The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1919-09-21

/
a bombshell the audacity of which
only subsequent events themselves
could justify. In a luncheon to Ameri-
can sailors at the Guildhall he made
a speech which concluded with these
words:
IF the time ever comes when the
British empire is seriously menaced
by a European coalition your people
can count upon every ship. every dol
lar. every man and every drop of
blood of your kindred beyond the
| seas"
The fact is that at the very moment
when Commander Sims was talking,
the British empire was seriously
menaced" by an external enemy, for
i Germany was then making the most
| exhaustive preparations for the attack.
The effect of the Americans statement
may therefore be imagined. II spoke
from the heart, not from the head"
! Sims afterward said. but the Germans
regarded his outgiving as mode de-
liberate. Indeed. they looked upon his
statement practically as a declaration
of eventual war by the United States;
and. had it not been promptly disa-
vowed, they would have been justified
| in SO doing. German statesmen could
not understand how an American nav
ral officer could make such a speech
except under explicit instructions from
his government. All the Germans and
Irish societies in the United States
| Immediately started a deafening hub
bub and petitions rained upon Wash
ington demanding Sims immediate
dismissal OF course the government
could not ignore such an indiscretion;
in order to repudiate Sims violations
of propriety, however. this one. in
the light of subsequent events, sim
ply became a splendid chapter in his
life story. THE ways of history are
curious" ex-President Taft remarked
a year ago. when I was president /
reprimanded a naval afficer for saying
the very thing he is doing now. That
officer was commander. now vice-ad-
miral Sims. in command of the Ameri-
can navy In Europe"
His Prophecies Come True.
In the course of this same visit Sims
showed that he had also the gift of
prophecy. He submitted a report on
political conditions in Europe. which
declared that the European war could
rot be delayed longer than four years.
This report was made in 1910l He
also said that England and France
would be allies and that Italy would
subsequently join them. This fore
cast, combined with his prediction that
the United States would be found
fighting side by side with Great Brit
ain, was not an inaccurate reading of
subsequent events.
Thus no man could have been Sc
lected who would so completely have
represented in European waters the
American people and the American
navy at their best. The articles which
VIII begin with the next installmcnt
will show Admiral Sims i'm a new
light-as tho naval historian OF tho
war. At the present time Americans
really know little about the perfor-
mances of the British navy and their
own. The fact that there was no
final spectacular sea engagement has
tended to dwarf combined sea forces
in comparison with the army. There
n more or less hazy idea that sea pow
er was the mighty force that eventual
ly made inevitable the success of the
allies, and Admiral Sims will show, In
precise terms, why this was so. His
first articles will picture Germany. as
g victorious enemy. and victorious be-
cause. despite the overmastering
strength of the British fleet, Germany
was really having things at sea her
own way The business of sea power
IS to maintain communications, but I'm
April, 1917, when the United States
cause of the new and sudden change
ir. warfare at sea, was not succeeding
| I'm doing this. The reason is that
Great Britain controlled the seas only
in part; she did dominate the surface
of the water, but she did not control
the sub-surface; for stealthily working
under the waves the German subma-
rines were destroying her merchant
ships, and destroying them at the rate
- Il.
render of Great Britain in an appreci-
able period.
When Admidray
When Admiral Sims landed I'm Eng
land in early April, 1917, he found him
self In a country which was practically
reduced to despair. England had onI,,
three weeks supply of grain on hand,
and in the surrounding waters her
food ships were going down at the
rate of more than 100000 tons a month.
No one in Europe at that time could
see anything but blackness ahead, for
no effective method had been devised
for dafeeting this campaign. Such was
the picture in April 1917. A year
afterward. April, 1918, the situation
had entirely changed. The submarine
was still a danger, but its Importance
as the decisive element in the war
had disappeared. Germany's attempt
to cut Great Britains sea communica-
tions, to starve the British people into
surrender, and to make impossible the
transportation of an American army
and American supplies to Europe, had
failed. Dark as the military situation
was in April. 1918, the allies had won
the war.
How the Submarine Was Made Help
less.
The reduction of the submarine to
a r1osifiOn of helplessness will furnish