The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-03-03

battleship feet should be secured, and
these would show the water line of all
the ships
That's for us to get, not for you to
state" said Chairman Hale.
Senator Tillman then came to the res
cue of the witness-the first friendly
word he had received. "All the COM
nander is trying to say" interjected
Mr.. Tfllman, lis that the log books Will
bear out his statements"
Commander Sims said that the French
allow for extra and anticipated weights
and that the Germans in designing
ships figure on a normal line with
full bunhers. He said that when the
American fleet arrived at Rio de Jan
GIRO the water lines of the Connecti-
cut class were fully foot and a half
below normal
cross-Exsmined by Caps.
At the conclusion of the criticisms
of the water lines. which were made
in the most general terms, Admiral
Caps was given permission to cross
examine the witness. The admiral did
this chiefly by raising direct issue
with the witness. He denied that the
German constructors figure on full
bunkers in locating the water line; that
the logs of a ship are accurate evil
dence, and defied the witness to show
that vessels We're overdraft a foot and
half upon arrival at Rio. Admiral
Caps asked the witness if he knew
whether the double bottoms of the
ships were full of water when they
arrived at Rio. Commander Sims had
no data in this regard, so Admiral
Capps declined to continue. He COM
tod na-lZ-
witness had no data on which to base
his criticisms.
Il should like to have the commit
tee call Rear Admiral Goodrich and
officers of this type to bear me out"
said Commander Sims.
'Ill make specific allusion to that
officer in a few moments" said Ad-
miral Capps. His tone indicated that
the Specific allusiOn" would not be
complimentary, and Chairman Hale
FASTENED to say that it would not be
necessary for either officer to express
his own opinion.
Faulty Turret Construction.
The question of turret construction
and the relative value of the direct
and uninterrupted ammunition hoists
were taken up then. The commander
gave q graphic description of the open
turret with the direct hoists, which
depicted danger in such manner that
caused Mr. Hale to remark, THE Won
der to me is that any man came out
of there alive"
Commander Sims declared that the
shutters in the direct hoists do not
work properly and that when sacks of
powder burst, the grains of powder
frequently get down TO the handling
room in the hold of the ship He re-
ferred to the explosion on the Georgia
and said that twenty odd burning
grains Of powder had found their way
down to the handling room.
Chairman Hale said he thought it
mad been established that only the in
terrupted or two-stage hoist would be
used in ships built hereafter. The wit
ness look issue with the statements
made by other officers, such as Admir-
ais Caps and Converse that the
change to the two-stase hoists is be-
ing made in the interest of speed and
not FOR safety. He expressed the be-
lief that the direct hoist can be made
safe. He thought also that there is no
broken hoist that would permit of such
rapid firing as is averaged by the
American ships with the direct hoist
but that the danger now is great.
Accusations and DeniaIs.
The CrOss-examinati ton by Admiral
Capps resulted in more direct accusa-
tons, and positive denials without
bringing out anything of Importance.
Gun1ery was referred to incidentally
by Senator Perkins and Senator Till
man spoke of the record made at San
tiago as modern glory" Commander
Sims characterized the shooting by the
American squadron as the most dis
graceful exhibition of sunnery that
ever took place on the face of the
globe He said that only l II per
cent of hits were averaged and 4 per
cent was the best made by any OF
the big guns. Our gunners could not
shoot at all he said. THE Spaniards
were in wocful conGition," said the
witness, ''or they could have escaped
easily"
Commander Sims concluded his state
ment At u o'clock at the suggestion
OF the committee. He remarked that
he had said hardly anything of what
he wanted TO say
The investigation will he resumed to