Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-09-25

loss of life on the Liberte. the disaster
| will go down in history as one OF the
greatest in naval annals, the loss o1
| more than go lives on the American
| battleship Maine February Il. 1873, stand
ing second i'm the mortality list.
1t was assumed here that Commander
Henry Hough the naval attache of the
| American embassy in Paris, would inform
| the Navy Department of the exact extent
of the accident. meantime expressing te
| the French admiralty the deep sorrow with
| which the American embassy learned OF
| the catastrophe. This expression will be
| followed by more formal communica-
| ton of sympathy from the Departments
| of State and Navy.
| Vessel Four Years Old.
The battleship Liberte was the type
ship of the so-called Liberte class in the
French navy-a boat of 1890 tons dis
placement and an overall length of Az
feet She carried a crew of 1913 men
and bore four Pinch guns and the
French 76-inch type. She also had
twenty-three small guns and four tor
pedo tubes. She was completed in l!Di
at cost of about s7.OoO.OOo.
The Liberte class battleships include
the Democrat. the Justice. the Verlte
and the Liberte all eighteen-knot vessels
of the most modern type. They CORE
spond approximately to the five Amer
lean battleships of the New Jersey
class, including the Virginia. Georgia,
Nebraska, Rhode Island and New .Jer-
sey The recent history of the French
navy contains a series of disastrous ac-
cidents. most Of them caused by eX-
plosions, and several occurring at Tou
lon the scene of todays catastrophe.
Long List of Accidents.
March II, 1907. the battleship lena
was almost destroyed by the explosion
| of her magazine and 10. officers and
men lost their lives. Until today the
| lena disaster stood as the greatest re-
| cent calamity suffered by the French
| navy in times of peace. Like the Lib
| erte, the lena was blown up In the
| harbor of Toulon but the loss of life
| was less mainly because the lena re-
| manned afiOat.
An investigation of the lena explo-
| sion resulted in an official report that
/ it was duesto spontaneous combustion
/ of b powder in ma azine where the
| temperature was too high on account
| of the proximity of the dynamos' COM
/ partment. The report severely CEN
| sured the organization of the navy and
| said:
The real cause of the disaster was
| the abseffce of accord as well as the
divisions and antagonisms existing in the
different branches of the service. The
distressing weakness of the central power
explains the progressive weakening of Oul
naval forces Where will it lead us?''
parliamentary committee APPOINTED
| In 1907 presented report scathingly con-
demning the naval administration of the
preceding ten years. and recommending a
complete reorganization. with special at
tention to the elimination of red tape and
the distribution of responsibility,
Visited United States.
! The Iiberte, with the battleship Verite
and the flagship Justice, represented the
French government at the Hudson-Fultor
celebration at New York two years ago
When in American waters the I4iberte
was commanded by Capt. A. L. NJ. Huguet
and her other chief officers We're Second
Capt. r. Voisin. Lieuts. G. +. Caussin
NJ p V. Favereau, j. s. B. Neissier, G
! A. Cornet and L. c. j.. Perlemoine, Chief
Engineer d. L. Agarrat, Paymaster c. A
Begin and Chief Surgeon 2. \. n. Audi
| bert