The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-03-03
SENSATIONS ARE INSPECTED
 z, Conlnlag.,sf Sims Testi- fies ore Committee. |ROc% .HT's NAVAL AIDE Has Tit With Admiral capps and
 Senators. coia,ms.ser Sim. saia He Would Have to Go Into Unpreasant Facts sss
 Make Charges Against
 Naval omcers.

W ~---9~~
 Washington, March 2.--commander Wm. H. Sims. naval aide to President Roosevelt, by his own statement. IS responsible for the "row" under crit icisms of hattieshsp construction. At the outset of his testimony before the senate committees on naval affairs stand it could expect some sensations. This was done in a preliminary state ment outlining what he "had to do with naval criticisms" which he said began back in 1895. and was confined to official channels.
 Much of my service has dealt with these criticisms" he said. and contin- ued:
 T began when I was Ss years old and now I am nearly SO. I put this in because I am persistentiy called a young man. am older than Admiral Capps. who has referred to me as a l 'yodng man"
 Continuing. he said, he would have ! to go into unpleasant facts, such as charging officers or inventors with hay
 ing made misleading statementsH the secretion of official documents and the refusal of superior ofllcers to, accept suggestions of value.
 sims's Plans Upaet. The plan of Commander Sims to give ! In4 G0mIQttLW2 8 H&uEAE4Quf WEE uQHGk | immediately by Senator TiiIman who suggested that the witness be instruct | ed to conHne his testimony to alleged | faulty construction and to say nothing | at this time of criticism made of per- l sonnel, or incomplete organization or other matters which are to be taken | up. later. The Commander asked that 1 he be permitted to continue his state
 ment without interruption and that the Senators not cross-examine him until he. had concluded his statement. His
 request was ignored.
 When confined to criticisms of ccn- | struction, Commander Sims protested
 that the procedure of the committee | "upsetv him You would upset the | fAings gt thlh figlse. eaid Ssnater Till-
 '''ssli Chairman rasie SA sd the witness ulss not to gay anything now about 're- 1 siakanee to criticism by naval ofiIeerg.''
 as that was q nnattersof ethice | s''Don't you care to know if the de- |; partnnent has resisted criticiea7" ask ed tine Commander. Mot from you" was the reply. This incident furnished an. illustra- ton of subsequent proceedinGs during Commander Sims's testimony. He got away from the line of inquiry again and again and members of the commit Cc6 CdlleQ nun DACA SnaTQlya {.
 '"The armor belt on all our battleshtps are too low" Commander Sims stated broadly, in taking up these subjects. He charged that the statements made by Rear -Admirals Converse and Capps were rnisleading
 If an Admiral should go out of port without full bunkers---say on a cruise to the Pacific-and should meet an en- emy-say iu the West Indies--he would be courtmartialed." said the comman- der. ~ rs
 CouIdnis Use Guns. There might be a heavy sea running and the fleet could not 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 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 rescue of the witness--the first friendly word he had received ~All the com mander is trying to say" interjected Mir. Tillmar. Is that the log books will bear out his statements."
 Commander Sims said that the French allow for. extra and unantici-
 patedf weights. and that the Germans in designing ships. figure on normal line with bunkers full of coal He said that when the American fleet ar
 rived at Rio de Janeirc. the water lines of the Connecticut class were fully foot and q half below normal.
 At the conclusion of the criticisms of the water lines which were made in the most general terms, Admiral Capps
 was given permission to cross examine the witness. The admiral did this chiefly by raising direct issue with the witness. He denied that the Ger man naval constructors figure on full bunkers fin locating the water line;
 that the logs of ship were accurate evidence, and defied the witness to show that vessels were overdraft a foot and half upon arrival at Rio. Admiral Capps 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 commented that it was obvi- ous" that the witness had no data on which to base his criticisms
 .'WeIl, should like to have the conn mittee call Rear Admiral Goodrich and other officers of his type, to bear me out" said Commander Sims.
 "pu make specific allusion to that officer in a few moments;S' said Ad- miral Capps
 Chairman Hale hastened to say that 1t would not De necessary TOT elJner officer to express his opinion.
 TuFret Construction.
 The question of tvrret construction was then taken up. The two comman- ders gave a graphic description of the open turret with the direct hoists, which pictured the dangers in such manners that caused Mir. Hale to re- mark. "The wonder tosIne is that any men come 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 though 1t had been established that only the inter rupted or two-stage hoist would be used in ships built hereafter. The wit ness took issue with the statements made by other officers such as Ad- Canno and Convaraa that