Representative DELANEY. Ordinarily that siren sounds all over the ship, and everybody should hear it.

Mr. DEAL. We have telephones to go to landing stations. I did not hear the telephone; I heard the engine telegraphs ringing just before the part of the ship that I was in went under the water, and probably 2 or 3 seconds before the lights went out, this engine telegraph was ringing.

Representative DELANEY. Was the ship fully equipped for an emergency; that is, with life belts and rafts?

Mr. DEAL. As far as I know, we had a life raft on that ship.
Representative DELANEY. One life raft?

Mr. DEAL. Yes, sir.

Representative DELANEY. That would hold how many?
Mr. DEAL. I do not know, sir.

Representative DELANEY. Have you any signal for danger, for instance, emergency landings; are there any instructions given to the men that at that moment they are to don a life belt or to go to the nearest lifeboat?

Mr. DEAL. No, sir; we had no instructions like that.

Representative DELANEY. No preparation made along that line at all?

Mr. DEAL. No, sir.

Representative DELANEY. Do you not think that is rather careless on the part of the officials not to prepare things in that way?

Mr. DEAL. I think every man that has been in that game with the experience that they had would not need any instructions.

Representative DELANEY. In this instance they did not get the life belts and did not get the life raft.

Mr. DEAL. Even if we had had instructions to do that, I doubt whether anybody would have attempted to do it.

Representative DELANEY. Because of the time?

Mr. DEAL. Not because of the lack of time; we had 3 or 4 minutes from the time I saw these girders go until I reached the bow of the ship and waited.

Representative DELANEY. As a matter of fact, a number of bodies were thrown into the sea; we are to assume that some bodies were found afterward and others were not recovered; as a matter of fact, had these men had life belts on, they might have had a better chance of being saved.

Mr. DEAL. Yes, sir.

Representative DELANEY. Do you not think it is a mistake not to have life belts on when an order is given to prepare to land, to immediately and automatically put the life belts on; would not that help to save a person?

Mr. DEAL. It perhaps would, under certain conditions. I do not think in this particular case it would have done any good if we had been instructed to any extent. In the keels, the gasoline tanks were breaking, and if anyone proceeded to get a life belt where they were stored normally, they would be hit.

Representative DELANEY. Do you carry parachutes so that if you fly over land you might escape by the use of the parachutes? Mr. DEAL. I think we had two parachutes for emergency landings. Representative DELANEY. Two parachutes for a crew of 75?

Mr. DEAL. Yes, sir.

Representative DELANEY. How long have you been serving on dirigibles?

Mr. DEAL. I have been in lighter-than-air from 1919 to 1926, and out 4 years, and then back in 1930.

Representative DELANEY. You escaped when the Shenandoah

crashed?

Mr. DEAL. No, sir; I was not on the Shenandoah.
Representative DELANEY. You are still in the Navy?

Mr. DEAL. Yes, sir.

Representative DELANEY. Have you got confidence in the dirigi

bles?

Mr. DEAL. Yes, sir.

Representative DELANEY. Are you willing to serve on any dirigi

ble?

Mr. DEAL. Yes, sir.

Representative DELANEY. That is all.

Representative HARTER. I understood you to say, Mr. Deal, when you stepped out of your bunk that the ship was inclined at that time?

Mr. DEAL. Well, the inclination was simultaneous with the breaking of these girders, it seems to me the ship inclined right after this, and it increased as I walked forward.

Representative HARTER. It increased quite rapidly?

Mr. DEAL. Yes, sir.

Representative HARTER. Was it inclined when you saw the gas tanks slip?

Mr. DEAL. There was no inclination when I stepped out of my bunk; I stood straight on the keel and did not have to hold on to anything.

Representative HARTER. As you went along you had to take hold of supports?

Mr. DEAL. As I progressed further I had to take hold of the girders and walk the girders somewhat as you walk a ladder.

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. You were on the elevator controls of this ship and other ships, Mr. Deal?

