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United States Navy and World War I: 1914–1922

by Frank A. Blazich Jr.


A Fast Convoy; USS Allen (DD-66) & USS Leviathan (SP-1326)


United States Navy and World War I: 1914–1922

Frank A. Blazich Jr., PhD
Naval History and Heritage Command

Introduction

This document is intended to provide readers with a chronological progression of the activities of the United States Navy and its involvement with World War I as an outside observer, active participant, and victor engaged in the war’s lingering effects in the postwar period. The document is not a comprehensive timeline of every action, policy decision, or ship movement. What is provided is a glimpse into how the 20th century’s first global conflict influenced the Navy and its evolution throughout the conflict and the immediate aftermath.  The source base is predominately composed of the published records of the Navy and the primary materials gathered under the supervision of Captain Dudley Knox in the Historical Section in the Office of Naval Records and Library. A thorough chronology remains to be written on the Navy’s actions in regard to World War I. The nationality of all vessels, unless otherwise listed, is the United States.

All errors and omissions are solely those of the author.

Table of Contents

1914........................................ ................................................................2
1915........................................ ................................................................4
1916........................................ ..............................................................11
1917........................................ ..............................................................16
1918........................................ ..............................................................87
1919......................................... ............................................................147
1920........................................ ............................................................157
1921........................................ ............................................................158
1922........................................ ............................................................159
[1]

1914

4 August President Woodrow Wilson issues a proclamation for a policy of neutrality in regard to the conflict in Europe.[i]

5 August Senate and House of Representatives pass House Joint Resolution 314 for the relief, protection, and transportation of American citizens in Europe away from the emerging conflict. The resolution authorized the armed forces to deliver gold abroad, empowering the president “to employ officers, employees, and vessels of the United States and use any supplies of the naval or military establishments, and to charter and employ any vessels that may be required with an appropriation not to exceed $2.5 million.”[ii]

6 August At 10:20 p.m., the armored cruiser Tennessee (CA-10) sails from New York Harbor for Falmouth, England carrying $3 million in gold from private banking interests and $1.5 million in gold coin from a Congressional appropriation to provide financial relief to Americans caught up in the outbreak of World War I. Aboard Tennessee are a delegation of Army officers, additional Navy and Marine Corps officers, five bankers, representatives of the banking interests sending private funds, five representatives of the Treasury Department, a State Department diplomatic advisor, the national director of the American Red Cross and his secretary, and eight War Department clerks and a messenger. Under the auspices of the United States Relief Commission in Europe, the funds are intended to shore up the collapsed European credit system to enable the 125,000 Americans and their interests stranded abroad means to return home.[iii]

7 August Armored cruiser North Carolina (CA-12) and collier Vulcan (AC-5) sail from the Boston Navy Yard and rendezvous off Cape Cod with the armored cruiser Tennessee (CA-10) bound for Falmouth, England.[iv]

15 August U.S. Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire Henry Morgenthau wires Secretary of State William J. Bryan about receiving requests from U.S. interests in the Ottoman cities of Beirut and Smyrna (modern day Izmir) demanding U.S. warships be sent to protect American lives and property.[v]

16 August Armored cruiser Tennessee (CA-10) arrives in Falmouth, England, at 7:45 p.m. The following day, $400,000 in gold is sent to London, with $300,000 consigned to U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain Walter Hines Page with the other $100,000 provided to two U.S. Army officers for relief work.[vi]

18–19 August Armored cruiser North Carolina (CA-12) sails from Falmouth, England, and arrives in Cherbourg, France, the following day carrying $200,000 in gold and additional American officials for the U.S. Relief Commission in Europe.[vii]

20 August Armored cruiser Tennessee (CA-10) sails from Falmouth, England, for the Hook of Holland.[viii]

______________

[i] U.S. Department of State, Foreign Relations of the United States, (FRUS) 1914, Supplement, The World War (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office [GPO], 1928), 547–51.

[ii] U.S. War Department, Report on Operations of United States Relief Commission in Europe (Washington, DC: GPO, 1914), 1–2.

[iii] War Department, Report on Operations, 1–2.

[iv] Branden Little, “Evacuating Wartime Europe: U.S. Policy, Strategy, and Relief Operations for Overseas American Travelers, 1914–15,” Journal of Military History 79, no. 4 (October 2015): 944; Arthur S. Link, Wilson: The Struggle for Neutrality, 19141915 (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1960), 75; Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS), entry for North Carolina II (Armored Cruiser No. 12), https://www.history.navy.mil/histories/ship-histories/danfs/n/north-carolina-ii.html.

[v] Department of State, FRUS, 1914, Supplement, 66–67.

[vi] War Department, Relief Commission, 3; Little, “Evacuating Wartime Europe,” 946.

[vii] Ibid., 86.

[viii] Ibid., 4.

[2]

21 August Lieutenant Commander Henry C. Mustin, Lieutenant Patrick N. L. Bellinger, and 1st Lieutenant Bernard L. Smith, USMC, travel to Paris, for a two-day tour of aircraft factories and aerodromes in the immediate area. This temporary assignment, the first use of naval aviators as observers in foreign lands, is a precedent for assignment of aviation assistances to naval attaches, which begins the same month when Lieutenant John H. Towers is sent to London.[i]

21 August Armored cruiser Tennessee (CA-10) arrives off the Hook of Holland at 4:40 p.m., three miles outside Dutch territorial waters, and is met by the Dutch cruiser Nord-Brabrant, which will accompany American officials and $200,000 in gold ashore to The Hague.[ii]

29 August Armored cruiser North Carolina (CA-12) sails from Falmouth, England, destined for Turkish waters carrying $150,000 in gold relief funds for American-owned institutions and businesses cut off from usual channels of commerce and banking because of the war.[iii]

16 November Turkish shore batteries fire on the launch carrying the commanding officer of armored cruiser Tennessee (CA-10) from his ship into the city of Smyrna. The commander and crew on the launch are uninjured, but the incident results in several diplomatic exchanges with American officials, who are thereafter instructed to obey Turkish orders relating to port entry.[iv]

16 November An administrative reorganization at Pensacola, Florida, shifts overall command from the station ship to the headquarters ashore and the station is officially designated as Naval Aeronautic Station Pensacola.[v]

23 November The office of Director of Naval Aeronautics is established to designate the officer in charge of naval aviation, with Captain Mark L. Bristol, already serving in that capacity, being ordered to report to the Secretary of the Navy under the new title.[vi]

23 November Director of Naval Aeronautics Captain Mark L. Bristol establishes requirements for special meteorological equipment to be installed at the ends of the speed course at Pensacola, Florida, to measure and record velocity and direction of winds, gusts, and squalls.[vii]

1 December Rear Admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan dies at age 74 in Washington, D.C.[viii]

26 December The U.S. government sends the British government a diplomatic protest against the British seizure and detention of U.S. cargoes on the high seas destined for neutral ports.[ix]

______________

[i] Roy A. Grossnick, United States Naval Aviation, 19101995, 4th ed. (Washington, DC: GPO, 1995), 15; Little, “Evacuating Wartime Europe,” 948–49.

