Evening star., 1933-04-04
navy TO.CONDUCT
!. ITS own INQUIRY
All Washington Is Shocked
by Aviation's Worst
= Catastrophe.
(Continued From First Page.)

that she would not give up hope. The
Presidents announcement indicated that
the Government itself was without hope
OF further rescues.
For hours in the silence of the Navy's
communications office, officers sat last
night grimly hoping for the finding alive
of more of their comrades than the few
picked up in the early morning. But
as the day drew on, what hope there
was diminished.
Aides of the President decided not to
disturb his sleep when the first re-
ports filtered in from the Jersey coast.
Once the circumstances became plain,
however, a hustle stirred the White
House akin to that at the Navy De-
partment to make sure Of prompt relay
of the situation for Mr.. Roosevelt.
The first official word from the Navy
to the President was that the Akron
had been caught by storm, probably
been hit by lightning, caught fire and
finally crashed at 1890 am.
The department told the President
that of the rs or II men on board, only
four were rescued, one later dying.
investigations Demanded.
From Capitol Hill, Senators and
Representatives poured inquiries into
newspaper Offices as to just what had
happened and the prospects. Demands
for an investigation were made even as
the Navy itself moved to initiate one.
The accident also aroused slumber1ng
opposition to the expenditure OF money
for lighter-th -than-air vessels.
The cruiser Portland. from the crash
scene, notified the Navy at 9 am. that
the Akron caught fire after 1t fell. on
Barnegat Inlet 1t said no survivors
and no bodies had been found by the
two Coast Guard planes and several
vessels in the search.
The report said that the Akron was
In severe electrical storm before she
went down, but that Lieut.. Comdr.
Wiley, apparently the sole officer who
escaped, "gives no reason for crash"
Wiley, two enlisted men who were
rescued, and the body of r. w. Cope
land, who died after he was picked up
by the tanker Phoebu9, were en- route to
New York in the Tucker.
The message from the Portland said
two Coast Guard planes and the
cruiser had covered most probable
areas en- route to present position,
apparently referring to the area where
survivors might be seen or bodies might
be picked up.
Believed Impossible.
As the demands arose on Capitol Hill
for an investigation, Senator Walsh,
Democrat, of Massachusetts,, a member
of the Naval Committee, asserted that
a prompt, thorough and direct inves-
tigation should be undertaken without
delay"
"The tragedy that has overtaken the
Akron is appalling" he said. II thought
phes in the Army and Navy had led
to the exercise of such care and cau-
ton that an accident of this propor-
tion was almost impossible"
Senator Dill, Democrat, OF Washing
ton, a former member of the Naval
Committee, who had consistently op-
posed appropriations for lighter-than-
air craft, called the mishap another
ILLUSTRATION of the awful waste of
money in building great gas bags that
serve only as sky shows in peacetime
and are worthless In war"
"One little airplane would put them
out of use in minute" he contended.
I'VE have wasted more money on
them than anything we have done IN
the Navy. ~
st don't see what use they would be
In war and they risk the lives Of good
men. It Is a crime to put the boys in
those things and we in Congress are to
blame for letting the Navy talk us into
it,
At the same time Representative Nc
Clintic CDemocrat) Of Oklahoma, Spon-
sor of the investigation Of a charge of
sabotage made by the House Naval
Committee last Congress, said he always
had felt the airship might have been
irreparably damaged by its accident at
Lakehurst.
McClintic was one of the Representa-
tives standing on the ground waiting for
q trial flight in the airship at the time
Of that accident.
when you throw an airship weighing
100 tons against the ground McClintic
said, that blow is bound to have an
effect on its construction one way or
another"
McClintic recalled that the Akron was
$4,000 pounds above specified contract
weight and because of that weight had
not been able to carry enough fuel for
d safe cross-continent trip"
Mrs. Moffett Bears Grief.
"This is terrible catastrophe" Nc
Clintic said. But hope 1t will cause
those building the Macon and those who
operate it to be more careful"
Meanwhile, the wife of Rear Admiral
William A. Moffett-who was aboard
the aircraft-was upholdtng the Navy
tradition that the wife of Navy man
doesn't become discouraged and lose
hope easily.
Through the late night she had wait
ed patiently for cheering word, bearing
up, friend said, lust like the wife Of
any Navy man.
Mrs. Mofett has two sons in the
naval aviation service.
With her were two children, Charles
E~94 ~ lAl- -
whom attend school here.
On the West Coast are stationed En-
sign William A. Moffett, jr., now re-
ported flying to the Aleutian Islands.
ard Lieut.. George H. Moffett, who is
aboard the flying cruiser Lexington.
There is one other child, Janet, the