Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1917-04-17
Anything in Way of Small
Boats Would Be Useful
Contribution, Says First Sea
Lord of British Navy,
HELP EXPECTED FROM
I, S. INVENTIVE GENIUS
JeIIiCoe Says English
Are Giving American Navy
All Information in Their
Possession,
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London, April 16.-Admiral Sir John
h. Jellicoe, former commander of the
British grand fleet and now first sea
lord, Informed the Associated Press
during the course of an interview to-
day, that anything and everything in
the way of small craft, from destroy
ers to tugs, would be the most useful
contribution that the United States
could make to the war against Ger
man submarines. In this connection.
the first sea lord asserted that the
best hunting ground for raiders is on
this side of the water, as the possibil-
ity of German submarines operating
on the American coast is almost negli~
gible unless they have base on that
side.
u have no desire to minimize to the
American people the serious situa-
ton prevailing as a result of tire ille-
gal use of submarines by the Ger
mans, said the admiral. Neither Ia
1t easy for us to take them into our
confidence and tell them what we are
doing to cope with the evil without
providing the Germans with useful in
formation. No methods existed in the
past for fighting the submerged sub
marine and the new inventions and
processes for that purpose take time
to develop. We are giving your navy
oil the Information in our possession
and, knowing its record. we have great
confidence that American inventive 4
genius will supplement it with valua- !.
BILE contributions.
Food situation Serious.
"As far as the feeding of the allied
populations is concerned, our efforts
must be concentrated on saving ton
mage, while bringing in the necessary
supplies in order to minimize the eff
feet of the submarine warfare. As
you probably know, we have bought
large quantities of wheat In Austria liza
but as the round trip voyage takes :
four times as long as that to America,
the bringing of this wheat takes four
times as much tonnage as the carry
ing of American wheat to the allied
powers. We, therefore, require all
the wheat we can obtain from Ameri-
ca and Canada.
"Our food situation Is by no means
as desperate as the Germans want to
believe it Is. but on the other hand, 1t
is more serious than many of our peo-
pie realize. Our shipping suffered
very little more in March than dur
ing the first month of unrestricted
sunk during that time was in much
the same proportion and there is no
VerV marked method of combating
the evil. What has been accomplished
is the result of inventions and pro-
Ccsses which take time to develop.
and the government is we'll aware Of
the fact that immediate results could
not be expected.
Limits Submarines.
The increasing armament of our
mercantile marine has made subma-
rines far more cautious and more sub
merged attacks are taking place. OF
course. this has one advantage, inas-
much as the raiders must depend
upun their torpedoes for such attacks.
'nd. being able to carry only lin
Uvu almbcr, must return to port
s10uaI nan when they made their at
tachs rom the surface, Our navy
department. knows just how many SUBJ
MARINES we have sunk. but the exact
number of U-boats that have actually
never returned to port is known only
to the German admiralty which, nat-7
urally, does not give out this informa-
ton.
How to Fight U.boats.
Against n submerged attack, a
host of small craft forms the protec-
ton. We can use everything from
destroyers to tugs of any size. The
danger of showing a periscope when
the submarine may have a bomb
dropped on it. or be rammed, Is ons
which our enemy does not like to face,
But these craft must be used in the
zone where submarines operate and
such a zone is hardly likely to be ex-
tended to the American coast. Ger
man submarines cannot operate over
there effectively without a base, while,
the entrance of Cuba into the war on
the side of the allies deprives the
Germans of the best place they might
have secured for such bases.
Warns OF Mine Layers.
II have already warned your navy
department that submarine mine lay
ers may visit your coast. dump their,
and return. But the damage
they do will not prove extensive. as
each boat only carries about thirty
mines. These mine layers have
dropped their cargoes everywhere
about our coast, and IL had the ex-
act figures at hand Of the number we