[ii] War Department, Relief Commission, 4.

[iii] Department of State, FRUS, 1914, Supplement, 762; John A. DeNovo, American Interests and Policies in the Middle East, 19001939 (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1963), 91.

[iv] DeNovo, American Interests, 93; Department of State, FRUS, 1914, Supplement, 771–74, 779–80.

[v] Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 15.

[vi] Ibid., 16.

[vii] Ibid.

[viii] “Alfred Thayer Mahan, 27 September 1840–1 December 1914,” Biographies, Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC), http://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/bios/mahan-alfred.html

[ix] Department of State, FRUS, 1914, Supplement, 372–75.

[3]

1915

27 January The schooner William P. Frye is captured by German auxiliary cruiser Prinz Eitel Friedrich in the South Atlantic, southeast of Brazil.[i]

28 January President Woodrow Wilson signs legislation establishing the U.S. Coast Guard through the merger of the U.S. Life-Saving Service and Revenue Cutter Service.[ii]

4 February Germany declares a submarine war zone in the waters around Great Britain and Ireland beginning 19 February and announces that enemy merchant ships will be destroyed and neutral vessels will be warned of potential danger.[iii]

10 February The U.S. government protests to Germany against the risks created by the 4 February German decree of a submarine war zone around the British Isles. The U.S. government also protests to the British against the use of neutral U.S. flags on British vessels to protect the ships from submarine attack.[iv]

19 February The steamship Evelyn is sunk by mines in the North Sea near Isle of Borkum, Germany, 10 miles west of Norderney, killing one man.[v]

20 February The U.S. government sends identical messages to the British and German governments expressing American desires for both belligerents to find basis through reciprocal concessions “which will relieve neutral ships engaged in peaceful commerce from the great dangers which they will incur in the high seas adjacent to the coasts of the belligerents.” The American multi-part suggestion is to ask both countries to identify and minimize the use of sea mines, not use submarines to attack merchant vessels of any nationality except to enforce the right of visit and search, and that both nations will require their respective merchant vessels not to use neutral flags for purpose of disguise. The U.S. government also asks that American food and foodstuffs shipped into Germany be only sent for civilian purposes under American oversight and that the British, in turn, agree to not consider food and foodstuffs contraband and not interfere with shipments to Germany while under American oversight.[vi]

22 February The cargo ship Carib strikes a mine and sinks in the North Sea with a loss of three men.[vii]

3 March President Woodrow Wilson signs multiple key pieces of legislation into law which will impact the Navy’s entry and actions in World War I. The Naval Appropriations Act included an act authorizing construction of 2 battleships, 6 destroyers, and 18 submarines; creation of the position of Chief of Naval Operations; and the establishment of the U.S. Naval Reserve Force. The legislation notes that “There shall be a Chief of Naval Operations, who shall be an officer on the active list of the Navy appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, from the officers of the line of the Navy not below the grade of Captain for a period of four years, who shall, under the direction of the Secretary, be charged with the operations of the fleet, and with the preparation and readiness of plans for its use in war.”[viii]

________________

[i] Navy Department, American Ship Casualties of the World War including Naval Vessels, Merchant Ships, Sailing Vessels, and Fishing Craft (Washington, DC: GPO, 1923), 7.

[ii] Alex R. Larzelere, The Coast Guard in World War I: An Untold Story (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2003), 7–8.

[iii] U.S. Department of State, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1915, Supplement, The World War (Washington, DC: GPO, 1928), 94.

[iv] Department of State, FRUS, 1915, Supplement, 98–101.

[v] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 17.

[vi] Department of State, FRUS, 1915, Supplement, 119–20.

[vii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 17.

[viii] Jack Sweetman, American Naval History: An Illustrated Chronology of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, 1775Present (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1984), 130; Navy Department, Office of Naval Records and Library, Historical Section, Digest Catalogue of Laws and Joint Resolutions: The Navy and the World War (Washington, DC: GPO, 1920), 9, 14–15, 20; Naval Appropriations Act of 1916, Public Law 63-271, U.S. Statutes at Large 38 (1915): 928–53.

[4]

16 March Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt attends a General Board of the U.S. Navy meeting on the upcoming Atlantic Fleet exercises. Roosevelt suggests, and the Board approves, a plan to make the exercises “serve an object lesson to the country.” Specifically, the exercises were crafted to build public support for a larger navy and battle cruisers.[i] 

22 March The title “Naval Aviator” replaces the former “Navy Air Pilot” designation for naval officers qualified as aviators.[ii]

25 March Submarine F-4 sinks following an accident during maneuvers off Honolulu, Hawaii, to a depth of 305 feet with the loss of her commanding officer and crew of 21 sailors. The submarine is later located and then raised on 29 August after considerable effort.[iii]

28 March British passenger ship Falaba is sunk by German submarine U-28 off the southern coast of Ireland. American passenger Leon C. Thresher, a mining engineer en route to the Gold Coast colony [Ghana], drowns in the sinking. Thresher is the first American civilian killed in the war as a result of German naval action.[iv]

1 April Rear Admiral Bradley A. Fiske resigns as Aide for Operations, although Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels requests he remain at his post for an additional period of time.[v]

2 April The cargo ship Greenbrier strikes a mine and sinks in the North Sea near Amrum, Germany.[vi]

11 April The German auxiliary cruiser SMS Kronprinz Wilhelm stops off Cape Henry, Virginia, after eight months at sea and is interned by the U.S. government.[vii]

16 April The Curtiss AB-2 flying boat is successfully catapulted from a barge by Lieutenant Patrick N. L. Bellinger at Pensacola, Florida.[viii]

28 April A German aircraft bombs the tanker Cushing near North Hinder Lightship in the North Sea between Great Britain and The Netherlands causing damage but no injuries.[ix]

1 May A German submarine torpedoes tanker Gulflight 20 miles west of Isles of Scilly, England, killing three men. This is the first U.S. merchant vessel torpedoed and sunk by a submarine in World War I.[x]

7 May German submarine U-20 torpedoes and sinks British passenger liner RMS Lusitania off the Old Head of Kinsale, Ireland. A total of 1,198 passengers are killed, including 124 Americans.[xi]

11 May Captain William S. Benson assumes the newly established post of the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) and is promoted to rear admiral. Benson had been a captain in command of the Philadelphia Navy Yard when selected to be CNO. Rear Admiral Bradley A. Fiske, having previously resigned as Aid for Operations, retires the same day. [xii]

______________ 

[i] Proceedings and Hearings of the General Board of the U.S. Navy 19001950, Roll 3: January 3, 1913–December 29, 1916 (Washington, DC: National Archives Microfilm Publications, 1987), 76.

[ii] Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 16.

[iii] Navy Department, Annual Reports of the Navy Department for the Fiscal Year 1915 (Washington, DC: GPO, 1916), 66–68.

