The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1921-06-10
SUBMARINE ARMADA
GREATEST DEFENSE
Inventor Lake Says U-Boat
Most Powerful Weap-
on In Warfare.
by David VI. Church.


meath the surface of the sea.
This is broadly limited at by Simon
Lake. inventor of the submarine, in a
communication addressed to mem
bers of the Senate, urging broad ex-
tension of the submarine building
program for the United States. Lake
disclosed that there are plans now
on file in the secret archives of the
United States navy for warfare by
submarines against enemy subma-
rines.
"The submarine has not yet reach
ed its full development" said Lake
There are other features that may
well be added to further their effect
iveness and increase the scope of
usefulness.
In my humble judgment it is the
only weapon that can be safely re-
| lied upon to keep foreign fleets from
our shores Every other weapon is
visible and can be met by another of
its kind; the submarine is invisible,
and if made noiseless and provided
with noiseless and invisible automo-
| bile torpedoes or with proper mine
planting facilities, no other type of
| ship that floats on the sea or in the
air can meet it on equal terms. The
cost of the submarine is slight COM
pared with other vessels. Did the
six hundred millions spent on air
craft get a single German submarine?
No. According to the official reports
the best defense against the German
submarines was other submarines.
AS soon as war was declared between
our country and Germany l sent sew
eral plans to our Navy Department
as we'll as to some English naval
friends l outlined how submarines
could be used for defense against
attacking enemy submarines. Some
Of these plans were later put into
practice. They proved effective,
but if they had been fully carried out
the loss of ships near the English
coast would have been very much re-
duced. These plans, l presume, are
still on file in the secret archives of
the Navy Department, where they
may remain without further discus
sion so far as / am concerned"
Boats Indicated.
Lake firmly believed that the
| German U-boats were not beaten in
the World War.
MANY people think the submarine
was mastered and driven from the
sea-" Lake declared. Hundreds of
millions were expended and lost on
barrages and large fleets OF trawlers,
submarine chasers and other ships
TO offset the sinkings caused by these
German submarines, and the submar-
ines captured by these vessels were
only one or two disabled submarines,
and those sunk were insignificant in
number and cost in comparison to the
surface ships lost. England lost
ships, cargoes and men without num-
Der. Untold fortunes paid tribute to
the awful power of destruction of
the submarine.
I'm spite of the expenditures of bill
lions on destroyers, submarine chas-
ers. mines, airplanes and barrages
the submarine continued to infest the
seas.
1.-The strategy Of war made it good
tactics to claim destruction Of sub
marines in unlimited numbers, but
events as were claimed during hostil-
tiles. Much has been made of the
fact that no American transports and
troopships were sunk by submarines.
The writer understands that history
records that the Germans felt it bet
ter not to sink American troopships
and saw her error in thinking that
she could conquer the world thru
frightfulness.
America Was Spared"
"To quote the statements of one
l
active overseas, Germany decided it
was bad policy to sink any of our
troopships, as that would further
ALLEVIATE us when it came time to
make peace and resume trade rela-
tons so the orders went out to
spare American troopships; in other
words, as this officer stated, they
could have sunk our ships if they
wished, but they had lost their CUTS
and did not have the nerve to carry
out their former program of fright
| fulness. According to the Bridge
port Telegram of April 23, 1921,
Admiral Sims said: IF Admiral Won
Tirpitz had had his way in the high
councils of Germany we would now
be speaking German with a decided
New England accent and he also
said he believed airplanes and sub