The Washington herald., 1921-05-29

ano otners driven into. the sand butt
Al the rear. u
The result Of this test sstAb-
lished the highly important fact
that armor does not protect battle
SHIPS against high explosives.
Roosevelt Resigns.
Unfortunately, Mr.. Roosevelt had
meanvhile resigned as assists Mt
secretary Of the navy and had vol
unteered for active service with the
Rough Riders In Cuba. since that
time the high explosive system has
been consistently fought by those
who believed that its adoption
would mean the desthkneH Of bat
tleships.
There were ofhcers Of the navy"
Mr.. Gathmsnn adds. who saw the
future possibilities Of high explo-
sives. but IL must be admitted that
their opinions were not given the
same wide publicity that was ac-
corded to the opponents Of the high
explosive system"
Gathmann quotes from a letter
written by r. B. DsshielI. assistant
naval constructor. to the chairman
of the senate naval committee. as
substantisting the efficiencyof high
explosives. Dsshiell wrote:
AS TO the effect Of projections Of
each type on an enemy's bsttleship,
experience has shown that a ship
can receive q number Of 12' steel
shells and yet survive; in fact. there
are a large number OF battleships
that can stand a long continued Sc
ries of hits from such shell and not
have their vitals Injured or their
foatation destroyed.
Explosion Ressits-
But experience with submarine
mines detonsted at varying dis
tances from the hull. and the recent
detonation at Sandy Hook Of IL
inch shell at high velocity against a
heavy armor plate. all show con-
clusvely that the detonston OF a
shell containing 500 pounds of gun
cotton against a ships hull or even
in the water q few feet away from
her hull sufficient to place her hors
de combat. Such a result is not to
be measured by or compared with
any outlay Of, money by which il
may be accomplished"
Mr.. Gathman voices a protect
against the plans of q test. promul-
gated by former secretary Of the
navy Daniels, which IL is proposed
to carry out this summer. to de-
termine the relative merits Of the
bsttleship and the aircraft. a. on
March is last. officisls of the school
Of airplane bomb attack. in a report
made to Secretary Of War Weeks.
expressed dissstisfsction with the
plans of test as promulgated by nv.
Daniels. The navy plan, IL Is as
serted, contemplates lesvink the
control Of all conditions Of the test
in the hands OF the commander in
chief OF the Atlantic feet and even
goes so far as TO specify the limits
in sizes Of the bombs TO be used and
the altitude from which they shall
be dropped"
Point at Issue.
The important. the real. the vital
question involved in this coming
test of airplsne versus bsttleship
should not and must not be be-
clouded and befogged through tech
nicalities written into the program
of procedure of the test by the
acknowledged advocates of the
school of cannon supremacy and Of
the heavily armored mounts of bat
tleships. To allow tests to be con-
Quoted thus is far worse than q
mere waste of money, il is en-
dangering out national defense"
"Hundrew and millions and even
billions of dollars may be at stake. {"
says Gathmsn, "in assuring that the
coming tests are made with bombs
of considerably more than sufficient
size and weight Of high explosive
charge TO insure Of a violence and
reserve force of energy to cause n
vital destruction in target"
In Three Groupe
Disarmament may be spelled IN
three phrases, according to Gath
man. adequate airplsnes, high ex-
plosive bombs. and gas" They will
prevent war or at least guard us