Evening star., 1925-09-06

ment" and their role will remain
much the same in the future as it has
in the past. If air power does not
entirely prevent them from operat-
ing" Navies, he asserts, are lin d
period of decline and changes
The surface ship, as a means of max
ing war, will gradually disappear.
I'm studying the battleship." the
author goes on, I'VE found that its
bottom was it's most vulnerable place.
1t contained no armor and had stick
ing out of 1t the open water pipe con-
Meeting with the condenser system.
The use of the water hammer or
water inpelled with great force by
an explosion under the bottom of the
vessel would certainly cave in the
bottom, spring the seams and cause
the vessel to sink.
Amused By Navy Secretary.
Recalling the aFplane battleship
controversy of 1920, Mitchell makes
this remark: 1T as an amusing fact
that the Secretary of the Navy at
that time announced that
he was willing to stand on the bridge
of the ship while we bombed it.
Forced to action by the joint resolu-
tions of Congress, the Navy Depart
ment began drawing up conditions
under which these vessels should be
destroyed. The Navy insist
ed on anchoring the target ships on
what is known as the 100 -fathom
curve, which lies about 75 miles out
to sea from the mouth of Chesapeake
Bay. As we might have to
maneuyer for an hour in approaching
the targets and discharging our pro-
jeCtiles at d speed of 100 miles an
hour, we would probably have to fly
300 hundred over the water on each
bombing raid.
I'm time of war, of course, we
would take the chance, but in time
of peace ii was entirely unnecessary
to send airplanes so far out at sea.
There were two other places that
could have been used. one at Cape
Hatteras where the 100-fathom curve
came within 20 miles of shore; and
the other at Cape Cod, where it came
within 10 miles of land. But the
majority of the naval officers were so
sure that the air attacks would prove
Intellectual. that IL was desired to
show as many Congressman as pos
sible how little could be done by the
air force, and as the sea off the
Chesapeake was the best place for
this, it was chosen.
Saw Reasons for Demands.
The reason that the ships were
anchored in 100 fathoms was because
1t was required that they be sunk in
deep water by the terms of the inter
national agreement, and, next, our
bombs would not have so great an
effect as they would if the water were
not shallow. In shallow water, if we
can burst the bombs against the bot
tom, they may explode up on against
the bottoms of the vessels with very
much greater force than where the
water is deeper, in which case there
is no 'tamp upward against the ship
ping. 1t was up to us, however, to
show what we advocated could be
done, SO we had to accept the condi-
tons as they were offered. These
made us operate under conditions that
were about as hard as could be drawn
up for the accomplishment of the diff
ficult experiment"
In a chapter on Civil and Com
mercial Aviation" the author draws
picture of great airports of the
future, housing as many as five huge
passen ger-carrying dirigibles. Col.
Mitchell comes out strongly in sup
port or lighter-than-air craft for com
mercial purposes.
1T is difficult to convey an idea. of
the comfort of airship travel" he
states. There is really nothing like
IT. The cabins are large and commo-
dious. One can walk around. There
are no severe shocks or jolts as are ex-
perfenced on a railroad train and al.
most no undulations such as are expe-
rlenced on sea craft. There is no dust
no noise and any temperature desired
can be maintained. The view from
the cabin windows gives one a better
idea of the country than it is possible
to get by other means of transporta-
ton. When people understand the
safety of this method of transporta-
ton 1t will be very popular
Hits Appropriation Limit.
In later chapter another dart is
launched at the executive departments
as follows: Another very important
consideration is the budget So long
as the budget for the development of
aircraft Is prepared by the Army,
Navy or other agency of the Govern
ment, aviation will be considered as
an auxiliary and the requisite amount
OF money, as compared with the older
services. will be subject to the final
decision of personnel whose main duty
is not aviation. This has resulted in
an incomplete, inefficient and ulti-
mately expensive system of appropri-
ating money"
Suggesting that another conference
Tor limitation Of armament be held.
Col. Mitchell declares that las a pre-
llmlnary step in developing the whole
theory OF the limitation of ornaments,
1t Is believed at this time that 1t Is
practical to do away entirely with
the surface battleship, the airplane
carrier, certain. naval bases and dock
yards and many useless and expen-
s1Ve organizations of ground coast de-
lenses. We may look forward
to the establishment of a permanent
international committee charged with
considering the views of any nation
on the question Of a limitation of
armaments."
Venturing a few predictions for the
future, the Air Service writer has
the following to say:
Il can say now, definitely. that we
can encircle the globe in a very short
time on single charge of gasoline
Describes Storm Danger.
An interesting discussion of storms
that affect aircraft is contained in the
book. Formation of a storm such as
is reported to have wrecked the Shen-
andoah is described in language re-
markably similar to that used by sur
viyors of the dirigible in. recounting
the storm in Ohio. although the
storm as a whole" it is explained,
"may move at 20 miles an hour, the
wind velocity within it is sometimes
$50 miles an hour. AS the storm
moves along the air near the ground
is retarded by coming in contact with
trees, houses and other obstacles in
just the same way that the current
along the bottom of river is re-
tarded. In consequence the air above
travels faster and the result is that
the whole thing moves along the
ground like a rolling cylinder. This
downward rolling movement of the
air has a tendency to precipitate an