Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1915-06-03
'oRTANT NAVAL LESSONS FOR US IN EUROPE's WAR.

OF defense must be In other words,
would constitute first line of defense through which the
must break before reaching shores Our second
line of defense would be the heavy guns guarding our I'M
portant ports which invading would OF course
avoid for easier landings and third defense would be
our machine guns and our and forces in general cry
den war for this nation.
ostions directly opposed each other The first of these
that the to promote to be prepared for war
to prevent country from being drawn into war Germany
and Austria and Russia armed to the teeth This faet
did not prevent clouds from bursting them On
the contrary preparation believed to have fastened
if indeed it did not precipate, the present struggle
All the world realizes that England not pre-
pared for the present struggle from military point of view
and her disastrous losses the water would in
regards numbers her fleet overtoweed the naves
of other two European The fact that England
from being drawn into the conflict On the other hand lack
of preparation has forced her to dear for this neglect
panoped for might have served to deter Germany from
challenging the rest of Europe to the fray
Of Be all this as may we are not warranted in the g h
propositions stated at the outset We not safely
sumo other words that either Preparation or lack OF
Under these circumstances would be wise to adopt
middle course Without contemplating an offensive war
ence of England The British empire not prepared for
by the Germans and addition that weapon has helped
to sweep German commerce from the and cut OIL many
German supplies Without the British standing
of two million would not have suffced to withstand the
great of the Germans and their multiplying armies
With the British guarding British waters the
heavy vessels of the Germans have been driven into hid
ing following couple of raids by flying squadrons which
avoided fortified stronghods that would enanger their own
off Helgoand the British isles have been immune from Ger
man attack save by arshps and by submarines neither of
The experience of England enforced by the results OF
our recent war game in weh our Atlantic e pare
ton that we had battle cruisers which have not mper
ascertain whether bulk navy with submar
ines cooperating could fleet of battle cruisers from
Europe, for example, from reaching coast
The result of the combat to prove concusively in
practice what the country in general already knew We are
not prepared to protect ourselves from foreign attack
on our first line OF defense the navy AS already stated
have fast battle cruisers with which to overake SINH
lar craft far out at and in the second place the naval
game showed concusivey that force of submarines
not sufficient to guard coast from attack nearer at hand
from foreign fleet.
We knew weak in fighting craft for often
sive warfare but it was vaguely supposed submarines
would at least help protect shores This veil of hope
has now been torn from our eyes and we have time at least
to build few submarines of the most powerful type to
crate against hostile fleet ct ap wio our coasts m
need go back only three years realize that republicans
also failed to appreciate true situation regards
world general wondered previous to the present what
service the submarine would afford
The value and Importance of the immersible fight
ing craft not fully realized by Germany which
allowed France to forge ahead rapidly in this particular d.
recton although Germany has been making up for her neg
lect of this service with vengeance of late If Germany
had been amply provided with submarines to surprise the
British dreadnaughs at the outset she manesty
would have been able to nfict tremendous damage her
most hated adversary before warning had been given
We living in house largely constructed of glass
however, that not throw stones at the Berlin
ment the German admiralty this respect We thought
little of the submarine service previous to the present
that did degn to give OF those craft to
efficient The submarines put in charge of Off
of low rank while the otias commanded by
officer higher than lieutenant.
This is one reason why even the submarines we had
made poor showing in the With officers
of experience to take charge of the mmersbes it was not
reasonable expect credabe showing for fotila.
Moreover lacking in the comprehensive knowledge
necessary to enable government to embark am
bilious and practical policy of submarine construction. We
feel To be the allies said to have
considerable number Of submarines from Ameri
manufacturers but in all probability most Of these
emergency immersbes not of oceangong character, and
from the nature of the situation existing in Euro
pean waters intended largely for defensive operations It
not as and Austrian and Turkish craft
it Tpperay, and what the allies need is type of craft
that is mobile and easily handled and yet that dis
charge torpedo effectively.
The United States the other hand is a country of
magnificent distances by well land, and de-
mand submarines of the oceangOing kind that take
themselves marked degree For similar
need fast battle cruisers that carry few of
guns WE'LL and with these kind of craft
abundance it would not be picnic for foreign fleet to
10 land ShO FROM raOSpO