The secondary naval stations are organized on a smaller scale and have the means of small repairs for torpedo crafts, etc.
The arsenals and their present capacity is as follows: Kure — able to build armored and unarmored ships, engines and guns of any size; to furnish armor plates, torpedoes and ammu nition. Yokosuka — able to build armored and unarmored ships and engines of any size; and make all kinds of repairs to ships and arma ments. Sasebo and Maizuru —able to build ships of moderate size and make all kinds of repairs to ships and armaments. Tokio— the manufacture of small stores for ordnance and torpedoes, and some special articles. (The arsenal at Tokio does not belong to any naval station).
For the fiscal year ending April 1917 the number of officers and men voted for the Imperial navy was as follows: Officers, 4,773; warrant officers, 1,574; petty officers and men 65,047. Number of officers on the retired list is 1,192; number of petty officers and men in reserve, 26,882; number of naval reserve (men trained in merchant service and passed as midshipmen and petty officers) is 2,426.
The officers of the Imperial navy are divided into two classes, the executive and non-execu tive officers. The executive naval officers are admirals, captains, commanders, lieutenant commanders, lieutenants, sub-lieutenants, mid shipmen, naval cadets, gunners and boatswains. The non-executive naval officers are engineer officers (engineer-admiral, engineer-captain, engineer-commander, etc.) ; medical officers; paymasters • naval constructors; ordnance engi neers; hydrographical engineers; carpenters; bandmasters and warranted writers.
Executive In the Imperial Jap anese navy the naval cadets are appointed by competitive examination, which is open to the sons of all Japanese subjects. The entrance ex amination is held, at present, in 13 of the prin cipal towns of the country, under the super vision of the superintendent of the Naval Col lege. The number of cadetships available for the year having been previously gazetted by the Minister of Marine, applications are made to the superintendent of the Naval College through the local authorities within the specified limit of time. A candidate must not be under 16 or
over 20 years of age. A candidate is examined in the following subjects: Japanese composi tion, mathematics,. English, Chinese, geogra phy, history, physics, chemistry and drawing; also, if the candidate desires, in French, German R or ussian. Successful candidates become naval cadets and join the Naval College at Yetajima, on the Inland Sea near the Kure naval station. The traveling money to the college is paid, and at the college everything is provided by the government.
The cadets remain in the Naval College three years, and are instructed in seamanship, navigation, higher mathematics, English, phy sics, chemistry, gunnery and torpedoes, steam engineering, etc.
After having passed the final examination successfully they are appointed to the sea-going training-ships as midshipmen. At the end of eight months' cruising the midshipmen are ex amined in what they have learned on board, and then transferred to different ships in com mission and after four months' practical service, if favorably reported by the captain of each ship, will be commissioned as sub-lieutenant.
Promotion of naval officers is entirely by selection, and the list of candidates deserving that honor is decided upon by the board of ad mirals, which meets once a year. This board is composed of eight or nine members, but when sitting to decide the list of promotions, all the commanders-in-chief of naval stations and the squadrons, with the senior officers of the different branches, such as engineers and medi cal corps, etc., are summoned, and the Minister of Marine takes the chair. Officers of the fol lowing rank who have been on duty for the specified number of years are eligible for nom ination: Sub-lieutenants, one year; lieutenants, junior grade, two years; lieutenants, five years; lieutenant-commanders, two years ; commanders, two years ; captains, two years; rear-admirals, three years.