The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1920-02-15

Allies. A mere glance at the map in
dictated the way in which such a de-
sirabIe result might be accomplS he'd
At its southern extremity the Adri-
attic narroWs in a passage only forty
miles wide-the Strait of Otranto-
and through this restricted area all
the submarines We're obliged to pass
before they could reach the waters
where they could prey upon Allied
commerce.
For some time before the Allied
Naval Council began to consider the
use of the American subchasers, the
British Navy was doing it's best to
keep submarines from passing this
point A defensive scheme known, not
very accurately, as the "Otranto bar
rage" was in operation. The word
"barrage'' suggests an effective bar
rier, but this one at the base of the
Adriatic consisted merely of a few
British destroyers of ancient type and
n large number of drifters, which kept
up a continuous patrolling of the gate
way through which the submarines
made their way into the Mediterran-
can. It is no reflection upon the Brit
ish to say that this barrage was I'M
satisfactory and inadequate, and that,
for the first few months, it formed a
not particularly formidable obstruction.
So many demands were made upon the
British Navy in northern waters that
it could not spare many vessels for
this work; the Italian Navy was
holding the majority of it's destroyers
+ intact, momentarily prepared for a
ortie by the Austrian battle fleet;
he OtrantO barrage, therefore, i'm
)ortant as it was to the Allied cause,
vas necessarily insufficient. The
italian representatives at the Allied
Council made a strong plea for a con-
tingent of American subchasers to re-
inforce the British ships, and the Bft-
ish delegates seconded this request.
Leigh Established Corpse Base.
In the spring of 1918 l therefore
sent Captain Leigh to southern Italy
to locate and construct subchaser
base in this neighborhood. After in
specting the territory in detail, Cap
tain Leigh decided that the Bay Of
Govino, in the Island of Corfu would
best meet our requirements. The
immediate connection which was thus
established between New London and
this ancient city of classical Greece,
fairly illustrates how widely the World
War had extended the horizon of the
American people. There was GER
tain appropriateness in the fact that
the American college boys who COM
manded these little ships-not much /
larger than the vessel in which Ulysses |
had sailed these same waters three !
thousand years before-should have
made their base on the same island |
which had served at a naval station !
for Athens in the Peloponnesian War, !
and which, several centuries after
ward, had been used for the same pur- |
pose by Augustus in the struggle with |
Antony. And probably the sight of /
the Achelleion, the Kaiser's summer |
palace which was not from from, this !
new American base, was not without |
its influence in constantly reminding !
our young men of the meaning of this |
association of Yankee |
land with the ancient world.
Copyright 1920, by the Worlds |
Work. The copyright of these articles
in Great Britain is strictly reserved |
by Pearson's Magazine, London; with
out their permission no quotation may |
be made. Published by special ar
rangement with the Mcclure News
ma er Syndicate.