[iv] Department of State, FRUS, 1915, Supplement, 358–59.

[v] Henry P. Beers, “The Development of the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Part II” Military Affairs vol. 10, no. 3 (Fall 1946), 12.

[vi] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 17.

[vii] DANFS, entry for Von Steuben I (Id. No. 3017),

https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/v/von-steuben-i.html.

[viii] Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 16.

[ix] Department of State, FRUS, 1915, Supplement, 378, 393–94.

[x] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 8; Department of State, FRUS, 1915, Supplement, 378–79.

[xi] Department of State, FRUS, 1915, Supplement, 384; Link, Struggle for Neutrality, 370–72; William N. Still Jr., Crisis at Sea: The United States Navy in European Waters in World War I (Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2006), 4.

[xii] Thomas Hone and Curtis Utz, draft manuscript for Office of Chief of Naval Operations Centennial; Navy Department; Navy and Marine Corps List and Directory Officers of the Navy and Marine Corps of the United States June 1, 1915 (Washington, DC: GPO, 1915), 49, 64; Navy Department, Register of the Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps January 1, 1915 (Washington, DC: GPO, 1915), 8–11.

[5]

13 May The U.S. government protests to Germany against its submarine policy which culminated in the sinking of the British passenger liner RMS Lusitania. Secretary of State William J. Bryan states: “The Imperial German Government will not expect the Government of the United States to omit any word or any act necessary to the performance of its sacred duty of maintaining the rights of the United States and its citizens and of safeguarding their free exercise and enjoyment.”[i]

17–18 May President Woodrow Wilson, aboard the presidential yacht Mayflower (PY-1), and Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, aboard the gunboat Dolphin (PG-24), together review the Atlantic Fleet in New York Harbor. The fleet numbered 64 ships, including 16 battleships, assembled after months of training in Cuban waters off Guantanamo and target practice off the Chesapeake Capes.[ii]

25 May A German submarine torpedoes and damages the cargo ship Nebraskan 40 miles southwest of Southcliffe, Ireland, which is later salvaged.[iii]

26 May Rear Admiral Austin M. Knight, Naval War College President, releases his official report on the 1915 Atlantic Fleet exercises. His analysis highlights the great danger posed to the Navy by its lack of battle cruisers, focusing especially on the impossibility of maintaining a credible cruiser screen in front of the main fleet. Knight’s analysis is echoed by the popular press.[iv] 

1 June The Navy awards its first contract for a lighter-than-air craft to the Connecticut Aircraft Company, New Haven, Connecticut, for one non-rigid airship which is later designated DN-1.[v]

1 June The German government sends a supplementary note to the U.S. government in regard to the tankers Gulflight and Cushing incidents of 28 April and 1 May 1915.[vi]

9 June The U.S. government, in a second note relating to the sinking of the British passenger liner RMS Lusitania, requests that Germany adopt the necessary measures to safeguard American lives, property, and ships on the high seas and asks for assurances that this will be done.[vii]

25 June Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels orders the discontinuance of the Naval Aide System, in place since 1909, as the duties and responsibilities of the aides now fall under the purview of the Office of Chief of Naval Operations.[viii]

29 June The Austro-Hungarian Minister for Foreign Affairs submits a protest to the United States regarding the shipment of arms and ammunition to Great Britain and her allies.[ix]

7 July Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels writes Thomas A. Edison, inviting him to become the head of a planned Naval Consulting Board, intended to bring the nation’s top scientists and inventors in close consultation with the Navy on emerging technologies of naval warfare. The board will become the predecessor to the Naval Research Laboratory.[x]

_____________

[i] Department of State, FRUS, 1915, Supplement, 393–96.

[ii] Navy Department, Annual Report 1915, 13–14.

[iii] Department of State, FRUS, 1915, Supplement, 414, 430, 468–69; Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 8.

[iv] Rear Admiral Austin M. Knight, “Report on the Outcome of the Exercises,” May 26, 1915, Record Group 80, Entry 281: General Board Subject Files 1900-47, Subject GB 434, National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), Washington, DC.

[v] Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 17.

[vi] Department of State, FRUS, 1915, Supplement, 431–32.

[vii] Ibid., 436–38.

[viii] Beers, “Office of Naval Operations, Part II,” 14.

[ix] Department of State, FRUS, 1915, Supplement, 790–93.

[x] Josephus Daniels, Our Navy at War (New York: George H. Doran Co., 1922), 290–91; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 17; Lloyd N. Scott, Naval Consulting Board of the United States (Washington, DC: GPO, 1920), 9–10.

[6]

8 July The German government responds to the U.S. diplomatic note of 13 May by offering safety to U.S. vessels provided the passenger steamers have recognizable markings, and that German submarine commanders are notified a reasonable time in advance of the passage of the steamers. The German government further proposes that an increase in the number of available steamers be placed in service under the U.S. flag to allow American citizens traveling to Europe safe passage rather that “travel to Europe in time of war on ships carrying an enemy flag.” If this is not possible, the German government “is prepared to interpose no objections to the placing under the American flag by the U.S. Government of four enemy passenger steamers for the passenger traffic between America and England.”[i]

10 July Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels authorizes the Washington Navy Yard to outfit a building for testing aeronautic machinery, beginning what will become the Aeronautical Engine Laboratory.[ii]

10 July General Order No. 153 prescribes a standard organization for an aeronautic force within the Naval Militia, with a composition paralleling that of other forces established at the same time. This consisted of sections of not more than 6 officers and 28 enlisted men; two sections forming a division. Officers were in the “aeronautics duty only” category, the highest rank provided being that of lieutenant commander at the division level. Its enlisted structure provided that men taken in under regular ratings of machinist mates and electricians would perform duties as aeronautic machinists; carpenter mates would perform duties as aeronautic mechanics; and landsmen, the equivalent of strikers today, would perform special duties.[iii]

21 July The U.S. government replies to the German diplomatic note of 8 July and “regrets to be obliged to say that it has found it very unsatisfactory,” concluding that “Friendship itself prompts it to say to the Imperial Government that repetition by the commanders of German naval vessels of acts in contravention of those rights must be regarded . . . when they affect American citizens, as deliberately unfriendly.”[iv]

22 July Based on recommendations received from Naval Aeronautic Station Pensacola, the Director of Naval Aeronautics establishes requirements for 13 instruments to be installed in service aircraft: air speed meter, incidence indicator, tachometer, skidding and sideslip indicator, altitude barometer, oil gauge, fuel gauge, compass, course and distance indicator, magazine camera, binoculars, clock, and sextant. All except the navigational instruments, camera, binoculars, and clock are also required for training aircraft.[v]

25 July A German submarine fires on, torpedoes, and sinks the cargo ship Leelanaw off the north coast of Scotland about 60 miles northwest of Orkney Islands.[vi]

27 July After President Woodrow Wilson tells Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels to prepare for a large building program in 1916, the General Board of the U.S. Navy sets a new policy of matching “the most powerful [fleet] maintained by another nation . . . not later than 1925.” The board tentatively agrees that battle cruisers must be included in the next building program.[vii]

_____________

[i] Department of State, FRUS, 1915, Supplement, 463–66.

