CAB38-17 — Page 70

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Taking the case of the Executive Officers, and assuming that the requisite number of Australian Naval Cadets are entered in the course of the next few years to maintain the number of officers needed for one Unit, the following periods approximately would elapse before the total number of officers of the requisite seniority could be obtained from this source :—

4-6 years, Midshipmen.

Sub-Lieutenants.

7-9 10-17 18-24

"

Lieutenants.

""

Commanders.

99

24-30 Captains.

"

It is obvious, therefore, that for the periods noted the Commonwealth must be dependent upon the Admiralty for the supply, in gradually falling numbers, of its Executive Officers. Generally speaking, the same will hold good for officers of the various other ranks. At the end of these periods it may be assumed that there will be a sufficiency of thoroughly-trained officers, entered in Australia, to supply the needs of their Unit.

Presumably, it will be desired to relieve officers in their appointments at the end of a commission of three years at the longest; there will also be casual vacancies to be filled arising through officers leaving (a) on promotion, (b) to qualify in the Home Gunnery and Torpedo Schools, &c.

So long as these demands are supplied from the Royal Navy (and it may be assumed that the existing popularity of service in the Australian Squadron will be maintained and will induce à sufficient number of officers to volunteer), a steady flow of fresh blood, which is so necessary to prevent dulness and consequent slackness, will be provided. Doubtless, officers of Australian birth or origin would be ready to serve more than one commission continuously in Commonwealth ships; but until the Australian Navy has grown very considerably, it would not provide that variety of experience which would give to its officers the chance of reaching and maintaining the same degree of all-round efficiency which is attained by officers of the Royal Navy. Continuous service in a comparatively small naval force is therefore to be deprecated.

To meet this disability, the Commonwealth Naval Defence Act of 1910 has provided for the transfer of Australian officers for such periods us the Governor-General may think desirable to the Royal Navy or to the Naval Forces of any part of the King's Dominions, and vice versa.

Should this prove to be a workable scheme leading to the free interchange of officers, it would give to the Commonwealth officer that extended experience which he would need.

Promotion.

There would still remain the serious question of his promotion, which ought not to be less assured to him, or longer deferred, than it is in the Royal Navy.

How to provide a steady flow of promotion for executive officers has been one of the most difficult problems which the Admiralty has been called upon to solve. The subject has been laboriously inquired into and reported on from time to time by committees of experts, both naval, official, and actuarial.

The difficulty is largely due to the fact that a much greater number of Lieutenants are required for a navy than can ever rise to higher ranks. In the Royal Navy at present there are about 1,900 Lieutenants and 700 officers of higher rank. Experience has shown that less than half of the Lieutenants reach the rank of Commander. The average age of Lieutenants is about 27.

The system of promotion in force is based on actuarial calculations, and may be described as selection tempered by seniority. It provides a sufficiently young body of officers for each rank, and those who cannot obtain promotion are carried off by the retirement scheme.

The duty of selecting for promotion from a body of officers, the great majority of whom have served well and are deserving of advancement, invidious and difficult as it is in a large force, would be far more so in the Naval Forces of the Dominions. The unpleasant necessity of leaving officers at the top of the list until they reach the age of compulsory retirement would assume a more personal aspect, and the difficulty of securing a young, contented and zealous body of officers would be greatly increased.

It may be said that this is looking a long way ahead, that the Australian Midshipman will not be eligible for promotion to the rank of Communder for eighteen

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