Evening star., 1923-09-30
ONCE PROUD WARSHIPS
SOON WILL BE MERE JUNK
Materials From u. S. Graft, Scrapped
Under Treaties, to Go to Trade
and Industry.

7 INTERESTING demonstrations of
the methods Of ship breaking
have just been made at the
= New York navy yard in con-
nection with the scrapping of vessels
of war under the naval treaty. These
| were made on the great hulls Of the
| battleships Indiana and South Da-
kota, on which work was stopped
| when the ships were about SO per
| cent completed.
Capt. Edmund W. Bonnaffon, one
of the best known officers of the
! United States Navy Supply Corps, in
i his capacity as officer in charge of
the sale of Navy wells. has charge
of this, the largest sale of war ves-
| sells ever conducted in the country.
Capt. Bonnaffon, in discussing the sale
and in telling how these ships will
| finally be disposed Of, said:
THE five great naval powers. the
United States, Great Britain, France,
Italy and Japan, agreed, in the con-
ference at Washington, which was
| one of the most notable assemblageS
of President Harding's administra-
tion, that the size of capital ships
and the tonnage of navies should be
limited, ending the race in warship
building.
Ratio for World Navfes.
THAT conference provided that the
United States and Great Britain
should maintain navies of practically
| the same size and that the ratio of
size of the three leading navies,
those of the United States. Great
Britain and Japan, should be 5-5-3,
the latter figure being Japan's. 1t
was agreed that the vessels under
construction exceeding $4,000 tons
were not to be completed and that
enough of the older battleships
should be eliminated to reduce the
total tonnage to the amount each
country would be allowed to main
tain. That treaty, limiting naval
| armament, was finally ratified on
August II, and the United States
Navy Immediately took steps to carry
out its provisions so far as this .coun-
| try is concerned. Two of the older
! battleships which were to be elimin-
ated were turned over to the Army
for bombing purposes, and you read
| in the newspapers week or ten
days ago how they were bombed and
sunk by aeroplaneS off the North
Carolina coast. Two others have
been retained by the Navy for target
| pTaCLlCe anu experimental PURPOSES.
Will Go to Useful Purposes.
But the Navy Department, in dis
posing of the remaining vessels
which are to be scrapped, determined
| to dispose of them so that the steel
and other materials In them should
be turned back to useful purposes,
to be utilized in trade and industry
So it was decided to offer them for
sale, by sealed bids. the vessels to
| be scrapped by the purchasers, SO
| that all the steel, copper. brass and
other metals they contain. their en-
gines, machinery and equipment will
| be turned to the uses of peace.
These ships will be sold in four
great sales. The first, on October 25.
| will be of vessels under construc-
tion at navy yards. which will be
| sold in their present state of COM
pletion. These vessels. had they been
completed, would have been the
| largest and most powerful war ves-
sells in existence.
THE battleships like the Indiana
and the South Dakota at the New
York navy yard the North Carolina