[ii] Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 17.

[iii] Ibid.

[iv] Department of State, FRUS, 1915, Supplement, 480–82.

[v] Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 17.

[vi] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 8.

[vii] Proceedings and Hearings of the General Board of the U.S. Navy 19001950, Roll 3: January 3, 1913–December 29, 1916 (Washington, DC: National Archives Microfilm Publications, 1987), 199–200.

[7]

4 August The steel-hulled sailing bark Pass of Balmaha surrenders to a German submarine in the North Sea. It is later converted into the German commerce raider SMS Seeadler.[i]

5 August Lieutenant Patrick N. L. Bellinger, flying the Burgess-Dunne AH-10, spots mortar fire for Army shore batteries at Fort Monroe, Virginia, signaling his spots with a flare pistol.[ii]

19 August German submarine U-24 sinks the British passenger liner RMS Arabic 50 miles off Kinsale, Ireland. Forty-four passengers die in the sinking, including two Americans.[iii]

29 August President Woodrow Wilson signs legislation, which would make the Coast Guard part of the Navy in time of war.[iv]

1 September The German ambassador to the United States declares that passenger liners will not be sunk by German submarines without warning and without regard for the safety of the lives of non-combatants provided that the liners do not try to escape or offer resistance. This comes in response to the sinking of the British passenger liners RMS Lusitania and Arabic.[v]

4 September The British passenger liner RMS Hesperian is torpedoed by German submarine U-20—the same U-boat commanded by Kapitanleutnant Walther Schweiger who sank the British passenger liner RMS Lusitania—with the loss of 26 lives. One American citizen, a crewmember, escaped unscathed. While under tow to Ireland, the Hesperian sinks on 6 September.[vi]

7 September The German government sends the U.S. government a report on the sinking of the British passenger liner Arabic.[vii]

12 September The Naval Consulting Board is announced by Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, with Thomas A. Edison selected as board’s presiding officer.[viii]

14 September The U.S. government sends a summary of evidence in regard to the sinking of British passenger liner Arabic to the Foreign Office of the Imperial German government.[ix]

27 September The schooner Vincent strikes a mine and sinks in the North Sea, near Cape Orloff, Russia, injuring four.[x]

29 September For the first time, a series of long-distance wireless telephone communications concludes as the Naval Radio Service, working with the American Telephone and Telegraph Company and Western Electric Company, successfully transmits human voice by radio from the naval radio station at Arlington, Virginia, to Mare Island, California, 2,500 miles away.[xi]

5 October The German government expresses official regret for the sinking of the British passenger liner Arabic, disavows the act, and declares that the Kaiser issues orders to his submarines commanders “so stringent that the recurrence of incidents similar to the Arabic case is considered out of the question.”[xii]

7 October An organizational meeting of the Naval Consulting Board commences at the Navy Department in Washington, D.C.[xiii]

_____________

[i] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 8.

[ii] Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 17.

[iii] Department of State, FRUS, 1915, Supplement, 539–40, 547–48.

[iv] Navy Department, Digest Catalogue, 21.

[v] Department of State, FRUS, 1915, Supplement, 530–31.

[vi] Ibid., 533–35; Link, Struggle for Neutrality, 652–53.

[vii] Department of State, FRUS, 1915, Supplement, 539–40.

[viii] “Daniels Names Naval Advisors,” New York Times, 13 September 1915, 1.

[ix] Department of State, FRUS, 1915, Supplement, 547–48.

[x] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 17.

[xi] Navy Department, Annual Report 1915, 43.

[xii] Department of State, FRUS, 1915, Supplement, 560–61.

[xiii] Scott, Naval Consulting Board, 13–14.

[8]

9 October Two days after Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels asks the General Board of the U.S. Navy to prepare a five-year, $500 million construction program (the largest in U.S. history to that point), the board returns with a construction plan headlined by ten battleships and six battle cruisers.[i]

15 October Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels refers a proposal made by Director of Naval Aeronautics Captain Mark L. Bristol to convert a merchant ship to operate aircraft to the General Board of the U.S. Navy. Daniels comments that there was a more immediate need to determine what would be done with armored cruiser North Carolina (CA-12) which was already fitted to carry aircraft.[ii]

18 October Submarines D-1 (SS-17), D-2 (SS-18), D-3 (SS-19), E-1 (SS-24), G-1 (SS-19 1/2), G-2 (SS-27), and G-4 (SS-26) arrive at the New London Navy Yard in Groton, Connecticut. These are the first submarines stationed at Groton, which will be established as Naval Submarine Base New London.[iii]

21 October The U.S. government lodges a second protest with Great Britain against the detention of U.S. ships and cargoes destined for neutral ports and declares the British blockade “ineffective, illegal, and indefensible.”[iv]

26 October Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels orders the Bureau of Construction and Repair to investigate a means of detecting submerged submarines from a surface vessel.[v]

5 November Lieutenant Commander Henry C. Mustin, in the AB-2 flying boat, makes the first catapult launch from a ship, flying off the stern of the armored cruiser North Carolina (CA-12) in Pensacola Bay, Florida.[vi]

5 November Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels issues the first order ever sent by the Navy by wireless telephony from his desk in the Navy Department in Washington.[vii]

7 November German submarine U-38, flying the flag of Austria-Hungary, torpedoes and sinks Italian passenger steamer Ancona off Cape Carbonara, Italy. More than 200 passengers, including nine Americans, are killed.[viii]

18 November The schooner Helen Martin strikes a mine and sinks in the North Sea, injuring four. It is later salvaged.[ix]

1 December The German government requests the U.S. government to issue orders to the commanders of U.S. warships in the Mediterranean to display the national flag clearly during the day and keep the flag sufficiently illuminated at night to avoid the vessels being mistaken for warships of the belligerents against the Central Powers. Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels acknowledged the request on 10 December but declined the German request to issue orders to the U.S. warship commanders in the Mediterranean, “and must continue to consider that the German Government is wholly and fully responsible for the prevention of unintentional attacks by its naval forces on the vessels of the United States.”[x]

_______________

[i] Proceedings and Hearings of the General Board of the U.S. Navy 1900-1950, Roll 3: January 3, 1913–December 29, 1916 (Washington, DC: National Archives Microfilm Publications, 1987), 299–303.

[ii] Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 17.

[iii] John Ruddy, “First Seven Submarines Arrived in Groton a Century Ago,” The Day, 17 October 2015, http://www.theday.com/article/20151017/NWS01/151019329.  

[iv] Department of State, FRUS, 1915, Supplement, 578–601.

[v] Gary E. Weir, An Ocean in Common: American Naval Officers, Scientists, and the Ocean Environment (College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press, 2001), 7.

[vi] Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 17.

[vii] Navy Department, Annual Report 1915, 43.

