The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-01-14
PROBE COMMITTEE
 HAS ONLY PRAISE
 FOR NAVY'S WORK
Continued from page one)

at the disposal of the bureau we find has been spent wisely and has been obli- gated practically as soon as it became available The bureau had for years been preparing for war. Guns, mounts. shell powder and ordnance equipment in large quantities had been manufac- tured and held in readiness for eventual use With the declaration of armed neutrality, guns and ammunition were promptly placed on the merchant ships of the United States. Upon the declara- tion of war telegrams long held in read mess were put on the wire and the wheels were in motion, without jar the machinery took up the load placed upon it.
 ap; on the contrary, there has been in- creasing speed and greater momentum
 Deliveries under wartime contracts of guns, mounts and accessories now are being received; little or no delays have been experienced; and the industrial capacity of the country has responded in most satisfactory manner.
 PLANTS EXPANDED
 The navy's industrial ordnance plants have been and are being expanded as rapidly as practicable without interfer- ing with their production. The results of much of this expansions will be felt this spring in the increased deliveries ot all types of ordnance material.
 Anticipating the needs of the maya! service and marine corps for additional machine guns the bureau wisely con ducted test of the Lewis machine gun early in April 1917, with view to def initeIy determining it's serviceability when usins the United States small arms ammunition and as a result of this test placed an order for the manufacture of several thousand of these guns Recent reports from the war zone indicate that the gun is giving entire satisfaction.
 Depth charges, which the committee thinks may be properly termed the ter TOT of the submarine, have been pro duced in quantity and are in use by our destroyers and submarine chasers. NEW INVENTIONS
 Tt was specially gratifying to note that the skill, ingenuity and inventive resources of the bureau have been pro- ductive of new designs demanded by the present methods of modern warfare. Ad- vantage has been taken of every sug- Gestion irrespective of it's source. Inti- 1 mate contact has been established and maintained with the ordnance bureaus i and fleets of the allied nations, the l greatest freedom of interchange of in l formation and material being the order | of the day. The relationship with army ordnance signal service. aircraft produc
 ton board and the shipping board hal been most intimate and cordial
 The committee was gratified at th'
 executive ability shown by naval off i cers placed in charge of industrial work 1 As an illustration, the bureau found i ] necessary to commander a plant pro I ducing binoculars and other optical in 1 struments for the navy. Under the for 1 mer management, this plant produced but 16s standard binoculars in tw, moWhs, whereas during the first tw,
 weeks of operation under navy manage
 ment it has produced 600 satisfactor, 1 binoculars for the use of lookouts an, l for spotters.
 CAREFUL INSPECTION
 The committee made special inquir
 as to the damage done to torpedoes a the Bliss works It ascertained that n | torpedoes or damaged parts had fotin their way into service: that spare part for torpedoes, such as gyrowheels, ha [ been tempered with, but this wa ! promptly detected by the naval inspee tor of ordnance and Q close watch wa maintained upon these articles. with tn
 result that the perpetrator of the dam age, one Paul Charles Hennig. nativ
 of Leipsig, Germany. who had been i this country since 1908, had been al
 rested and is awaiting trial.
 "The committee was supplied with fu I information of how many attacks C
 submarines upon armed merchantme
 had been warded off by the ships gu
 crews using the battery with braver
 and skill, and was given the details ( certain engagements of special interes The record of attacks on our arme
 merchantmen shows comparativel [ small percentage were successful. an li that the chances of escape when sut marine is sighted before she has tim to fire torpedo are very high. due 1
 the efficiency of the navy personne i The unseen torpedo is responsible for per cent. of the sinkings.