BRITAIN'S DEBT TO U.S. NAVY

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 14647, 3 July 1918, Page 5

BRITAIN'S DEBT TO U.S. NAVY

LpNDON, May 14. American naval aid has been of; the? greatest help to the British' fleet, 'says Archibald Hurd, the naval, expert, writing m the Daily Telegraph on thb' new situation m the North Sea resulting 1 from the Zeebrugge and Oatend the .extension, .pf British mine, fields,- and the generally increasing naval pressure against Germany. i "Wlien the war is over," he says, the nation will form some conceptionof the extent of- the debt which we' Owe the American navy for the manner In i)yhich it "has co-operated, not only m connection with, the ofinyoy system, but m fighting the submarines. "If the naval position ,is improving to-day, as it is, it is due to tne fact that the British and American' fleets tare working m closest accord, supportled by an immense body of skilled ■ workers on both sides of the Atlantic >vho are turning out destroyers' and other craft for., dealing., with , the ,;submarines as well a^; mines and bombs. "The -Germans can havo a battle whenever they want it, The strength, of the grand fleet has been well maintained. Some of the finest battleships ■ .of the. United States navy are now associated, with it. They are hot only splendid fighting ships/ but th,ey are well officered and manned. .. v "If Admiral Beatty were asked his opinion there is ■ no- doubt : . of what he; .would say of the value pf the aid/ which the United States has given m ' this respect. The conditions under which the Germans would engage us, therefore, are less favorable to them • than two years ago."