The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-06-02
COULD END USE OF KEEL CANAL
 BY AIR ATTACK
French Admiral Explains Plan to Extend Blockade
 to Baltic Coast.

Paris, June 2.-The allies could tend their blockade to the German coast in the Baltic and neutralize the strategic advantages of the Kiel canal, | according to Vice4Admira1 Deguoy of the French navy.
 tions to accomplish this, he points out would be an attack upon the can al by an aerial force of 120 to 150 units divided into flotillas of 20 to 30 i machines each. One of the flOtillas | would attack the bridge of Gruntha1, | one the viaduct of Rendsburg, and | another the bridge of Levansau, while three other floti11as held in reserve would repeat the attack after an in l terva1 of 24 to 40 hours. The first dotilla would resume their attack af- I ter the time required for taking on | fresh supplies and the reserve f1otil- las would follow again as before. 1 This continuity Of attack from the | air uporA works known to be vu1ner- able by reason of the instability of | the soil in certain places and the in sufficient reinforcement of certain l bridge heads after the enlargement | of the canal, would Admiral Deguoy l declares, assure obstruction of suffi- ! cient duration; whatever defensive 1 measures the Germans might take | against these concerted attacks would
 not prevent fruitful results.
 | While the base from which such air
 assaults might be made is only hinted at by Admiral Deguoy, an operation | speedily executed would, according to l his theory make possible a landing at
 isolated points on the German coast | and it's sufficient fortificauon so as fully to protect the establishm ent of
 an immense aviation camp within 60 to so miles of the canal terminus.
 The forcing of the straits and mine iaz6 z6-x i've doTa 0l lbs l es from submarines and mines before the Entente fleets would get into eff fective contact either with the Ger man battle fleet the defenses of the Elba, the Admiral declares, but he did not think this should be con-
 sidered as prohibitive of the effort. Admiral Deguoy discards the, hypoth-
 esis that it would be possible to sur T prise the German fleet under pres ent conditions; it's mobility would be such that it could meet attack at either end of the icana1, since it re- | quires only twenty-four hours to pass
 through the Elba md the canal to the | Grand Belt.
 The Entente Allies could put into .l action no vessels of the line, of which 76 are dreadnoughts and 2S are pro- | tected cruisers, against A German
 dreadnoughts and three or four bat tie cruisers, according to the Admir- aPs estimate. The Russian fleet is
 not included in these figures, but Ad-
 mira1 Deguoy points out that even if the Russians could not join the
 British and French fleets they would
 detach a certain number of the biz
 German units so as to enable the al
 lies to present at both ends of the
 canal simultaneously forces outnum-
 boring the entire German fleet.
 This estimate takes no account o1
 probable losses in approaching the l positions, and hence the Admiral
 holds that effective operations of the
 air fleet on the canal is an essential
 condition of a successful attack, The forcing of the Grand Belt and the
 Langeland Belt in sufficient strength
 to blockade the fiord of Kie1 and the
 forcing from west to east of the Frehr-
 mann Belt, Admiral Deguoy declares
 is, notwithstanding the mine field and
 submarines, far easier than the fore ling of the Dardanel1es, and entirely
 feasible with the cooperation of ar
 aerial feet.