The Evening Star WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1936. NOTED SAILOR PASSES.

Evening Star, Issue 22457, 30 September 1936, Page 8

The Evening Star WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1936. NOTED SAILOR PASSES.

Moments charged with tense anxiety during the war period are recalled by the death in the United States of Admiral William Sims. The German U boat operations were more than a menace. They were a cause almost of despair, as post-war revelations have proved. At the time, though it was generally realised in the Allied countries that the danger was very grave, only a few highly-placed persons in the British Cabinet and in the fighting services knew that a point that threatened complete disaster had been reached. The United States Government was slow to wake to the realities of the position, and it was fortunat-e indeed that Mr Walter Page was the American Ambassador in London. When the United States entered the war in April of 1917 two great problems faced British statesmen. The first was financial. The enormous cost of the war, entailing support to the Allied countries, had exhausted British credit in America. Lord Balfour’s mission to New York and Mr Page’s representations from London solved this problem, and the risk of the isolation and starvation of Great Britain from lack of money was overcome. It meant that the supplies so essential to victory would be forthcoming. The second problem, and the greater, remained. German submarines i

were lying off the waters south and west of Ireland, ready to sink the supply ships as soon as they entered the prohibited zone.

Admiral Sims had been put in charge of the operations of the American warships in European waters, and he and Mr Page were employing their energies in London to bring about co-operation in the efforts to combat the U boat activities. Mow imminent was the danger is illustrated in a subsequent remark by Lord ilalfoiir. “ That was a terrible week we spent at sea in that voyage to the United States,” he said. We knew that the German submarine campaign was succeeding. The U boats were destroying our shipping, and we had no means of preventing it. I coulcf not help thinking that we were facing the defeat of Great Britain.” Writing to President Wilson, Mr Page put the position tersely. “It is a momentous crisis,” he wrote. “ The submarines are destroying shipping at an appalling rate.” Admiral Sims reached London three days after America entered the war. His arrival was welcomed, for there was no American naval officer, Mr Pago declared, whose professional reputation stood so high in the British Navy, or who was so personally acceptable to British officialdom or to the British public. Admiral Sims had an interview with Lord Jellicoe, and learnt the appalling facts. Germany was winning the war. Great Britain had only six weeks’ food supply on hand, and the submarines were sinking the ships at a rate which, unless the depredations could be checked, meant an early and unconditional surrender of the British Empire. Urgent messages were cabled in code to Washington by Sims and Page. The American Government was supine —apparently indifferent. Stronger representations were made. Thanks to the persistence of these two men and the appeals of Lord Balfour, the United States Navy Department was stirred to effective action. As we know, the U boat menace was overcome, and American co-oppration was a substantial help. Admiral Sims was a man of action, possessing, Air Page said, admirable judgment—unexcitable and indefatigable. He was as fearless in peace as in war, and in 1920 he made an extensive report to tho United States Senate Naval Affairs Sub-committee alleging grave errors on the part of tho American Navy Department in the management of the United States naval operations during the war. He did not hesitate to contradict a statement by Lord Wemyss that the successes of the German under-water craft were solely due to illegality of the way in which they were used. Admiral Sims declared that while Germany’s success in destroying commerce was due to the illegal use of submarines, still it was also true that the submarine was used to a considerable extent with perfect legality in attacking ships in mid-Atlantic. Admiral Sims will go down in. history as a man of character and achievement, who rendered conspicuous service to the Allied cause in a time of great peril. ’