The aeroplane-versus-battleship controversy in Congressional circles arose during the Committee hearings on the Vinson Bill, Several naval experts testified that secret Navy Department reports on manceuvres off the Pacific Coast last year revealed that bombing planes could "destroy" a battleship in a few minutes. The Navy Department refused to reveal the secret information contained in the manceuvre reports, however.
The majority report to the House to-day warned that a lack of shipbuilding facilities existing on the west coast might result in a major disaster in the event of a conflict in the Pacific.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.