Republican farmer., 1920-03-19
Plans Kept
 Secret By
 Navy-SinlS
Delay and Confusion Result ed Admiral Tells Investi- gating Committee Says / Allied Teamwork Was Impaired.

Washington, March 13-Docu- mentary evidence in support of hia charge that the navy department failed to keep him informed az to it's policies and plans was presented today by Rear Admiral Sims to the Senate Investigating committee.
 Delay and confusion resulted from the departments failure to notify him of important dispositions and movements of naval forces with in the area of his command as we'll as elsewhere, he said, adding that the result also was to create in the minds of allied officials an impress sion that he was not supported by and in the confidence of his govern ment.
 Because of his ignorance of the departments plans the admiral con- tinued, the allied admiraltles carried on direct negotiations with the navy department in Washington. Allied teamwork was impaired and Amer ! ican interests suffered as result, the said, adding:
 NsfUndoubted1y at times such inde- pendent negotiations resulted in di- rect conflict with my recommends tions.''
 Admiral Sims told the committee the first intimation he had that he was not in full confidence of the de- partment came soon after he submit ted his first rtports from London. He learned then by accident, he said, that an agreement had been reached by the navy department and British and French naval officers in Washington early in April regarding the disposi- ton Sof American naval forces. The terms of this agreement were cabled to Admiral Jellicoe by the British rep resentative on April 13, 1917, he de- clared.
 The officer also charged that with out notifying him beforehand the de- partment arranged with the French naval attache to send ten or more yachts to combat submarines off the French coast; arranged to establish two naval bases in France; sent naval aviation forces to that country; dis patched six destroyers from Boston; sent a hundred cannon to France on naval colliers; started a campaign in the newspapers for North Sea mine barrage; dispatched the fifth destroyer squadron from St. Johns to Queens town and sent four additional destroy CTS from New York to join his forces.
 Some of these vessels, he said, ar rived overseas before he knew of their alIocation to his command. In most cases, he said, he received belated in formation from French and British sources but seldom in time to make proper adjustments and arrangements for receiving the ships
 The Admiral declared that while he protested continually against the de- -partment's failure to keep him in formed, the situation was not rem edied.
 That great confusion existed with regard to the establishment of the bases in France and that the depart ment itself did not know what it wanted was demontrated, the Admiral said by a letter he received early in August from the officer assigned to command the Bordeaux base. This officer, he said, wrote that Nthe situa- ton in France is not clear to me" and that when he had asked upon be ing ordered to the command of the base what his duties were he had been unable to obtain any infornla- ton.
 .'I asked the same question and got the same answer from all the other heads in the Navy Department" the officer said 'After waiting about fo11r weeks I received orders to pro- ceed with a party of eight persons but still no instructions"
 similar condition existed with re- gard to American naval aviation forSes sent abroad, Admiral Sims said