[viii] Paul G. Halpern, The Naval War in the Mediterranean, 1914–1918 (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1987), 194; Department of State, FRUS, 1915, Supplement, 611, 623–25, 646.

[ix] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 17.

[x] Department of State, FRUS, 1915, Supplement, 1054–56.

[9]

3 December The U.S. government requests the recall of Germany’s naval and military attachés in Washington, D.C., Captain Karl Boy-Ed and Captain Franz von Papen, respectively. Both men are recalled on 10 December.[i]

5 December The tanker Petrolite is fired upon by an unknown submarine flying an Austrian flag off the coast of Egypt. After stopping, the tanker captain is taken aboard the submarine and ordered by its commander to provide the submarine with fresh provisions of ham, beef, and eggs, while holding one of the American crew captive until the provisions were provided. After receiving the provisions and without paying recompense, the submarine submerges and departs.[ii]

6 December Secretary of State Robert Lansing, responds to the sinking of the Italian passenger steamer Ancona by dispatching a sternly-worded letter of protest to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, demanding that the government denounce the sinking and punish the U-boat commander. Acceding to U.S. demands, the empire pays an indemnity and requests the German navy refrain from attacking passenger vessels while flying the Austrian flag.[iii]

30 December Austria-Hungary announces to the U.S. government that the commander of the submarine which sank the Italian passenger steamer Ancona has been punished “in accordance with the rules of force in this matter for exceeding his instructions.”[iv]

______________

[i] David M. Cooney, A Chronology of the U.S. Navy: 17751965 (New York: F. Watts, 1965), 220.

[ii] U.S. Department of State, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1916, Supplement, The World War (Washington, DC: GPO, 1929), 160–61, 276–78.

[iii] Department of State, FRUS, 1915, Supplement, 623–25; Halpern, Naval War in Mediterranean, 196–97.

[iv] Department of State, FRUS, 1915, Supplement, 655–58.

[10]

1916

4 January The U.S. government protests to Great Britain against interference with U.S. mail to and from neutral countries. This is in response to British customs authorities removing mail bags en route from the United States to Scandinavian nations.[i]

6 January Instruction commences at Pensacola, Florida, for the first group of enlisted men to receive flight training.[ii]

18 January The U.S. government sets forth a proposed “Modus Vivendi for the Observance of Rules of International Law and Principles of Humanity by Submarines and the Discontinuance of Armament of Merchant Ships” and requests whether the governments of the Allies would subscribe to such an agreement.[iii]

15 February Secretary of State Robert Lansing issues a statement to the press that the U.S. government agrees that commercial vessels have the legal right to carry arms in self-defense.[iv]

16 February The German government dispatches a diplomatic note acknowledging its liability in the British passenger liner RMS Lusitania affair and being prepared to make reparation for the lives of those Americans lost in the sinking.[v]

4 March Captain Mark L. Bristol is detached as Director of Naval Aeronautics and both the title and office cease to exist. He is assigned command of the armored cruiser North Carolina (CA-12) and, under a new title of Commander of the Air Service, assumes operational supervision over all aircraft, air stations, and the further development of aviation in the Navy. Such aviation duties as remained in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations are assumed by Lieutenant Clarence K. Bronson.[vi]

11 March The battleship Nevada (BB-36) commissions under the command of Captain W. S. Sims.[vii]

24 March The French cross-channel ferry Sussex is torpedoed by German submarine UB-29 on its journey from Folkestone, England, to Dieppe, France. The blast blows off the entire bow forward of the bridge and kills at least 50 persons aboard. Several American passengers are injured, resulting in an exchange of diplomatic correspondence between the United States and Germany.[viii]

_________________

[i] Department of State, FRUS, 1916, Supplement, 591-92.

[ii] Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 17.

[iii] Department of State, FRUS, 1916, Supplement, 146–48.

[iv] Ibid., 170.

[v] Ibid., 171–72.

[vi] Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 18.

[vii] DANFS, entry for Nevada II (Battleship No. 36), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/n/nevada-ii.html.

[viii] Sweetman, American Naval History, 133; Edward K. Chatterton, Fighting the U-boats (London: Hurst & Blackett, Ltd., 1942), 172; Department of State, FRUS, 1916, Supplement, 214–16, 218–19.

[11]

25 March Qualifications for officers and enlisted men in the Aeronautic Force of the Naval Militia are defined by General Order No. 198, which, in each instance, were over and above those prescribed for the same ranks and ratings of the Naval Militia. These extras, cumulative for ranks in ascending order, required ensigns to have knowledge of navigation (except nautical astronomy) and scouting problems, practical and theoretical knowledge of airplanes and motors, and ability to fly at least one type of aircraft. Lieutenant (j.g.)s were in addition to have some knowledge of nautical astronomy, principles of aircraft design, and to qualify for a Navy pilot certificate. Additional requirements for lieutenants called for a greater knowledge of nautical astronomy and ability to fly at least two types of naval aircraft, while lieutenant commanders, the highest rank provided for the force, were also to have knowledge of Navy business methods used in aeronautics. Aviation mechanics were to have knowledge of aircraft maintenance and aviation machinists were to have similar knowledge of motors.[i]

18 April The U.S. government warns Germany that “Unless the Imperial [German] Government should now immediately declare and effect an abandonment of its present methods of submarine warfare against passenger and freight-carrying vessels, the Government of the United States can have no choice but to sever diplomatic relations with the German Empire altogether.”[ii]

27 April Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson dispatches a memorandum to the fleet, detailing steps to take in the event of a mobilization order, with the rendezvous designated at Chesapeake Bay.[iii]

2 May Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels appoints the Board for the Development of Navy Yard Plans to draw up for consideration by the Navy bureaus and for the secretary’s approval a plan for the development of each navy yard. The board’s work represented an unprecedented expansion of the primary navy yards, modernizing them for increases in the fleet and incorporation of the latest technologies.[iv]

2 May Battleship Oklahoma (BB-37) commissions under the command of Captain Roger Welles.[v]

4 May The Imperial German government issues the Sussex Pledge, which promises that the German navy will not target passenger vessels, sink merchant ships until the presence of weapons is established (by search if necessary), or sink merchant ships without provision for the safety of the passengers and crew.[vi]

8 May The U.S. government accepts the German Sussex Pledge but emphasizes that the fulfillment of these conditions cannot depend upon the negotiations between the United States and any other belligerent government.[vii]

10 May Commander Frank H. Schofield reports to Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson for duty to ostensibly to head an Office of the Chief of Naval Operations planning section, although no section will be established for the remainder of the year.[viii]

13 May The Chief of Naval Operations requests the appropriate bureaus to undertake development of gyroscopic attachments for instruments and equipment, including compasses, bombsights, and base lines, the latter a forerunner of the turn-and-bank indicator.[ix]

20 May The Bureau of Ordnance receives a $750 allocation to be used in placing an order with the Sperry Gyroscope Company to develop a gyroscopically operated bomb-dropping sight.[x]

24 May The U.S. government protests to Great Britain and France against interference with mail at sea, declaring that it can no longer be tolerated.[xi]

_____________

[i] Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 18.

