Naval History and Heritage Command

Two U.S. Navy sub chasers and an auxiliary fly the American flag in the harbor of Brest, France, circa 1917/18 (NH 121653).

The War Begins

• The War Begins: The United States Navy and the German Cruiser Cormoran. This blog post from NHHC historian Dennis Conrad discusses the first shots fired between the United States and Germany after the United States' entrance into World War I.
• Woodrow Wilson, World War I, and Freedom of the Seas, by NHHC historian Christopher B. Havern, Sr.

Navy Operations

• “The Most Terrifying Experience”: The U.S. Navy and the Pandemic of 1918, by NHHC historian Thomas Sheppard, Ph.D., NHHC Histories and Archives Division 

• American Naval Participation in the Great War

• The First U.S. Overseas Troop Convoy. NHHC historian Matt Cheser recounts how the U.S. Navy dealt with the improvisational nature of the initial troop trans-Atlantic convoy to France

• "The Action of 17 November 1917"—The Capture of SM U-58. Matt Cheser describes one of the few confirmed U.S. Navy victories over a German U-boat.

• American Navy in France During the War with Germany

• U.S. Naval Forces in Northern Russia 1918–1919

• American Naval Mission in the Adriatic, 1918–1921 

• U.S. Naval Detachment in Turkish Waters, 1919–1924

• The U.S. Understanding of the Laws of Naval Warfare in the 18th and 19th Centuries

• The Sinking of Jacob Jones: Toughness and Sacrifice in the North Atlantic. NHHC historian Matt Cheser discusses the bravery and selflessness of the crew of Jacob Jones after she was torpedoed by a German U-boat

• NHHC Director's H-Gram 020-4: "The Fog of War—Lieutenant John Foster and AL-2 Versus UB-65, 10 July 1918"

Allied Cooperation 

• USS Olympia and the Russian Civil War: The Allied Intervention at Archangel and Murmansk in 1918. An essay by Adam Bisno, Ph.D., NHHC Communication and Outreach Division, September 2019.

• "The Return of the Mayflower": Arrival of Destroyers at Queenstown. Read about the 4 May 1917 arrival of Division Eight, Destroyer Force, at Queenstown, Ireland, in this essay from NHHC historians Dennis Conrad and Matt Cheser

• The American Naval Planning Section London. This is the seventh of seven monographs in a series on the U.S. Navy in World War I. Read an introductory overview from NHHC historian Jon Middaugh and access the original text in the Online Reading Room 

• Arrival of Battleship Division Nine at Scapa Flow, 7 December 1917. NHHC historian Christopher Havern, Sr., describes the impact of the arrival of U.S. Navy battleships at the Royal Navy's Scapa Flow base, and the practicality of their subsequent operations with the British Grand Fleet.  

• "Bayly’s  Navy." In this contribution originally published in 1980 by the Naval Historical Foundation, World War I destroyerman Vice Admiral Walter S. Delany, USN (Ret.), describes Allied escort and antisubmarine operations carried out from the Royal Navy's Queenstown, Ireland, base under the command of Admiral Sir Lewis Bayly, RN, Commander in Chief, Western Approaches

Home Front

• German Submarine Activities on the Atlantic Coast of the United States and Canada. This monograph discusses the 1918 German U-boat offensive off the U.S. east coast and is the first of seven monographs in a series on the U.S. Navy in World War I. Read an introductory overview from NHHC historian Chris Martin and access the original text in the Online Reading Room.

• Digest Catalogue of Laws and Joint Resolutions: The Navy and the World War. This compilation of World War I legislation is the third of seven monographs in a series on the U.S. Navy in World War I. Read an introductory overview from NHHC historian Jon Middaugh and access the original text in the Online Reading Room.

• “The Most Terrifying Experience”: The U.S. Navy and the Pandemic of 1918, by NHHC historian Thomas Sheppard, Ph.D.

• Influenza Epidemic of 1918 (See especially account of Navy Nurse Josie Mabel Brown)

Armistice

• British and German Naval Messages (1918)

• The Scuttling of the German High Seas Fleet at Scapa Flow (1919), essay by Adam Bisno, PhD, NHHC Communication and Outreach Division.

Aftermath

• The Return of the Unknown Soldier, 11 November 1921

General Resources

• Naval History Bibliographies, World War I