Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-03-12
DELAY IN ADOPTING
SIMS SUGGESTIONS
KEPT HIM ENRACEO
Admiral Testifies It's Difficult
Now to Express His Despera-
tion During the War.
CONDEMNS NAVAL HEAD
by Associated Press to Every Evening

BY Associated Press 10 Every Evening
Washington, March ~ Disregard by
the Navy Department of his recornmen-
dationa with regard 10 adoption If the
convoy system was described hv Admiral
Sims today as infinitely more serious
IN ts bearing on the war than other eases
of alleged ineficlency cited in previous
testimony before the Senate investigating
committee.
Admiral Sims said that early in 1917
the Allies were compelled by the submarine
20 adopt the convoy plan for protecting
shipping and that on May he urgently
recommended that the United States give
its opinion but e was not known until
june 20" that Secretary Daniels replied he
considered American vessels having armed
guards were safer when sailing indepen-
IDENTIFY.
The admiral said be again urged the
immediate adoption Of the convoy system
and stated his belief that arrning msr-
chantInen did not offer sufficient safe
guard against submarine attacks on july
he received cable outlining an entirely
new plan Of protecting merchant ships
formulated in the department. which he
said was widely at variance with the
British and French systems and which
lIe eabIsd the department would be a
fundamental military error resulting
in direct assistance 20 the enemy
Ia answer, the navy department sub
nlltted another plan, he said, and asked
that he present IL ~ the British Admiralty
He did so and was told that the proposal
had been tried out by the Allies early in
the war without success and that the ad-
mIFalty desired assurance Of American
cooperation in the convoy plan so the
FIRST convoy might sail from New York
July s.
About the same time Admiral Jellicoe
wrote HIM expressing grave apprehension
for the success OF the convoy system unless
the United States decided 20 participate.
the admiral stated.
Finally on July 22 the navy department
accepted the convoy plan for troop ships
and later accepted IT for supply vessels.
the admiral testified, but only after great
pressure had been brought TO bear by the
other Allies and after many valuable
weeks had been wasted. Even as late as
August 10, he said, he received messages
from the department asking that the con-
voy system be explained, although for
four months / had been exhaustlng my
vocabulary IN attempting to explain the
system.
AZ - Fbi tt&Ai3GAtt kbt Utt " DAAht Glt{tE
10 you now the desperation IN which
found myself almost constantly during
the early months Of the war" Admiral
Sims said. Il reiterate there was no
question that these recommendations we're
right. The fact remains that they were
virtually all adopted in the end"
Admiral Sims insisted that he had at
no time overlooked or minimized the
Importance Of the defense Of home waters"
and read a letter written in June 1917 in
which he said 1T would seem that the
maximum protection we can give our
own coast should be concentrated in the
area in which the enemy il operating or
must continue TO operate or fail
The correspondence read by the admiral
disclosed the high degree of efficiency at
tanned by he allied system Of discovering
the movement of enemy submarines. His
messages to the department founded on
this information gave warnings in adj
vance of the sailings OF the two J-boats
which did harass shipping in American
waters, of their probable mission and Of
the points at which they could be ex-
Tecfpd ~ strike