Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1917-06-01
"Patrol Fleet Can Control
U-BOatS"---Admiral Sims
Eagle Bureau,
9O1 Colorado Building.

Washington, May s-Resr Admiral
William s. Sims of the United States
Navy is a firm believer in the efficacy
of q big patrol feet of small vessels
operating against submarines. Ad-
miral Sims, who is now abroad, has
been representing this country at a
series of important war conferences in
Paris. Ever since the war began he
has spent most of his time abroad, as
an observer, and has more knowledge
concerning actual conditions Of naval
warfare in European waters than any
other American officer.
Admiral Sims was In the United
States for a short time last winter and
appeared before the Naval Committee
of the House while that body was seek
ing light in framing Its annual bill.
At that time e only
discussed in much detail the battle Of
Jutland and gave his views as to the
relative values OF different types of fight
ing craft, but he discoursed e extensively
on the submarine problem and the
methods of solving 1t. The submarine
question was introduced in connection
with the defense of the Panama Canal,
and among other things Admiral Sims
told the committee:
"a submarine cuts no Ice at all as
long as your enemy has control of the
surface In the area in which he oper-
ates. A feet has line after line of scouts
out, and as soon as q submarine comes
along she has to go to the bottom. Take,
for example, the band Of water across
the English Channel, where hundreds
of thousands of troops and hundreds of
thousands Of tons of supplies have been
sent across the continent, and trans
ports are going back and forth all the
time, and nothing happens. That is be-
cause that water Is throughly patroled.
II do not know whether you gentle
men know how dangerous a sufficient
number of patrol vessels can make 1t
for submarines. | have Explained that
to perhaps fifteen or twenty civilian
audiences who have wanted to know
about the Navy. To give you an idea
of what the thing means let me say
this: Suppose this table is the English
Channel. The channel is divided into
sectors, and each sector is in command
of an officer, with a sort of central con-
troll for the whole business. They pro-
tect the Channel against submarines.
The Channel is regularly Tatrolled, and
that patrol is kept at work all the time
The chances for a submarine to get
thropQh5h atIpatrol are very small.
Suppose, for instance, q submarine is
sighted here (illnstrating). AS soon as
the patrolling vessel sees the submarine
she has Il go down. The commander
of the patrolling vessel Immediately
sends out a wireless saying that the
submarine was at such and such q
point at such q time, say, 6 o'clock In
the morning. By 7o'clock the subma-
rine will be within that area (illustrat-
ing) and by s o'clock it will be within
this area (illustrating).
sThe commander of the fiotilla at
this point (illustrating) will start out
his 1otilla from this point (illustrating)
and deploy on a line from there TO
there (illustrating) by eight o'clock,
and if the submarine Is there 1t
will be seen. Al the q e
time %airplanes go out and they begin
to look for the submarines. They look
for traces of the disturbance on the sur-
face of the water caused by that body
going underneath the surface, for, al
though the submarine may be down
100 or $50 feet, there will be a disturb
ance on the surface. AS soon as the
man in the airplane sees the disturb
ance on the. surface he will notify the
destroyers and a destroyer lowers a net
in front of the submarine.
This net is about 300 yards long aud
about 100 feet deep. 1t is made of wire
not much bigger around than a
match, and the. meshes are about ten
feet square, and when you bundle 1t
up 1t makes a very small bundle. You
can put 1t in a small trough in the
stern of the destroyer. The submarine
comes along, this net is put out and ii
forms a barrier in front. The submarine
sticks its nose through one of these
meshes in the net and is caught. The
floats of the net remain on the surface
and the submarine cannot get away
1t. If she goes down 10 the bot
tom the patrol boats know where she
IL, and then the commander Of the SUBJ
marine Is ordered to say whether he
will come up or not. That is what
it dangerous for submarines
to operate in the English Channel.
IN - - ~ oxx 40 m fc lIIro