Mr. DEAL. I had a little time on the elevators of the Shenandoah under a man named Allen; that is where I first touched the elevator wheel on the Los Angeles, I had some training on the elevators and then I had some on this ship.

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. How does the Akron compare with these other ships you served on, in your estimation?

Mr. DEAL. I think she maneuvered much easier than any of the others.

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. Was she a satisfactory ship?

Mr. DEAL. Yes, sir.

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. What were the last orders that you heard, if you heard any, before the crash, given through the ship-any? Mr. DEAL. No, sir. The last order I got was to take a water ballast reading about 20 minutes to 12.

Representative ANDREW. Was this tank that dropped attached to one of the girders that broke?

Mr. DEAL. No, sir; that was in a different position, it was forward where the girders broke and this was slung under the keel.

Representative ANDREW. Do you know whether anybody sent for Stein just before the crash?

Mr. DEAL. No, sir; I heard them shouting for Boswell.
Representative ANDREW. Boswell?

Mr. DEAL. Yes.

Representative ANDREW. He was one of the good elevator men, was he?

Mr. DEAL. Yes, sir; he was supposed to be the best elevator man. Representative ANDREW. Was one of your duties that of determining the purity of the gas in the cells of the Akron?

Mr. DEAL. Yes, sir.

Representative ANDREW. When did you last perform that duty? Mr. DEAL. Monday, the day the ship went out.

Representative ANDREW. The day the ship went out?

Mr. DEAL. Yes, sir; the day the ship went out.

Representative ANDREW. What was the result of that inspection? Mr. DEAL. The purities were all normal-that is, they were all right. The average purity, I would say, was about 92.9 percent, with the exception of No. 9; we had a hole in that cell, and located it and patched it, and the result was that the purity was about 87. Representative ANDREW. Were they, in your judgment, in good condition for the fight?

Mr. DEAL. Yes, sir.

Representative ANDREW. What was your turn at the wheel? What

hours?

Mr. DEAL. From 9 to 10 o'clock, sir.

Representative ANDREW. What were the conditions then-weather conditions?

Mr. DEAL. The weather conditions, there was quite a bit of lightning around the ship, and the ship static condition was good, it flew better or just as well as at any time.

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. There was no great turbulence?

Mr. DEAL. There was some fog there.

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. There was some fog in the air at that time but there was no great turbulence.

Mr. DEAL. No, sir; the ship was very stable.

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. Do you know where the ship was going on that leg, that hour that you are referring to?

Mr. DEAL. No, sir; I was on the wheel.

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. You paid no attention to the course?
Mr. DEAL. No.

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. I have no other questions to ask Mr. Deal unless some of the committee has.

Representative ANDREW. You spoke about a puncture in the gas cell-that you found that day; what causes those?

Mr. DEAL. This particular one we think was caused by the lower part of the cells, the center, fullness of the cell is low, the lower part of the cell drops into these wires, and this particular cell was pinched in these wires and torn, probably a 2- or 3-inch tear in it; the way we located it, the purity of the cell dropped and Lieutenant Duggan and myself went up in the ship and hunted around and found the hole and patched it.

Representative ANDREW. Would the breaking of those girders possibly have the effect of puncturing a cell?

Mr. DEAL. Why, I think they would; yes, sir.

Representative ANDREW. Is that one of the large cells?

Mr. DEAL. No. 9, yes; 9 is quite a large cell; I do not know its capacity.

Representative ANDREW. It is one of the larger ones?

Mr. DEAL. Yes, sir.

Representative ANDREW. Near the center?

Mr. DEAL. It is right there in the first opening.

Representative ANDREW. How long would it take a cell to empty if it had a large rent?

Mr. DEAL. How large?

Representative ANDREW. That is a difficult question to answer; suppose a girder broke and made a rent of 50 feet or more, or 100 feet, in the cell?

Mr. DEAL. It would not take very long; No. 10 had a hole in it about 8 feet long one day. We were repurifying the gas in the cell and the cell deflated up to 13 or 14 in about 2 minutes; it would not take long if you had a good-sized hole.

