Admiral Sir Lewis Bayly, R.N., Commander, Naval Forces, Southern Ireland, to Thomas J. Macnamara, Parliamentary and Financial Secretary to the Admiralty, 1/25/1918

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Admiral Sir Lewis Bayly, R.N., Commander, Naval Forces, Southern Ireland, to Thomas J. Macnamara, Parliamentary and Financial Secretary to the Admiralty

Admiral__

From: Commanding in – Chief, Coast of Ireland.

To: The Secretary of the Admiralty.

DATE: 25th January, 1918. No. / W. 71. A.

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U. S. S. SANTEE - - Special Service Ship.1

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As U. S. S. SANTEE, Special Service Ship, is expected to leave shortly for Devonport, I wish to draw Their Lordships attention to the altered conditions of submarine warfare and recommend the following:-

(1) That SANTEE shall be repaired and revert to her original status of cargo ship. Hersea [i.e. her sea] speed is about 9 knots.

(2) That her U.S.Officers and men be sent to a fast big ship, having a sea speed of 15 knots, capable of carrying six 6" guns and able to cruise after the new cruiser submarines in the Azores and West Indies. A blue funneller which has passengers cabins on deck would be very suitable, as the cabins would act as admirable screens for the guns.

LEWIS BAYLY

ADMIRAL

COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF

Source Note: Cy, DLC-MSS, William S. Sims Papers, Box 23. A filing notation in the upper-left corner reads: “Admiral Sims/Personal File.” and identification numbers “1/3/J” appear to the right in a ladder. A note at the end of the document indicates that Bayly also sent a copy to VAdm. William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters.

Footnote 1: Formerly H.M.S. Pargust, this ship was given to the Americans to use as a Mystery Ship, also known as a “Q-Ship.” She was renamed U.S.S. Arvonian, then finally U.S.S. SANTEE. She was torpedoed by a German submarine on 27 December 1917 and eventually returned to the British. See: Sims to Pratt, 21 November 1917; and Sims to Benson after 30 December 1917.

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