tion arises because of subparagraph 4250.8 of the Joint Travel Regulations which prohibits payment of per diem for any period of temporary duty aboard a government vessel because subsistence facilities are available and no above-normal subsistence expenses are incurred. This unusual type of duty does come within this subparagraph and per diem is therfore prohibited.

Navy enlisted personnel who are assigned to temporary duty aboard a government vessel incident to its transfer to a foreign government, and who are charged for subsistence by the foreign government without receipts of basic allowance for subsistence because of erroneous receipt of per diem, are entitled to be credited basic allowance for subsistence for such temporary duty. CompGen Decision B-138332, March 25, 1959. MILITARY PERSONNEL-Station allowances-Overseas-Diversion of member from station.

● A naval officer en route to a permanent overseas station with his dependents, who is diverted or delayed at another overseas station for temporary duty while awaiting further orders because of unrest in the country in which the permanent duty station is located, may not be regarded as coming within the exception in paragraphs 4305 and 4306 of the Joint Travel Regulations. This exception permits continuation of the cost of living allowance payments to members who, after arrival at another overseas area, are ordered to a restricted area or evacuated to another overseas area, when the member has not yet reported for duty at the original permanent station and at which the member may not, in the event of further orders, subsequently report. CompGen Decision B-138087, March 3, 1959.

MILITARY PERSONNEL-Pay-Retired-Disability-Computation-Most Favorable Formula

The term "person" in 10 USC 1401, which permits payment of military retired pay on the basis of the most favorable formula, applies to all members whether enlisted or commissioned officers or warrant officers whose retired pay is for computation under 10 USC 1401 or any other provision of law. The fact that an officer was serving on active duty in an enlisted status rather than under his indefinite appointment as lieutenant colonel in the Air Force Reserve on the date of disability retirement does not affect his right to have retired pay computed under the formula most favorable to him. Comp. Gen. decision B-138719 of 23 April 1959. MILITARY PERSONNEL-Temporary Overseas Duty Station Changed to Permanent Station-Temporary Duty Per Diem Station Per Diem

Certain members of a naval air squadron were issued orders in April of 1958 to proceed to an overseas station on or about 1 May 1958 for temporary additional duty for 3 months with return to the United States. However, on April 29, 1958, they received orders changing their permanent duty station in the United States effective 1 August 1958, to the overseas duty station. The Comptroller General held that these members are precluded by the restriction against payment of per diem after the date of orders which change a temporary duty station to a permanent duty station from receiving per

diem for temporary duty after 30 April 1958. Comp. Gen. decision B-138885 of 15 April 1959.

MILITARY PERSONNEL-Retired Pay-Retention in the Service After Qualification for Retired Pay Under Title III of the Army and Air Force Vitalization and Retirement Equalization Act of 1948

A member of the uniformed services who was retired following a period of retention in an active duty status under 10 USC 676 after qualifying for retirement under Title III of the Vitalization and Retirement Equalization Act of 1948 (10 USC 1331) is entitled to credit in the computation of Title III retired pay for all service and promotions, regardless of whether the service was performed before or after the date elected as the effective date of retirement. However, the member is not entitled to credit for service after qualification if he was not validly retained in active duty under 10 USC 676. Nevertheless, irrespective of the valid retention, the member may keep the pay and allowances accrued during the active duty but may not receive retired pay for the same period. Comp. Gen. decision B-138452 of 1 April 1959.

MILITARY PERSONNEL-Subsistence-Per Diem-Duty Over a Large Area-Designated Post of Duty

• For entitlement to travel allowances under section 303 (a) of the Career Compensation Act of 1949 (37 USC 253a), members of the uniformed services are required to travel and to perform temporary duty at a place away from their designated post of duty. What constitutes such designated post of duty is determined on the basis of available evidence at the time the orders are issued which establish the place within which the member performs the basic duty assignment. Although length of time at a particular location and administrative evaluation of the assignment are of value to the extent of establishing the basic duty assignment, they do not alone establish a travel status in the absence of an assignment to a designated post of duty. Comp. Gen. decision B-138219 of 2 April 1959.

JAG BULLETIN BOARD

MILITARY PERSONNEL DIVISION

The following is a list of change of duty or station orders issued to all officers transferred to or from the Office of the Judge Advocate General and to all Navy law specialists regardless of assignment. The list includes orders issued before 15 January 1960. LTJG Richard H. Buenneke, USNR, from SNJ (Under Inst.) to COMNAVFORMARIANAS.

