The Mena weekly star., 1908-03-05
|NVESIGAI ING TH[ NAVY
Commander Sims Admits His Re. sponsibility for Recent Maga-
 zine Criticisms.
CONTRADICTtD BY A TURRsT EXPERT
Commander Fletcher Said American Device of Ammunition Hoist Is simi lar to Five-Sixths of All Hoists in Use and Are Not Senseless Experi. ments as Charged


 Washington, Mar. 4.-Commandei William H. Sims, naval aide to Presi- dent Roosevelt, by his own statement is responsible for the TOW" over cri- ticism of battleship construction. At the outset of his testimony before the senate committee on naval affairs Mon day he gave the committee to under stand 1t could expect some sensations This was done in preliminary state ment outlining what he had to do with naval criticisms, which he said, began back of 1895 and was confined to Of has dealt with these criticisms" he said. and continued: T began when was 36 years old and now am near ly fifty. put this in because l am consistently called a young man. am older than Admiral Capps, who has referred to me as young man"
 The armor belt on all our battle ships Is too low" Commander Sims stated broadly. He charged that the statements made by Rear Admirals Converse and Capps were misleading. "If an admiral go out of port without full bunkers-say on a cruise to the Pacific-and should meet an enemy say in the West Indies-he would be court martialed," said the commander. There might be a heavy sea running and the fleet not be able to use their guns for a week Then the ships would need fuel bunkers" He said that the logs of the ships of the battleship fleet show the water line of all the ships.
 That's for us to get not for you to state,' said Chairman Hale.
 Commander E. F. Fletcher, a naval expert on the subject of turret con struction and particularly on the sub peared before the senate committed on naval affairs and contradicted much of the testimony given by Commander Sims Monday
 The American device of straight hoist" he said. ''is similar to five sixths of all the hoists in use, and therefore. are not the senseless ex periments some critics have charged.
 All that is required to make them safe. he thought is to provide proper screens between the guns and the handling rooms. Under the present system, he asserted. there Is no danger whatever to the powder magazines He told of the Missouri accident where 70s pounds of powder burned in the handling room and large quantity in the open door of the magazine without any damage or much danger to the air-tight powder tanks.
 ."Of course that is somewhat more of chance than we like to take, how. ever,' he commented. He said that there had been 40 or 50 accidents in the French and other foreign navies wherx powder had burned in the handlins rooms of ships without causing ex plosions He agreed with Admirals Converse, capps and Mason that the turretts can be made safe, in accord ance with late designs at compara lively small cost.
 Senator Perkins questioned Com mander Fletcher about the statement of Commander Sims that the Ameri can navy at Santiago gave poor ex hibition of craftsmanship. The wit ness said that from all records he had ever seen or heard Of, no navy could have done better shooting at thai