The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-11-06
REAR ADMIRAL AGAIN
 .TEST|FIES BEFORE.
 U. s. COURTMART|AL
Rear Admiral Little Says He Protected the Government
 Against Loss in Sub-
 marine Construction

Boston, November 5.-Rear Admiral William Little, who was called out of retirement to answer before a court martial charges of neglect and care lessness in connection with his work as an inspection officer during the construction of the submarine K-2, ap- peared voluntarily as a witness in his own defense today. He testified that he had protected the government against loss by battery defects through a promise obtained from s. A. Gardner, an agent of the Electric Boat company, that such imperfections as had devel- oped would be corrected. This prom ise which was put into writing he said, was not an agreement and in- volved nothing that would prevent the navy department taking action in the matter.
 The paper on which the promise shad been written Rear Admiral Little tes- tified was one of the three papers which were "mislaid" at the same time at the yards of the Fore River Ship building company, where the K-2 was under construction. One of these pa pers, the contract for the building of the torpedo-boat destroyer Cushing, was subsequently, found
 Rear Admiral Little testified that when on January 21, 1914, he report ed to the department on his inspec- tion of the K2 he had hidden nothing. It was on January 29, he said. that the presence of lead drops in the bat teries first became known to him. The prospective commander of the subma- Tfrp 9S1ro6 Tn ho1 f1o taken down for examination to deter mine whether any more drops were present. "I was surprised that such a request should come so late" said the witness, especially as the work was done under the inspection of the pros pective commander" He added that he obtained the promise of the company to remedy any defects in order to obvi- ate the necessity of breaking down the batteries when the submarine was practically ready to go into commis- sion.
 Letter Exhibited
 There was entered as exhibits let ter to Rear Admiral Little from the department dated June 2O.s last, and his reply regarding the condition of the batteries of the K-2 Counsel brought out that this was 16 months after the submersible had been turned over to the government. The officers answer was lengthy one and counsel asked whether its length was due to his desire to prevent trial by a court martial. "It was not. I was willing to do anything to help out the depart ment,'' he replied.
 Lieut.. J. O. Fisher, who was the first commander of the K-6, a sister ship of the K-2, was called as witness in re- buttal by the judge advocate He tes- titled that the K-6, which was also un- der inspection by Rear Admiral Little. was passed without giving the witness an opportunity to see whether certain changes that he had asked for had been made. The judge advocate drew from Lieutenant Fisher statement that as result of what he reported to the department in this instance there was issued an order which pro- l hibits the delivery of a ship until it is satisfactory to the officer who Is to command it.
 The court completed the taking of testimony today but voted to meet to- | morrow. The court probably will draw up Its findings here and forward them to Secretary Daniels.