Norwich bulletin., 1920-03-16
SIMS CONTINUES CRITICISM
 OF THE NAVY DEPARTMENT

Washington. March 15.-A hitherto unpublished story of war time anxiety in London and Washington least Ger man. battle cruisers attempt a forlorn hope raid against American trans ports was disclosed today to the naval Investigating committee by Rear Ad- miral Sims. Messages exchanged by Admiral Benson. chief of operations, and Admiral Sims in July, 1918, were presented by the latter to correct implications which, he said, Secre- tary Daniels had made to the commit tee that general plans and policies were none of nay business
 Included in plans formed by the navy department to meet such raids and rejected by Admiral Sims as i'm practical" was a proposal to call on Japan for a battle cruiser division to serve with the American Atlantic fleet.
 In his first statement to the com mittee when the present investigation began, Admiral Sims said the con- plaints he had to make against the navy department were confined large ly to the first six or eight months of the war. When he entered today up- on his discussion of events that oc- cured in the summer of 1918 he said he did so because MT. Daniels. in a statement to the committee, had inn :, piled that Admiral Sims post in Lon don was purely a local one The statement was inaccurate, Admiral Sims said.
 In the spring of 1918, he said, when l the submarine menace had been over come, naval officials in London became 1 apprehensive that the Germans might, 1 as a last venture, send out battle
 cruisers in the hope of destroying an American convoy. That this appre- 1 hension was felt also at the navy de- | partment, he said, was demonstrated l by the following cablegram from Ad- i miral Benson:
 1 As last hope German battle cruis- i CTS may be sent out to completely de- l We depend upon you to, gain and give
 information on this point and Grand Fleet to take necessary action .unti United States could act"
 In reply, Admiral Sims said, he ca bled that everything possible would be done to intercept raiding German cruisers but that there could not bt l any guarantee that enemy battle cruisers would not reach the open At
 iantic undetected. He advised guard.
 ing United States troop conveys witl
 battleships.
 Despite this, he said, the navy de. partment on July 30 outlined plan o it's own to meet such raids, predieat ed, he said, lon the false premise that advance warning would be given The plan contemplated placing one di
 vision of American battleships a
 Queenstown. Ireland, to cover tn
 eastern Atlantic, another to be helt at home in. readiness to cover tn western Atlantic and division 0
 Japanese battle cruisers to be station l ed fha fO and sink raiders.
 | "The plan was impracticable for
 number of reasons Admiral Sims de : clared. Tt was eventually abandon {, ed with the full concurrence of tn i. navy department ~and for it was sub l, stituted a plan substantially the sam as previously recommended by me-" Admiral Sims said the departmer : sent cable after cable insisting that il
 plan be given a trial and that it wa 9 not abandoned finally until month [ after it was first suggested. A raid the meantime, he asserted, would hay l found the United States without : practical working plan to meet it. . Only the fact that God was wit e us'' saved early troopship convoy from German torpedoes, Admiral Sin }. declared. Good luck" was with sth ;, department. he insisted, as the enem had advance information of the sail y ing of conveys and destroyers throug Il the departments use of an old and UT = safe code. Data regarding the fir. convoy was thus obtained by the CT s emy, he said, and the transports [ e Kalb ad Savannah carrying thous
 ands of troops, narrowly escaped dt
 struction.
 Admiral Sims said he had "implol ] ed" the department = use British a6
 miralty codes in sending news of cor voy movements but without avail TIT 2 success of the allies in breaking CT ? emy cod5s and deciphering the mes saages was astounding" he adde and he had assumed that the enem Q was equally successful although aci n ually, it was later learned, the Gel Q mans did not have great success
 breaking allied codes.
 g Vital facts regarding American COT - voys were discussed at social aairs " Paris before either he or Gener s Pershing knew them. the admiral sai I In some cases, he added, the news W. . sent to France from New York q business codes.
 = This was the sixth day on whic d Admiral Sims has read to the con mittee from his prepared statemel e and he does not expectato conclude n before Thursday. Officers who serve ,e on his staff in Europe will follow hil