New Britain herald., 1915-06-26

< REFERS TO NAVY PROGRAM Expresses Confidence That Congress
 win Authorize Any Increase Recom- < mended to Place us. on Equal Mar
 itine Footing With Other Countries. Newport R. II. June 26.-In an ad-5 dress at the opening session of the Navy War college here today Secre- tary Daniels appealed to American naval officers to profit by the lessons that are being taught by the great war in Europe and to fearlessly discard all the cries 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 recommended.
 In personnel and material the navy is larger than ever before,'' MT. Dan
 
 fit. It's experts in every department are active to remedy any defects of the past and to take advantage of all that has been learned in the only true school in which this knowledge may be obtained, by observing through our experts in Europe all that may be learned from actual war, .s
 Disappearing Over Night.
 As you look abroad you see the foundation of old theories crunabling every day Old tactics, old strategies, old theories of naval warfare. which have stood unchallenged. as almost automatic since the triremes of Car thage and Rome grappled together in the Mediterranean, are disappearing over night If war ssupon the land has reverted to the bayonet and the hand grenade war upon the sea has leaped forward at single stride and broken almost every shackle of an. cient 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 We have seen the main fleet of the greatest sea nation in the world withdrawn from the seas to some se- cluded harbor without having fired shot during the first year of a mighty conflict We have seen battles be- gun at ranges believed to be impos- sible and ships disabled by shots from guns as yet invisible. We have been. told that modern sea fights 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. s 5
 UnchaIlenged at Gibraltar.
 ssWe read only yesterday of subma
 rines gliding unchallenged past the impregnable fortress of Gibraltar and the guardian ships that watch the straights. We have seen fast cruisers, raiding theFcoast and eluding the pur- suers by the help of dirigibles how ering far above and warning through the new miracle, wireless telegraphy, the ships beneath.
 with what weapons by what strategy, shall we meet the terror of ] the submarine; the still unrevealed possibilities of the airship? It is to l you, gentlemen, that this question must be put. It is to you your secre-. tary of the navy looks for an answer. My earnest word, my solemn plea, to- 1 day is to urge you fearlessly to dis {, card worship of all things that are old, and to adopt courageously anything 1 that is new the moment that some de- Ivelopment of the present convinces i2you that the old way is no longer the i right way, or that the new way points l the path to victory. It is courage of l the American people in facing new l conditions from the time our fore- J fathers dared and mastered the ter I f xxyi1I TIT ht1i1 1 therein a new nation with a new gov I ernnent that has made us great to- I day Holding wisely to whatAis good I in the past, to such principles as stand < the acid test of this great war, do not ] fear to cast aside what have proved I to be mere shackles of convention and I daringly to go forward.
 Will Assist Onward March. l T hereby pledge myself to spare no effort to. assist this onward march.
 Rest assured that what you plan will 1 find a sympathetic and attentive ear | I want to feel that when my term of I office closes my successor will find, in i orderly arrangement. the most perfect
 plans and methods human wisdom can i invent, kept always up to date, for sl the conduct of our navy in time of ! war, and it is here that the studies
 necessary for such plans must be car- I ried or"
 i AMERICAN STEAMER RELEASED. I Los Angeles, June 26.-A prize
 court at Blythe, England has released J the American steamship Portland.
 owned by the Globe Grain and Milling
 company of this city, according to l word received today by the owners. Il The vessel with cargo of barley.