Report

Last week the Naval Court of Inquiry, headed by Admiral Robert E. Coontz, reported the results of its investigation into the causes of the recent explosions in the Naval ammunition depot at Lake Denmark, N. J. (TIME, July 19 et seq.)

It stated:

1) The total loss was $47,000,000.

2) The cause was a bolt of lightning.

3) The salvage value was $40,000,000.

4) "The location of the depot, the type, number, location and protection of magazines and the manner of storage of explosives therein were all in accordance with approved practice for governmental depots.

5) "The eighteen small subsurface magazines were virtually undamaged, and their contents are intact."

6) "The evidence shows beyond all doubt that the Navy and Marine Corps personnel who were killed met their deaths while heroically carrying out their duty in the face of imminent peril, of which they were thoroughly cognizant, and that therefore their deaths were directly in the line of duty and in no degree due to their own misconduct."

It recommended:

1) That only small amounts of ammunition be stowed away at Lake Denmark in the future.

2) That two major isolated ammunition depots be established, one near the Atlantic Coast, the other within 1,000 miles of the Pacific Coast.

3) That Captain Otto C. Dowling, who was in command at Lake Denmark, be awarded the D. S. C.: that the Navy Cross be awarded posthumously to designated men of the Navy and Marine Corps who lost their lives in the disaster; that the Navy Cross be awarded to Private Casmer N. Kensick of the Marine Corps.