[ii] Department of State, FRUS, 1916, Supplement, 232–37.

[iii] Daniels, Our Navy at War, 9–10.

[iv] Navy Department, Bureau of Yards and Docks, Activities of the Bureau of Yards and Docks, World War, 19171918 (Washington, DC: GPO, 1921), 129.

[v] DANFS, entry for Oklahoma, (Battleship No. 37), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/o/oklahoma.html.

[vi] Department of State, FRUS, 1916, Supplement, 257–60; Still, Crisis at Sea, 5; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 9–10.

[vii] Department of State, FRUS, 1916, Supplement, 263.

[viii] Beers, “Office of Naval Operations, Part II,” 21.

[ix] Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 19.

[x] Ibid.

[xi] Department of State, FRUS, 1916, Supplement, 604–608.

[12]

3 June Formal instruction in free and captive balloons is instituted at Pensacola, Florida, when Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels approves a course proposed by Lieutenant Commander Frank R. McCrary, and directs that it be added to the Bureau of Navigation Circular “Courses of Instruction and Required Qualifications of Personnel for the Air Service of the Navy.”[i]

12 June Battleship Pennsylvania (BB-38) commissions under the command of Captain Henry B. Wilson.[ii]

18 June The steamship Seaconnet strikes a mine and sinks in the North Sea, off Great Yarmouth, England.[iii]

21 June The U.S. government demands an apology and reparation from the Austro-Hungarian Empire for the insult to the American flag and invasion of American citizens’ rights by an Austrian submarine to the crew of the merchant tanker Petrolite.[iv]

9 July The German cargo submarine SMS Deutschland arrives at Baltimore, Maryland, carrying 750 tons of dyestuffs and chemicals. It leaves Baltimore on 1 August with a cargo of nickel, crude rubber, and tin.[v]

10 July The steamship Gold Shell (ID-3021) strikes a mine in the Bay of Biscay, but is later salvaged.[vi]

12 July The AB-3 flying boat, piloted by Lieutenant Godfrey deC. Chevalier, is catapulted from the armored cruiser North Carolina (CA-12) while underway in Pensacola Bay, Florida. The launch completes calibration of the first catapult designed for shipboard use, thereby making North Carolina the first ship of the Navy equipped to carry and operate aircraft.[vii]

30 July German agents secretly light a series of small fires along a mile-long pier on “Black Tom” island in New York Harbor adjacent to Liberty Island at the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company munitions depot. The fires soon detonated around two million pounds of small arms and artillery ammunition—including 100,000 pounds of TNT in storage. The massive explosions caused property damage estimated at $20 million, including $100,000 in damage to the Statue of Liberty.[viii]

10 August Negotiations begin for the first aircraft production contract with a telegram to Glenn H. Curtiss requesting him to call the Bureau of Construction and Repair with a proposition to supply at the earliest date practicable 30 school flying boats. The telegram results in a contract for 30 N-9 floatplanes.[ix]

19 August The Naval Reserve Force is established and the Naval Militia federalized under the name of the National Naval Volunteers. The National Naval Volunteers in July 1918 will be transferred to the Naval Reserve Force.[x]

_______________

[i] Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 19.

[ii] DANFS, entry for Pennsylvania II (Battleship No. 38), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/p/pennsylvania-ii.html.

[iii] Navy Department, Ship Causalities, 17.

[iv] Department of State, FRUS, 1916, Supplement, 276–78.

[v] Navy Department, Office of Naval Records and Library, Historical Section, German Submarine Activities on the Atlantic Coast of the United States and Canada (Washington, DC: GPO, 1920), 17.

[vi] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 17.

[vii] Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 19.

[viii] Jules Witcover, Sabotage at Black Tom: Imperial Germany’s Secret War in America, 19141917 (Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books, 1989), 11–25.

[ix] Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 19–21.

[x] Cooney, Chronology of the U.S. Navy, 222; Sweetman, American Naval History, 134.

[13]

29 August Congress approves the Naval Act of 1916, authorizing construction in three years of 10 battleships, 6 battle cruisers, 10 scout cruisers, 50 destroyers, and 67 submarines. The act further provides for the establishment of a Naval Flying Corps to be composed of 150 officers and 350 enlisted men in addition to those provided by law for other branches of the Navy. It also provides for the establishment of a Naval Reserve Flying Corps to be composed of officers and enlisted men transferring from the Naval Flying Corps, of surplus graduates of aeronautics schools and of members of the Naval Reserve Force with experience in aviation. The legislation establishes the Chief of Naval Operations billet as a full admiral and appoints a staff “no less than fifteen officers of and above the rank of lieutenant commander of the Navy or major of the Marine Corps” to support him. Lastly, the legislation legalizes the Naval Consulting Board and includes appropriations for experimentation and research in conjunction with the work of the Naval Consulting Board.[i]

29 August Congress passes legislation authorizing the President in a national emergency to transfer the Lighthouse Service to the Navy Department, and be reestablished separately under the Department of Commerce after the national emergency passed.[ii]

29 August Congress passes legislation authorizing the organization of the Council of National Defense, composed of the Secretary of War, Secretary of the Navy, Secretary of the Interior, Secretary of Agriculture, Secretary of Commerce, and Secretary of Labor, for the “coordination of industries and resources for the national security and welfare” and for the “creation of relations which will render possible in time of need the immediate concentration and utilization of the resources of the Nation.”[iii]

7 September President Woodrow Wilson signs legislation establishing the U.S. Shipping Board for the purpose of encouraging, developing, and creating a naval auxiliary, naval reserve, and a merchant marine to meet requirements of the United States with its territories and possessions and with foreign carriers.[iv]

12 September A demonstration of guided missile equipment—a piloted flying boat equipped with an automatic stabilization and direction gear developed by the Sperry Company and P. C. Hewitt—is witnessed by Lieutenant Theodore S. Wilkinson of the Bureau of Ordnance at Amityville, Long Island, New York.[v]

7 October German submarine U-53 enters the port of Newport, Rhode Island, under command of Kapitanleutnant Hans Rose on a friendly visit. The Germans welcomed U.S. naval officers and personnel aboard the U-boat for brief inspections but had to depart Newport under the threat of internment.[vi]

8 October German submarine U-53, after leaving Newport, Rhode Island, commences military operations two miles off the Nantucket Lightship 85, stopping and sinking the British liner Stephano, British steamer Strathdene, and U.S. steamer West Point, the Dutch steamer Blommerdijk, and the Norwegian steamer Christian Knutsen. A large U.S. destroyer force sails from Newport to rescue the survivors on the evening of 8–9 October.[vii] 

_____________

 

[i] Cooney, Chronology of the U.S. Navy, 222; Navy Department, Digest Catalogue, 15–16; Still, Crisis at Sea, 5; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 12–13; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 21; Harold and Margaret Sprout, The Rise of American Naval Power, 1776–1918, fifth printing (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1980), 344–46; Naval Act of 1916, Public Law 64-241, U.S. Statutes at Large 39 (1916): 556–619; Scott, Naval Consulting Board, 112.

