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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (April 27, 1921)
THE BEE: OMAHA, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27. 1921. 7 Throughout World War, Atlantic Fleet Was Stationed at Yorktown, Va., One of Most Historic Spots in U. S. Says Daniels How Uia Atlantis flact rantjhsil on Fehnurr 5, 1917 Tha itorr of tb awrat rmdairoua T.Ui-athic communication bMwwa adraiiala Mjro an Banana belli lrflM L'-bmt ptril 1111 rati biuik lo Amrwn MtUtablpaPrtrtutlona liktn la protect butlfahlpa (mm nibnitrina attu'k Worn tha (ltd Bl(bt bli amtihed thrombi Garmu drwi "la PH of sell and Hel(oluL" By JOSEPHUS DANIELS. fwmu Sacratary af tha Niy. Cocyrlfhl, 1121, ky John f. DHtt. Caayrlaht y National Nawmaar Sarvlta. CaayrliM In flriat Brltala. Canada an thrauihaut tuna. AM rlthta raaarvta'. Ineludlai trantlatlan lata toialia laaiuaiat. lacMlai th 8can4aaailaa. Uaautharlna raarlatlni lor any aurpota forbldtfaa. Everybody in Santiago knew that the Atantic fleet under Admiral Henry T. Moyo, was engaged in target practice and maneuvers in Guantanamo bay. The battleships could be -seen easily enough from the hills, and the sound of their guns could be heard in the city. 'hat i to say everybody knew the fleet was there on February 3. 1917. On February. 5, few knew where it was. The Atlantic fleet had vanished. . From that time on, until the war ended, the Atlantic fleet and all other ships of the United State navy, moved with a mystery and secret tveness which was designed' to keep the enemy guessing. V.. . .. ., n . .1 tnat tne Atlantic ncci was mere. Germany knew it. No Place to Linger. All the world knows now that the British ?lcct had two main dendcz ous one at Scapa Flow, in the Orkney islands, and the other in the Firth of Forth, ou the cast coast of Scotland. These our squadron on service in the North sea war rone shared with the British. Few Know the Secret. But the secret rendezvous of the Atlantic tieet are Known to tew per sons outside the uavyJ We never spoke of them by name at Washing ton, while the war lasted. "Base 1" and "Base 2" were the official and sufficient designations. Possibly the Germans learned where they were; if so, the knowledge did them little good.' These picked rendezvous were ihosen because they combined the two features of abundant t-pace and depth for the dreadnaught and lesser slims nnrl an adantabilitv for defen sive purposes which made them prac tically impregnable to U-boats. Nor was it from any exaggerated sense of alarm that these precautions Ax ere taken as soon as diplomatic re lations were severed. Germany's declaration of U-boat warfare had been aimed at us as well as at other nations, and she might, as she had before, strike without warning. In the fallo f 1916 the U-53 had crossed the Atlantic and sunk a number of British vessels just off our coast. We had an idea this was done as a sort of demonstration of it possibility' in which Germany thought we might be interested. Raiders Busy Along Coast. At no great distance from Cuba German raiders were .sinking allied vessels in the Atlantic. Only two weeks before we sent Bernstorff home the Hudson Maru, aJapanese steamer, had put into Pernambuco, Brazil, in possession of a German prize crew, arid carrying 273 surviv ors of some half dozen ships which had been sunk. Although at the time we did not know the identify of this daring and successful raider, we learned later that it was tin 1rs a shin than the famous Moewe, which had captured 26 prizes on that voyage, sinking all but the Hudson Maru and the Yarrowdale. On the latter they car ried 496 prisoners, including about 60 American sailors, back to Ger many. Rumors were rife of U-boat bases and. U-boat activities in West Indian waters. It was no time for taking chances. We had not forgotten how in the first weeks of the war the British cruisers Cressy, Aboukir and Hogue had been sunk in the North sea. .. 1 have told elsewhere in these ar ticles how the; fleet went on a war basis the day " Bernstorff was dis missed. Defense Plan in Operation. At the very moment when the president was delivering his mes- ; sage to congress aim uic vjcmidii ; ambassador was receiving his pass ports, Admiral Mayo was putting into effect the plan for defense of the fleet in Guantanamo bay At 3:45 that afternoon Admiral Mayo received my order to mobilize naval communications, in' order to place all communications on a war basis. At 10:15 that night he received the "alnav availability" order, and the various force commanders began work at once on their reports, show ing the condition of every vessel and its readiness for' war. These reports were submitted to Admiral Mayo the next day, and transmitted immediately to the ,Navy depart ment. Naturally enough, knowing what had happened in Washington,' and receiving the mobilization and avail ability orders Admiral Mayo's mind turned to what should be the next step. Guantanamo bay was exposed and easily accessible. F.verybody knew For Your Blood i 2A You are mT.II lust as strong and healthy as your blood. It is like wise true that you are as young as