New Britain herald., 1917-04-17
SHIPS, MORE SHIPS,
 JELL|C0E'S APPEAL
First Sea Lord Tells How U. s.
 May Fight U-Boats

London, April 17.-Admiral Si,
 John Jellicoe, former commander c1
 the British grand fleet and now F'irs,
 Sea Lord, said ill an interview late yesterday that anything and every.
 thing in the way of small craft. from
 destroyerS to tugs, would be the most useful contribution which the United
 States could make to the war against
 German submarines. The First Sea Lord asserted that the best hunting
 ground for raiders is in this side o1 the water. as the possibility of Ger man submarines operating on the American coast is almost negligible unless they have a base on that side.
 II have no desire to minimize to the American people," said Admiral Jellicoe, ''the serious situation prevail ing as a result of the illegal use of submarines by the Germans. Neither :. is 1t easy for us to take them into our confidence and tell them what we are doing to cope with the evil with out providing the Germans with use- full information. No methods existed in the past for fighting the submerged submarine, and the new inventions and processes for that purpose take time to develop. We are giving your navy all the information i'll our possession and, knowing its record, We have great confidence that Ameri- can inventive genius will supplement 1t with valuable contributions.
 "As far as the feeding of the allied populations is concerned our. efforts must be concentrated on saving tom nage while bringing in the necessary supplies, in order to minimize the effect of the submarine warfare. As you probably know, we have bought large quantities of wheat in Aus tralia. but as the round voyage takes four times as long as that to America the bringing of this wheat takes four times as much tonnage as the carrying of American wheat to the allied, powers. We therefore require all the wheat we can obtain from America and Canada.
 . Food Situation in England.
 Our food situation is by no means as desperate as the Germans want to believe it is, but on the other hand it is more serious than many of our own people realize. Our shipping suffered very little more in March than during the first month of unre- stricted submarine warfare, and other tonnage sunk during that period was on much the same position. There is no very marked method of com batting the evil. What has been ac- 'con1plished is the result of inrentions and processes which take time to de- velop, and the government is well aware of the fact that immediate re- suits could not be expected.
 '.The increasing armament of our SlN o,.s1, |, oo6 Ia a.. fines far more cautious, and more s,rbnierged attacks are taking place. Of course, this has one advantage, in- ; asmuch as the raiders must depend upon their torpedoes for such attacks, and, being able to carry only a limited number, must, return to port sooner than when they made their attacks from the surface. Your navy depart ment knows just how many subna- rines we have sunk, but the exact number of U-boats which have actu- ally never returned to port in known only to the Gefman admiralty, which, naturally does not give us this infor- nation.
 Against submerged attack a host of small craft forms the best protec- ton, We can use everything from destroyers to tugs of any size. The danger of showing a periscope when the submarine may have bomb d dropped on it, or be rammed, is one Which our enemy does not like to face. But these craft must be used in the gone where submarines operate, and such zone Is hardly likely to be ex- tended to the American coast.
 german submarines cannot oper- ate over there effectively without a base and | am sure that your mag nffcent navy will have no trouble in patrolling the Mexican gulf coast, on which a base might exist, while the entrance of Cuba into the war on the side of the Allies deprives the Ger mans of the best place they might have obtained for such bases.
 Seas Slowed With Mines.
 '.I have already warned your navy department that submarine mine lay CTS may visit your coast. dunsp their cargo and return. But the damage they do will not prove extensive. as each boat carries only about thirty mines. These mine layers have dropped mines everywhere about our coast The exact figures at hand of the number we have swept up and de- istroyed would astonish you.
 # "It cannot be denied that naval .strategy has undergone vast change 4as the result of the illegal use by Ger many of submarines. Of course. it as undeniable that their use has changed naval warfare. Their advent as a fighting weapon has made a coast blockade of an enemy's coast impossible, and has added to the dif11- culties we face on account of the nat ur1l features of the German coast line for either attack or defense.
 s.'The most striking feature of the chance in our historic naval policy re- ~,.ltin0 from the illegal use of Sub-