now under course of construction which will be ready for commissioning within the next two years. To furnish crews for theso, 15,000 additional men will be required, making a total of 164,000. These figures are sufficiently startling. The deficiency is so serious that it is only reasonable to suppose that the Admiralty have no intention of manning the Fleet with active service ratings, and that they propose permanently to lay up and eventually to sell whole squadrons of vessels as the new ships are completed."
If the figures are right, the writer's conclusion seems irre- sistible. The new ships must be manned by crews taken from the older ships. It is impossible that all the serviceable ships should be manned in the immediate future. It takes six years to make a seaman.
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