your ar ter i e s. Vigor and health come with good blood. Without good red ' blood one has a weak heart and poor nerves. It may show ic nervousness or in that weak, tired feeling. If your blood is thin and watery, face pale or pimply, if you are gen erally weak, tired and listless, a veg etable tonic should be taken. One that will do the house-cleaning, an old-fashioned herbal remedy that was used by everybody 60 years ago is still safe and sane because it con tains no alcohol or narcotic. It is made up of Blood root. Oregon Grape root, Queen's root, Stone root. Cherry Bark, without alcohol, and made Into both liquid and tablets. This blood tonle was first put out by Dr. Pierce -in ready-to-use form as Dr. Pierce's Golden Medical Discovery. Druggists keep this in tablet form, as well as liquid. Send tOc for a large trial package to Dr. Pierce's Invalids Hotel, Buffalo, N. T. Write for free book on blood disorders, medical con sultation free. ffrjr.it b'QW ifcB&UelajJ Guantanamo bay was no place to linger. In Washington we reached the same conclusion at the same time. The old adage about a parallelism of thought between great intellects may apply. Or perhaps you believe in telepathy and prefer the theory that Mayo's mind or Benson's beat the wireless, and sent its suggestion to the mi.id of the other without using any mechanical medium. Whatever the explanation the fact is that Admiral Mayo sent a dis patch to Washington at .sy on the afternoon of February 4, 1917, which was crossed by a dispatch from Ad miral William S. Benson, in the Navy department, to Admiral Mayo. And the two dispatches proposed the shifting of the fleet to a new and secret rendezvous and named the same rendezvous. Here is the message sent by Ad miral Mayo from the flagship Penn sylvania at Guantanamo: "Unless instructions are received to the contrary, propose to shift fleet base to Gulf of Guacanayabo, titter spotting practice, February 5, then proceed with schedule, of all gunnery exercises." The message from Admiral Ben son to Admiral Mayo, which was dispatched from Washington a few minutes later than that from the flag ship, but before its arrival, reads as follows: "Position oi fleet known to every body. If considered advisable on account of submarines, shift base to Gulf of Guacanayabo or elsewhere af discretion. Inform department confidentially." Where Is Guacanayabo? Ask the average man where or what Guacanayabo is and you will have him guessing. Take a large scale map of Cuba and look at the southern coast of the island. Between Santa Cruz del Sur and Cape Cruz you will find a size able body of water, extending in a sort of semicircle for some 70 miles. It is about 15 miles across at its widest part. This is the Gulf of Guacanayabo. Long before it had been thorough ly surveyed by our own hydrographic office, and the survey had ascertained that there was ample depth of water for the biggest ships. The main channel had been carefully sounded and marked out by buoys. We had used it for years for special maneu vers. We knew how to get out again when we wanted to; but the great consideration was that once in we could close the door, and nobody else could get in without running ex traordinary dangers. Across the mouth of the gulf are many small islands and perilous shoals. When the main channel was closed against intruders, only a navi gator, thoroughly familiar with the in tricate turnings and varying depths of the other channels, could afford to venture an attempt to enter. The chances were heavily against any U boat coming through while sub mergedand a U-boat that failed to submerge we could take care of. Aerol planes made a complete reconnais sance of the gulf and adjacent waters twice every day, while picket boats guarded all channels and destroyers patrolled the waters outside the gulf from Cape Cruz to Lavissa bank. Safe as Jewels in a Vault. When Admiral Mayo had placed his ships in this land-locked harbor, had shut the door and turned the key, they were as safe as my lady's jewels in a safety deposit vault. There the fleet continued its work, going out to sea for battle practice and long-range gunnery in the day time, and returning at night to con duct night firing with secondary bat teries and other exercises. There was even room in the gulf to carry on torpedo firing and defense at 10,000 reards' distance. Guacanayabo was safe enough, but in case of hositilitics we wanted our fleet nearer home, so a few days before war we concealed it in a home base even more inaccessible to the enemy. Before this final base was deter mined for the Atlantic fleet, however, it was moved from Guacanayabo to Hampton Roads. The order to steam north was given March 21,-1917. Ready for Submarines. The possibility of submarine at tack on this voyage was clearly recognized, and instructions were given that for the greater safety of the fleet the larger battleships and destroyers should proceed at maxi mum speed via Cacos channel, while the train, mine force and old battle shipsall slower vessels should go in company via the Crooked island passage. The dreadnaughts and destroyers reached Hampton Roads at 