Evening star., 1925-02-08

We have got TO have air power In
the Navy, for II 1t Is destroyed, the
Navy is helpless; the fleet has to re-
tire out of range of enemy aircraft"
said Capt. Johnson.
Capt. Johnson in his testimony yes
terday morning declared the Army
had violated three printed orders, to
which all had agreed on, in connec-
tion with the bombing OF the former
German ships. In the first instance
the Army planes took off from their
base without orders; they bombed the
battleship out OF time and refused
to obey signals from the control ship
to cease their firing. He denied the
statement by Gen. Mitchell that the
condensers of his vessel. the Shaw
NUT. were damaged by the explosion
of a 300-pound bomb a mile and
half away and submitted a notation
in the engineers log than an exami-
nation of the condensors was made
after an Army pilot had been rescued
from the sea and pronounced "all
right"
Firat Talked OF in 1870.
The bombing of battleships, said
Capt. Johnson. was first talked about
In 1870. The belief at that time was
that God would not permit it, but
now Everybody admits a capital ship
can be sunk from the air. he said.
Representative Perkins said he
never could understand why the Ger
man battleships did not come out and
fight, and because they did not the
money spent on their construction
was lost. IF they had spent a little
more" said Capt. Johnson, she would
not have lost. But il she had con-
trolled the sea we would have wasted
our money on ships"
Capt Johnson said he thought about
70 per cent of the Navy flyers were
opposed to separate air service.
Representative Perkins expressed the
desire TO get their viewpoint, saying
he thought Collins trapped in the
kentucky cave knew more about his
state of affairs than those trying TO
rescue him. AS a consequence the
committee decided to meet Thursday
morning at 10 o'clock and hear former
aviators of both Army and Eavy and
also several now in the service.
Capt. Johnson thought the establish
ment OF an air college as proposed in
| the Curry bill was an unnecessary
expense"
The alleged violations OF the bomb
ing agreements as attributed to Gen.
Mitchell undoubtedly were the result
Of misunderstanding on the generals
part Capt. Johnson believed. and Il
can't believe he did it deliberately"
He said he did Criticize the ethics of
publishing aspersions in the Saturday
Evening Post that the Army bombers
were held up by the Navy, when 1t was
their own fault" Capt. Johnson said
protests were made by Gen. Mitchell
against holding the exercises so far
| out to sea, but that position was de-
| termined upon because it was the
| closest to the Army and Navy air.
plane bases at Hampton Roads and
Langley Field. That particular place
off Cape Charles also was isolated
from passing ships, he added.
The Army and Navy air services
always cooperate and interchange
views and ideas, Capt. Johnson said.
A short time ago new radio set de-
veloped for airplanes was turned over
to the Army at McCook Field and
Army pilots were able to operate 1t
| 500 miles away from the station with
results. This was published as an
Army achievement, he added.
Assistant Secretary of the Navy
Robinson was sitting near Capt john
son during the committee hearing,
and. at one time, Representative
Reid, Republican, Illinois, charged
that he was prompting the witness as
| to what questions to answer.
Mr.. Robinson promptly denied the
accusation and added: Il will, IT /
want to-"
you may run him outside" Mr..
Reid replied, but not in here.