New Britain herald., 1924-01-17
NAVY DEPT. FEELS
 CERTIFIED TODAY
fcontinued from First Page)

IfoUi iIot u6Gy
 civilian member of the bureau oi aeronautics in Washington, who was aboard to observe the ships behavior
 under mooring strain. And he voiced the sentiments of his mates.
 Did you ever hear of any shir going to sea in wind blowing 75 miles an hour," he asked pridefully "a ship with a hole in her bow, two compartments filled with water, and half of her steering gear torn away, and then come back into port?
 Really, it was magnificent, every man aboard behaved wonderfully. Af- ter the first furry of surprise when the Shenandoah broke loose. the men did their work just as calmly as they do on any ordinary flight. The only difference was that we were under manned, and everybody had to do bet ter than double duty"
 The same pride in crew and batter ed ship was eyinced by Lieutenant Commander J. NJ. Deem of Memphis, Tenn. the chief engineer.
 sailors Given Credit
 
 'iust as splendid as the ship. She never would have made it, staunch and gallant as she is, had it not been for the men aboard. As the wind tore her away, sending her nose into the trees which smashed the two front compartments and threatened to bang us all to glory, every man aboard quietly went to his station and calmly awaited orders.
 Before a minutes had passed-and the first minutes was a mad thing that brought us face to face with death--the engines were humming away and the men about their duties as calmly as though it were just an ordinary trip on bright summer morning. One man at each of five of the six engines, doing the work normally done by three.
 'The rest of that mad minutes was spent in getting the ship under control and putting the wind at our backs. Then, after we had the lurching bag strengthened out as much as possible, VIC tried to ascertain our damage. But il was impossible. No man could walk 1lDp lilt bhk III illdl "lnu. 1l6 @Dulu have been blown ten miles off.
 'The first hour was the worst--you know what they say about the first lOo years. We had the devils own time, with our damaged steering equipment, to keep her headed properly The wind was not only man. sized, but 1t was crochetty and fickie, first bowling out Of the southeast, l then jumping at us from the south, | serring to the southwest, and finally, 1 at the time we landed, blowing from the west"
 Denbs's statement
 Naval officers who have had doubts about using the great dirigiblc Shon- andoah for the projected polar flight | appeared to be completely converted | today by the performance Of the big ship in riding out last nights gale after being torn from her mooring mast at Lakehnrsi.
 Secretary Denby telegraphed his congratulations to the crew of the Shenandoah who brought her back in safety after her wind-driven flight. Mrs. Denby was so greatly impressed by the story of the night that she also sent her congratulations to the air- ship personnel.
 Secretary Denby's statement fol- lows:
 "trhe midnight flight Of the Shen- andoah has demonstrated what the navy department has always believed: First. that the mooring facilities are adequate in most unusual weather; second, that so long as she is fueled and proyisioned, she is safe in her na- tUral element the air. "as soon as we learned that her engines were turning over we had no cuase for alarm. Of course, there were of an ugly character due to the fact that she broke away from her mast and we did not know or not the fabric on the nose of the ship had been torn away. If it had been, it might have been difficult 10 fly her into the wind. "ss it turned out. the fabric was not torn, the mooring ring having been broken. So far as We know, the ship " adhered the soyerest gale any other ship has encountered at a mooring mast. We have records of rigids riding ,nt GO miles and even more. The Shen- ndoah held until the wind reached ss miles velocity. Then she took the ,ir just exactly as a surface ship slips ner cable in a harbor and puts to sea 10 ride out bad weather. The demonstration of the ships stf-Horthiness has been most striking, md the demonstration Of the skill and Ibiliiy of her officers and men no less pleasing.