er.

The fact of a machine being operated by one man does not, however,
prevent the machine from comprising several machines, operated
by several men. A vessel of war, for instance, is operated as a
unit by one man; the words "vessel of war," meaning not only the
inert hull, but all the parts of personnel and material that make a
vessel of war. The captain does not handle each individual machine
or man; but he operates the mechanism and the personnel, by means
of which all the machines and men are made to perform their tasks.

Now the naval machine is composed of many machines, but the machines
that have to be "operated" in war, using the word "operated" in
the usual military sense, are only the active fleet, the bureaus
and offices and the bases; including in the bases any navy-yards
within them. Using the word "operated" still more technically,
the only thing to be operated in war is the fleet: but the head
of the Navy Department must also so direct the logistical efforts
of the bureaus and offices and bases, that the fleet shall be given
the material in fuel, supplies, and ammunition with which to conduct
those operations. Like the chief engineer of a ship, he must both
operate and maintain the machine.

The fleet itself is a complex machine, even in time of peace. In
war time it is more so, for the reason that many additions are
made to the fleet when war breaks out; and these additions, being
largely of craft and men held in reserve, or brought in hurriedly
from civil life, cannot be so efficient or so reliable as are the
parts of the fleet that existed in time of peace.

The active fleet consists of battleships, battle cruisers, cruisers
of various speeds and sizes, destroyers, submarines, and aircraft.
The fleet is under the immediate command of its commander-in-chief,
just as the New York naval station is under the command of its
commandant; but the commander-in-chief of the fleet is just as
strictly under the command of the head of the admiralty or Navy
Department as is the commandant. The commander-in-chief is the
principal part of the naval machine that is operated in war; and
the ultimate success of the naval machine in war depends largely
on the amount and degree of understanding that exists between the
commander-in-chief and the head of the Navy Department. That goodwill
and kindly feeling should exist between them may be assumed, since
both have the same object in view; but that real understanding
s