New-York tribune., 1920-03-16
LastHope' Raid.
Feared by Navy,
Declares Sims
Wartime Anxiety in Lon-
don and Washington Lest
Foe Attack u. S. Trans
ports Told by Admiral
Rejected Daniels's Plan
Says Secretary Wanted to
Call for japanese Fleet
to Guard Our Convoys

WASHINGTON, March 15.-A hith-
erto unpublished story of wartime
anxiety in London and Washington lest
German battle cruisers attempt for
lorn hope raid against American trans
ports was disclosed to-day to the Sen
ate Naval Investigating Committee by
Rear Admiral Sims.
Messages exchanged by Admiral Ben
son, chief of operations, and Admiral
Sims in July, 1918, were presented by
the latter to correct implications,
which, he said, Secretary Daniels had
made to the committee that general
plans and policies were none of nv
business"
Included in plans formed by the
Navy Department to meet such raids
and rejected by Admiral Sims as "im
Pract'cal was a proposal to call on
Japan for battle cruiser division to
serve with the American Atlantic feet.
He Corrects Daniels
In his first statement to the COM
mittee when the present investigation
began, Admiral Sims said the com
plants he had to make against the
Navy Department were confined largely
to the first six or eight months of the
war,
When he entered to-day upon his
discussion of events that occurred in
the summer Of 1918, he said he did so
because Mr.. Daniels, in a statement to
the committee, had implied that Ad-
miral Sims's post in London was .spurely
a local one"
The statement was Inaccurate" Ad-
miral Sims said.
In the spring of 1918, he said, when
the submarine menace had been over
come, naval officials in London became
apprehensive that the Germans might.
as last venture, send out battle cruis-
ers IN the hope of destroying an Amer
lean convoy. That this apprehension
was felt also at the Navy Department,
ne SAID, was demonstrated by the fol-
lowing cablegram from Admiral Ben
son:
AS last hope German battle-cruisers
may be sent out to completely DESTROY
one Of our large troop conveys. We de-
pend upon you to gain and give in
formation on this point and Grand
Fleet to take necessary action until
United States could act"
In reply, Admiral Sims said. he
cabled that everything possible would
be done to intercept raiding German
cruisers, but that there could not be
any. guarantee that enemy battle
cruisers would not reach the open At
lantic undetected. He advised guarding
United States troop conveys with bat
tleships.
Despite this, he said, the Navy De-
partment on July 80 outlined a plan of
its own to meet such raids, predicated.
he added, on the false premise' that
advance warning would be given.
The plan contemplated placing one
division of American battleships at
Queenstown. Ireland, to cover the east
ern Atlantic; another to be held at
home in readiness to cover the western
Atlantic, and a division of Japanese
Atlantic feet to pursue and sink raid
ers.
The plan was impracticable for a
number of reasons" Admiral Sims de-
clared. at was eventually abandoned
with the full concurrence of the Navy
Department and for it was substituted a
plan substantially the same as previ-
ously recommended by me-"
Admiral Sims said the department.
sent cable after cable insisting that
its plan be given trial and that it
was not abandoned finally until months
after 1T was first suggested. A raid in
found the United States without
practical working plan to meet it.
Good Luck" With Navy
Only the fact that "God was with
US" saved early troopship conveys from
German torpedoes, Admiral Sims de-
clared. Good luck' was with the de-
partment, he insisted, as the enemy
had advance information Of the sail
ing of conveys and destroyers through
the departments use Of an old and un-
safe CODE
Data regarding the first convoy was
thus obtained by the enemy, he said,
vannah, carrying thousands of troops,
narrowly escaped destruction
Admiral Sims said he had "implored"
the depa rtment to use British Ad-
codes in sending news of con-