The Meeker herald., 1918-10-26
WINNING A SILENT VICTORY
by wendell r.. Phillips. in Navy Life

by Wendell r. Phillips. in Navy Life
While newspapers blare paise Of
our victorious armies preparing 70 In.
wade Germany; while platform leo
turers and paragraphers laud the
"DevIl Dog Of Chateau Thierry /;
while magazines tell Of monster mas
ses Of men. aeroplanes and guns being
hurried to the western front; while
publicists stagger US with their esti-
mates of additional shipping-let Us
pause, and, for the moment, c0nsid-
err
That secretive. powerful, efficient
force that has made all these thtngs,
indeed erything. possible Tho fac
tor that ultimately will bring Ger
many to the most ignominisus defeat
ever suffered by . nationAour Navy!
You had forgotten, Of course. Per-
haps you had given only occasional
thought to the difficulty Of getting
these million and half American
soldiers "over there" You doubt
less wondered vaguely why no large
TRANSPORTS had been sunk with sp-
palling casualty lists. When the War
began you expected. rather than dis
counted, the blowing up or destruc-
tion of our eastern seaboard cities
industries by enemy SEA craft.
When the government let us peek
into its gigantic war plans In the un-
certain days Of early 1917, the average
citizen asked: but how are We to
get oil these men, and guns and pro-
visions across the water7 We have
no ships. Our Navy-is 1t big enough
for the job9" The average citizen
was skeptical, for 1t will be rsmem-
bered In those days one heard only
reports Of weakness and inefhciency
in the Navy. .
Months passed. Then came word
OF General Pershing's arrival over
seas; then Of his crack Regulars, Of
the Rainbow Division, then Of the
vast hordes OF Regulars, Guardsmen
and National Army men. At the pre-
sent moment the fighting world 10 q
maxed--America soon will have two
millions Of men In Francei
All WIRE shipped In absolute safe
ty. FROM hundreds Of trips across
the ocean, carrying precious cargoes
Of human life and property. the Navy
emerged. scathless. It "Batted .
perfect 1000" to quote . contempor-
ary writer. Only. one transport.
eastbound, Was sunk, aud that with
In sight Of English shores.
"was It big enough for the job"
The submarine today 10 . menace
no longer. True. II 10 still . weapon,
but one whose boosted immunity
from attack 10 extinct. Germany
herself has lost faith in It. The sub
marine was TO have sunk all Allied
shipping. to have terrorissd the
world into submission.
But the war 10 drawing TO its close
with the submarine reduced to a.
most negligible quantity. Its prin-
cipal claim TO history will be that It
awakened America to action. Tho
moment the United States and its
Allies mapped out . tangible pro-
gram to combat It, the submarine ~
an "invisible", tnvincible craft, was
doomed.
Since the day war was declared the
Navy has maintained an almost flaw.
less vigil over the coast ~ we'll ~
our shipping. Most efficient handling
Of the situation has restored conf
dence to the coast jewellers whose
pulses had beat tunultuou6iy . few
months ago At the submarine scare.
Tho Watch Dogs Of the Deep-and
the Spani-la and Terriers. for no boat
IL too small TO carry on patrol work
about the cosst-ars ever on the T.
lert.
Occasional newspaper or msRas-
Inc stories. picturing the bottling up
Of the Brugg.s Naval Base or other
spectacular performances, give u
merely an insight into some Of the
operations Of the Navy. It's truly
great operations, however, are cloak.
I'd with the same secrecy ~ three
ySars ago when the Navy. In the
the midst Of an era Of unprspared.
nsns. began to prepare for war. Just
IN the civilian In 1917 WAS ignorant
Of the Nays true resources an
power. he IL ignorant now Of It's ma.
ior "perations-the big part It 10 play.
Ing In the War.
II. knows our deatroyers and battle
ships are overseas fighting with the
sister ships Of the ALLIES. KIM
George has praised the efficiency Of
our ships and the morale Of our sail.
ors. We are Already factor to b
l. A.