The Washington times., 1920-12-06
SUBMARINE IS
VITAL TONAVY
SCOTT
British Admiral Scores lnde-
cision of Chiefs on Policy
of Under-Sea Boats.
BY ADMIRAL SIR PERCY SCOTT.

BY ADMIRAL SIR PERCY SCOTT.
B,itain's foremost nardi authority
loho prophesied IN 1918 that suo'
marines would drive bdttteshtp'
from the ocean. He is generally re-
garded as the greatest authority on
gunnery and is the tnrentor Of fire
control system and OF many applI
ances. for improving heary gun
shooting.
Copyright, 1890. by Universal Service.
LONDON, Dec. 6.-Before ! COM
mence on what | said before the war
let me quote what Napoleon said
He declared that strategy was the
art of making use of time and
space" that he was less chary Of the
latter than the former-"Space We
can recover, time never"
BOUND BY ROUTINE.
Ever since j have known the navy,
the British admiralty have never had
any appreciation OF the value OF
time. They have been hide bound by
routine. obstinate opposers of every
sort OF change and reform, nervous
of taking responsibility. and danger
ously slow in coming to the deci-
sion,
Today they do not appear to be
much better. We suffered from inde-
cision before the war, we suffered
from the same complaint during the
war, and we shall suffer again now il
some decisions is not arrived at as TO
what the future OF our navy Is to be.
In 1913 l said that the advent of
tho submarine was a terrible menace
to our fleet and that their coming on
the scene had revolutionized naval
warfare. that battleships would no
longer be safe on the occan-in fact,
that they would only be safe when
shut up in a Theoretically sealed har-
Dor.
Their lordships, the commissioners
OF the admiralty. did not agree with
me, their theory being that the sub
marines had not been tried in war,
md that the results obtained from
0eace-time maneuvers could not be
accepted as an example of what they
would do in real warfare.
FISHER LOOKED AHEAD.
Our one and only man to look
ahead. Jackie" (Lord) Fisher. once
saidsto me:
~ would sooner have one subma-
rine than six battleships."
What did battleships do during the
four years of the war;
Jellicoe's battleships carried out tar
get practice at the battle of Jutland.
but they did not get much chance.
The sound Of their guns nauseatcd
the German Admiral Won Scheer. and
he went home as fast as he could.
His fleet of battleships came out but
once again-to anchor in English
ports and haul down the German flag.
Such is the history Of battleships in
four years of war.
What did the submarine do?
Ours went everywhere and did
everything. Their commanders
names, many of them Victoria cross
heroes, are household names in the
Royal navy and throughout the
Their commanders were
brave men and gentlemen. II the
Germans had half a dozen men like
them, England would now be quite
a long time established as a German
Now turning to German subma-
TtncS. 1ney were OTutTeu 10 SlUh
everything and they did and were
quite right in doing so. for naval Of
hcers Of every nationality must obey
orders.
Tho submarine dominated all their
naval strategy and tactics of war,
Won Scheer's idea was to draw Jelli-
GOES fleet to where he could attack
il with submarines, and Jellicote's
plan was naturally to avoid sucl
waters.
II the Germans had had fifty sub
marines at the beginning of the war
they would have won. If Admira
rirpitz's advice had been taken and
unrestricted warfare by submarines
commenced earlier. they would have
won the war, but their indecisior
damned them.
Early in 1917 the submarine had
brought us very nearly to our knees
We had a narrow squeak. We ought
to remember that and with the say
ng. IF you want peace, prepare for
...,r" counle "Ipdecision ia damna-