The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-09-09
CREWS FROM OLDEST NAVY
 CRAFT

The number of submarines in commis- ! sion was sufficient for the work, and l our admiralty was also of the opinion that construction, if it was pressed on to ! the utmost, would amply cover losses. 1 In 1916 after the submarine warfare had I really been abandoned in principle. con- structon had not been pressed very viz orously. The question of crews. could it was thought, be solved. They would have to be drawn mainly from the sec ond line fleet which consisted of the old est ships, out the other vessels also would have to release officers and engi- neers in the prime of their service years. The surface fleet was not, of course. to fall below a certain standard of
 strength It had to be maintained at
 sufficient level in the face of the enemy
 forces, which were constantly increasing
 through new construction, and might be
 further strengthened by the adhesion ot, the Americans, to assist in the mainte-
 nance of the submarine campaign. It had the duty of insuring the the passage of the submarines through the enemy
 mine fields. It remained, in fact, suffi- .ciently formidable to thwart every at. tempt of the enemy to interrupt sea traf- fife in the Baltic
 The chief of the naval staff also hoped that the declaration of unrestricted war fare would have q deterrent effect on
 neutral SH1DpInS, WHICH Hdu up tO tft'
 been of great assistance to the entente.- He was quite convinced of the necessity
 for the strongest support on this point
 from political headquarters. which prov ed in the event to be something lacking
 The amount of shipping necessary for
 the transport of troops from America to
 France and for the supply of reinforce
 ments was discussed. Our navy reckoned that the freight space required for the | fro, rrf nf arfaaIr h1 endorsements amounted to five British register tons per man. This estimate was confirmed by our experience in the at tack on Oesel in the autumn of 1917. lt would thus be necessary in order to trans
 port 100000 American spiders in req
 sonable time to employ 100000 tons O.
 shipping in view of the necessity for
 maintaining supplies to the western powers. could not be spared even tempo rarily.
 CABINET MINISTER CONNER TED The economic value of the campaign was the subjectlof varying opinion in our government. The ministry of the inter for gradually came round (and this only after the campaign had begun to higf view of it's value, and the chancellor adopted this view also.
 With knowledge. of the military situ- ation and my firm views as to the deter imitation of the enemy, I did not accept literally the estimates of our admiralty as to the probable effects of unrestrict- ed submarine warfare; I knew, more oIer, that questions of transport and Of econonics generally are very difficult to decide
 did, however, think it safe to reckon that it would have decisive effect with in 12 months; that is to say, before Amer ica could throw her new formations into the scale hoped that, with the measures already taken and to be taken, we could hold out for this period on land, assum- ing that the submarine campaign pro- duced sufficient disturbance of the ene my's economy to reduce their industrial output of war material and cut down sub stantially their shipments of munitions to France. For the first few months<l attributed the greatest importance to the latter point.
 | was greatly impressed with the seri- ousness of the position by tour which I took of the western front in the middle of December, with view to reviewing the whole situation, and telegraphed my views to Berlin; at that time I had al- ready abandoned hope of any success from our offer of peace. In long discus sion on December g the field marshal ex- pressed to the chancellor his view that the adoption of unrestricted submarine warfare was essential.
 HINDENBURG MAKES DEMAND
 The latter on the 2ith stated that he was ready to initiate discussion on the matter so soon as the answer expected from the entente to our peace proposal had brought the matter more or less to finality; he repeated, however, his declar- aton of October to the effect that the adoption of the campaign was a ques- tion of foreign policy. and that he and 1 he alone bore and could bear the con- stitutional responsibility for the step.
 Our view of the matter had not The chancellor had his respon-