The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1908-03-03
SIMS SAYS.
Continued from Page One.

quiry again and again, and members
of the committee called him back
sharply.
The armor belt on all our bat
tleships is too low" Commander
sims stated broadly. He charged
tnat IN statements made by Rear
Admiral Converse and Capps were
misleading. III an admiral shouiu
20 out OF port without full BUNK
.rs say on a cruise to the Pacific
and should meet an enemy say IN
the West lndies-he would be court
martialed" said the commander
There might be a heavy sea run
ming and the fleet not be able 10
use their guns for week. Then the
ships would need fuel bunkers', ne
aid lie said that the logs OF the
battleships OF the fleet should DE
secured and these would show the
water lin. OF all the ships.
"rhats for us TO get, not for you
TO state" said Chairman Hale.
Senator 11llman then came to the
rescue of the witness--the first
friendly work he had received. All
the commander is trying TO say
interiected Mr.. Tillman. rs that
the log books will bear out his
statements"
Commander sims said that the
French allow for extra and unantici-
pated weights and that the Ger
mans in designing ships, figure on a
normal line with bunkers full. He
said that when the American fleet
arrived at Rio de Janeiro the water
lines OF the Connecticut class were
fully a foot and a half below nor
mai.
At the conclusion OF the criticism
of the water line Admiral Capps
was given permission to cross-ex-
anime the witness The admiral did
this chiefly by raising direct issue
with the witness. He denied that the
German constructors figure IN full
bunkers in locating the wa .er line;
that the logs OF ship are accurate
evidence, ana defied the witness to
show that vessels were overdraft
foot or half upon arrival at Rio.
Admiral Capps asked the witness
whether the double bottoms of the
q fttI nF tphn hnt
arrived at Rio. Commander Sims
had no data in this regard so Ad-
miral Capps declined to continue.
lie commented that it was obvious
that the witness had no data on
which to base his criticisms.
II should like to have the COM
mittee call Rear Admiral Goodrich
and officers or his type to bear me
out" said Commander Sims.
I'm make specific allusion TO that
officer in a few moments" said
Admiral Capps. His tone indicated
that the specific allusion" would not
be complimentary and Chairman
Hale hastened TO say IL would not
be necessary for either officer to ex.
press his opinion.
The question OF turret construc-
tion and the relative merit of the
direct and uninterrupted ammuni.
tion holsts were then taken up. The
commander gave a graphic descrlp-
tion of the oDen turret with the
direct hoist, which pictured the dan
gers in such manner that caused
Mr.. Hale TO remark:
The wonder to me Is that any
men came out OF there alive"
Commander Sims declared that
the shutters in the direct hoists did
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
he ship. He referred TO the explo-
sion OF the Georgia and said that
2O-odd burning grains OF powder
bad found their way down 10 the
handling room.
chairman Hale said he thought
VI had been established that only
the interrupted or two-stage hoist
would be used in ships built there.
after The witness took issue with
the statements made by other offic-
ers, such as Admirals Capps and
Converse, that the change 10 the
fwo-stage hoists is beirg made in
the interest of speed and not for
safety Ue exnraaaad tha hol,ns a. -.