ry 16, 1914, a real Naval
Militia under Federal control was created, provision being made for its
organization and training in peace, as well as its utilization in war.
As with all organized militia, the Naval Militia, even with the law of
1914, could not, under the Constitution, be called into service as such
except for limited duties, such as to repel invasion. It could not be
used outside the territorial limits of the United States. It is evident,
then, that with such restrictions militia could hardly meet the
requirements of the navy in a foreign war, and to overcome this
difficulty the "National Naval Volunteers" were created in August, 1916.

Under this act members of Naval Militia organizations were authorized to
volunteer for "any emergency," of which emergency the President was to
be the judge. Other laws included the same measure, provided for a
reserve force, for the automatic increase of officer personnel in each
corps to correspond with increases in enlisted men, and for the Naval
Flying Corps, special engineering officers, and the Naval Dental and
Dental Reserve Corps. It also provided for taking over the lighthouse
and other departmental divisions by the navy in time of war. Briefly,
then, on July 1, 1917, three months after the declaration of war, the
number of officers had increased to 8,038--4,694 regulars, 3,344
reserves--and the number of enlisted men to 171,133--128,666 regulars,
32,379 reserves, 10,088 National Naval Volunteers. The increase since
that time is as follows:

April 1, 1918 Officers Men

Regular Navy

Permanent 5,441 198,224
Temporary 2,519 .......
Reserves 10,625 85,475
Total 18,585 283,699

November 9, 1918

Permanent 5,656 206,684
Temporary 4,833 .......
Reserves 21,985 290,346
Total 32,474 497,030

THE NAVY THAT FLIES

The expansion of aviation in the navy has been of gratifying proportions
and effectiveness. On July 1, 1917, naval aviation was still in its
infancy. At that time there were only 45 naval aviators. There were
officers of the navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard who had been given
special training in and were attached to aviation. There were
approximately 200 student officers under training, and about 1,250
enlisted men attached to the Aviation Service. These enlisted men were
assigned to the three naval air stations in this country then in
commission.