Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1917-08-23
AND BEATTY HEAD
FORMIDABLE SEA FORCES

IF personalities oun for anything
there viii ae perfect harmony in the CO.
operation of american and British ma
val forces nov in the North sea- Rear
Admiral William Sowden Sims is N
Command OF the American fiotiila OF
is working under thesupervisicn of Ae=
lniral Sir David BeaJty, in
OF the British grand fleet. The TWO
nave much ia common.
Admiral Sims was naval aide to
President Roosevelt, and, therefore.
has preceded his former distinguished
, chief III his ambition to share in the
actual fighting of the great War. That
ii has been the :1i irals ambitions, rs
! We'll at the ~colonefs,. TO share in the
i fighting is generally inferred since he
was rebuked by Secretary Daniels a
year ago Tor rendering a report upon
| the great naval battle off Jutland which
WAS not considered sufficiently neil
!. trail He was ordered to revise it.
This circumstance. however, was not
the first which brought the American
/ officer to the attention of the British
! public, nor, indeed. his first public curb
ing from the ANY department. He was
officially reprimanded under President
| Taft in 1911 for his famous and as IT
now. appears prophetic, Guildhall
| speech. This address-the last drop
of blood sreech'-became a subject of
would conversation at the time of its
/, utterance,
Addressing the lord mayor and offic-
ials of the city of London on December
3, 1910, he said:
If the time ever comes when the
British empire is seriously menaced by
49,, a,,I 4nr X 80, : l., 49, n,t Ira y, fl,nt
you may count upon every man, every
dollar, every drop of blood of your kind
rec. across the sea-"
when he returned to his station at
Guantanamo on his ship, the Minnesota,
in the following January, and received
his reprimand, he received an enticing
offer from a steel corporation 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 Sec
rotary Daniels has since come to recog-
nize-independent thinking, frank
speaking and driving enthusiasm. Just
before he left for England in April as
the head of the American naval COM
mission he was made head of the Naval
Mar college. In addition to this his
capacity for leading the destroyer flo
iilla has been especially manifest. since
he commanded that section of the At
w llSSIs ItS SlAi vi -
at this post, instead of taking he trans
fer which was due him, he requested
Admiral Fletcher to be above to con-
tinue for further work which he had in
mind. Admiral Fletcher approved.
Rear Admiral Sims has long been
known in the navy as "a man WITH
ideas" His latest proposal known to
the public was for a subsea battleshiE
Before that he was the most forcefu'
advocate in the navy for the new bat
tie cruisers, and it was due largely to
his insistence that they were included
in the naval program. His particular
field of interest has been gunnery anc
he has been an important factor II
bringing the workmanship of the navy
to its present high STANDARD.
In personal appearance Admiral Sims
is all, erect and alert. He is a man o
and his hair is gray. He was born =
Port Hope, Canada, on October Is, 1853
Admiral Sir David Beatty, who sine
Sir Jol1l Je!licoe was made first sc:
lord of the admiralty, has had com
mand of the grand fleet. is a pictur
eSqueo officer, whose career has been on
of exceptional brilliance. Admiral Jel
licoe, in a recent shift in the admirai
ty due to the difficulties in meetin.
and overcoming the submarine menace
has been made chief of the naval staff
but this has not affected Sir Dacid
command of the grand fleet.
Sir David, a fighting 1rishman of tn
dashing type. was a hero of the BIRTHS
{ public for months after the batfl
off the Helgoland Blight in January
. 1915, when he sank the German cruise
Bluecher. His work in the great Mort
sea battle ON May 81, 1916, with the Ger
man high seas fleet was of a characte
/. which led directly to his promotion I
. the command of the grand fleet. Thi
battle-probably the greatest navs