The Washington herald., 1908-01-22
DEFENDS The NAVY
Admiral Capps Before the
House Committee.
ANSWER REUTERDAHL CHARGE
Complete RefutatiOn GiVen-Admits
Justice Of Criticism Relative 90
Ammunition HOists-PoInts Out that
Japan Used Low Free boards.
American War ships Good as Any.

| American war Ships UOOu Az any
Rear Admiral Capps. chief Of the Bu-
reau of Construction and Repair of the
Navy Department, paid his respects, and
made answer TO the Reuterdahl school of
naval critics, yesterday al hearing be-
! fore the House Committee on Naval At
fairs. To the minds, practically of all
/ the members Of the committee, who gave
him close attention, Admiral Capps' state
ment was a complete refutation of the
charges which Of late have been made
against certain alleged imperfections IN
! the construction of American battle ships
Admiral Capps displayed no animosity
or lllfeeling toward the chronic and sci
entihc faultlnders, but discussed the sub
| ject Of naval architecture in q dfspas-
sionate way, which convinced the COM
mittee that he knew what he was talk
/ ing about, and. Furthermore, that no Sc
rious mistake had been made in our
navy by adhering to the general scheme
Of construction which had been followed
since the beginning Of the modern navy
While Admiral Capps riddled the Reuter-
dahl article IN its general features, still
I he gave credit TO certain criticisms made
! In particular, he admitted the justice
/ Of the criticism regarding the aulmuni-
tion hoists on battle ships He advocated
/ a complete change OF hoists In all the
battle ships. and asked for an appropria-
| tion Of $4,000 to enable the department
/ 10 make these changes and install inter
rupted hoIsts. At the same time, he said,
/ that the matter Of different style Of
/ hoist had been under consideration by the
department before the publication OF the
Reuterdahl article
/ Tells OF Free Boards.
Admiral Caps discussed at great length
the question Of high free boards and low
! free boards on battle ships. In this con
| necti0n he said that the general type Of
/ naval architecture which is followed by
/ the board on construction. is the same as
/ has been followed since lsS9 This style
/ OF construction was adopted by Great
/ Britain after the subject had been thor
oughIy and eXhaustively considered by
the leading naval architects and experts
/ of the country; IN fact, Of the world. II
/ is the style generally followed to-day by
/ England iu the building OF her biggest
ships The only changes which have been
made have been those found necessary In
I the development and the evolution OF ma
val ship building. but the general basis
principles have remained the same.
/ Speaking Of the criticisms OF the low
/ there was one nation more than any
tother which by reason Cf seahghtiug eN-
|perience should be able To distinguish be-
/ tween the respective value Of a high free
board and q low free board. that nation
was Japan.
Japan Follows Plan.
Since the building OF modern Hayies
1 Japan has engaged ia two great naval
wars. one with China the other with
Russia. He pointed out that Japan had
/ followed the plan Of low free board, and
that while Russian ships are now at the
bottom of the sea the japanese ships are
still floating the banner of victory. Since
/ the Russo-Japanese war, the japanese are
| building their ships so that their free
board will be still lower. II had been
( ascertained. he said, that the Russians,
/ apparently realizing the error Of their
/ high free boards. when going 10 battle
. In the Sea of Japan, had pumped water
/ between their decks and had even loaded
/ coal into the staJerO0ms Of the officers IN
order 10 get their ships as close to the
water as they could and afford the least
possible target.
American ships he said. have a little
. Fraa arF Ia nd
a little less than the English ships OF
/ the Dreadnaught type. the English in
order TO get greater speed. having been
! forced TO alter little more free board.
Result Of Much study.
( The questions which had been raised
by the Reuterdahl article, he said had
been subjects for argument dispute. con-
troversy, and discussion, among naval
architects since the construction of the
modern navy began, and, he added,
doubtless always would be- There was
always a fight between aTmor men and
armament men. between steam engineer
/ ing departments and other departments,
/ but the result In the end had been the
/ construction of vessels which represents
/ the hest knowledge Of naval architects.
No nation. he said, had followed the
/ French style Of naval construction; that
was q distinctive class by itself. but in
/ general. there was a similarity among
/ the English, American, and japanese
styles.
The result of Admiral Capps' state
ments was to convince the members Of
/ the committee that the criticisms of our
naval construction are not warranted.
end that Congressional sanction should
/ be given 10 the methods and plans now
| followed
The admiral will resume his statement
/ to-day,