Omaha daily bee., 1917-06-03
SURFACE COMMAND
WILL DEFEAT DIVER
Admiral Sims Says Navy that
Can Control Top Of Water
Has the Submarine
Beaten to Standstill.

The cabled news that American de-
stroyers are now operating with the
allied fleet and that Rear Admiral
William S. Sims, U. S. n, is in COM
mand of this expeditionary force of
hornets, is welcome news to all who
know the energy and skill of this Off
Ger and the effectiveness OF the ves-
sells which he commands.
After bringing about that extraor-
dinary revision in our naval target
practice which changed the per cent
Of hits scored at Santiago to the 3 per
cent OF misses which were later made
on the target ranges, this officer was
placed in command of our destroyer.
flotilla and later in command of our
submarines. In the service he is,
therefore, regarded as pre-eminently
equipped for the work of, hunting
down submarines with destroyers, as
there is no one more familiar with the
capacities of both types.
The views of Admiral Sims on the
limitations of submarines must be OF
intense interest at this time, when
that type of vessel is absorbing so
much attention and when he is now
engaged in attacking them with
American destroyers.
1t was preceding the declaration of
war that Admiral Sims was called to
testify before the house naval COM
mttee. At that time he was conf
manding the new superdreadnought
Nevada. He said to the committee:
upon the invitation of clubs have
spoken before many audiences on the
characteristics of the submarine, and
I have found an almost complete mis-
apprehension of what submarine is
and what it can do. They were not
aware, for example, that submarine
can only steam for a short distance
underneath the water, depending upon
its size, from, say, forty to fifty or
sixty miles, and that, having steamed
that distance, it must come to the
surface and stay three or four or five
hours, according to the size, to re-
charge its batteries.
Limited Field of Operation.
A submarine cannot operate safely
at all in the presence of surface boats
of the enemy in less than a certain
deoth of water. The submarine it
self, practically independent of its
size, whether it is of 800 tons or l.
600 tons, draws about the same amount
of water, from the bottom OF its
keel to the top OF the periscope, us
ually about forty-odd feet-they do
not differ more than two or three
feet-and the consequence is that in
the presence of enemy surface boats
the submarine must operate in water
deep enough to enable it to go down
to a considerable distance without
striking the bottom; that is, it must
have water of from sixty to seventy
feet depth. The speed of submarine
under the water is slow-anywhere
from eight to ten knots for the aver
age submarine.
The consequence is that a naval
force that commands the surface OF
the sea can counteract almost entire
ly the attack of submarines, because
the submarine cannot go very tar un-
der the Surface. 1t must do most of its
travelling on the surface. 1t can be
seen from very considerable dis
tance from the high decks of ships,
and if it is seen and there are con-
siderable number of surface craft of
the enemy in its neighborhood it
is Immediately in very great danger.
For example, a submarine is seen
in certain position at 6 o'clock in
the morning, and that information is
flashed out on the wireless, giving its
latitude and longitude. Then it is
known that by 7 o'clock in the morn
ing it cannot be outside certain
circle drawn, we will say, with a ra-
dius OF eight to ten miles from that
point, and at 8 o'clock in the morning
it cannot be outside of certain othef
larger circle. so that vessels stationed
in the neighborhood, that can be
called in by wireless, form them
selves in line and sweep across the
circle, and that submarine has to
proceed under water. for, having been
seen, it must Immediately go down
to avoid the gunhre from the vessel
which first sighted it, and must either
move under the water or else go
down to the bottom and rest there,
which it can do only if the water is
not over 200 feet deep, with the
hope that they will not find it.
"If it travels along under the water
with periscope submerged it disturbs
the surface of the water, the regular
form Of the waves on the surface, by
passing along underneath the surface,
so that you can often see this dis
turbance proceeding like wake, and
it can from the high bridge of ship,
or from hydroplane, beSparticularly
well seen. Then two destroyers of
the enemy will go across ahead of the
submarines wake and throw out a