The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-03-01
NAVAL OFFICERS
LACK KNOWLEDGE
Comment of Admiral Caps at
Senate Committee
Hearing.
CONFESSION OF A CAPTAIN
LIEUT.. COMMANDER HILL RET
CRATES HIS CRITICISMS.

Washington. Feb. 2s.-The senate
the statements of the naval officers
who have been quoted as criticizing the
construction of battleships, and upon
whose authority it has been suggested
the charges made by Mr.. Reuterdahl
were based. Lieutenant Commanders
F. K. Hill, Carl T. VogeIgesang and
Captain Bradley A. F'iske were ques-
toned concerning their views on the
naval construction. and Rear Admiral
Caps asked questions and commented
Hpon their testimony as they proceeded.
Lieutepant Commander Hill said:
Our ships are usually good ships, but
believe there are certain specific err
rors which should be remedied, and the
location of the water line armOr belt
of our battleships is, according TO my
opinion, one of these defects"
Prepared a Report.
Mr. Hill said that last October the
secretary of the navy decided 10 APP
point a board TO investigate these mat
tiers. but later decided not TO do so. At
that time he prepared a report and had
letters bearing on the controversy to
submit TO the board. He had submit
ted the papers 10 the secretary, show
ing his criticism and proposed remedy
for the defects.
II am not the originator of these crit
icisms," said Mr.. Hill. This subject
has been discussed for a long time,
and criticisms have been made by Of
ficeTs aboard ship. and special boards
have been ordered on board ships by
request of the navy department.
There are two questions in regard
to the armor belt. one is thickness
and the other the location. l believe
the thickness is plenty, if not more
than 1t should be- but the location is
not correct according to my view. You
want TO get a ship into action at or
near a particular water line and have
that water line protected. You must
have sufficient width of armor above
and below so as TO protect that partic-
ular water line"
Should Garry More Coal.
Mr.. Hill. concluding. explained that
he thought the battleships should be
constructed 10 carry all the coal pos
sibie. The ships. he said, have their
water line fixed by estimating but two
fifths of their full capacity of coal,
which allows the speed trial to show
the greatest speed possible.
Il think" he added rarely have any
of our ships in service shown the speed
hey have developed on their trial trips.
Foreign ships have the same weakness
N this respect, but foreign eonstruc-
Tors are correcting the error"
Il want enough coal on board TO
chase the enemy after fighting him,
he declared, saying the battleships
should have all the coal possible. with
the water line fixed with view of ae-
cOmmodating it.
The new ships of our navy, he said,
if provided with a fun load Of coal,
win have seven feet and six inches OF
armor below the water line, and six
inches above r.
Contradicted by Caps.
Read Admiral Caps interrupted
with a question, which was followed by
a statement by him contradictory to
much that Mr.. Hill had said. He de-
clared that the practice of English,
japanese and American constructors is
the same, certainly for the past ten
years, regarding the water line and the
coal carried. If there was any differ
ence, he said, the Japanese provided
for less coal The tendency in the
American navy had been TO provide as
large bunkers as possible.
Lieutenant Commander VogeIgesang
a member of the tuTret board that eX-
amlned all the turret SHIPS on the AT
lantic coast six months ago was called
10 the stand. The result of the exam
nation. he said. was to show that there
should be some structural separation be-
tween the turret's probes and the hand
ling rooms on battleships which does
not now exist and never has existed in
the service. 1t is, he said, imperative
that there should be some improvement
The safety shutters had proved to be
cumbersome and Ineffective.
Replying 10 a question, he said he be-
Iieved American turrets to be inferior
to those of foreign ships. He thought
a disaster such as that on the Missouri
which cost sixteen lives could not have
happened on a foreign ship. The fare
back would have been avoided by the
method of construction of the turrets
of those ships.
"If you can propose anything to rem