Republican farmer., 1920-03-19
Little 'B1ufff'' And Germany
 Had Ended Transportation

Washington, March 16 - A little '"bIuff'' by the Germans in 1918 at the crucial point of the war, would have paralyzed transportation of soldiers and war materials between this country and Europe, Read Admiral Sims today told the Senate naval sub committee.
 Information from authentic sources indicating that the Germans were building two heavily armored mod ern battle criusers for a desperate last hope raid against troop ship con- VOWS was transmitted to the navy de- partment, Admiral Sims said, and inn mediately he was besieged with ca blegrams from Washington outlining various plans of action, all of which, he testified. were impracticable, all though such a contingency had been under discussion for nearly year and there had been ample time to pre- pare.
 "If the enemy had only known" '" said Admiral Sims, "all he need have done was to make a series of bluffs involving little risk to himself and we would have done the rest. Ship ping would have been paralyzed."
 Admiral Sims discussed at length four plans proposed by the depart ,ment for defeating Germany on the sea- They were: Unprotected lane through the danger zone; the block ing of German ports by sinking ships in the entrance; mine barriers of nets and mines of types then in use; mine barriers of mines of a new type. All except the last were impracticable, he declared and much time was wasted by the insistence of the department that they be tried.
 The department wished to land a "solar pleXus blow against the sub. marine campaign, the admiral said and suggested many schemes which long before had been rejected by the allies. Such a plan was that of sink. ing old battleships and cruisers in the entrances to all German submarine ase harbors. Admiral Sims assert ed, and only after he had pointed ou that the scheme would require the sinking of forty battleships and 4; cruisers and six months of prepara, ton did the department agree tt abandon the plan. It took sever months of effort to bring the Wash. ington officials to the final conclu sion, he said.
 On May Il, 1917, the navy depart ment first suggetsed the idea of {
 
 to trap the German Sea forces, Ad niral Sims said, and at that time h, opposed the plan because the allie; could not afford to divert the largt numbers of men and ships and hug amounts of material necessary t, make the project a success, he de clared, and also because the old typ, mines then in use were not practica ble for such a purpose.
 I,- was we'll in hand and new type O antenna mine developed in this coun try, he approved the idea, he said and helped to expedite the laying o the barrage. The result, the Nortl Sea mine barrage, was a magnificen achievement, the admiral said, reflect ing great credit on the navy and tn officers and men who were responstbl for the success of the project
 admiral Sims said he particular wished to refute an assertion "widel circulated'' that the department ha proposed and from the first favore the mine barrage project and that h was about the only officer in tn navy who had ever opposed it.
 The Navy Department at the tim inc United States entered the wa Admiral Sims said, was not ''ver much better informed than the ger eral public of actual conditions the belligerent countries, and had bJ little trustworthy information re garding such matters as submarir losses, shipping losses, anti-submarin measures or other matters concernin which complete knowledge wa essential to the development of effe' tive plans for combating the sut marine menace"