The Sentinel=record., 1919-01-04
ADMIRAL RODhAN FAVORS
 SINKING GERMAN SHIPS
CONTENDS THAT THE EXPENSE OF MAINTAINING THE SHIPS
 WOULD BE ENORMOUS.

Washington. Jan. Destruction of all capital ships of Che German navy, surrendered to the allies. was recommended to the house naval ar- fairs committee today by Rear Ad miral Rcdmau. who commanded the American fleet in the North sea dur Ing the war
 During the war the combined Brit ish and American fleets have had such a predommatirg superiority over the German fleet that it did not come out and fight us" Admiral l41dman said ".f that supremacy could be maintained when / German fleet was in existence. what would be the object in addins their ships to our force whon the danger of their at acking us had been remcyed?
 'The expense of maintaining the ships would be enormous The types are entirely different from those of the British and American fleet They are equipped with different guns and use a different kind of aIuunition The expense of making them corre- 5pond to our would be almost pro hibiuve.
 "Furthormcre. there is no object for the allies 10 keep them for pro lection By the time Germany can auild new ones and again become competitor for the worlds largest fleet these ships will have become obsolete and would have to 0c thrown l away anyhow"
 Admiral Rodman said the ships should be taken out in the North see
 md sunk "so deep that they could never be found again. adding that i
 the allies keep them, they will soon find that they have annexed a nero of white elephants"
 The admiral thoIenc all the surren l dered vessels except the capital ships l ,hould be kept IL would be foolis j. 10 sink the submarines, destroyers
 and light cruisers, he said, "as they
 will be very useful for years to come | My belief is that everything worth
 while in the German navy should be
 kept, but that every thing which can be dispensed with should be dis
 eardad.'
 Asked how officers and enlisted men of the American navy compared | with those of the British navy Ac- l miral R0dman said that in many re spects American peitsonnel ns wei as our ships, has shdHn po.nts of superiority.
 Before the war our ships were 1 equal to any in the world. he said l sSoon after we entered the war the l efficiency of our fleet was lowered because of sending so many armed crews to the merchant service. and 8y the tremendous expansion. But | after our fleet had been merged with ! the British erand fleet and we had | time to get back to our old footing | our fleet was equal to theirs in every 1 respect. Now after @ year of war l there is not a shadow of difference l between the two, and l believe Una as far as our personnel is concerned 1t is very much superior. This is | IFarticularly true Of the commandne officers for no other reason than our officers are largely college men
 "The enlisted personel of our navy is much more adaptaDle for the reas on that our men are tau3ht from their earliest school days to be self-re- liant. and also because there $ no great social distinction between tho o6Ecers and men In many Cases they are drawn from the same social l strata
 Admiral Rodman made it clear however. that he d-d not want to ap- l pear to be drawing sharp contrasts between the nayies of the two coun- | tries because the British navy has | proven that it is amply able to take | care of itself and has helped ours, witk the greatest fr.endlmess, In | many ways