Birmingham state herald., 1896-12-17
A MUCH MOOTED QUESTION Relative to the Naval Cruiser
 Texas Answered
 r BY SECRETARY HERBERT In Every Particular Will She Glass With the
 Finest in the Navy.
INVESTIGATION PROVES THE FACT
Cramp, the Ship Builder, Aids the Score. tary Materially in a Letter, and Gives Timely Advice to Would-Be
 Sensational Newspaper Men.

l Washington, D. C., Dec. 16.-The navy | department issued an official statement 1 today to demonstrate that the battle | ship Texas, instead of being in any de- l gree a failure, ranks with the finest war ships in the world and is not surpassed by l any American naval vessel. The occasion | for this announcement Is Secretary Her. | bert's approval of a court of inquiry | record which found no one responsible | for the unfortunate laundering of the l vessel recently at the New York navy l yard.
 | Secretary Herbert's statement is as fol- | lows: af,,,fe
 l Tn giving out the action of the depart | ment on the findings of the recent court | of inquiry, as to the accident which re- | suited in the sinking of the Texas at the l navy yard, have concluded to depart l from my usual custom, and make a gen. l eral statement bout this ship.
 'Of course the public knows that the | accident about which this court of in- | quiry was held could not have occurred | at sea, that it happened because part | of an injection pipe had been taken out | for repairs, and that the ship was | promptly raised without having suffered l any ma terial damage. r6
 l "So many criticisms of this vessel have | been made that the public or part of it, l | as valueless. -t..ef rtr<t
 | "The Texas was laid down by MT. Whit l ney. A board of eminent naval officers l awarded to prominent English designer,
 MT John, the prize that had been offered l by the department for the best plans of | battleship of given dimensions. At | that time, and for some years afterwards, l the navy department, through the bureau | of construction and repair, and of steam | engineering was expending considerable l money annually in the procurement of | drawings, plans etc., from abroad; we | were availing ourselves of the experience | of foreign nations. s,t sss - l Considerable objection was made by | some of the officers of the department to | the building of ship on the plans of the l Texas, and the question was before more | than one board during the administration | of Secretary Whitney and, afterwards | during the administration of Secretary | Tracey the plans having been again | brought in question, were submitted to | other boards and were again and again | approved, and so the construction of the | ship proceeded at the Norfolk navy yard
 until, during this administration. she was | completed and sent to sea.
 1 There have been several accidents to | the ship since she was commissioned.
 Different parts of her machinery nave | from time to time, developed defects,
 and it at one time became apparent that | her bottom needed stiffening. She was | sent to the navy yard at Norfolk and her | bottom was stiffened and her defects | have it is, believed speaking generally, | all been remedied, except those relating | to her turret and the, system of water l tight compartments, developed by the l recent flooding of the vessel, as shown ] by the finding, of the court of inquiry, | given out herewith.
 l "The department has given orders | that these deficiencies be completely | remedied which can and will be done | in a few weeks. at the New York navy | a,.1 aar, ar,ot fxro1 cr11a | "It would, of course, be very desirable l if all our ships, when first completed, | could be turned over to the government l by contractors and by navy yards in | absolutely perfect condition, but this
 has never yet been done either in our | own or any other navy. l "A modern war vessel Is an aggrega- l tion of complicated machines, and no | expert expects ship to be at It's best l until 1t has been shaken down by a l cruise of months and tried thoroughly | in all it's parts.
 'It is believed that we have made | fewer than any nation, and certainly, | less costly mistakes than most others in | were two of our ships, the Castine and the Machias, that had to be cut In two
 and heightened. There were three oth-
 CTS, the Detroit, the Montgomery and the
 Marblehead, in whcih 1t was found es-
 sential to make far more Fundamental
 changes than have ever been found
 necessary in the Texas, and yet the lat
 ter ship, probably because the question | of her availability as naval war ves-
 sel was mooted in the navy from the
 very inception of the ship, has been sub | ject to an unusual amount of harsh criti-
 cism. -
 Ut Is sometimes stated that there are
 naval officers who are stealthily and sur l reptitiously aiding, through the press,
 to have the public condemn a vessel of
 the United States navy. If this were
 true there would be no condemnation | too strong and no punishment too severe | for such conduct 3I+iIet
 "The Texas has been cruising as part
 of the North Atlantic squadron for the
 past four months, since her bottom was
 stiffened at the Norfolk navy yard.
 Capt. Glass, one of the most efficient and
 reliable officers of the navy, who has
 been in command of her, declares that
 she is the stiffest, most easily managed
 and entirely seaworthy ship in the ser
 vice. Capt Robley D. Evans, commando ing the Indiana, holds the same opinion
 He says that when the fleet, on the 18th
 of October, was on it's way to New York
 in a hurricane, in the worst sea he had
 ever encountered, the Texas showed that
 she was the most seaworthy ship in the
 fleet. The Indiana was just ahead of
 the Texas and just behind the Maine
 which Is the rival ship of the Texas
 she having been built upon the plans of
 the latter, altered in the :. department
 The Texas rolled Aonly 5 degrees, while
 both the Maine and Indiana were rolling
 very much more. Capt. Evans says the | Texas all the time was perfect gun
 platform, and he was in fair position to
 judge of the relative merits of the diff
 ferent ships. In the fleet were at that time the New York, the Indiana, the Co lumbia, the Raleigh, the Texas, the
 Montgomery and the Maine, represent ing all the different classes of ships above sunboats now insthe navy of the United statea and Capt Evans says thai the Texas, in her seaworthy qualities was far superior to them all. Admira | popcr, corr3,hora do thf4sstatement