The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-05-19

naval forces now in the North Sea. Rear Admiral William sowden Sims is in command of the American f1o- tilla of destroyers in the submarine zone. He will work under the su- pervision of Admiral Sir David Beat ty, in command of the British Grand Fleet The two have much in com fnoR.. k
 N Sir David is anaiably regarded in this country as part American because he has an American wife, the daughter of the late Marshall Field of Chfca- go. Admiral Sims, on the other hand 1 lis Canadian by birth. Mrs. Sims, however, like Admiral Beatty's wife, is an American the daughter of the late Ethan Allen Hitchcock, Secre- tary of the Interior under Presidents Mckinley and Roosevelt and at one tfHae Ambassador to Russia.
 Admiral Sims was naval aide to I President Roosevelt and, therefore, has preceded his former distinguish ed chief in his ambition to share in the actual fighting of the great war. That it has been the AdmiraTs annbi- ton, as we'll as the -CeloneFs, to share : iA the fighting is generally inferred siHce he was rebuked by Secretary paniels a year ago for rendering a re- ! port upon the great naval battle off ,Jutfand which was not considered suf- ficiently s-neutrak' r He was ordered to revise it.
 This circumstance, however, was not { the first which brought the American offfcer to the attention of the British public, nor, indeed, his first public [ curbing from the Navy Department. He was offctal1y reprimanded under President Taft in 1911 for his fa- nous, and as it now appears pro : phetfc Guildhall speech. This ad- i dress-the Hast drop of blood speech became subject of world ! conversation at the time of its ut terance.
 Addressing the Lord Mayor and of l ficials of the City of London on Dec. 8, 1s1os he said
 ~n the time ever comes when the British Empire is seriously nenaced ! by an external enemy 1t Is my opin- lon that you may count upon every man, every dollar every drop of blood of your Kindred across the sea
 When he returned to his station at Guantanamo on his ship, the Mime haha, in the following January, and T6CSIRS0 n33 I&B444AdAS2s li0 ICCCAfCo m enticing offer from steel corpora ton to leave the navy for business, but he declined The Guildhall speech and the Jutland battle report both were Characteristic of qualities in the Admiral which Secretary Daniels has since come to recognize Independent thinking, frank speaking and driving enthusiasm Just before he left for England in Aprn as the head of the American Naval Commission he was made head of the Naval War College In addition to this his capacity for leading the destroyer fiotilla has been especially manifest, since he com rnanded that section of the Atlantic feet At the end of two years at this post, instead of taking the transfer whichGwazsdues hims he requested Admiral Fletcher to bs allowed to continue for further work which he I had in mind Admiral Fletcher ap- proved
 Rear Admiral Sims has long been known in the navy as "a man with Ideas" His latest proposal known to the public was for subsea battle .ship- Before that he was the most forceful advocate In the navy for the new battle cruisers. and it was due largely to his insistenca that they were included in the naval program HIS particular field of interest has N been gunnery and he has been an inn portant factor in bringing the marks manship of the navy to it's present high standard
 More than Is usual with naval off cers, Admiral Sims has the ability for making the landsrnan see naval af- fairs in1terfnS which he understands, and to- this has been due much of his success in having his recommends lions adopted by Congressional com mittees. His outline of the need of fleet for the various types of vessels was clearly presented at the time the fight for battle cruisers was on in Con- gress, when he drew a vivid parallel between a land and naval action, showing how fleet without destroy CTS, fast cruisers and vessels of. all types was no more nearly prepared for an engagement than an army of artillery without cavalry or infantry or all the other essential units in an open land battle
 In personal appearance Admiral Sims is tall, erect and alert He is a man of striking presence. He is 5s years old and his hair is gray. He was born at Port Hope, Canada, on Oct IS, 1858, and graduated from An napo1is with the class of 1880.
 Admiral Sir David Beatty, who since Sir John Jeilicoe was made First Sea Lord of the Admiralty, has had com mand of the grand fleet, is pictures ' que officer, whose career has been one of exceptional brilliance. Admiral Jel- licoe, in recent Shift in the Admiral ty due to the dificulties in meeting and overcoming the submarine men, ace, has been made Chief of the Ma val Staff, but this has not affected Sir David's command of the grand fleet.
 Sir David. a fighting Irishman of the dashing type, was the hero of the British public for months after the battle off the Helgoland Eight in Jan- uary, 1915, when he sank the German cruiser B1uecher. His work in the great North Sea battle on May 31 1918. with the German high seas fleet was of a character which led directly *o bis promotion to the commend of the grand fleet. This batt1e-probab- ly the greatest naval fight in history was first reported from Berlin, and was made to appear as a distinct British defeat. From Berlin accounts 1t was made to appear that the Brit fish fleet and Sir David's battle cruiser squadron in particular showed up bad 1T