The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1908-03-18
ROOSEVELT AND
THE NAVY CRITICS
TELLS SENATE COMMITTEE THAT
ATTACK OF SIMS. HILL AND
OTHERS UNJUsTIFIED

llsll lll.UN"NLI ..N ...n'Iu| I'...|.. /.
with President Roosevelt TO sustain +.
them i'm their bitter attacks upon u.
officers OF the American navy and The .
batlaahips and cru ars which have .
been constructed during JU. last eight
or ten years, were aa-ouishad today Co.
find that they were mistaken and chat /
the President is entirely out OF sym /
pathy with them
The awakening came today after a |
long letter in defense of the ships and
the officers in charge of their con-
struction and equipment submitted to
Senator Hale chairman of the Senate
Committee of Naval Affairs by Victor
H. Metcalf, Secretary Of the Navy, was
made public
As this letter was prepared by Sec
rotary Metcalf after a conference at the
White House called by the President
last week in which many more import
ant naval officers stationed here par
ticipated and was followed by another
conference on Saturday between Sen
ator Hale and Secretary Metcalf, the
officers in question readily accepted it
as the personal attitude of the Presi-
dent on the question
Among the Officers involved are
Lieutenant Commander Sims, Naval
Secretary to the President, who has
not denied the charge that he fur
nished the information and material
upon which Henry Reuterdahl based
his criticisms of the battleships of the
4 American navy; Lieutenant Com
mander Vogelgesang, commander OF
the converted yacht MayAower, set
aside for the use of the President;
Lieutenant Commander Hill and Cap
tain Fisk.
/ While Secretary Metcalf does not
mention Lieutenant Commander Sims
by name, he disposes of his criticisms
in the following emphatic manner:
/ 1T seems proper to note in this con-
nectiOn that the officer who has taken
the most active interest in investigat
ing this subject of alleged erroneous
location of water line armor, origin
ally recommended in his letter of June
raised thirty inches. In a subsequent
etter he recommended that it be rails
ed twenty inches.
I'm his recent testimony before your
committee he recommended that it be
raised ten inches. | think no better
illustration could be had of the unre-
liable character of recommendation
of this kind, since the original proper
ton of thirty inches, within less than
year, is reduced to ten inches"
Referring to the question of the
protective armOr belt on the battle
ships, he declared that it is better
placed than on any foreign ships and
points out that the plans for the Della
only after the board of design had
= passed upon more than twenty tenta.
tive designs.
. After pointing out that the designs
were approved by Secretary Bona
parte, then Secretary of the Navy, anC
by Congress itself, he says:
"As the only point criticized in tn,
: designs of the Delaware class is tina
4 of water-line armor distribution, an,
since this criticism has been disposet
of by the unanimous opinion of tn
i most competent authorities upon whom
the department must rely in matter
of this kind, | am convinced that Their
is no ground whatever for furthe
criticism or justification for ain.
! change in the essential sea-going an
II military characteristic of the vessel
e of the Delaware class.
% After a careful perusal of the re
ports of Rear Admiral Converse an
g Chief Constructor Capps, / am who'll
convinced that the battleships of tn
United States are in no sense inferior
-, type for type, in their own period {
design, to those of any other natio
in the world, but on the contrary,
~ concur in the opinion of certain fore
ign critics that our battleships have
certain measure Of definite superior
ity."
In addition to the statement sui
mitted by Secretary Metcalf, Rea
Admirals George c. Ramey and c.
r. Goodrich and Lieutenant Richard /
e. White took the stand today and d
re clared that the sweeping denuncii
n tion Of inefIiciency both as to shil
ne and officers in charge were uncallC
e. for.
~ Admiral Ramey said that there WI
d, no question that there was room II
al improvement, and that in his opiniC
the protective armor belt was too lo'
50 Admiral Goodrich took the san
Nv position.
Iak lei nffira