LT Frederick A. Cone, USNR, from JAGO to JAGO, West Coast.

LTJG Eugene D. Granof, USNR, from SNJ (Under Inst.) to NAS, Patuxent River, Md.

CAPT Charles Hunsicker, Jr., USN, from JAGO, West Coast to CO TUSLOG Detachment 28, APO 324, N.Y. LT Richard C. King, USNR, from COMNAVFORMARIANAS to ADCOM NTC, Great Lakes.

CAPT John C. Roberts, USN, from JAGO to Naval War College, Newport.

The JAG Journal is published by the Office of the Judge Advocate general of the Navy as an informal forum for legal matters of current interest to the naval service. The objective of the JAG Journal is to acquaint naval personnel with matters related to the law and to bring to notice recent developments in this field.

The JAG Journal publishes material which it considers will assist in achieving this objective, but views expressed in the various articles must be considered as not necessarily bearing the endorsement or approval of the Department of the Navy, or the Judge Advocate General, or any other agency or department of Government.

Invitations to submit articles are extended to all persons, whether lawyers or laymen. Articles submitted should adopt an objective rather than an argumentative approach and should be written in a manner readily understandable by the lay reader. The JOURNAL will return unpublished manuscripts if so requested, but responsibility for safe return cannot be assumed. No compensation can be paid for articles accepted and published.

Use of funds for printing this publication has been approved by the Director of the Bureau of the Budget, 10 September 1957.

REAR ADMIRAL CHESTER WARD, USN Judge Advocate General of the Navy

CAPTAIN WILLIAM C. MOTT, USN Deputy and Assistant

Judge Advocate General of the Navy

LIEUTENANT COMMANDER ANDREW J. VALENTINE, USN Editor

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington 25, D.C. (Monthly). Price 15 cents (single copy). Subscription price $1.25 per year; 50 cents additional for foreign mailing.

SOLDIERS' AND SAILORS' CIVIL RELIEF ACT GETS NEW TEST

Not since 1952 (Woodroffe v. Village of Park Forest, 107 F. Supp. 906) has the Soldiers' and Sailors' Civil Relief Act come under court test regarding automobile license plates. Late in 1959, however, a case was begun in Norfolk.

A Navy Chief Radioman claimed to be a legal resident of North Carolina. He was born in North Carolina; enlisted from there; voted in the last general election; paid taxes there; and had never operated a motor vehicle with other than North Carolina license plates purchased in the county of his residence. He testified he intended to return to North Carolina upon completion of his military service. Recently, he was assigned military duty in Norfolk, Virginia, purchased a home, and entered a child in school.

On these facts, a Virginia State Inspector of Motor Vehicles asked him why he failed to purchase Virginia license plates. The Chief Petty Officer explained that he was exempt under the Soldiers' and Sailors' Civil Relief Act (50 USC App. 574). The service man then wrote to the Attorney General for an opinion as to his liability for Virginia plates. The Attorney General supplied him a copy of Attorney General Almond's opinion of 29 July 1948 and stated that in accordance with that opinion, if he were a North Carolina resident, residing in Virginia solely by virtue of military orders, he was not obliged to purchase Virginia tags. matter rested until 19 October 1959 when the Navy man was served with a summons alleging a violation of the Code of Virginia, Section 46.1.41 [failure to obtain (Virginia) state registration and certificate of title.] The United States Attorney in Norfolk was requested

The

to appear on behalf of the serviceman since the matter involved a substantial Federal interest. In essence, this case was of great concern to all military personnel on duty in Virginia but claiming domicile in another state.

The request for assistance was granted by the Department of Justice, and the United States Attorney, Norfolk, prepared the case which was tried in the Municipal Court. The Court found that since the Chief Petty Officer had purchased a home in Norfolk and had a child attending public schools in Virginia, he was liable for Virginia license plates. Upon appeal, however, the Norfolk County Circuit Court on 29 January 1960 reversed this finding and acquitted the defendant of the charge.

MILITARY PERSONNEL DIVISION

The following is a list of change of duty or station orders issued to all officers transferred to or from the Office of the Judge Advocate General and to all Navy law specialists regardless of assignment. The list includes orders issued before 15 March 1960. LCDR Walter G. Andry, USN, from COMNAVPHIL to COMSIX.

LTJG Eugene P. Chell, USNR, from NavSta, Wash., D.C., to NAS, Cecil Field, Fla.

