The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-09-09

economy, but they won't 20 without
their cream.
Reduce navy expenses" they say.
but no discharges"
SO 1t Is with that crowd who wants
the British navy dispersed all over the
world and call It efficiency. Nothing on
earth is so deadly to sea fighting as the
dispersal in times of peace of ships and
small squadrons over the face Of the
globe.
Wanted Fleet Ready.
A big fleet and a drastic Admiral and
always on their battle-ground, that Is
fighting perfection. That's how the feet
got to Scapa Flow before the outbreak
of the war immune from torpedo attack.
The massacre OF the Pegasus by the
German fast cruiser Konigsberg at Fan
zibar was due to this absurd policy Of
isolated small craft in time of peace,
and It was said that the mission Of
the battle cruiser was totally unappre-
ciated till the Invincible sank.
Tortoises were apportioned to catch
hares. Millions of tortoises cannot
catch one hare. The Almighty arranged
the greyhound to catch a hare-a grey
hound so much bigger than a hare as
to annihilate It. And there is no case
on record of a hare hunting grey
hound So. II was with the Invincfble
and Won Specs flagship. which only a
short month before had sunk our poor
Craddock in his Good Hope.
Again the Goeben and Breslau, which
turned Turkey into an enemy. naturally
escaped because the British battle
cruisers that were In the Mediterranean
hat l.
ers that were In the Mediterranean had
gobbled up the Goeben and Breslau. as
the Invincible afterward gobbled up their
sister German ships at the Falklands.
there would have been no Gallipoli and
the Baltic would have been occupied and
Berlin captured by Russians landing on
the Pomeranian beach. safely covered
| by a British fleet. But again we muir
muir to ourselves that we should not
have had our fifteen republics and more
| yet to come perhaps.
Submarine Ridiculed.
However, the most striking feature OF
| the pre-war period was the astounding
disregard and absolute ridicule cast upon
| the submarine or the high seas. Officers
called them playthings, yet they sent
| 1000, 200 pounds of British tonnage 70
| the bottom of the sea with their still
more valuable and irreplaceable cargoes
When at manPuvres before the war q
yourg submarine commander had tor
pedoed a hostile Admiral three times
such Is the story-and claimed the Ad-
mirars ship as a prize, all the change
he got for his claim was a signal from
the Admiral, you be DAMNED" In 3
memorandum which had printed an6
circulated in January, 1914. sever
months before the war. these words may
be found in large capital letters: "Tht
submarine is the coming type Of wal
vessel for sea fighting"
The truth OF this memorandum wa,
generously acknowledged at last by ont
of the most important members OF thu
Cabinet with the remark. however, tina
1t was marred by a statement that thu
Germans would sink unoffending mer
chant ships with their crews. / was lit
orally prosecuted for building submarines
while I was First Sea Lord. but thank
to Admirals Bacon and Hall We are wha
we are.
High Praise for schwab.
When I left the Admiralty on Januar.
rs, 1910, there were sixty-one efficien
submarines and twelve were building
When I returned to the Admir- atty In DC
tober. 1914, there were only fifty-ones 81
| sent TOT A1r. ScnWhD OF Jno betnienen
Steel Works and he delivered a batch o
submarines in Ave months, an unprece
dented feat, as fourteen months was tn
record until then. These II type sub
marines built by Schwab went uncon
voyed from America to the Dardanelle
and acted there prodigiously. Schwa'
should have been made Duke. II an,
man ever deserved the gratitude of Eng
land Schwab is that man. But he ha
not even received the Order of the Ba
Egg.
This British nation is going to max
the same damned mess over the interna
combustion engine. which is just as i'm
perative for commerce as for war. Ever
nation except ourselves Is pushing ahea
with this engine. Its commercial valu
: is incalculable. Herr BALM before h
! committed suicide determined on a flee
of 10000 vessels 80 fitted The Scan
: dInavian nations, the Dutch. the Ital
fans ard Friend Schwab are all pushin
I it along. But we have no big ship s
r fitted that 1 know Of or any eve
4 thought Of.
a The board of inventions, OF which
Q was pref ident during the war, set up a
r experimental laboratory for the develop