Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-11-13
B~ATTLESHIPs FOR SALE
By Frederic j. Haskin

last day OF this month the govern
ment will receive bids on the last of
the twenty-one battleships and bat
tie cruisers which must be disposed
of under the terms of the limitation
of armament agreement. The ag-
gregate tonnage of this armada is
1T, 900, and the vessels constitute a
naval force equal to five divisions,
each under a rear admiral. The sale
offers a splendid opportunity to
some nation to pick up a ready-made
navy, except for the rather impor-
tant condition that 1t could not be
used as a navy but must be Scrap
ped.
A few years ago deals in battle
ships were not uncommon. Greece
: bought two from Uncle Sam, and
Argentina and Brazil both have big
fighting vessels that were built in
the United States and England, while
at the outset of the World War the
English had under construction pow
erful superdreadnaughts for Chile.
However, If battleships can not be
used for the purposes for which they
were built, who would want to buy
! one? In such circumstances. selling
them would be very much like SELL
ing ice manufacturing plants to Es-
kimos, or safety razors In the House
Of David, and the suggestion that
such a task be undertaken would
sound a bit foolish.
But during the World War some
| body thought out g. rather extraordi-
| nary slogan, at can't be done, but
here it isl" that seemed to put a lot
of pep and enthusiasm into the men
behind the men at the front, and
Capt. Edmund w. Bonnaffon, of the
navy, must have had that in mind
when he said he would take on the
job of selling the battleships. His
commodity was not only a drug on
the market-there was no market
whatever for it. However, that did
not dismay the doughty captain. A
battleship is such a handy thing to
have around that he believed he
would have no trouble in creating a
market for Uncle Sans surplus sup
| ply of that commodity. And the re-
| Allts have justified his confidence in
himself as a salesman. Probably he
would say that he had confidence in
his wares, rather than in his sales
m~anship, but be hat as it may he
demonstrated that buyers could be
found.
To arouse interest in his wares
and create a demand where none
| previously existed, Capt. Bonnaffon
used the radio as an advertising
or publicity medium and broadcasted
from New York and Philadelphia
the story of the Navy Departments
contemplated sale of battleships. He
told of the wonderful bargains he
1 rra nffarinor ontoan no nine mr. indiUid-
uals who had uses for large guam
titles of steel, etc, and that his
story went over in convincing fash
ion was shown by the requests for
additional information that imme-
diately poured in from all sections
Of the United States.
Later he found it necessary to
demonstrate that a battleship could
be strapped without the operations
costing more than the salvaged ma
terials would be worth. This he did
in the New York Navy Yard, where
he completely dismantled a ship,
using an oxy-acetelyne torch with a
heat of 5000 degrees f., to melt the
16-inch steel armor.
The result was that when the first
sale was held on October rs, six
of the naval white elephants were
disposed of and i've more went I'M
der the hammer a few days later on
November 1. Four ships were allo-
Gated to the third sale on November
s, and on November 80 the final
cleanup is scheduled when six
others will be sold.
or course nothing approximating
the original cost of the vessels or
,n L. - 4Lo .aaE1rfo Ia {o hnia@ ro-
allied in these sales. That was not
to be expected. Indeed, Uncle Sam
had reason to count himself lucky
IL he could get rid of the ships with
out actually spending money. I'm
der the treaty he had to dispose
of the twenty-one vessels by Feb
ruary II, 1925, and he was pro-
hibited from doing this in such a
manner that they might become war
ships in the navy of any foreign
power.
Moreover, it was stipulated that
"a vessel to be scrapped must be
placed in such condition that 1t can
not be put to combatant USE" and
explicit provisions were made as to
just how this might be done. First.
a vessel could be taken out to an
ocean graveyard and sunk. Second,
it could be broken up by the de-
struction or removal of all machin-
cry, boilers, and armor, and all deck,
side and bottom plating. Third, it
could be converted to target use.
All these methods involved ex-
pense and prospective loss to the
government was all the greater by
reason of the fact that ten of the
vessels, six battleships, and four bat
pie cruisers, were of the most mod
ern and most expensive type and
were still in process of construction.
They were designed to be the most
powerful fighting machines that
ever sailed the seven seas, and If
there was to be no salvage in them
the loss would run into enormous
figures. These battleships were the
Indiana, South Dakota, Montana,
North Carolina, Iowa, and Massa-
chusetts, and the battle cruisers were
the Constitution, United States, Con-
s%tellation, and Ranger.
OF the eleven older type of ships
offered for sale by Capt. B%onnaffon,
several have historic records. The
Louisiana had the distinction of car
rying President Roosevelt on his trip
to Panama in 1905-the first time
a President left the territory OF the
United States-and In 1907 made
the voyage around the world with
the Atlantic fleet. She vas put out
Of commission in 1918 at the Phila-
delphia navy yard.
The Connecticut was famous as
the flagship of Admiral Eobley d.
Evans. sailed on the cruise around