The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-06-26
SUBMARINE IS GREAT PROBLEM OF STRATECISTS
 DANIELS Secretary, Addressing War College, Tells of Revolu-
 tion of Sea Fighting. GREAT DREADNAUGHT POWERLESS, HE SAYS Air craft May Offer Solu- tion to Problem of Fight
 ing Undersea Boats.

Newport, June 26-In an address at the opening of the war college today, Secretary Daniels, of the navy de- partment, appealed to the naval of ficers to heed the lessons that are be- ing taught by the great war in Flu rope and to discard fearlessly all the theories which fail to stand the acid test He referred briefly to the navy program for the coming year and ex- pressed confidence that Congress would authorize any increase recon- mended.
 "In personnel and material the navy is larger than ever before,'s MT. Dan iels said. 'As you look abroad you see the foundation of old theories crumbltng every day. Old tactics, old strategies, old theories of the naval warfare, which have stood unchaI- 1enged as almost. automatic since the triremes of Carthage and Rome grap- pied together in the Mediterran ean are disappearing over night If war upon the land has reverted to the bayonet and the hand grenade, war upon the sea has 1eaped forward at a single stride and broken almost every shackle of ancient convention. We have seen the main fleet of the greatest sea nation in the world withdrawn from the seas to some se- cluded harbor without having fired a. shot during the first year of mighty conflict. We have seen battIes be- gun at ranges believed to be impos- sible and ships disabled by shots from guns yet invisible. We have been told that modern seaffghts would be determined in the first ten minutes yet we have seen that it took SIX hours to decide one of the greatest ocean battles of the present war
 we have seen ships of shallow draft used as fortresses to protect land armies on the Belgian coast.
 frNA read oT1Iv vesfArdav oF s11F- marines gliding unch aMenged past the iInpregnable fortress of Gibraltar and the guardian ships that watch the straits. We have seen fast cruisers pursuers by the help of d1rigibles, lowering far above and warning through the new miracle, wireless telegraph, the ships beneath.
 With what weapons. by what strategy, shall be met the terror of the submarine; the still unrevea1ed possi- bi1ities of the airship? It is to you. gentlemen, that this question must INe put. It is to you your secretary of the navy looks for an fanswer. My earnest word, my solemn plea, to- day is to urge you fearlessly to dis card theories of all things that are old and to adopt courageousIy what is new the moment that some develop ment of the present, which convinces you that the old way is no longer the right way, or that the new way points the path to victory. It is the courage of the American people in facing new conditions from the time our fore fathers dared and mastered the ter TOTS of the wilderness and built there in a new nation with new govern ment that has made us great today. Holding wisely to what is good in the past, to such principles stand the acid test of this great war, do not fear to cast aside what have prov ed to be mere s11ack1es of conven- ton and daring1y to go forward.
 'I hereby pledge myself to spare no effort to assist this onward march. Rest assured that what plan will find @ sympathetic and attentive ear. I want to feel that when my term of office closes my successor will find, in orderly arrangement, the most per feet plans and methods human wis dom can invent. kept always up to date, for the conduct of our navy in
 time of war, and it is here that the studies are necessary for such plans must be carried on."