American Plan For Concrete Vessels A.A.P. And Our Special Representative WASHINGTON. August 6.
The Senate Military Sub-coin- mittee waited for 45 minutes today for a mysterious Mr. Murray to appear in connection with a for-
|mula lor the .construction of con ' crete submarines. Mr. Murray declined to identify himself within the hearing of the press. He said that he did not want an official stenographer present. : and also requested an executive : session, which was granted. I I After Mr. Murray's testimony. | the chairman of the committee I (Senator Leei said to the press that ] he was convinced that concrete i could be used for the manufacture ,of cargo-carrying submarines.! i which could be built with a fifth I of the s;eel used in all-steel sub marines. . Senator Lee asserted that Mr. Murray wanted to buUd a pilot plant for the construction of the I first concrete submarine, explain ing that once the forms were built, submarines could be turned out as fast as the concrete could be mixed and poured. Months of planning and organ ? isation on the part of the Navy have sharply checked U-boat sink ings in the Gulf of Mexico. Hie Caribbean, and other nearby waters. The Navy used air and sea pat rols and finally convoys under the direction of R-AdmL J. L. Kauff man, formerly commandant of the naval base in Iceland. His efforts {resulted in the resumption of a fairly constant stream of vital raw .materials from South America, which bad been cut off earlier by droves of U-boats. Naval experts believe that the end or purely defensive operations against U-boats in this area is al most in sight, but it is still ques tionable whether offensive patrols can be developed speedily enough to ward off attacks on convoys. Two More Sinkings The Navy announced today that a medium sized American mer chantman, .with 406 men, women, and children aboard, was sunk by torpedo in the Mexican Gulf last month. 25 being killed and many injured. Survivors report that a mysteri ous and '"educated'* torpedo hit the ship. The look-outs spotted an object running parallel with the i ship's course. It suddenly turned I at right angles and struck the ship, causing a terrific explosion. The submarine was not sighted. A medium sized American mer chantman was also sunk in the Indian Ocean in June. A Buenos Aires message says that ah Argentine vessel picked up 30 survivors from a Norwegian tanker west of Trinidad. The Secretary to the Navy (Col. Knox) today requested Senator Walsh, chairman of the Senate .Naval Affairs Committee, to ap ' point a sub-committee to investi gate Senator Truman's charges against the Navy Bureau of Ships in dealing with Higgins Industries Inc. CoL Knox said that the allega tions against the Bureau of Ships, that it had persisted witb defective designs for landing craft, constitu ted rather serious charges. There fore he was eager to have the facts fully and impartially examined.
