Evening star., 1919-11-09
The Victory at Sea &A4 & A&a5;e' Ssss:

plete revelation Of their seamanly abil-
ity. and naturally 1t fattered their pride.
The news Of this arrival. whispered
about in shipping circles. completely
changed the attitude Of the merchant
sailors. and the chief opponents Of the
convoy became its most enthusiastic ad-
vocates.
Outside Of shipping circles. how.
ever. nothing about this convoy was
known. Yet May 20. the date Of its
arrival. marked one Of the great turn
ing points Of the war; For that critical
voyage meant that the allies had
found the way of defeating the Ger
man submarine. The world might
clamor for a specific Invention" that
would destroy all the submarines over
night, or demand that the allies should
block them to their bases, or suggest
that they should do any number Of
impossible things, but the naval chiefs
of the allies discovered, on May 20.
1917. that they could defeat the Ger
man campaign even without these
rather uncertain aids.
The submarine danger was by no
means ended when this first convoy
arrived: there were still many anxious
months ahead of US: there were other
means to be devised Of experimenting
the convoy; yet the all-important fact
was that the allied chiefs now real
lied. for the first time, that the prob
lem was not an insoluble one that, with
hard work and infinite patience, they
could keep open the communicate ,ns
that were essential to victory. The
arrival Of these weather-beaten shiys
thus meant that the armies and the
civilian populations could be supplied
with food and materials. and that the
seas could be kept open for the
transportation Of American troops to
France. In fine, 1t meant that the al
lies could win the war.
On May 81 the British admiralty.
now entirely convinced. voted to adopt
the convoy system for all merchant
shipping. Not long afterward the Sec
ond convoy arrived safely from Hamp-
ton roads. Then other conveys began
to put in from Scandinavian ports. On
July Fl I was able definitely to report
to Washington that "the success of
the conveys SO far brought in shows
that the system will defeat the SUBJ
marine campaign If applied generally
and in time"
Yet. while we recognize the fact that
the convoy preserved our communica-
tions and so made possible the continue
alton Of the war. we must not overlook
vitality important element in its sue
cess. In describing the work OF the de-
Str hn ~ k1a
voy. I have said nothing about the
forces that really laid the whole founda-
tion Of its campaign. All the time that
these destroyers were fighting Off sub
marines, the power that made possible
all their operations was cruising quietly
in the North sea, the world hardly
aware Of it's existence. For back Of all
these operations lay the mighty force of
the grand fleet. Admiral Beatty's dread
naughts and battle cruisers-afterward
supplemented by fine squadron of
American ships-kept the German sur
face vessels penned in their harbors and
in this way left the ocean free for the
operations Of allied surface craft. l have
already said that. in April. 1917. the al
lied navies. while they controlled the
surface Of the water. did not control the
subsurface, which at that time was
practically at the disposition Of the Ger
mans.
Yet the determining fact, as we were
now to learn. was that this control of
the surface was to give us the control
OF the subsurface also. Only the fact
that the battleships kept the German
feet at bay made 1t possible for the de-
stroyers and other Surface craft to do
their beneficent work.
AS we look back now it becomes ap-
parent that only convulsion Of ma
ture could have! defeated the allied
forces. In an open sea battle their
surface navies would have disposed
Of the German feet, but let us suppose
for a moment that an earthquake, or
some other great natural disturbance.
had engulfed the British feet at Scapa
Flow.
**
The world would then have been at
Germany's mercy and all the destroy
ers the allies could have put upon tho
sea would have availed them nothing,
for the German battleships and battle
cruisers could have sunk them or
driven them into their ports. Then
allied commerce would have been the
prey. not only Of the submarines.
which could have operated with tho