Evening star., 1921-05-17
BY JOSEPHCS DANIELS,
Former Secretary OF the Navy.
ARTICLE SO


why don't you send Admiral Mayo
and the powerful Atlantic feet into
the war zone?" men asked me during
the war-statesmen. naval officers.
civilians.
Men still ask me why I didn't send
North sea.
Probably the man who was most in
terested in the answer to this question
was Admiral Mayo him mself.
He wanted to go. He wanted
chance to meet the Germans. He
could think OF all sorts of argu-
ments why he should be allowed to
take his feet and lie in wait for
the enemy somewhere in the North
sea. and every time he thought OF d
new one ne offered it.
II was a question upon which there
was division in and out Of the Navy.
My own first inclination was TO dis
patch our whole feet. except a few
vessels necessary for coast patrol. to
waters where the chance for h2ht
was more promising than on this ode
Of the ocean.
Blocked by LoEistics.
But against this inclination and in
answer 70 Admiral Mayo's persuasion
arose a very definite and substantial
argument
Log istics.
The naval and military readers will
understand at once Wha, I mean and
the force of the argument Possibly
my civilian readers may be a little
puzzled. Il is reasonable enough to
suppose that the word "loSistics" re-
fers TO logic. and so to some we'll con-
sidcred strategy or tactics. Commonly
Il does have reference to logic. and.
Z. W l., cg nv al
perts. to what might be termed the
lo"ic Of hard facts.
Before defining it further. and show
ing Its application to the problems We
are considering. let me tell a little
story suggested TO me by this men
tion Of logic.
A prominent and influential man
vas one day trying to persuade Presi-
dent Wilson that certain PROPOSE
tion he had had made was right and
wise. and even imperative. When he
found that he was falling he summed
up his effort in the emphatic declara-
ton
But. Mr.. President. it is the logic
the inexorable logic, OF the situation"
Yes" said the President. that
thing
What is that" asked the man in
deadly earnest. His sense Of humor
was unhappily deficient.
quietly. but conclUsive,y:
There is no such thing 5 logic"
And the President was right in the
particular instance under discussion.
There must be no such thing as logic
if logic is TO be an obSta Gle TO doing
the big and brave and daring thing
in a time Of emergency. or to doing
the common sense. practical thing.
But there are hard facts. and these
hard facts constituted the losistics of
he, dr.
with oil and coal and beef and bread
ard supplies of every kind.
An army goes on it's belly navy
on its Iogistics. They both mean the
same thing. The navy term is more
elegant. if less understandable.
In 1917 We did send over a division
of powerful battleships under COM
mand OF Admiral Rodman. which
served with tn" British grand feet
TO the end of ,he war and the sur
render Of til" German feet. Their
splendid service Won the admiration
of their British comrades. but these
battleships were coal burners. and
did not interfere with loGistics as the
sending of the entire fleet would
have done.
our main reason then. for refrain
ing from sending :he whole of the
Atlantic feet to the North Sea was
because the allied powers and the
operating department of the Ameri- =
can Navy agreed that the utilization
of the tonnage il would require in
order to keep il supplied with oil and
coal and food was uot justified by
rnv chance theT" mi ght b.. for a sud
den sally Of the German feet. 1t was
very difficult: TO supply fuel oil
enough for the British feet. our dc .
stroycr- and our biggest battleships
were oil burners To Send them over
would have added 20 the fuel problem.
Tonnage the Great Need.
| Tonnage was in those critical days
desperately needed for The transpor
! iation Of troops and Of supplies tu
sustain and nunit:on th" troops
+ Everything Else that could be spared
/ had 70 b., sacrificed 10 this supren"
! need. The allied armies and navies
{ were dependent upon provisions
! hich he must send. To have sent
tany considerable part of the Atlantic
! feet overseas would have meant de-
| DieIinG the scant enough tonnage
available for the forces already in the
war zone. This, ii was thought
would be unwse.
Losistics kept The feet Al home dur