THE SUBMARINE PERIL

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3065, 28 April 1917, Page 10

THE SUBMARINE PERIL

SIR EDWARD CARSON ON THE WORK OF Tliii NAYY

A GIGANTIC TASK

In the course of a speech at the Aldw.ych Club in Loudon recently, Sir Edward Carson, First Lord of the Admiralty, referred to the submarine menace.

1 have never myself, thought, he said, that anything was to be gained by either making things worse than they aro or by pretending that they are better than they are. (Cheers.) 1 believo the manhood of our raco will assert itself in any situation, and 1 believe that what it wants to know is what is the real situation in order that it may so assert itself. (Cheers.) I assumed my preson.t office in the most critical time of tho nation's history. I can assure you that no ono is inoro conscious of that than I am. I havo to grapple—when 1 say I, I mean the Navy has to grapple—with new problems of a. critical character, the vital maintenance of our supremacy upon the seas, and I havo to confess—and I openly do confess—that we have not yet satisfactorily solved these problems. Ono tiling J., would like'above all to say. I should advise the country to pay nd attention to amateur strategists—and for this reason. Amateur strategists aro always impatient, and aro always ready for a gamble. I tell you wo cannot afford to gamble with our Fleet. (Cheers.) Do think for a moment, when you hear a ring of men professing that they are ablo to teach tho Navy what it ought to do and what it ought not to do—do remeriiber that a gamble with your Fleet, if tho gamblo failed, would he tho end of your Empire. If the Germans like to gamble with their fleet it is not even tho end of tho war.

We Must Face Facts. But in dealing with this question thoro has arisen a now problem by reason of submarines. It is no use abusing the Germans for tho uso they make of their submarines. You may abuse them until you are black in tho face, but it will not save a. ship. A submarine, remember, operates 250 to 300 miles from the. coast. But the submarine is not the only difficulty. There is to my mind the difficulty of tho question of mines. In the olden time the laying of mines was dangerous, but it vwas nothing to what it is now, hecause not only aro the submarines used for sinking ships, but they ,aro used for laying mines under tho water, and they can follow your mine-sweep-ers as quickly as you sweep the mines and lay new ones without yonr knowor suspecting it. Do not underestimate tho dangers or difficulties of that. Mines have been laid as far out as the Cape of Good Hope, Colombo, and "the Gulf of Aden. What do you think of the gigantio work involved in the service over which 1 at the present moment preside?

I look back at the old data in the House of Commons, on which we used to try to limit, our needs. How foolish are the old arguments about the margin of one Power ■ over another. Wo have trade routes everywhere, and the keeping of the belligerent navies off tho water, while it solves one problem, does mot solve the whole problem in relation to these trade routes. Wo have war in many theatres. It is not' only war with Germany. We have" a naval war going on over the whole of tho seas—war in the Channel, war in the Atlantic, war in the Pacific, war in the Mediterranean, war around Egypt, war in the Adriatic, war in Mesopotamia and war 1 in Salonika, and day by day the Navy is called upon to supply tho material for carrying on all these wars.

The Work of the Mine-Sweeper. Did anybody "ever contemplato war of this kind? When I mention ono figure to you, that at ,the commencement of the war we had something like 150 small vessels on patrol work, and now wo have something like 3000, you will seo what a gigantic task has been accomplished by the Navy. In all these,theatres of war we have to provide patrols, mine-sweepers, mine-lay-ers, air service, boarding steamers, netlayers, mine-carriers, and fleet messengers. The work is'gigantic. It is ■ easy to talk of a gun or a. minesweeper. I wish the whole nation would understand what, these minesweepers are doing. The thousands of men engaged in this operation are the men who are feeding us. They are the men who are feeding the whole population of this country, from morning till night battling with the elements as well as the enemy, facing dangers overhead and dangers undersea. A mine-sweeper is like a, soldier who is ' daily over the parapet. He carries his life in his hands at every moment, and he does it willingly. Our position is a great one. I wish we could bring home fo the men in the shipyards what return they ought to mako to those brave men who are doing so much for them from morning till night. I am not now casting any blame on the men in the shipyards generally, but I do wish that every man would realise that the least return he can make to those men whom I have described is that he should not dawdle over his work, not merely earn his wages, • and that he should not strike while other men's lives are being sacrificed because they are short of ships; that he should realise that at all events he is living in a comfortable home with good wages, and that therefore tho least he can do is to sacrifice every ounce of his muscle and put it into the repair of ships that is so necessary.

Demand for Naval News. Wb arc sometimes asked why we do not publish more from the Admiralty. For my own part, my policy is to/publish all I can. (Hear, hear.) At the same timo you must recollect that the war at sea is a succession of daily incidents which do not vary much. Big actions are rare; they always have been but I believe that in modern warfare they will be still more rare. As regards movements and methods they must, of course, vary from day to day, hut all the movements and methods of the Navy cannot be made public. I may say this. I myself have very often been so struck by particular acts of gallantry that, have been brought before me that I have been anxious to have descriptions of encounters with submarines published broadcast, so as to sliow tho people what wo are doing. I have never ventured to take that responsibility upon myself if my expert advisers wero opposed to it. (Cheers.) The nation must have confidence in us. The nation must have patience, and I believe the nation will have patience if the real situation is told them. That real situation threatens the food of the people, threatens it to tho extent that no one could have anticipated. Why, last month very nearly half a million tons of the shipping wero sunk. Five hundred thousand tons of shinping! What docs that moan if the same rate goes on? Six million tons of shipping a year! . That is not all British tonnage. British tonnage is represented by about .half. We oueht not to forget what that means! Whether that goes on or whether it dons not' wo ought certainly to survey the situation as if it were going on. T think wo are doing that, and T think' tho people, ought to understand that any drastic steps_ which we aro taking —and I am making no broach of coin

fidenco when I say I believe they will bo still more drastic—the people must rest assured that in all those steps we aro taking we aro doing tho minimum and not tho maximum. I Six million tons of shipping! What does that convey to these shores ? If we succeed in reducing it. it is very easy to relax restrictions. For my own part I shall never agree, under any circumstances, to allow a state of affairs to accumulate in which it can suddenly be borno upon tho people that we are in a condition which they never anticipated. Remedies in panic lead to revolution, load_ to want of confidence. Plain talking and drastic action in accordance with tho situation leads _ to confidence, leads to peaceful submission by our people. Our people, I believe, if tlioy are told that it is a question of their sticking it out or the Huns sticking it out, will one and all say, "No matter what they may do, we will stick it out, and see it through to the end." (Loud cheers.)