Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1915-08-28

treated to surprise when the reports
which naval experts are to make to
the President and upon which the
President will base recommendations
to Congress are made public. This
surprise will be due to the fact that
the naval authorities of the nation
will say that the submarine is of lit
tie Importance and that the dread
naught still rules the waves.
This. the experts hold, is one of the
big lessons of the war, but one that is
not apparent to the casual observer.
The submarine has been one of the
most striking developments of the
great conflict, has attracted more at
tention than any other of the new de-
vices. Yet 1t has failed to materially
interfere with the commerce of Great
Britain or France or to have any eff
feet upon their dominance of the seas.
The ships of England have gone stead
lily about their business despite 1T and
the losses of vessels leaving British
ports has been but two in a thou
sand. The 998 have borne their car
cleared. The losses have been ac-
cepted as a chance of war and have
not prevented other ships from put
ting forth.
A path of the sea has been steadily
kept open between England and
France, soldiers have been freely
transported and supplies have gone
forward in a constant stream. The
loss of transports or fighting ships
has been so slight as to amount to
almost nothing.
Yet, the experts point out, the con-
ditions roundabout England are
ideally advantageous to submarine
warfare. Germany has had her own
home ports as basis of operations
and the sea lanes leading out from
British harbors have been in easy
reach oGFthe German base. The same
is true of the Italian ports with rela-
ton to Austria Yet the submarine
has proved itself but wasp that could
sting most aggravatingly at times, but
which could infliet no mortal wound.
Wouldn't Hurt U. S. A.
If submarines could prove them
selves a vital element in a war be-
tween European nations situated as
are those engaged in the present con-
flict, 1t is said that 1t would deserve
little consideration in any conflict
with any nation that could be con-
sidered an ambitious possible enemy
of the United States. The distance
that lies between this country and
any other that is at all powerful would
render the submarine so much less ef-
Uncle Sam would have little to fear
from it,
Equally interesting is the expert
opinion upon the part that the dread
naught has played in the present war
and upon its Importance in a consid-
Grafton of possibilities that may arise.
The big fighting craft have made so
few spectacular appearances that they
have been almost forgotten and the
public has begun to say that the big
ships are O thing of the past and that
future naval battles will be fought by
submarines and small fast cruisers.
Greatest Victory of the War
With this opinion the experts most
strenuously disagree. They state that
the greatest victory of the war so far
has been won by the battleship, al
, most without having fired shot. That
victory is the dominance of the seas.
The battleships of Great Britain have
bottled up Germany. Their very pres
ence in hidden havens around Scot.
land or ireland or wherever they. are,
has prevented the German fleet from
leaving its home ports. They have in
this way made 1t possible that German
merchant ships should be driven from
the seas and that German trade
should he entirely cut off.
The navy men hold that the feature
that promises to eventually conclude
the war is this bottling up of the CEN
trail nations and the consequent ex-
haustion of something that is essential
to it's carrying on. If the central ma
| tions are eventually successful they
must establish a dominance of the
seas, an accomplishment possible only
| through meeting the enemy fleet and
defeating 1t. This would have to be
done by big ships.
Big Ships Only Relief
The importance of this dominance
of the seas is pointed out by the eX-
perts when they say that, If the CEN
trail nations should defeat Russia and
| France and all their continental enc
| mics, they would still be blocked off
from world commerce and would suf-
struggle than would Great Britain.
Only big ships would bring them re-
lief
The fighting between ships OF the
navies of the warning nations has been
chiefly among the smaller units, the
! cruisers. In all of those contests the
! victory has been won by the vessel
that carried the biggest guns. The
/ six-inch gun has dominated the four
! inch and has in turn gone down be-
| fore that of a larger caliber. Speed
has proved itself of Importance chiefly
in running away and the results OF
the war would indicate that it was
of less importance than was previously
thought. 1t is not of great offensive
value.
Biggest Guns Survive
This dominance of the big gun has
given an added importance to the big
ship for it Is those vessels that may