9:30 o'clock on the morning of March 27. The slower ships arrived three days later. Hampton Roads was a most con venient and desirable base in many ways, but it was too well known and too much exposed. We brought Ad miral Mayo to Washington, and the whole matter was discussed. Charts were examined and a new base se lected, to which, the admiral was given orders to shift the fleet. On the very day on which Presi dent Wilson delivered his war mes sage to congress the fleet sailed from Hampton Roads for its new rendez vous. v This was "base 2." Throughout the war it was never called anything else. In conversation and dispatches it remained thus mysteriously desig nated. The newspapers were re quested if they should by chance dis cover where the fleet was sequestered to keep it as profound a secret as the Navy department had tried to make it. Keep Navy's Secret. Necessarily persons residing in the neighborhood of the base became aware of the presence cf the battle ships, but for the most part, like good Americans, they held their tongues. It was months before there was any general knowledge of where the fleet spent it days during those early weeks of the war. "Base 2" was one of the most his toric spots in America Yorktown, Va. Throughout the war our battle ships were almost in sight of the place where Cornwallis surrendered to George Washington. The York river affords a wonder-, ful harbor, with water deep enough for the largest battleships and spar cious enough for a whole fleet to ride at anchor. With defenses at the en trance to Chesapeake bay and nets and patrols across York river, no submarine could ever hope to pene trate this safe haven. It should not be supposed that the fleet went into the York river either to rest or to hide. Far from it. Dur ing the entire war there were few busier places in the United States than this base. Every ship was carrying on intensive training day and night training gunners, en gineers, firemen, deck officers and crews,, armed guards for merchant vessels, men of every rank and rat ing to man transports, destroyers, patrol craft and all the many vessels put into Europetn and transatlantic sen-ice. In addition to new men in their own crews, the battleships trained more than 45,000 officers and men for service in other vessels. Every man from Admiral Mayo to the stokers waftted to get into ac tion. Not a man in the navy but knew in his heart it would be all over with the Germans if only they would give the Atlantic fleet a chance. The 1 Germans, probably, knew it too, for the chance was never given. This was the navy's undying regret. Admiral Beatty expressed the feeling when, in his farewell address to Ad miral Rodman on the departure of our battleships from the grand fleet, he said: "I know quite well that you, as well as all of your British comrades, were bitterly disappointed at not being able to give effect to the efficiency that you have so well maintained." Both countries pursued what naval I III 111 Even with the Best of Luck Ttoull need plenty of exercise and good food to reach the top. mm officers considered the best possible course under the circumstances. Un questionably the existence of these two great fleets, and the French and Italian forces, held the German fleet in check and compelled its eventful surrender. But .personally I have little patience with the policy of de pending on a "fleet in being." The policy of watching and waiting irks men of the navies that produce Nel sons and Farraguts, John Paul Jones and Deweys. I neither blame the British admiralty, nor excuse "our own, but in my soul I believe that if commanders like Beatty, Mayo, Rodman and Wilsoiu could have joined in a general assault by the forces of all the allies, we would have found some way to smash through and destroy the German fleet in spite of hell and Helgoland. (Another article hy former rWrrtnri' Danlala Dili ba printed tomorrow.) Jersey has reduced its working seed time to four and five days a week. Nearly 5,000 men are aff ected by tht change. is a robust blend of wheat and malt ed barley, sweet with, its own sugar and containing valuable mineral elements necessary to well-nourished bodies, brains and nerves. Dont forget, too, that Grape Nuts is partially pie-digested and lias just enough roughage' to keep the body in condition. Sold by grocers everywhere! Made by Postum Cereal Compaiy.Ina farrTg CnyV.Kichigan. s4al-. LINCO M T TV T LN i c A 8 I - I do not want to appear over-enthusiastic but it is' a hard matter to put into words the real pleas ure this car has given me.' I thought I knew every thing about it but I must confess that on almost every trip, I discover some nice thing of which I was not previously aware. H.L. WINTERS Chicago March 26, 1921 LINCOLN 2? THE REASON that Lincoln owners are continually enjoying new pleas ures and new sensations in riding and in driving, is because of the numerous, diversified, and well-worked-out better ments in the car; and because many of these betterments have opportunity to reveal themselves only as various condi tions of travel are met from time to time. And Lincoln owners will tell you, that