The Mena weekly star., 1919-01-09
GERMAN WARSH|PS'
WHITE ELEPHANTS.
Rear Admiral Rodman Of the u. s.
Navy Recommends That They Be
Sunk Too Deep to Ever BE
Found Again.

Washington, Jan. 3.-Destruction
of all capital ships of the German
navy, surrendered to the allies, was
recommended to the house naval af-
fairs committee today by Rear Ad-
miral Rodman, who commanded the
American fleet in the North Sea dur
ing the war.
He said the German ships would
not be needed, that they were of diff
ferent types than those of the allies,
and that it would be a waste of mon
ey to pay to maintain them.
During the war, the combined
British and American fleets have had
such superiority over the German
feet that it dared not come out and
fight u.s." Admiral Rodman said. "If
that supremacy could be maintained
when the German fleet was in exist
ence what would be the object in ad-
ding their ships to our force when
the danger of their attacking us has
been removed?n
"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 ammunition
The expense Of making them CORE
spond to ours would be almozt pro-
hibitive.
Furthermore, there is no object
for the allies to keep them for pro-
lection. By the time Germany can
build new ones and again become a
competitor for the worlds largest
feet, those ships will have become
obsolete and would have to be thrown
away anyhow"
Admiral Rodman said the ships
should be taken out in the North Sea
and sunk $50 deep that they could
never be found again." adding that if
the Allies kept them they would soon
find that they "have annexed a herd
of white elephants"
The admiral thought all the sur
rendered vessel except the capital
ships should be kept. "It would be
foolish to sink the submarines, de-
stroyers and light cruisers" he said
"as they will be useful for years to
come My belief is that everything
worth while in the German navy
should be kept, but everything which
can be disposed with should be dis
carded."
Asked how officers and enlisted
men of the American navy compared
with those Of the British navy, Ad-
miral Rodman said that in many re-
spects American personnel as well as
our ships, has shown points of super
iority.
Before the war our ships were
equal to any in the world" he said
"Soon after we entered the war, the
efficiency of our fleet was lowered
because of sending so many armed
crews to the merchant service, and by
the tremendous expansion. But after
our fleet had been merged with the
British Grand Fleet and we had time
to get back to our old footing, oui
feet was equal to theirs in every re-
spect.
"Now after a year of war there is
not a shadow of difference between
the two, and believe as far as our
personnel is concerned, it is very
much superior. This is particularly
true of the commanding officers, fol-
no other reason than that our officers
are largely college men,
''The enlisted personnel of our navy
is much more adaptable for the reas-
on that our men are taught from
their earliest school days to be self
reliant, and also because there is nc
great social distinction between the
officers and men. In many cases
they are drawn from the same social
strata"
Admiral Rodman made it clear
however, that he did not want to ap-
pear to be drawing sharp contrasts
between the navies 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
with the greatest friendliness, in
many ways"
Boy Dies Near Potter.
Clayborn Powell, the 15-year-old
son of Mrs. X. ]. Powell, died Friday