New-York tribune., 1921-01-28
The Uses of Battleships
Dreadnought Must Be Supplemented,
Not Abolished

To the EDITOR of The Tribune.
Sir: | have noted with some concern
the tendency Of The Tribune in it's
editorials and in the articles of GUAR
terdeck" to belittle the Importance Of
the dreadnought in modern naval war
fare. The inference which the public is
intended to draw, apparently, is that the
rapid development of the submarine and
the seaplane has radically affected the
status Of the first line battleship as the
determining factor Of naval strength TO-
day. The Tribune would even seem to
advocate a revision Of our 1915 build
ing program with a view to sacrificing
the building of battleships to the con-
struction of submarines and sea2lanes.
Let us examine the stand taken by
The Tribune in the light Of the late
World War. The weapon used exclu-
sively by the submarine in fleet action
can be only the torpedo Although the
British fleet was attacked with this
weapon at Jutland both by destroyers
and submarines not single first line
battleship was sunk or even put out of
action. The Marlborough, struck by
torpedo on the evening Of May 81, kept
station in the line of battle until the
following afternoon. On the morning of
June the wakes Of about forty torpe-
does fired by submarines were sighted
by the Grand Fleet, but not one took
effect. One German battleship was sunk
by torpedo, the Pommern, this being ac-
complished by Il destroyer. Contrast
with this the sinking Of three British
battle cruisers within about two hours
by gunfre at ranges for the greater
part far in excess of those at which it
had previously been considered feasible
to join .Action effectively.
AS a weapon in the hands Of an In
ferior naval power the submarine can
be excee'. '.ingly effective as destroyer
Of commerce, but great as was the dam
age done by Germany in this respect it
was but little in comparison with the
all-important fact that from the day
war was declared by Great Britain
until November IL, 1918, not single
German merchant vessel, with the ex-
ception Of the submarine Dcutsch and,
traversed the seas. Nor must the pos
sibilities of the convoy system, the mine
field, the hydrophone, the radio compass,
the depth charge, ETC., which were only
in their infancy as applied to COM
batting the eubmarine at the close Of
the war, be forgotten.
The difficulties of hitting SO email
target as battleship from a seaplane,
especially when the latter Is kept at
arms length by the anti-aircraft guns
with which all modern ships are fitted,
should also not be underestimate. Nor
in this whole discussion should the fact
be lost sight of that the emergence of
the torpedo boat was also thought to
indicate the swift demise Of the battle
ship.
Another important element In the dis
cussion is the time and labor required
to build the various ships that compose
a fleet. On the average, suppose, it
s"ASo Hoout tuIcc years TO DulIO MOD
ern dreadnought, so that for all practi-
cal purposes if our feet is to be fur
nished adequately with this weapon it
must be so furnished during peace, be-
fore war is declared
A squadron of modern submarines,
however, were built and delivered by the
Bethlehem Steel Company in. five
months during the war for Great
Britain. Seaplanes can be built in an
even shorter time. As both Of these
weapons are far more effective in the
hands Of an inferior power it would be
possible for US to build them rapidly and
use them in the event that our battle
ship feet was defeated or DESTROYED,
But it seems to me that it would be
very unwise until our surface feet had
been so defeated to consign our navy
from the start to defensive rather
than an offensive role The price Of
being on the defensive was paid by Ger