Evening star., 1925-12-02

and pointed to the recommendation
or the general board in 1918 that two
large vessels exclusively for opera
ton of planes with the fleet be con-
structed. He said that Col Mitchell
mad recommended the building OF two
AIRCRAFT carriers some time during
the period be, Neen 1919 and 1925.
but added thal i. was four years be-
!ofe that time that the Navy general
BOARD had made Recommendations
British Service Cited.
The questioning then turned to
Great Britain's 3 experiences with
separate air force, and the prosecu-
ton put into the record part of a re
port by British national defense
omnlittee in which some modification
ol the air ministry operations wa,
suggested.
Later on the British unified air for,e
plans again came in for discussion,
with Mr.. Reid entering vigorous OBJ
Jections to the line of Questioning
| put out by the prosecution. The court
SUSTAINED several of these objections
and Maj. Guilion explained that he
thought the witness was qualified to
express his opinion OF the success of
Great Britain's air policies under a
unified plan
lie Withdrew his questions, however
and asked instead how America COM
pared with Great Britain with regard
10 the air service.
Says L. $. Leads World.
We lead the world in naval avia-
ton. We are behind in carriers" as
serted Comdr. Whiting The witness
told in detail of the provisions being
made by Great Britain. Italy, France
and Japan for operation of planes
with the fleet. and he declared that
the United States is leading all other
countries with regard to catapults for
launching planes at sea, and operates
more planes with the fleet than Great
Britain despite the fact that the latter
nation is ahead with respect to air
craft carriers. He said that Japan
has one carrier in commission and
two others in process OF conversion;
that the French are converting one
ship into carrier at present, and
that Italy has no carriers.
Commander Whiting told of the
bombing of the battleship Washing
ton, which has come in for criticism
by Col. Mitchell. and defended the
conduct of those tests. He explained
that it was the plan to test the vul-
nerability of the ship; first. to under
water explosion; second. to armor-
piercing bombs dropped from air
planes on her deck, and third, to
guntire.
Describes Bombings.
He told Of numerous charges of INT
being exploded against her hull and
of the dropping of a l4inch shell from
which the explosive charge had been
removed. In the latter case, he said,
! ii was the sole intention to find the
depth than an armor- piercing shell
would penetrate her deck He denied
that ii was misleading" to say that a
2,000-pound bomb had been exploded
| against her hull, as he declared the
| 900 pounds OF INT used approx
mated the explosive power OF such Il
! bomb.
He also denied that it was mislead-
| ing to drop d non-eXplosive bomb on
/ the deck Of the Washington during
these tests.
Says 90 Planes Are Ready.
Turned over tn Mr. Reid for cross
examination, the witness testified
there isn't a single fighting plane in
the Navy on active duty today that
can compare with the Army pursuit
plane now in service. After lengthy
questioning on the number of planes
in the various Squadrons with the
fleet the witness arrived at a total of
So all of which he said should be
ready for action.
Mr.. Reid went into great detail on
the performance of the new torpedo.
bombing and scouting plane of the
Navy known as the CS and finally de