LT Carlton G. Conkey, USN, from NAS, Cecil Field, Fla., to OLA, Wash., D.C.

LT Charles D. Conway, USNR, from NATTC, Jacksonville, Fla., to NavSta, New Orleans.

LCDR Oliver E. Davis, Jr., USNR, from First MAW, AIR FMFPAC to JAGO.

CAPT Anthony J. DeVico, USN, from COMSUBLANT to JAGO.

(Continued on page 17)

IN THE NAVY'S worst peacetime collision, the destroyer-minesweeper USS HOBSON was sunk when she collided with the aircraft carrier USS WASP in night maneuvers in the midAtlantic in May 1952 with a loss of 176 lives. In May 1953 the British ferry DUKE OF YORK collided with the USNS HAITI VICTORY in the North Sea with a loss of 5 lives. In September 1954 the Japanese ferry TOYA MARU capsized in a typhoon in Tsugaru Strait marking Japan's worst ship disaster in history with a loss of some 1,200 lives. In July 1956 the ill-fated SS ANDREA DORIA sank after colliding with the SS STOCKHOLM near Nantucket Island with 51 lives lost. In March 1957 the Navy tanker USNS MISSION SAN FRANCISCO exploded and sank after colliding with the freighter SS ELNA II in the Delaware River with 10 dead. In March 1959 the collision off the New Jersey coast between the American liner SS SANTA ROSA and the American tanker SS VACHEM cost 4 lives. In September 1957 one of the last of the old windjammers, the German barque PAMIR went down in a hurricane near the Azores with 80 missing.

These tragic ship disasters are grim reminders to us that the perils of the sea and the risks of collision respect no national flag, type of

Mr. Charles H. Vaughn, Director of the Admiralty Division, Office of the Judge Advocate General, received his A.B. in 1940 and his LL.B. in 1948 from Boston College. After completing graduate work at Harvard in Admiralty Law in 1948, he entered the private practice of Admiralty law in New York and later in Washington. In 1958 he was named to head the Navy's Admiralty Division in the Office of the Judge Advocate General. In addition to this responsibility, Mr. Vaughn is the Navy's representative to the Intergovernmental Nuclear Liability Committee and is a Navy member of the Intergovernmental Shipping Coordinating Committee. He is a member of the New York and District of Columbia bars and of the Bar of the Supreme Court of the United States and is a member of the American Bar Association, the Federal Bar Association, and the Maritime Law Association.

1. This collision caused such public interest that it became the subject of a book. See Moscow, Collision Course, Putnam & Sons, 1958. See also Congressional Hearings in H.R. 2969, 84th Cong., 2d sess; H.R. 1179, 85th Cong., 1st sess.

vessel or geographical area. The number of ship collisions resulting in major property damage has been estimated to be from three to four per day throughout the world. Onehundred and eighty-six ships of 100 gross tons or over were sunk from all causes in 1956, and 163 were similarly lost in 1957.3

Mindful that such awesome statistics are not an unusual experience for those who know the sea, the mariner is taught from his earliest voyage that "ship safety" must be his continuing and constant concern. Since navigation, firefighting know-how, "weather sense," boat loading and ship abandonment procedures and knowledge of air-sea rescue doctrines are a part of the seaman's professional qualifications, new developments in safety procedures and rules are quick to receive his studied attention. The International Safety of Life at Sea Conference which meets in May of this year can therefore be expected to receive the close study and attention of the professional seaman. From this Conference there will undoubtedly emerge newly defined international standards to assure safety of life at sea. It is a conference in which the Navy as well as the nation's civilian maritime interests will take part-for this is a conference which will affect all of our nation's maritime interests, military and nonmilitary.

The present schedule calls for the convening of that Conference on 17 May 1960 in London, where delegates and advisers from more than 50 nations will assemble for the purpose of reviewing and revising the past Conventions on Safety of Life at Sea. Before discussing the general considerations that are likely to be discussed at the forthcoming Conference, let us

2. See Marine News, May 1957, p. 17, citing Lloyd's Register of Shipping, London; Proceedings of the Merchant Marine Council, Nov. 1959, pp. 224-225; Readers Digest, June 1957, pp. 74-75. 3. N.Y. Times, Aug. 28, 1957, p. 54: 7, Sept 21, p. 79: 1 (citing report of Lloyd's Register of Shipping, London).

4. Dept. of State Bulletin, Mar. 7, 1960, p. 390.