ONE FRONT AT SEA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16798, 14 March 1918, Page 6

ONE FRONT AT SEA.

NAVAL CO-ORDINATION.

MEDITERRANEAN COMMAND.

LONDON, March 5. IK his speech on the Naval Estimates, Sir Eric Geddes, First Lord of the Admiralty, said the home waters had become the enemy's chief field of submarine operations. Tho greatest successes against submarines have been attained there, latterly, with the United States naval forces. On the contrary, in tho Mediterranean, which ac- . counts for about 50 per cent, of the lost shipping, tho conditions are more difficult *' to meet. There the resources aTe less adequate, and the anti-submarine successes , A are correspondingly less satisfactory. The i J naval command in the Mediterranean and i in the Adriatic rests with the French and '.. Italians respectively. The- British forces >. act under.them. .- ~ /: •■. ; The committee appointed by the Allied : ; Naval Council has extended > to naval; operations the, principle of one allied ; front adopted by the military leaders. . Sir Eric Geddes stated that he > had ' ..-: attended -a' meeting of this committee in Rome. The meeting accepted fully the 'v ; anti-submarine proposals placed before it ..'-.by. Vice-Admiral. Calthorpe, the British ; .,commander-in-chief in the- Mediterranean. ,;' r lt was agreed that the measures which had .been so successful in British waters "should : V.forthwith be adopted in the Mediterra'/:nean, and that tne main anti-submarine .'^-operations.decided, upon should be under_taken under . Vice-Admiral Calthorpe's orders. . •'•'., .■ \ -.. ;~• / 'V Describing his visit to the Mediterra- •'.; •' nean, Sir : Eric Geddes said he had in- <■ ■ spected , large establishments for combined •',■':: aerial and naval* warfare, which the British Navy was arranging at various points in '■ the Mediterranean and in the Adriatic. ..■. -He believed' that increasing benefit would accrue from the meeting of the allies' .'", '•' Naval; Council, especially as regards rapid •-.' decisions on vital matters. The allied ;'< navies kept in constant touch with Versailles by liaison officers. '••••.':' Referring to shipbuilding the First Lord said he believed Britain could ultimately ... .'produce 3,000,000 tons of shipping annually, but only if the shipyards .turned ,-, : ; out v the .''maximum amount, they' were '■ capable of. ;",; .Government intended to '- bring home to employers 'and workers in every shipyard the vital issue involved. .'.;• He did not fear that the nation would not meet the situation,