Evening star., 1925-11-19
NAVY MEN SCORED
BY ADMIRAL SIMS
High Officers "Unfit and Un.
educated" He Testifies, at
Mitchell Court-MartiaI.

Admiral William S. Sims, L. $. n.
retired, commander of American
forces in European waters during the
World War and the NavyS chief
critic, went to the defeuSe of Col.
William Mitchell, on trial before the
Army general court martial yesterday
afternoon, and i'll testimony fraught
with pointed and irunical assertions
condemned high ranking naval officers
VINO have not been educated at the
Naval War College as "hidebound, un-
ut and uneducated."
Just as Capt. Anton Heinen, the
noted German dirigihle expert. fur
nished the outstanding testimony at
tne morning session. SO did Admiral
SIMS with respect to the afternoon
meeting. He had a close rival. how
ever in Maj. Francis Il. Wilby of the
general staff and an assistant trial
Judge advocate, who sought to draw
from Maj. w. L. Blair. meteorological
expert OF the Signal Corps. admission
that Col. Mitchell was directly re-
SponSlble for the crash OF the Curtiss
Eagle in 1921 and the death of it's
six occupants.
Names Freely Mentioned.
Admiral Sims reiterated testimony
given before the Lampert aircraft in
NSSt1satlnS committee last March and
the President : Air Board Il few weeks
ago about the 'uutrained" men in
hlSh comma nd rank in the Navy
Names, however, We're brought in by
Mag. Allen J. Gullion, assistant trial
judse advocate, including Admiral
f.nerle, chief of naval operations, but
tnls d1d not deter the witness from de-
claring II certainly do" when asked
II he thought they We're unqualified
Tor command duty
Inc witness repeated former state
ments that the order given the Shen-
hndoah to fly over State fairs" was
wrong and lin violation of the first
principles of command" He also de-
clared the aircraft carrier is the cap
:tal ship of today and the future, and
hence the backbone of the fleet His
assertions that the Navy has no
policy for aviation other than that it
is an auxiliary in Il well balanced
1eet, which means absolutely nothing"
were challenged by the prosecution.
which sought to prove that the ad
Iniral had attended many meetings of
the general board when serious prob
lens pertaining to aircraft We're dis
cussed and policies formulated The
witness denied positive recollection of
these meetings.
Maj. Blair, in the course of his tes-
tlmony on the uncertainty of accu-
rate weather forecasts. said a suualI
struck down the CurtiSS Eagle be-
tween Langley and Boiling Fields in
l92l and killed six occupants Mai
Nilby after securing the admission
that Col. Mitchell was the senior Air
service officer at Langley Field when
the plane started for Washington, de-
ciared the accused therefore is re-
sponSlble for the lives lost"
Mitchell i'm Same Storm.
Il don't think so" said the witness.
He made the flight himself in an
oSher plane
Il understand he did make the trim
IN slngle-seated plane. but had a
dffhcult time getting to Washington"
Maj. Blair emphatically declared at
present 1t is virtually impossible to
give accurate forecasts of sponta-
neouS weather disturbances between
TWO distant points, but declared better
predictions could be given if more
meteorological stations were located
along an airline
Ernest Sheehan, Cambridge. Ohio.
newspaper man, testified an attempt
mad been made to control press re-
ports from the scene of the Shen.
andoah disaster.