THE NAVAL WAR

Southland Times, Issue 18822, 15 May 1920, Page 5

THE NAVAL WAR

MR DANIELS' CRITICISMS. ; Ey Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright. 1 (Australian and N.Z. Cable Association.) WASHINGTON. May 13. At the naval inquiry Mr Daniels said that letters written by Admiral Sims to Dr Page, then Ambassador in London, pointed out that President Wilson evidently regarded him (Admiral Simsl as owned body and soul by the British Admiralty, and seriously considered his replacement by anoher officer more amenable to the American Naval Department. Answering President Wilson’s charges to the effect that the British were too cautious. Admiral Sims outlined the combined land and sen attack on the Belgian coast, including the Zeebrugpe landing, then pending. This, in Admiral Sims’s opinion, was sufficiently audacious to please even President Wilson. Sims, according to Mr Daniels, disapproved of American plans for dealing with submarines as impracticable. They had already been tested by Britain and found unworkable. Mr Daniels asserted that Admiral Sims was so hypnotised by the Admiralty that he tried to lure the President into the feeling that, regarding future development, the United States could always rely on the British Navy. Mr Daniels alleged that a forged telegram on the subject of convoys had been produced previously before the investigation. Admiral Sims, at the instance of Mr Daniels, denied knowledge of the document, which instructed Admiral Sims that American vessels would be safer when armed and sailing independently than when convoyed. Admiral Sims, during his evidence, declared that the receipt of this message “made him ready, to jump overboard.” Mr Daniels alleged that Admiral Sims introduced a cablegram in evidence before the Senate Naval Committee which bore Mr Daniels’s name, but he never signed it. It said that vessels having armed guards after sailing were not to be -convoyed.