no matter what the call may be, whether for speed, for power, or for rapid get away; whether to overcome the handi caps and discomforts of inferior highways, or to master the mountain range, the Lincoln has a way of doing things that 'is peculiar to itself, and more pleasing than the way to which motorists have hitherto been accustomed. HANNAN-ODELL, Inc. Farnam at the Boulevard. Phone Harney 0868. LELAND -bu.lt! s-lita tarn 'EVERYBODY STORE" Wednesday Z Downstairs Store Another Big Purchase and Sale of Dresses Priced $-j Q50 Cllr will certainly delight you for the as sortment offers such a variety of styles and colors and one glance at them will convince you of their value and of the importance of this sale. Not only will the young miss find every popular mode of the season, but the matron, too, will find dresses to her liking in the more conserva tive styles. They are made of: Crepe de Chine, Taffeta, and Combination Georgette and . Silk. There are many different atylea, one of them ia eapecially attrac tive with ita trimming of embroi dery and amall ivory ringe; an other haa the eton blouae effect and atill another ia beautified with tiny bindinga of conlrasting material. The colors are: Blue, Brown, Henna and combination effect, 'such as: sand and brown, blue and gray, hen na and blue. As thera is a limited number of them we advise early shopping. Sizes from 16 to 40. Downataira Store MM Needed Notions For the Home Dressmaker Warren' Stayed Belting, 25c, 35c, 40e. De Long Hook and Eye, 10c. Wilinap Drest Faateneri, 10c. Belding's Sewing Silk, 14c. Dretemaker'a Pint, lb. boxes, 35c. Wright' Bia Tape, col or and white, 25c. Klienert Shieldi, all liiea. Hook and eye tape, black and white, 25c yard. Main Floor Dainty New Curtains For Summer W Mows Down come the long heavy drapes and every tasteful housekeeper will be studying th problem of dressing her windows artistically with the little curtains which beautify the entire housje. There are many kinds that are so appropriate for summer and you will find them all here for your selection. THE NETS are especially desirable and are here in all widths and qualities. Prices range from 49e up. THE CRETONNES are very Beautiful with their gorgeous colorings and handsome patterns. Priced from 50c up. You are invited to visit our new drapery section on the fourth floor. Fourth Floor The Smartest Shoes for the New Season Plan Your' Sum mer Vacation NOW Talk it over here. Get the illustrated literature and in formation, and make your reservations early. No ftes. Ask Mf, Foster In Rett Room Third Floor New Building SSI Did you ever consider how rarely one sees her own feet and how con stantly she sees the feet of other people? That's because one cannot look at Her own feet, while walking; but, having her eyes constantly directed to the road ahead, to see where she is going, she sees more shoes than faces. Yet how careless we get about the looks of our shoes. Now the time is here to refit your feet in spic-span new footwear that you'll be proud to wear, and have everybody see. .. The smartest new models are here in great variety for Men, Women and Children in the Nerv Shoes Departments on the Main Floor Main Floor . . , ' An Electric Sewing Machine That You Can Carry Like a Hand Bag That's the New "Free" Electric Portable Sewing Machine FOUND IN OUR NEW SECTION SECOND FLOOR Just set it on the table Attach the cord to any electric light socket Step on the' lever lightly or firmly according to thv desired speed and presto! It sews I Prepare For ihe April Showers With A New Umbrella Just the right time to pick out an umbrella, for that inconven ient downpour will find you unprepared if you put off your selection. We have a large assortment in all styles and prices. Main Floor And it works like greased lightning without jerks or catches, because it Wettinghouie Motor is Built in Not Added. The highly perfected Westinghouse .motor is a part of the machine, not just an attachment (as in most electric sewing machines.) The head of this machine is full size, and it is equipped with a complete set of attachments and accessories, packed in the same case. . It comes in the latest vibrating shuttle or Ion g shuttle rotary models. You can work for hours without feeling the muscle strain that results from the foot motor machines. It's as different as a bicycle and a motorcycle. And $5.00 monthly on the club plan will pay for it. - Some splendid bargains in new and rebuilt sewing machines The Free Sewing Machine, recognized as beinir the best sewinp machine made today because of its perfect mechanical construction. On all The "Free" Floor Sample Machines 15 Reduction from the regular price. , . Diamond, 4 Drawer, ii you nave an ow ma- . Go,den 0ak( $49 00 nunc jvu .au biauv lb III for cash. Free Floor Sample at $72.00 This machine carries same guarantee as the new one; complete attachments, etc. are included. Crescent, new machine, slightly damaged in ship ping, $43.50. Our special, 4 drawer style, automatic drop style, guaranteed, $36.50. If You Prefer You May MAKE A SMALL PAYMENT DOWN BALANCE MONTHLY. No Interest Charges. . " Second Floor