[ii] Navy Department, Digest Catalogue, 21; Navy Department, Annual Report of the Secretary of the Navy for the Fiscal Year 1918 (Washington, DC: GPO, 1918), 127.

[iii] Navy Department, Annual Report 1918, 141.

[iv] Act to Establish a United States Shipping Board, Public Law 64-260, U.S. Statutes at Large 39 (1916): 728–38.

[v] Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 21.

[vi] Albert Gleaves, A History of the Transport Service: Adventures and Experiences of United States Transports and Cruisers in the World War (New York: George H. Doran Co., 1921), 136; Navy Department, German Submarine Activities, 18–22; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 11.

[vii] Gleaves, Transport Service, 136–37; Navy Department, German Submarine Activities, 22–23; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 11.

[14]

11 October The acting Secretary of War recommends to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels that a joint Army-Navy board be appointed to consider the requirements for developing a lighter-than-air service in the Army or Navy or both. With the Secretary’s concurrence, there comes into being an agency for inter-service cooperation in aeronautics, which under its later title, Aeronautical Board, functions for more than 30 years until dissolution in 1948.[i]

17 October Battleship Arizona (BB-39) commissions under command of Captain John D. McDonald.[ii]

28 October German submarine U-55 torpedoes and sinks British steamer Marina 30 miles west of Fastnet, Ireland, and six American passengers are killed.[iii]

1 November A German cargo submarine, SMS Deutschland, arrives at New London, Connecticut, with a cargo of dyestuffs and chemicals, returning to Germany with cargo of nickel and copper.[iv]

7 November The German submarine U-49 uses scuttling charges to sink the steamship Columbian 50 miles northwest of Cape Ortegal, Spain.[v]

8 November Lieutenant Clarence K. Bronson, Naval Aviator No. 15, and Lieutenant Luther Welsh, on an experimental bomb test flight at Naval Proving Ground, Indian Head, Maryland, are instantly killed by the premature explosion of a bomb in their plane.[vi]

17 November Efforts to develop high-speed seaplanes for catapulting from ships leads Chief Constructor David W. Taylor to solicit suitable designs from various manufacturers. Among the requirements are a speed range of 50 to 95 mph, two and a half hours endurance, and provisions for radio.[vii]

26 November The steamship Chemung is torpedoed and sunk by gunfire from an Austrian submarine in the Mediterranean Sea, 14 miles east of Cape de Gata.[viii]

14 December The schooner Rebecca Palmer is fired upon and damaged by an enemy submarine, 70 miles west southwest of Fastnet, Ireland.[ix]

18 December The cargo ship Kansan strikes a mine in Bay of Biscay, injuring six. It is later salvaged.[x]

23 December The first class of 16 officers graduates from the submarine training school at New London, Connecticut.[xi]

______________

[i] Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 22.

[ii] DANFS, entry for Arizona II (Battleship No. 39), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/a/arizona-battleship-no-39-ii.html.

[iii] Navy Department, Bureau of Ordnance, Navy Ordnance Activities World War 1917 1918 (Washington, DC: GPO, 1920), 269; Justus D. Doenecke, Nothing Less Than War: A New History of America’s Entry into World War I (Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 2011), 219.

[iv] Navy Department, German Submarine Activities, 17.

[v] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 8.

[vi] Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 22.

[vii] Ibid.

[viii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 8.

[ix] Ibid.

[x] Ibid., 17.

[xi] Michael D. Besch, “A Navy Second to None: The History of U.S. Naval Training in World War I” (PhD diss., Marquette University, 1999), 298.

[15]

1917

6 January A board of Army and Navy officers recommends to the Secretaries of War and the Navy that an airship of the zeppelin-type be designed and constructed under the direction of the Chief Constructor of the Navy with funds provided equally by the Army and the Navy, and that a board of three Army and three Navy officers be created to ensure effective inter-service cooperation in prosecution of the work.[i]

8 January A Benet-Mercie machine gun, installed in a flexible mount in the Burgess-Dunne AH-10 seaplane, is fired at altitudes of 100 and 200 feet above Pensacola, Florida. Both the gun and aircraft operate satisfactorily during the test.[ii]

9 January Germany declares a policy of unrestricted submarine warfare.[iii]

16 January Admiral of the Navy George Dewey dies at age 79 in Washington, D.C.[iv]

31 January Germany announces to the United States its intention of abandoning all legal restrictions on naval warfare in certain designated sea areas. The announcement declares that “From February 1, 1917, sea traffic will be stopped with every available weapon and without further notice.”[v]

31 January The Bureau of Ordnance suggests that American battle cruisers be built with 16-inch rather than 14-inch guns to mirror British trends toward larger capital ship guns.[vi]

1 February Germany places its policy of unrestricted submarine warfare into full effect, torpedoing vessels of any nation without warning.[vii]

1 February The Bureau of Ordnance, recognizing a shortage of machine guns to arm Marines and crews, wires machine gun manufacturers to come to Washington, D.C., for consultation. Bureau chief Rear Admiral Ralph Earle asks them to proceed with quantity production, with funds and production numbers to be given later.[viii]

2 February Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels requests all naval personnel, “In view [of the] present international situation [to] take every possible precaution to protect government plants and vessels.”[ix]

3 February German submarine U-53 shells and sinks the cargo ship Housatonic 20 miles south of Bishop’s Light, off the Isles of Scilly.[x]

3 February The U.S. government severs diplomatic relations with Germany.[xi]

3 February At the Engineering Society Building in New York City, a group of experts in antisubmarine warfare–related fields gathers at the invitation of the Naval Consulting Board. The experts agree that underwater sound and echo ranging offers the most promising avenue of exploration for scientists in the war effort.[xii]

______________

[i] Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 23.

[ii] Ibid.

[iii] Cooney, Chronology of the U.S. Navy, 222.

[iv] Biographies, “George Dewey, 26 December 1837–16 January 1917,” NHHC, https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/research-guides/z-files/zb-files/zb-files-d/dewey-george.html; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 15.

[v] U.S. Department of State, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1917, Supplement 1, The World War (Washington, DC: GPO, 1931), 34–36; Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 13; Arthur S. Link, Wilson: Campaign for Progressivism and Peace, 19161917 (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1965), 290–91.

[vi] U.S. Navy Bureau of Ordnance “Memorandum for Chief of Naval Operations,” 31 January 1917, RG19, Entry 105, 22-C1-6-1, NARA.

[vii] Cooney, Chronology of the U.S. Navy, 223; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 10, 19; radiogram from Josephus Daniels to USS Des Moines, 2 February 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, Naval Department Library (NDL).

[viii] Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 17.

[ix] Radiogram from Josephus Daniels to ALNAV, 2 February 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[x] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 8; Link, Campaign for Progressivism, 309–10.

