NAVAL SECRETS.

Taranaki Daily News, 6 September 1919, Page 12

NAVAL SECRETS.

TOLD BY ADMIRAL SIMS, DESPERATE DAYS OF U-BOAT WAR. THE CONVOY SYSTEM. The story of the United States Navy's work in helping to win the war was told simply but vividly by Rear-Admiral W. S. Sims, in a speech at a luncheon given in his honor by the JOnglisli-speaking Union in New York, states tlie Christian Science Monitor. The Admiral told many of the naval secrets which were so carefully guarded during the war, especially concerning the German marine campaign of 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 I was astounded at the situation, and within three days I caWed to Washington that if the submarine losses kept lip at the rate which they had then reached the war would inevitably be decided in favour of the Powers. I advised the sending to European waters of every American craft which could be used in combating the • submarine, even if some of them had to be towed."

Admiral Sims denied the reports that 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. \ did not share this belief, because I had taught navigation for several years on the school-ship Pennsylvania, and I knew what the average naval officer has never learned, that the merchantman is a far better seaman than the naval officer.

MERCHANTMAN AS SEAMAN. "The reason is that the merchant officer passes his whole life at sea, while the naval officer stays on shore just as much as ha 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 the 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 must always keep the pewer necessary for un-der-water action in reserve in order to escape an attack by our defrayers. The advantage of the destroyers lay in their great speed—nearly forty knd miies 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* outside the convoy sufficiently wide to preclude the possibility of a submarine attacking 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 the manner 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 bad in operation oif 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 machins they often were 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 I fourteen submarines a month. Many of : them were lost by striking mines.

.ENGLISH CHANNEL PROTECTED. "The English Channel was completely protected by mines, and Heligoland Bight waa very dangerous for navigation by either side, as it was sown with mines for a distance of 150 miles out to sea. First the British laid mines there, and then the Germans laid mines to catch the British mine layer, and then the British laid mines to catch the German mine layers, and so it went on." Admiral Sims pail a high tribute to the men of 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 Mow, always ready for sea on two hours' notice, and so much greater in power tha! 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."