The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1920-07-11

v
rba. might be called an offensive
-,;,st their American enemies. Be
.naan the beginning of May and the
.,d of October, 1918, five German
..ar,,r;nes crossed the Atlantic and
...,adopd a few ships on our coast.
-,ar submarines could make this long
...rnay had long been known. s5ingu-
Wv enough, however, the impress
,:.o sriU prevails in this country that
,sa German U-bOats were the first to
,,.ompIish the feat. In the early fall
81 ~ 1915 the C-53, commanded by that
u Submarine officer, Hans Rose, who has
i taen previously mentioned in these
s~-:c,as, crossed the Atlantic, dropped
~ for call at Newport, r. l., and
N the way back sank a few mer-
chant vessels off Nantucket. A few
months previously the so-called mer-
,hant submarine Deutschland had made
f.. triD to Newport News. The Ger
man press. and even some German
.vmpathizers in this country hailed
.nese achievements as marking a
glorious page in the record of the
German navy. Doubtless the real pur-
nose was to show the American people
roU easily these destructive vessels
,ayd cross the Atlantic; and to i'm
rross upon their minds the fate which
awaited them in case they maintained
heir rights against the Prussian bully.
As matter of fact, it had been
nroved long before the Deutschland
or the U-53 had made their voyages
nat submarines could cross the At
antic. In 1915 not one but ten sub
marines had gone from North Ameri-
"a to Europe under their own power.
Admiral Sir John Fisher tells about
his expedition in his recently pub
lshed memoirs. In 1914 the British
Admiralty had contracted for subma-
rnes with Charles M. Schwab, presi-
dent Of the Bethlehem Steel Company.
AS international law prohibited the
construction of war vessels by a neu-
tral in wartime for the use of a bel
lgerent with which it was at peace,
the parts of ten submarines were
sent to Canada, where they were put
together These submarines then
crossed the Atlantic under their own
power, and were sent from British
'orts to the Dardanenes, where they
succeeded in driving Turkish and Ger
man shipping out of the Sea of Mar
nora Thus a crossing of the Allan
tic by American submarines had been
accomplished before the Germans made
rhar VOYAGES. It was therefore not
necessary for the two German sub
marines to cross the Atlantic to prove
y that the thing could be done; but the
3 iermans doubtless believed that this
s demonstration of their ability to OPP
s rate on the American coast would
serve as a warning to the American
people
What They Would Have Meant.
We we're never at all deceived as to
s what would be the purpose of such
B visit after our entrance into the war.
3 In the early part of 1917 the Allies
4 ta.eved that the German U-boats
night assail our coast, and I 50 in
q Seemed the Navy Department at Wash
iagton My cables and letters of 1917
/ explained fully the reasons why Ger
many might indulge in such gesture.
| Suategically, as these dispatches
make clear, such attacks would have
no great military value. To have sent
Q sufficient number of submarines to
10 any considerable damage on the
American coast, would have been a
,?eat mistake Germany's one chance
/ II winning the war with the subma-
n H7n weapon was to destroy shipping to
4 sirh an extent that the communion
S lions Of the Allies with the outside
s world, and especially with, the United
81 States, would he cut. The only places
where the submarine warfare could pc
nductcd with some chance of sue
"SS were the ocean passage routes
which lead 10 European Orts, especially
II that area south and southeast of Ire
md in which were focused the trade
ates for ships sailing from all parts
y the world and. destined for British
ana French ports. With the number
Il submarines available the Germans
'ad keep enough of their U-boats Mt
WORK In these areas to destroy a large
"n"cr Of merchant ships. Germany
las needed to concentrate all of her
1"@olo submarines at these points;
.' hld m inadequate number for
'E Purposes: to send any considerable
''e 1000 miles across the Atlantic
'"0'0 simply weaken her efforts in the
~" scene of warfare and. would make
4 ' submarine campaign a failure. The
uses Of submarines on the Ameri can
''Sl would have been very much
'TeH and would have been a much
''' serious strain on the submarines
81" were the shorter cruises in the
.>"ore waters of Europe. AS has al
''F been explained the submarine
0 not differ from other craft in its
So, l0r constant repairs and careful
,."Vep except that perhaps it was
wv "eArate instrument of warfare
'. any other naval craft, and that it
WV, 1'" require longer and more fire.
r' Periods of overhaul. The Ger
,"N mad no submarine bases in
B ,,. 'eaA waters and could establish
! n., POSSIBLY, as the newspaper
s-,l r9.Nled out, they might seize a de-
w stand off the coast of Maine or
esa ,ne Caribbean, and cache there a /
ryar ''U'f OF fuel and food; unless. how
Nso. 'oty could also create at these
adequate facilities for repairing