L0N9OM, May 26. ? Rear Admiral
\\ illiain S. Sims, who commanded the
American naval forces In the war zone
during the last two years Of the world
war. told Admiral Beatty, commander
of the British Grand Fleet, and a dis
tinguished assemblage of British and
American naval men and other promi
nent persons to-day that the British had
been disposed to give the American
Navy too much credit for the part it
played in the allied victory.
In an address at a luncheon given by
the Pilgrims Society in his honor. Ad
miral Sims paid: "The British Grand
Fleet was the keystone in the allied
arch, without which you in this country
would to-day bo speaking German with
a very strong Knglisli accent."
Admiral Sims waved aside personal
tributes from Admiral Beatty and Lord
Desborough, asserting that had the
command of the American naval forces
in Europe been entrusted to ono of the
forty or fifty other American officers
eligible in rank, the result would vir
tually have been the same. Ho said
that when America entered the waj'
things on the European side were in a
"pretty desperate" state. "The help we
;; >ve," he continued, "was that which
comes of the freemasonry of the sea?
no question of personal preference was ,
Involved,"
While commanding In Europe, Ad
miral Sims declared, lio regarded the
American forces "as reserves coming
up from the rear." lie paid a tribute
to England as a land of personal lib
erty, where he knew he could get a
drink of any kind lie wanted if lie camo
to England fifty years hence.
