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Show I EDISON BATTERY I . IS THE CAUSE ' 'Gas Generated Is Ignited by I Spark of Unknown Origin. ; Washington, Jan. 18. Gas generat- Hl d Ijy the new Edison storage batten' ) Jind Ignited by a spark of unknown K origin, Is held responsible for the ex- j,1 plosion on the submarine E-2 at the Hl Now York navy yard Saturday, In a H! report to Secretary Daniels today by H,: the board of Inquiry. Tho board H,' made an Investigation preliminary to Mc that now being conducted by tho nav- K, al court of inquiry to determine the M' cause of the disaster in which five K- men lost their lives and, nine were K seriously injured. Hi Only one of tho survivors was ex- H: amlned by tho board, as tho others !. were not in a condition to testify. H Consequently, the report Is regarded ! by the secretary as Inconclusive. Tho j! findings of the board were mado pub- ( lie- as follows: U! Explosion Due to Hydrogen. "1 The board concludes tho ex- Hj plosion was due to an excessive K amount of gas, namely hydrogen, H generated from the storage batteries, K forming with the air a highly explo- H- sive mixture. That there wero two H: pockets of this mixture, one at the M ; after end of the after-battery and the B "bther at the fon-ard end of the for- M j varcl-battcry; and It appears that the H I initial explosion occurred at the after- m J end of the after-battery. !' "2 That the ignition was caused M f by a spark, the origin of which tho H i board is unable to determine. K 33 The exact conditions existing Hj in batter' compartments at the mo- H; ment of the explosion cannot be de- H termined, as Chief Electrician L. L. 3 Miles, U. S. U., who was in chargo I at the time, and the other enlisted men in the compartment at the time are too seriously injured to be ques-Stioned. ques-Stioned. "4 The condition of the batteries 8 88 at the low voltage and amperage, S2 and 940, respectively, at about 12:25 h, p. ni., would probablj' cause a rcver- Hj sal of voltage in some of the cells, Hu and, in the opinion of the board, this Bjf crused the gereration of an exces- K sivc amount of hydrogen gas." H Secretary Daniels said tonight that Ur the work of installing the new Edi- H son batteries on the submarine L-S, K now building at the Portsmouth, N. Hij. H., navy yard, would be continued, Rv atgagBgiagcxnaErrBsrripi i-i.hi um wss at least until the report of the court of inquiry was received. It is the Intention of tho secretary finally to determine whether the battory itself was responsible for the explosIT- before be-fore he decides what the future policy pol-icy will be in regard to It3 uso by the navy for submarines. There were four torpedo heads, each containing 120 pounds of gun cotton, on board tho United States submarine E-2 at the time of the explosion, ex-plosion, which caused the death of five men and injuries to nlno others at the New York navy yard Saturday, according to testimony today of Lieutenant Lieu-tenant Charles M. Cooke, commander of the E-2, before tho board of inquiry in-quiry appointed by Secretary Daniels. Dan-iels. It was later explained that the gun cotton was wot, and that there was no great danger of it exploding, but members of tho crew wore praised for extinguishing a fire that started after the oxploslon. If tho fire had continued, tho gun cotton might have been dried out and becomo exceedingly exceeding-ly liable to explosion. Lieutenant Cooke testified that he went into the Interior of the submarine and directed direct-ed tho fight against tho fire. |