NAVAL SECRETS

Waikato Times, Volume 91, Issue 14133, 9 August 1919, Page 4

NAVAL SECRETS

TOLD BY ADMIRAL SIMS. DESPERATE DAYS OP U-BOAT WAR. THE CONVOY SYSTEM. The story of the United Slates Navy's work in helping- to win the war was told simply hut vividly by Rear Admiral Vv. S. Sims, in a speech at a luncheon given in Ins honour'by the English-speaking Union in New York, stales the Christian Science .Monitor. The Admiral told many of the naval secrets which were so carefully guarded .luring Use war,' especially concerning the German submarine campaign of frightfulness, and also paid a hearty tribute to the seamen of the merchant marine who refused to be denied the freedom of the seas by Germany.

"When I arrived in England early in April, 1917," said Rear Admiral Sims, "and'saw the cards laid on the table J was astounded at the situation, and within three days I cabled to Washington that if the submarine losses kept up at the rate which they had then reached the war would inevitably be decided in favour of the Central Powers. I advised the sending to European waters of every American craft which could'be used in combating the sub-marine,-even if some of I hem had to be towed." ' ! Admiral Sims denied the reports thai the convoy system was an American idea, the adoption of which was opposed by the English authorities until tests had demonstrated its utility. "The convoy system was not adopted earlier for two reasons, both of which turned out to be wrong," he said. "Naval officers did not believe that merchant seamen could handle their ships effectively in the close formations necessary. I did not share this belief, because 1 had taught navigation for"several years on the schoolship Pennsylvania, and I knew what the average naval officer lias never learned, that the merchantman is a far better seaman than the naval ' officer.' Merchantmen as Seamen.

"The reason is that the merchant officer passes his whole life at sea, while the naval officer stays' on shore just as much as he can and goes to sea only when the Navy Department orders him there. So far from the Americans demanding the convoy.system, we were rather behind the English in the matter. When it was decided that such a system was necessary the second obstacle was the attitude of tiie merchant sailors themselves. They doubted their own ability until they tried it out. "But its adoption made protection by destroyers with depth charges easy. To understand how easy it was it is necessary to understand the limitations of the submarine, which can proceed only a short distance under water, and mu-w always keep the power necessary for under-waler action in reserve in order to escape an attack by our destroyers. The advantage of . the destroyers lay in their great speed—nearly forty land miles an hour in the latest types—and the ability of their oil furnaces to reach full steam pressure and full speed almost at once. Technique of Depth Charges. "The destroyers patrolled a zone Qjiiside the convoy sufficiently wide to preclude the possibility of a submarine attack from beyond its limits, and if the enemy was sighted the nearest destroyer rushed to the spot and dropped a circle of depth charges sufficiently large to include the submarine if it turned to the right. Then it dropped , another circle to' the left, or if there were two destroyers they dropped the two circles simultaneously." On the subject of tiie number of German submarines in operation, Admiral Sims said "While I was in London there arrived at various times parties of visiting American editors, and I was often asked to speak to them. I always asked them how many submarines they believed the enemy had in operation off the English and Irish coasts, and the answers always ran anywhere from 50 to 200. As a matter of fact, the Germans never had more than eight or nine out at one time. The depth charges made it difficult for them to keep their boats at sea, for when they were not actually destroyed by the machines they were often damaged in such a way as to force them to put into port for repairs, and the morale of their crews was seriously affected. We destroyed from seven to fourteen submarines ;i month. Many of them were lost by striking mines. English Channel Protected. "The English Channel was completely protected by mines, and Heligoland Bight was very dangerous for navigation by either side, as it was sown with mines for a distance of 150 milea out to sea. First the British laid mines there, and then the Germans laid mines to catch the British mine-layers, and so it went on." i Admiral Sims paid a high tribute to the merchant service, whom, he said, "you couldn't chase off the sea." He added, "But the foundation stone of the whole Allied military machine was the British Grand Fleet, lying in Scapa, Flow, always ready for sea on two hours' notice, and so much greater in power that the High Sea Fleet never left port. With the British fleet in some way destroyed, even if we had had 10,000,000 soldiers and 1000 destroyers, and 30,000,000 tons of shipping, the'Germans would have won a victory in short order."