The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-03-05
NAVY INVESTIGATION MAY MEETS DEATH
ADMrnAL C0wLEs TEsTTFIEs BE-
 FORE SENATE COMMITTEE.
ue Tells fhe Senators that There is Nc enfe Place sn nattfsshfps fn
 Actual Rattle.

washington. March t.--"There Is no nzfe nlace in battle" declared Rear Adrnirni William s. cowles. chief of fha Rureaif of Equipment, testifylns today before the Senate Committee on Naval Affairs n the investiga.ion o1 criticisms of American batfiesnip con sfructiou. A8
 pa was in command of the Missouri af the time of the worst explosion m the history of the navy. After recount ing graphically the story of that acci- dent, the Admiral was questioned as to the causes, the lessons learned from the accident and the precautions taken i to prevent such occurrences m me future.
 you can't handle powder and handle 1t fast without having accidents. he said "You have got to handle 1t fast because you much reach your sun first."
 ~on the principle that a man must get his hand to his pistol pocket be- fore the other fellow" suggested sena- tor Tiilman.
 .sYou have got to hit the other fellow quick and as many times as you can before he gets at you." said the Ad- mira1.
 As an advocate of the open-turret and the direct hoist, Admiral Cowies was enthusiastic. He asserted mat QCCTGAoNQ rounds of ire from 300 seconds to forty seconds.
 Describing the Missouri accident, Mir. Cowies said that if the flaps on the doors of the powder magazines had been 7 closed the ship would have been in no danger whatever. The present designs. he said, make it impossible for fire to get Into the magazines under any cir- culnstances.
 The witness sad that shipmates of the men killed oh the Missouri had no hesifancy in going into the ill-fated turret and continuing the target prac- fice
 Chairman Hale referred to what he called the mania for rapid firing, which has developed in the SAmertcan navy and Admiral Cowles gave the committee to understand that he ap- proved that mania" in some degree. He tli ought however, that with the shutters in the ammunition hoist, the men still could fire fast enough and the Navy Department was right In de- clining to permit the officers to have them fastened back.
 During battle, the guns w.ll not be fired as rapidly as In target practice" said the Admiral but we want to be ready"
 He said the open hoist was less dam gerous to the ship than the two stage hoist. though it was some times bad on the men.
 Taking up the question of whether naval officers have been discouraged from submitting suggestions to the Board of Construction. of which he is a member the Admiral denied the charge emphatically He said that criticisms were frequently investigated without considering the officers making them, and that experiments were al- ways going on in tech nical parts with which fault was found. Nothing ever comes from naval officers without the Board treating 1t with the utmost con- sfderation," he declared.
 AS regards the charge that the armor belt on the battIeshfps was too low, Ad- miral Cowies said that he concurred in the views expressed by Admirals Converse ana Capps. He declared ths he would feel safer in going into bat- tie with only eight inches of armor a. owe the water line than with three feet, for that would mean. an insufi- cisnt amount under water covering the ships vitals.
 sThen you do not think 1t advisable to raise the belt above the water line at the expense of the width of the belt beneath" asked Chairman Hale.
 .sNo. sir: think 1t all right as 1t is." was the reply.
 Lieutenant- Commander Cleland Da- wis, Assistant Chief of the Bureau of Equipment. known as one of the navy's authorities on arInor plate. also ex- pressed the opinion that the army belt on American battleships was properly located and that the open turret and direct ammunition, hoist were of the
 The committee adjourned until to- sFnorrovr.