Representative ANDREW. How big a hole is that?

Mr. DEAL. About 6 or 8 feet.

Representative ANDREW. And it would take 2 minutes?

Mr. DEAL. Yes, sir.

Senator KEAN. How long did the ship stay afloat after she struck the water?

Mr. DEAL. I did not see the ship within 20 minutes. By the time I got to the gasoline tank the ship was out of sight; I do not know whether it sank or whether it drifted off.

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. Did you see any flares go off in the region of the control car?

Mr. DEAL. I saw lights there; I cannot swear that they were flares. Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. Sort of an illumination that a flare would make?

Mr. DEAL. Yes, sir.

Representative DELANEY. If there are no further questions from the committee or from counsel, I think we can excuse Mr. Deal. Senator KEAN. You did not know what direction you were going when you started out or anything about that?

Mr. DEAL. No, sir; I didn't go on watch; I was in the bow of the ship when we took off. We had rigging to do to prepare the ship for landing. I did not have any knowledge of the direction I was going. Senator KEAN. Do you know about how high the ship would go with the charge of helium that it had?

Mr. DEAL. No; if I remember correctly, I took the gas cell reading that morning and the average percentage of fullness was about 85 percent; if that was it, and I am not sure that it was, our ceiling would probably be about 5,000 feet.

Senator KEAN. That was the highest you could go?

Mr. DEAL. Without valving gas; yes, sir.

Senator KEAN. And you have instructions not to valve the gas at all?

Mr. DEAL. Well, the gas is valved from the control car.

Senator KEAN. So you do not know anything about valving gas at all?

Mr. DEAL. No, sir.

Senator KEAN. That is to say you do not know of any instructions that the Navy Department gives in regard to valving gas?

Mr. DEAL. No, sir.

Senator KEAN. Gas is quite expensive, is it not?

Mr. DEAL. Well, it is; yes, sir.

Senator KEAN. They do not want to take any chance of losing

gas.

Mr. DEAL. From what flying I have done in the ship, they have never seemed to assume that attitude; whenever we came in for landing and the ship was light it was all right.

Senator KEAN. Your testimony here about that is substantially the same as you gave before the Naval Board of Inquiry, is it not? Mr. DEAL. Yes, sir.

Representative DELANEY. If there are no further questions we may excuse Mr. Deal.

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. Mr. Chairman, it is permissible for him to absent himself from the city?

The CHAIRMAN. Yes; but he will be available in case we need him. Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. Yes, sir.

Mr. DEAL. Yes, sir.

Representative DELANEY. Is Erwin here?

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. Yes, sir.

TESTIMONY OF MOODY ERWIN

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. Do you solemnly swear that the testimony you will give will be nothing but the truth, so help you God? Mr. ERWIN. Yes, sir.

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. Give your full name, please?

Mr. ERWIN. Moody Erwin.

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. Your rank?

Mr. ERWIN. Aviation metalsmith, second class.

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. How long have you been in lighter-thanair, Mr. Erwin.

Mr. ERWIN. Three years in August.

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. Will you please explain to the committee what happened on the last night of the Akron, so far as you know it. Mr. ERWIN. Well, on the 11 to 12-that is, when I took my watch, that is, on the elevators-Stein, first-class quartermaster, was standing by me. He had been in airships a lot longer than I have; he was standing by to help me if I tired out or anything. The ship seemed to be tail heavy. About a quarter to 12 Stein took the elevators and sent for Boswell to look over the slack adjusters on the control. Before he came back I was relieved. I went and got a cup of coffee and lay down in my bunk, taking my leather coat off and my shoes off, lay down with my clothes on.

Representative DELANEY. Which side of the ship were you on; the same as Deal?

Mr. ERWIN. The same as Deal; Deal is three bunks astern of me. The ship seemed to go into a dive to the starboard as if a gust had hit it right on the top, and a 45° angle-something at that anglethe ship seemed to go into a dive, and it had enough speed to go through that gust. The same gust seemed to take the tail of the ship