The sun., 1908-04-22
sENAroR RaLE rAKEN To TAsK
Mr.. Reuterdahl Charges Misuse Of the Goa.
EresalonaI Record

1 NF, NoutttuAAi NuAFboa NAAAu3p " NHu NVhs
ErcsSlOnal Record"
To The Enron or THE suN-si: some
weeks ago, before the Senate Naval Commit
tees alleged investigation Of the defects IA
the ships Of the navy, a Senator presented
and had printed In the Congressional Record
an article from the Soi6Htifo American MAX.
ing the usual bureaucratic statement thai
| ship for ship and gun for gun our navy Il
the beat In the world" &c. This paper was
doubtless presented In good faith, a. the
evidence OF those oficers who support the
criticisms had not then been given.
On April Q Senator Hale, chairman OF the
committee, presented TO the Senate and had
printed Ia the Record tsee page i72i and asa
document a paper. being hearings on the
alleged structursl defects In the United States
battlsshipA' This paper waa not. as stated
by Mr.. Hale. hearing on the alleged de-
fects, but was simply an editorial from the
Scientific American OF April 4, 1905.
Had Mr. Hale been actuated by the ele-
mentary principles Of fair dealing be would
have stated not only the source Of the articl.
but the name OF the person who inspired it
a. well a. the name Of the person who advised
him 10 insert n In the Record Mr, Hale''
offence Ia aggravated by the fact that tn,
1 Scientific AmsricaN article In question re-
produces most Of the misleading and erro-
| neous statements contained In the Converse
| and Capps report, as well as q number OF
others that are highly original perversionS
Of the truth The following may be cited
"A examples:
| The article states that our armor belts
ARE In the same position with regard to the
water line" a. those Of British ships thus
| ignoring the fact that not since about fifteen
years go has any British battleship been built
with a thick lower and thin upper belt. a.
In the case OF all Of our vessels, The British
ships have uniform high armor belts eT-
| tending from fiye to seven feet below the
water to from seven 10 ten feet above, 40
that they are equally well protected at light
drauRht and at heavy draught. and there Il no
academic question az to whether this wide
belt should be raised or lowered
The article referred TO- which Ia now an
! oflcial paper. also conceals the important
| fact that even before the adoption Of the
| DreadnouRht type Great Britain definitely
abandoned all low gun positions In both
| battleshlps and cruisers, Transforming some
vessels TO accomplish this end. while we ara
still commissioning both battleships and
cruisers With long rows Of low guns which,
| a. Admiral Evans says In his recent report,
cannot be used, even In moderate trade
wind weather Our guns are about twelve
! feet above the water when the ships are IN
battle trim. while those Of the British ships
| in question are about twice as high In
other words. We perpetuate our mistakes
while foreign navles correct theirs. glance
al any book Of reference will show the great
superiority Of British battleshlps Of the Lord
! Nelson class and cruisers OF the Warrior.
Minotaur, &c, classes over all Of our recent
| k.t hnH fnnludinO Nbana
being put In commission!
In order to show the alleged disadvantage
Of high Run positions the article also states
/ that with one exception the French type
Of Russian bauleships which fought in the
battle Of the Sea Of Japan proved their top
heaviness by turning turtle and going to the
bottom" This statement ia completely dis
| proved bv Captain de Balincourt's book on
| the subject. De shows that the ships were
sunk by gun fire. but that, except possibly In
! the case Of the Alexander III. none capslzed.
But perhaps the most deliberately mislead-
| ing statement in the paper Ia that "the one
French type ship, the Orel which was cap
tured by the japanese. was changed by them
| to the American type by cutting down her
decks aud lowering her gun positions, This
ia complete inversion Of the truth. The
Orel originally had four 70 inch and twelve
| q inch guns, With the recent advent Of sue
| cessful long range shooting the inch guns
are now recognized as Iheless in battle. so
the Japanese have simply taken advantage Of
the rebuilding Of this ship to remove these
guns and have replaced them by lesser
| number Of inch guns on the upper deck At
the same height as the after turret They
have also done what Admiral Evans recon-
mends In his report for our battleshIps. that
il, removed all useless weights. such a. flying
bridges. &c., 80 as 10 decrease the draught and
thus raise the armor belt and increase the
height OF the gun positions, though the OTels
gun positions were already higher than those
Of our navy, especially the forward turret
guns. which are on a raised forecastle,
Finally, as an example OF a direct and in
excusable msstatement OF fact, there is the
astonishing assertion that the open ammuni-
ton hoist 10 the turrets Is not peculiar TO our
! own navy, but Il found In several Of the crack
battleships and cruisers OF other navies
There Is not now and never has been an open
ammunition hoist In any foreign turret. All
foreign hoists Of whatever type are 30 devised
as to separate the turret completely from tn"
magazines.
Mr.. Hale ia well acquainted with all of
| the above details and he is therefore Der.
fectly aware that the editorial from tha
| Scientific American which he has inserted
| in the Record as a hearing" Is emiuenlir
| qualified 10 mislead public opinion. How.
| ever, the public Is now so well informe
A. TO the real object Of the Senate COM
mittee investigation" that Mr. Hale's latest
aud clumsiest attempt to support the bureau
system will doubtless deceive no one who
has given the subject serious attention, 10
quote the Washington Harold in regard 10
the worthy Senator's general behavior "Mr.
Hale has certainly not helped his own cause
! by the course so far pursued
When II becomes necessary Ia consider
| the findings Of the Senate committee it will
! not be difficult to trace the connection be-
tween the Scientific American and the bureau
Of construction, For many years that period
ical has enjoyed the unusual privilege OF
publishing before any other newspaper the
| ofncial plans Of our ships These plans came
from the bureau Of construction. II IL only
natural that the Scientific ImtriedR should
speak we'll OF those who have been fTiendlv
and helpful 10 It,
During the regime OF Chief Constructor
Hichborn photographs Of the new ship plans
with accompanying text were furnished in
discriminatory TO the entire press, and the
information supplied was eagerly printed.
X RBUTLHDkHL
CLIFTON PARK. y. j.. April 10.