Evening star., 1923-07-03
MANY DEFECTS FOUND.
Naval officer Who Inspected Ship
Told of Big Damage.

Part of the official history of the
world war will have to be rewritten
if report brought back to Washing
ton by Representative Madden of
Illinois, a guest on the trial trip of
the liner Leviathan, should turn out
to be true
Mr.. Madden said today that during
the voyage he had been informed ION
good authority" that the story of the
Gripping of the liners machinery by
her German crew when she was
seized by the United States was all a
myth.
Department of Justice records de-
scribe extensive damage to the en-
gines of the ship, which then was the
Vaterland, and attributed to German
Seamen, while the files of the Navy
Department contain photographs Of
gaping holes in her boilers and of
shattered mechanism found when the
American naval forces took charge.
Capt. E. p. Jessop. retired, who was
in charge of the official inspection of
the Vaterland when she was taken
over and who also supervised the re-
pairs to her engines. said today he
had found the following specific in
juries when he boarded the vessel.
About three tons of blading from
starboard high-pressure turbine miss
ing. These blades were of special de-
sign and required the manufacture of
special tools to replace them.
Found Cylinder Cracked.
One eight-foot crack in high pres
sure cylinder. This was welded
electrically. the first time the process
and with such good results that the
same repair is standing today ,ac-
cording to Shipping Board records
Thrust blocks on propeller shafts
removed, permitting the seepage of
more than 1000 tons of water into
Chin'C n1 roro
Jesseop said. these missing parts
were found hidden on board and were
reinstalled.
Numerous holes bored in outboard
water. pipes and then filled with put
ty. According to naval engineers
these would have endangered the
ship. at any moment of her active
service at sea.
Tags and labels on all important
electric and steam lines altered and
shifted so that the American engi-
neers were completely in the dark as
TO the purpose of this equipment.
The repair forces, Capt. Jessop re-
ported. devoted two months to the
correctly labelling them so as to
obviate danger of short circuits and
fires and Of exploding possible hidden
bombs.
In addition to the repair of sabotage.
the naval report said, alterations were
made by the Navy in the design of
the boilers which resulted in the saw
ing of 200 tons of coal a day and,
finally. in the design of the turbin es
themselves, in order to prevent
stripping of blades which continued
to occur when the engines had been
repaired and tests were begun.
All OF these repairs were made in
order to put the ship into the troop
transport service and before she was
turned over to the Shipping Board.
nauaare SMALL
1.-THE Leviathan probably was the
least damaged by sabotage Of any of
the seized German ships" said Capt.
Jessop. This was due, 1t seems, to
the fact that her commander super
vised her building. and simply could
not bear to see his beloved ship In
jured. There were clear instances,
however, Of deliberate damage, and
the ship could not have been oper-
ated under any circumstances, even
by her own crew. until repairs had
been effected"
In his annual report for 1918 Sec
retary Daniels included the Leviathan
as among the former German ships
which had been deliberately dam
aged by their crews, in many cases
seriously, and the character OF the
injury denoting that the work had
been carried out under q central di-
rection." The Secretary did not give
any details as to the injuries found
np hoard the hfrraRt ahin