6,750 airplanes equal 15 Battleships--Cook. Washington, D.C., Feb. 25. Testifying before the House Naval Affairs Committee today, Rear Admiral Arthur B. Cook, Chief of the Navy Department Bureau of Aeronautics, declared that it would take 6,750 airplanes to give the same volume of fire in one hour of 15 battleships. The cost of the 6,750 planes would be approximately seven times that of the 15 battleships if replacement requirements of the airplanes were considered, 2/25/38