New-York tribune., 1918-03-07

1rith)
LONDON, March 6. "On tho whole,
naval warfare during the last year has
proceeded increasingly in our favor
said Sir Eric. at has continued chiefly
to test the strength between the enemy
submarine and the measures we and our
allies have taken for combating that
menace. There have been occasional in
terludcs, such as the exit of the Goe
ben and the Breslau and the recent
raid by, enemy destroycrs on a Dover
patrol
"Occasional raids on our conveys
and the English coast arc q natural
outcome of the blockadcd enemy trying
to harrass the blockading feet. The
exit Of the Gocbcn and the Breslau
from the Dardanelles) was raid Of
similar character.
Goeben Was Relocated
The Goeben was refloated, and while
the report justifcs the belief that she
was damaged, we must for the present
treat her as still efficient engine Of
war. The loss Of the Brcslau is'a Sc
rious one for the enemy in that area,
and much outwcighs, from the mill
tary viewpoint, the loss of our Raglan
and M-28 (British monitors sunk dur
ing the engagement with the Goeben
and the Breslau outside the Dardan-
elles).
"The Dover raid is, in a way. sat
isfactory incident 1t has been COM
monty believed that the passage Of
submarines through the Straits Of
Dover has been prevented by nets and
obstructions since the early days Of
the war That is not true, and un
doubtedly a considerable number OF
submarines passed through, even tow
ard the end of last year. more Wig
orous policy was adopted recently, and
the surface barrier is now maintained
! day and night across the Channel. At
night patrollng craft numbering over
! 100 burn flares, so that any submarine
! attempting the passage has reason
able chance OF being engaged
'To raid this barrage, the enemy
came out on the night Of February ID.
cannot comment on the incident, be-
cause the admiral at Dover has or
dered a court martial to elucidate it,
but can pay tribute TO the heroism
and devotion Of the men, who, after
being, hammered by the warships, main.
tanned their patrol and went out again
the next morning and ever since
Everything possible is being done to
protect them
Night Raids Are Tribute
might raids of this kind can always
be undertaken by a determined enemy
and are tribute to the efficacy of the
work Of the barrage.
I'm previous statements ! dealt chief
ly with the naval situation in home
waters. That is not due to lack OF
appreciation of the Importance of the
other theatres, including the Mediter-
rancan"
Sir Eric described briefly his tour OF
the Mediterranean, and then touch ed
on the smooth working of the naval re-
organization in Great Britain and the
work Of the Allied Naval Council at
Versailles. Touching upon the rea-
tions with the Allies, and remarkine
that the naval forces in Europear
waters would soon be augmented by 8
force of Brazilian war vessels. the First
Lord continued:
at is perhaps natural that the CO.
operation between ourselves and the
United States should be extremely close
| wish, in behalf Of myself and nv col
leagues, publicly to pay tribute to the
whole-hearted and generous devotion
to the prosecution of the war which has
governed the action Of every represent
tative Of the United States navy with
whom we came into contact The per-
sonnel of all ranks has the respect ane
esteem Of the officers OF the British
navy.
"Wc have the advantage of constan
consultations with Admiral Sims, wh,
attends our daily staff conferences
We have American officers working il
various sections of the British Ad
miralty on exactly the same footin:
as British officers. The cooperation
between the two nations is as nearl,
complete as possible"
Mercantile Losses
Turning to The mercantile losse
Sir Eric said:
Il have stated that the curve Of th
losses of merchant shipping continue
downward. That statement is as tru
to-day az when previously made. |
is true there have been bad weeks an,
bad months. February was, in com
parison with the recent standards,
bad month. But on the other han,
January was a good one. AS to tn
curve Of loss to the worlds tonnage
only two months Of the current quar-
ter have elapsed. but assuming tn
March loss will be as high as that 70
February. .ind that the falling curry
continues
'The trend Of the figures of loss b.
enemy action is steadily improving
The loss Of the worlds tonnage durinl
February was little over half the los
IN February last year. The loss 70
the five months in February Is 10 pc
cent less than the loss in the CORE
spending months tho year previous, al
though during four months Of the lat
Ter period unrestricted submarine war
, fare had not been proclaimed by th
enemy. lf. during the past five months
the rate OF loss had been maintaine