The Washington times., 1920-03-12

portanoe OF the defense OF home
waters" Sims said. but such defense
la the nrst year, IL not throug bout
the war. was best carried out In the
submarine zone. where the major &C
tivitiss OF the enemy concentrated"
When the enemy did raid the
American coast In the summer OF 1918.
Sims revealed, he warned OF the COM
ing raid as early as May 1. 1918.
Admiral Sims declared that he
warned the Navy Department as early
as May I. 1918, OF coming German
submarine raids, which were nnslly
made on the Atlsntic coast late in the
summer OF 1918. From that date, Sims
showed, the nvvy possessed constant
and accurate information OF the type.
number, and tactics OF the raiders,
together with an accurate forecast
OF the zone OF operations.
Criticized For Secrecy.
One OF the outstanding features OF
the testimony was the revelation OF
the detailed and reliable information
which the allied nayies possessed at
nearly all times or the German sub
marines activities.
The Navy Department was criticized
at the time OF the raids for not maxi
ing public the warnings OF subma-
rineA Sims stated today that II was
at his request that the information
he kept secret. so as not TO tip the
enemy that their plans were known.
Protest Was "Miid.-
Admiral Sims today told the SEN
ate committee investigating his con-
troversy with Secretary Daniels that
his letter OF January Z. 1920. was
very mild statement OF the serious
embarrassments and delays and dan
gers in putting into effect the con-
voy system, which was the most i'm
portant OF all the measures used In
defeating the submarine campaign
against allied shipping"
Sims told the committee OF the
real state OF desperation In which l
found myself almost daily during the
first months OF the war"
THE cause OF this was not a single
matter. such as the failure to act on
my convoy recomme ndations, but that
in dozen different matters at the
same time l was faced with the same
situation, always hoping from day TO
day that the department would nnally
realize the situation. and either ac-
cept the recommendations or send
over somebody in whose judgment
they could trust he said.
Year Getting tug boe"-
His recommendations as to conveys
and other matters "werc virtually all
adopted in the end" Sims added.
American shipping in July. 1917. he
said. was not more than per cent
OF the arrivals and departures In the
war zone After fifteen months OF
participation, Sims said, American
ships made up less than IL per cent
OF the allied tonnage on the lines OF
Sims charged that "the delay OF
the Navy Department In accepting
the recommen dations for the convoy
system, in delaying it's establishment
for some months, resulted directly in
some hundreds of thousands of tons
of shipping being lost unnecessarily
to the allied cause as whole"
On his request for tug boats, Sims
stated, il was year after we entered
the war before he received any, and
at the time OF the armistice the navy
had less than dozen in European
waters.
He read kilograms to show that
while tho English Admiralty had
worked out a convoy system which
the allies adopted, Secretary Daniels
attempted to put in effect different
plan for American ships which was
confusing"
At another point he read a tele-
gram in which he said: "If we cannot
offer more immediate actual assist
ancc even to the extent of sending
the majority of vessels patrollinS
our own coast line" we would fan
to render the assistance history ex-
pected OF us.