Evening star., 1925-02-27
PLANE TO REPLACE
BATTLESH|P, SIMS
TELLS AIR PROBERS
Can Defend Shore as No
Other Weapon of Future,
Admiral Declares.
SCORES NAVY POLICIES
IN C0LORFUL TESTIMONY
Against Unified Air Service on
Ground That Sea Service
Must Train Own Men.

Must Train Own Men.
broadside of testimony, in which
We're mingled denunciations of past
and present policies of the Navy, was
given before the House aircraft in
Nestigating committee today by Rear
Admiral William S. Sims, L. S. n.
retired. former commander of the
European naval forces during the
war.
The admiral took a determined
stand for aircraft and submarines.
stating that while il is admitted the
hattleship is the backbone of the
Navy, the backbo is broken" He
emphatically declared that this Ma
tion, adequately prepared in the air,
could prevent any foreign fleet from
coming. to its shores and imposing it's
policies. He saw in the airplane car
rier, capable of a speed of 80 or 80
knots and carrying 80 planes, the
real naval weapon of the future out
he took as determined stand
against the proposal for a united air
force by pointing out that unless pi-
lots in the Navy are naval trained
and naval educated and live with the
Heet they are worthless.
Cites Own Career.
The admiral, in response to a ques-
tlon from Representative Perkins of
New Jersey, the committee examiner,
for statement on his career for the
record, declared his life in the Navy
has been largely getting into trou-
BILE with the principal dignitaries"
At the outset of his appearance Ad-
miral Sims was granted the unusual
privilege of making statement with
int
committee members. He produced a
newspaper article written two years
ago which he declared to be his per-
Sonal views today on the matter of
defense
He outlined eight points vital to
the national defense act, as follows:
% Airplane pilots can be readily
trained to bomb accurately, as actual
experiments have shown; Cd rela-
lively small bombs can sink a battle
ship, CD 1000 bombs did not hit the
Ostfriesland, but fell alongside, hav-
ing depth Charge effect; Cd inno-
cent gasses included in explosive
bombs will temper aE1lx- -disahle-a, bat
tleship crew, (5) gas bombs or gas
attacks in liquid sform sprayed by
airplanes will put a battleship out of
commission without killing a single
man, (6) deadly torpedoes launched
direction, providing the attacking
planes have driven down the fleets
planes. in which case no fleet has a
defense against feet torpedo attack;
90 a fleet cannot operate without
auXiliaries and airplane bombs can
easily sink or render useless this val
uable arm, (S) anti-aircraft guns
aboard battleships never can success
fully ward off air attacks. Improve
IN eff of
anti-craft defense is granted, but the
unstable platform of vessels renders
the defense negligible.
Gives Specific Example.
Going into the subject of aircraft
carriers, Admiral Sims declared they
are superior to all ships They carry
guns" in the form of planes with
ranges of hundreds of miles-guns
that fire" projectiles heavier than
battleships and more powerful. He
gave an example of naval engage
ment with the Japanese fleet, as fol-
lows:
The Japanese fleet possesses no
battlcships, but has 10 30-knot car
riers and, proceeding toward Hawaii
is met by the American battleships
and the l4-knot-an-hou Langley air
craft carrier. with the Japanese
lit would be fortunate if half the
American battleships got back to
San Francisco" and Hawaii would be
subject to destruction without the
Japanese carriers coming within
sight of the garrisons.
This example also served to illus
trate, Admiral Sims said, that no sur
face vessel can escape destruction
within the range of enemy forces, and
q
not operate against enemy defended
by more planes than the fleet carry.
Says Report "Not Impressive"
Representative Perkins asked the
witness his opinion of the special
board which recently reported on the
value of aircraft, submarines and
battleships in the Navy.
With all due respect" replied the
admiral, Il was not seriously i'm
pressed" The Secretary of the Navy
had an opinion on a technical mat
ter that was not of great military
value, but it was that the battleship
was the backbone of the fleet. He
got his information from the general
board and then he turned around and
appointed the board to investigate his
opinion.
The admiral declared that he was
not impressed Dy the report on InS
attack on the battleship Washington.
In the report, he said, the statement
was. made that the ship could be
brought back to port, although she
had lost speed. a battleship that
loses speed might as we'll go down
TO the bottom he declared. The re-
port. he continued, did not give the
distance at which the charges were
exploded in an effort to determine
the effect on the ship" why this is
confidential l don't know" | could
say any distance and Mitchell would
be likely to claim mile because of
his enthusiasm"
CriticIzes Conservatives.
The military conservatism" came
He declared this group of officers
never gives in until disaster or pub
lie opinion forces recognition of a
new military weapon. He said that
he has learned from the newspapers
that the British are building two
mighty ships, the Rodney and the
Nelson, the forepart of which is a
battleship and the afterpart airplane
carriers. This is half a decision and
a big advance for the British to
make. The big guns on the forepart
of the ship are concessions to the
spirit of conservatism and are moth
ing but deadweight" he declared
With an adequate number of sea-
going submarines and adequate
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