The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1921-12-24
DE BON PLEADS
FOR RETENTION
OF SUBMARINES
BalfOur Fears Weapon
Will Be Used Against
Merchant Ships.

The French delegation 10 the
conference on Limitation of arma-
ments explained its views in demand
ing restoratio nof the submarine as
a defensive weapon in naval war
fare at the session OF the conference
yestrday. and was answered by rep
resentatives of Great Britain and
Italy. The oficial communique
covering the deliberations in part
follows:
'.Adnifsl de Bon, speaking for
France. said that In the first place
IL had been denied that the sub
marine was really an efficient
weapon which was an essential
consideration. since, II this was sd
mitted, il was obvious that there
would be almost no reason for
building submarines. The submA-
rine, as a weapon against Tarships.
could not be considered useless. II
il was indeed true that the great
fleet was able to remain at sea
during several months in the midst
OF the submarines without any OF
its ships being hit. IL should be
remembered that France lost three
battleships and five cruisers and had
several other ships torpedoed. I3o. .oO6
tons in all To this list he could
add a certain number of battle
ships lost by Great Britain and by
Italy.
Finally. the offensive action of
the submarines necessitated the
construction OF a considerable oe-
fensive system. and this certainly
had an influence toward weakening
the general forces OF the nations
engaged.
Had Defended Germany.
'As a means Of defense the sub
marine had not been found useless
II could not, he thought. be denied
that II Germany maintained her
coast intact II was not solely be-
cause of the barrier OF mine. with
which she had protected IL. This
could have been crossed by any
force suitably provided with mine
sweepers il force OF submarines.
supplementary to the mine de-
fenses had not rendered the ap-
proach to them really dangerous.
In the Adristic the subma rine.
also formed one of the most pow
erful means of action for the
enemy.
In the Dardanelles, the allies
felt the effect of the use or supms-
rines not only during the major
actions but also during the long
months during which they re-
mained holding Night TO the point
Of Gailipoli Peninsula The bonn
oardments which the allies were
led to make against the Turkish
position were always considerably
hindered by the means of protec-
tion of the ships which they were
compelled to take an account of the
presence or threat of submarines in
those waters. The allies had.
moreover. paid for their efforts
with the loss of several ships.
In lighting warships the subms-
rine could be employed as a scout
or rather as an observation post
In a word. as Admiral d. Bon
said, the submarine had proven IL.
worth as a means of attack against
warships as in the protection OF
coasts. The submarine had shown
itself especially efficient against
merchant marine.
Blockade Ia legitimate
IF taking an extreme case one
might consider II possible to bring
ones adversary to the point OF
yielding. by this process. would IL
not be less cruel and less wasteful
OF human life than military opera
tions which would arrive at the
same result by direct application
OF forceT Admiral de Bon asked.
One might protest against this
Interpretation but such would be
the result of q blockade, which is
legitimate practice. and Its ef-
fects would not be peculiar to
submarines.
1T might be said that the SUBJ
marine was exposed to great risks
but were not the frisates and the
corsaires OF other days eip5sed to
great risks in similar operatisns7
How many of them had pefished
because they had been unable to
escape the attacks of their enemies
in the course of the voyage
Certainly the fruits Of subma-
rine warfare would have been
smaller II they had been obliged
N connn< themselves to the limits