Evening star., 1921-05-07
MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE
| OF .BLACK" WAR PLAN ARGUED
Did the Germans Learn Naval Secrets
or Guess at Them? Daniels Gives
= Probable Solution.

the general board submits herewith
problem and solution based upon thu
general and special situations de.
scribed in the Navy Departments in.
CHARLES ]. BADGER"
Such care was taken to keep this
document from any one except the
! Secretary and the Office of naval oper.
| ations that even the general board
retained no duplicate of it. After be-
ing submitted to me for approval
1t was turned over to the chief OF
naval operations: all plans that had
peen approved were in their custody
They were familiar with their pro-
visions and drafted the necessary
orders for carrying them into effect.
But plans were so carefully safe
guarded that only those directly con-
cerned were allowed to see them.
| And yet in spite of all our pre-
| cautions. the document containing the
general boards Solution Of Problem
| Black was gone!
The most thorough search failed to
| find any trace of it.
! How long had it been missing? No
one could answer.
| Not Stolen by German Spy.
| The newspapers hinted that it had
been stolen by some German spy.
Such was the obvious suspicion. The
suggestion that 1t might have been
stolen by some German spy was
given no credence in the depart
ment. Nothing is so carefully guard
ed as war plans. and so far as we
know the Germans never got hold Of
any of ours. although early in the
war number of things occurred
which made us wonder how much they
did know. For example:
Movements of vessels and orders
relating thereto were known only to
the few officials in the Navy Depart
ment who issued the orders and to the
men on the vessels. Great pains
were taken to prevent the Germans
from learning about the first destroy
ers sent over. They sailed under
sealed orders, and until he was fifty
miles at sea and broke the seal, not
even the commander Of the f1otilla
knew it's destination.
Yet the day before the division ar
rived, German submarines. for the
first time in months, sowed mines
all across the entrance to Queens
town, and the German papers print
ed the news of our destroyers' ar
rival before it was published in Eng
easily accounted for, as it was sew
eral days before we announced that
they had reached British port, but
the mine laying led many to believe
that the enemy had. in some way,
learned they were coming.
When our first troop conveys went
to Europe they were attacked far out
at sea, and Admiral Sims cabled that
1t was practically certain that the
enemy knew positions Of the first
rendezvous and accordingly sent q
submarine to Intercept before junction
with destroyers." Though Sims after
ward discounted the idea that the
conveys were attacked, he was ex-
cited enough about 1t at the time, for
he sent me two. cablegrams about in in
three days.
Germans @D0ped 1t Out"
But whatever the Germans might
have learned about our ship move
ments on the other side, am conf
dent that they did not get any in
formation from this side Of the At
radio. every cable message was
scanned and even the destroyer and
transport captains did not know their
destination until they were well out
at sea My own opinion is that the
shing's arrival in England, which
occurred the day after our first con-
voys sailed. inferred that troops were
being dispatched and merely "doped
out" the probable route. The mine
ssSins as mot, ai Simply dsea a eoineiGence. @ - likely
And So I am satisfied in my own
mind that the missing plan. the
Problem Solution, Black" will yet be
found carefully-too carefully-hid-
den away in the Navy Department.
I have never believed it was stolen.
or that it in any way fell into Ger
man hands.
The explanation Of its vanishing. I
think, will be found to be quite SIM
ple and will show that 1t was due to
An overanxiety to preserve the plan
in absolute secrecy.
As I have said. but ono copy was
made Of 1t. 1t was probably given
into the care Of Capt. Volney Chase,
chief assistant to Admiral Benson, and
a man to whom matters of the ut
most importance were frequently
committed. Capt. Chase was an ex-
ceedingly able and unsparfngly de-
he put the BLACK plan" Droblem
away in some secret drawer or cabi-