JELLICOE ON U-BOATS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXV, Issue 74, 25 February 1918, Page 7

JELLICOE ON U-BOATS.

j OPTIMISM INOPPORTUNE, j “BAD TIME TILL AUGUST.” j London, February 10. Lord Jellicoe, late First Sea Lord of the Admiralty, in a speech delivered at Hull on Friday, said: — | “I am afraid we are in for a bad time for a few months, but about August, if the nation holds out, I believe that we shall be able to say. that the submarine menace has been killcn. 'Die reason that our shipping losses are heavy in the Irish Sea is that there is shoal water on both sides, and the first intimation of the presence of the enemy is usually the sinking of our vessels. We hunt it down, but it stays on the bottom until it is necessary for oiir destroyers to return to port to re-fuel. The submarine then resumes its pirate’s career. ‘‘Lord Fisher (a former First Sea Lord) prepared a memorandum in 1911 stating that if Germany went to war she would use submarines against our merchantmen. That memorandum went to the Admiralty, but nobody in a responsible position agreed that Germany would do such a thing. Lord Fisher was right then, as he has been right in many cases. Of course the British Navy was unprepared to deal with submarines. If Lord Fisher’s words had been believed there would have boon time to adopt measures which would have effectually stopped the submarines from getting

out. This is the only way to deal with them. It is a superhuman task to save merchantmen when submarines are out, as the submarines can steam under water for 24 hours, and lie under for 48 hours. It is similarly difficult to keep submarines to their ports, as the water within a 150-milc radius of Heligoland allows submarines to ‘sit’ on the bottom. If detected on the surface they flee to the bottom and await night, when they can continue their course unseen.

“I have asked Mr Lloyd George

/Prime Minister) often enough not to make optimistic speeches about submarines, for tbev are always followed by a long list of losses. The Cabinet can reserve its optimistic speeches until August ’