Lewiston evening teller. [volume] (Lewiston, Idaho) 1903-1911, 1908-12-21
ADMIRAL EVANS
RAPS KNOCKERS
SAYS THAT THEIR CRITICISMS
ARE VERY MUCH UN.AMERI.
CAN-OUR LATE SHIPS ARE
SUPERIOR TO DREADNAUGHT.


great majority OF the scath;nY criti.
cisms recently directed ;.gainst The
American navy as unfoun lei in fact
and un-American Rear Admiral r. b.
ley d. Evans In the January Hamp-
tons magazine severely arraigns
Henry Reuterdahl and Other critics
OF American battleship .onst tMctipn.
His (Reuterdahrs) constant
and repeated comparitns 18th the
things foreign. and Always to mr.
disadvantage. leads me tO comstdcr
his criticisms un-Ameri:lh. de.
clares Fighting Bob" "And It 10
comparison and constant con;1,ands-
tion Of others to our dis .lvantage
that l differ most widely from Mr..
Ruterdahl and also from thuso who
have been positions OF rsiyOnslbIlt-
ty In the navy department AMI have
been Influenced by such COmpari-
sons.
Take Tor the present one case
only to illustrate my meaning. Our
past policy was to put larger guns.
guns of larger calibre, on our ships
than were carried ON the ships Of
other nations. and history records
the wisdom Of this policy. Simply
because the foreign policy indicated
that others considered the 12-inch
guns sufficiently powerful weapon,
someone in authority, It IL impossi-
bic to say just who. changed OR
policy. discarded the more powerful
weapon and came to the one used By
England as her standard.
II claim that this was q most ger-
ious blunder, but must In :li"ress
say that 1t was done by tn. seagoing
line officers Of the navy, AMI noe by
any star corps.
II myself pleaded with m ,ro than
one chief of ordnance to ieve,,o the
13-inch gun instead OF tn. 12-inch
and to go to even larger guns rather
than follow blindly wat someone
else was doing.
Imagine battleship in action
struck by projectile FROM ach tass
IT guns--the new1 pinch and the old
13-inch--concede that both prOjec-
tiles penetrate the armor and Doth
explode somewhere in the body ri the
ship. Compare the penetration, one
hole being larger than ttc Utrer
and the effect OF the 48-pounds ex.
plosion of powder in the case of the
l2-inch gun and 80 pounds in the
case of the 13-inch. and think my
point will be clear"
Taking up the bitter controversy
over the water line armor belt and
the assertion that "a hole upon the
water line will cripple or sink the
ship" the admiral declares: "Tnis
could not have been written for pro
fessional men except to excite the'.
wonder and merrimcnt. That one
12-inch shell on the water line will
disable or sink modern battiesh'l
needs no comment except for those
who known nothing about BATH
ships. and to them I say that 1t viii
require many such shell on the wat
er line or anywhere else to disable
or sink such a ship II her officers and
men know their business and wan
to fight.
"The statement that wound OF
a turret may disable or cripple tha'
turrett's guns Is absolutely inaccu
rate unless by wound the writer
means penetration. 1t Is more thal
probable-it Is almost certain-tha
a 12-inch shell completely Dene
trating a turret will put that turre
out of business whether the she)
explodes or not Hence most Of tn
officers would prefer to receive tb
shell on the water line rather tEal
on the turret.
"Of all the inaccurate an" 7nislead
ing statements in this wonderful
Reuterdahl criticism. hovev"i. M
is the most inaccurate: Within
year after the Russo-Jap1nese tish
in the Sea OF Japan. our nav owck
to the realization Of a stating fact
the battleships OF the Until State
CONTINUED on Page Five.)