San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1925-12-20


totally inadequate and that it woult
be quickly disposed of by an enem!
fleet with even a very small air force
properly organized and equipped, op
Grating, from carriers.
| Reviewing the situation pictured IN
| this report, we find that the United
States fleet is a concourse of surface
vessels of slow speed, with no air force
above them and no submarine force
beneath them that would be Of any
material use in battle or in war.
1t may be said, without exsg-
geration, that such fleet could not
cross the sea, it could not approach
an enemy's coast. 1t has no ef.
ficient submarines to procede II and
establish Q blockade Of . hostile
coast and ii would face inevitable
crushing and inglorious defeat II
il were to meet q much smaller
but effective surface fleet accom-
panied by strong air forces and sub.
marines.
It Is difficult to exaggerate the Sc
robustness of this matter. 1t proves
that our fleet as constituted today is
useless for offensive operations at any
distance from our coasts and that it
would be helpless in defending the
coasts, the Panama Canal, Hawaii or
any of our foreign possessions against
a navy supplied with modern weapons
air forces and submarines.
The helplessness of our fleet in mod
ern war is well expressed in the words
used by the general board in 1914.
when it called the attention Of the sec
Rotary of the navy to the fact that the
battleships of the navy we're not prop
erly manned. 1t is stated that battle.
ships without crews were 90 many
masses of steel, useless for purposes OF
war and leading only to a false sense
Of national security"
This is exactly the condition Of
the United States fleet today and it
has been brought to this condition
of impotency by the failure and neglect
Of the general board and the Navy
Department during the past ten
years to supply air forces above it
and submarine forces below it.
Without these forces in such
strength as to command the air over
itself and over its enemy and without
submarines to accompany and precede
it, our surface fleet of battleships,
cruisers and destroyers ARE so many
masses Of steel, useless for purposes
Of war and leading only to a false
sense of national security"
. WARFARE REvOLTIONIZED.
Referring to this situation, Admiral
Sims expressed the view which is
held by many other distinguished au-
thoritie, as follows:
This has been forever rendered i'm
possible against any country that has
adequate air and submarine forces"
In further and conclusive proof
that complete revolution in naval
warfare has been brought about by
submarines and air forces, it is i'm
portant to note the following comment
of Rear Admiral S. s. Hall. Royal
Navy, concerning Great Britain's ex-
perience in the World War.
I'VE had a grand fleet with a pre-
ponderance Of nearly two to one over
Germany alone, and an auxiliary navy
of about 5000 vessels. We have the
assistance of the American, French,
Italian and japanese nayies. We held
the most favorable geographical posi-
ton for a naval war that the atlas
can furnish, and yet our main naval
purpose-tbe protection OF our trade
could not be carried out. These are
the plain, sad facts Of our naval ex-
perience in the last war; ...-.-.
SUBS ARE VITAL.
In view of the failure Of the navy.
under the most favorable conditions,
with many allies, to protect our trade
in the last war, has it any hope of
doing so on its existing basis under
less favorable conditions? Can it even
protect the lines Of communication OF
our battle fleet if the latter is re-
quired to fight out of home water?
VIII the advent OF aircraft make the
position easier;
When Admiral Sims reached Lon
don in April, 1917, he Immediately re-
ported TO our navy department that
the Germans were winning the war
with submarines alone. Admiral Jel- |
licoe, in his first conversation with |
Sims, said: I'VE cannot 20
on with the war much longer IL these |
losses continue"-and later Admiral |
Jellicoe declared that ~due to the |
submarine alone, the British empire |
was brought nearer to ruin than il |
had ever been in 200 years"
MIGHT HAVE WON.
Further commenting upon this sit |
uation, Admiral Hall, of the Royal |
Navy, states:
Il claim that a naval policy based |
upon aircraft and submarines affords |
Us the only hope Of protecting our
trade-tbe main purpose of our fleet
and that such policy will save us many |
millions on other estimates. besides the |
naval ones, and will insure us a rea-
sonable hope Of command of the air |
in the next war, without which all eff |
fort will h fufile