The Chief of Naval Operations is not the Chief of the General Staff in the sense that such an officer is found in the organization of certain other naval powers, although he performs many of the duties that would ordinarily fall to such an officer. For instance, the Chief of Naval Operations is not superior to the chiefs of bureaux and independent offices of the Navy Department, al though he takes precedence over them by virtue of his rank. He is not, in fact, a link in the chain of command between the Secre tary of the Navy and the chiefs of the various bureaux of the Navy Department who have the right, and freely exercise it, to consult the Secretary directly on matters concerning their bureaux, as well as to receive instructions directly from him.
When trying to compare the office of the Chief of Naval Operations with that of the U.S. War Department General Staff, it is to be remembered that the Chief of Naval Operations actually directs and controls the Navy and the larger part of his duties are administrative whereas the Chief of Staff of the Army acts largely in an advisory capacity.
The General Staff Corps of the Army is a separate and distinct staff organization whose officers are detailed to duty therein for a term of four years. General Staff officers may serve in the War Department General Staff or on the staff of commanders of troops. There is no similar corps in the Navy, the officers on duty in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations and serving on the staffs of flag officers ashore and afloat being detailed to this duty in the same manner as to any other duty.
The differences between the staff organizations of army com manders in the field and of naval commanders afloat are even more marked than in the departmental organizations. Officers of naval staffs are usually selected by the flag officer whom they serve, any officer available and acceptable to the flag officer being eligible for such assignment. The number composing a staff depends primarily on the nature of the command, varying from one or more officers to as many as twenty. Quarters and office- space required for staffs, being additional to that normally required for the ship's complement, are extremely limited. For this reason the size of a staff must be reduced to a minimum and, therefore, the assignment of duties to individual staff officers is governed to a very large degree by the personal qualifications of the various officers of the staff. This assignment of duties tends to obliterate clear-cut lines of demarcation between fixed divisions of staff cognizance and produces overlapping in the duties of indi vidual officers. Close supervision and co-ordination of staff activi ties by the Chief of Staff and whole-hearted co-operation between staff officers is essential to the smooth and efficient performance of the work of a large staff. (C. F. H.)