[xi] Department of State, FRUS, 1917, Supplement 1, 106–08; Cooney, Chronology of the U.S. Navy, 223; Larzelere, Coast Guard, 4; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 22; Link, Campaign for Progressivism, 300–01; radiogram from OPNAV to USS Illinois, 4 February 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[xii] Weir, Ocean in Common, 7.

[16]

4 February Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels directs that 16 non-rigid airships of Class B be procured, with contracts subsequently issued to the Connecticut Aircraft Corporation, the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, and the B. F. Goodrich Company.[i]

5 February Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson recommends that in view of the urgent military necessity, eight aeronautic coastal patrol stations be established in the United States.[ii]

5 February Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels approves a plan for the development of Norfolk Navy Yard, Virginia.[iii]

12 February German submarine U-35 captures and sinks the schooner Lyman M. Law in the Mediterranean Sea, about 25 miles from Cagliari, Sardinia.[iv]

19 February Admiral Charles Badger writes to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels on behalf of the General Board of the U.S. Navy about the intended role of battle cruisers in the fleet, claiming that they “are not intended to form part of the fighting line [or] . . . a fast wing, but . . . to offensively screen the fleet,” laying out the basic American consensus on battle cruiser doctrine.[v]

24 February U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain Walter Hines Page receives a copy of a decoded telegram from the British government sent by Imperial German Foreign Secretary Arthur Zimmermann to the German Ambassador to Mexico Heinrich von Eckardt, asking him to approach the Mexican government about a proposed military alliance should the United States move to war.[vi]

25 February German submarine U-50 torpedoes and sinks British liner RMS Laconia, killing 12, including three American passengers.[vii]

26 February President Woodrow Wilson, in his “Armed Neutrality” address to Congress, requests authority to arm American merchant vessels and take other measures to protect American lives and property on the high seas.[viii]

28 February President Woodrow Wilson releases the “Zimmermann Telegram” of 24 February to the American press, which publishes it the next day.[ix]

28 February Captain William D. MacDougall, U.S. Naval Attaché in London, cables the Office of Naval Intelligence in Washington, D.C., to report that the British Admiralty “will assist when the situation makes it advisable to join action with us.”[x]

4 March Congress passes the Naval Appropriations Act of 1917, providing the Navy with its largest one-year budget to date, $517 million. Approximately $192 million is allocated to continue the authorized 1916 construction program to build an additional battle cruiser, 3 battleships, 3 scout cruisers, 15 destroyers, 38 submarines, and 2 auxiliaries. Another $115 million is allocated for a “naval emergency fund” to be used as necessary for the purchase of ships or other purposes.[xi]

_______________

[i] Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 24.

[ii] Ibid.

[iii] Navy Department, Yards and Docks, 131.

[iv] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 8.

[v] Admiral Charles Badger, “Letter to Secretary Daniels,” 19 February 1917, RG19, E 105, 22-C1-6-1, NARA.

[vi] Department of State, FRUS, 1917, Supplement 1, 147–48; Link, Campaign for Progressivism, 342–43.

[vii] Sweetman, American Naval History, 135; Link, Campaign for Progressivism, 350.

[viii] Doenecke, Nothing Less Than War, 264–65; Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 18; Josephus Daniels, The Wilson Era: Years of Peace, 19101917 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1944), 594–95; Link, Campaign for Progressivism, 346–49.

[ix] Doenecke, Nothing Less Than War, 267; Link, Campaign for Progressivism, 353–54.

[x] Cablegram from William D. MacDougall to Office of Naval Intelligence, Washington, DC, 28 February 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[xi] Navy Department, Digest Catalogue, 16, 18.

[17]

9 March President Woodrow Wilson, with Congress having recessed before acting on his request, declares his belief that he had the authority to arm American merchant vessels without Congressional approval.[i]

12 March President Woodrow Wilson assigns Navy crews to man deck guns placed aboard American merchant vessels and informs foreign governments of his decision.[ii]

12 March The first inter-service agreement regarding the development of aeronautic resources and the operations of aircraft is submitted by a board of Army and Navy officers and approved by the Secretaries of War and Navy Departments. The agreement recognizes a general division of aeronautical functions along lines traditional to the services, but stresses the importance of joint development, organization, and operation, and enunciates basic principles whereby joint effort could be achieved in these areas.[iii]

12 March German submarine U-62 sinks USCGC Algonquin with gunfire and scuttling charges 65 miles west of Bishops, off the Isles of Scilly, England.[iv]

12 March The first Navy gun crews from battleship Arizona (BB-39) are ordered aboard the passenger liners St. Louis and Manchuria.[v]

13 March Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels issues regulations governing the conduct of American merchant vessels, on which Navy personnel designated as Armed Guards man the guns, are to be placed for the protection of the vessels, their crews and cargoes. That day the Bureau of Ordnance itself issues directions assigning guns to the passenger liners Manchuria and St. Louis, steamships Mongolia, New York, Philadelphia, Kroonland, and St. Paul.[vi]

14 March The Bureau of Ordnance issues directions assigning deck guns to the merchantmen West Oil, Aztec, and steamship Campana.[vii]

15 March Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels signs a contract for six scout cruisers and five battle cruisers authorized and funded by Congress.[viii]

15 March New York Navy Yard completes installation of guns aboard the passenger liners Manchuria, St. Louis, and steamship New York.[ix]

16 March German submarine U-70 torpedoes and sinks steamship Vigilancia, 145 miles west of Bishops, off the Isles of Scilly, Great Britain, killing 15.[x]

16 March The passenger liner Manchuria becomes the first U.S. armed merchantman to sail for the European war zone. It carries two 4-inch guns forward, one 6-inch gun aft, two one-pounder rapid-fire guns, and two Lewis guns.[xi]

______________

[i] Doenecke, Nothing Less Than War, 277; Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 18; Josephus Daniels, Years of War and After 19171918, 17; Link, Campaign for Progressivism, 373–77.

[ii] Josephus Daniels, The Navy and the Nation: War-time Addresses (New York: George H. Doran Co., 1919), x; Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 18–19, 40; Link, Campaign for Progressivism, 377; Department of State, FRUS, 1917, Supplement 1, 171; statement given to the press by the Department of State about notification of arming of merchant vessels, 12 March 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[iii] Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 24; report of Board of Army and Navy officers relative [to] development [of] aeronautical service to the Secretary of the Navy, 12 March 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[iv] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 8; Department of State, FRUS, 1917, Supplement 1, 174.

[v] Lewis P. Clephane, History of the Naval Overseas Transportation Service in World War I (Washington, DC: GPO, 1969), 15.

[vi] Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 40–41; Daniels, Years of War and After, 29; Link, Campaign for Progressivism, 377; Josephus Daniels, “Information for [merchant] Ship Owners,” 13 March 1917; Josephus Daniels, “Regulations governing the conduct of American Merchant Vessels on which ARMED GUARDS have been placed,” 13 March 1917,  Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[vii] Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 40.

[viii] William J. Williams, “Josephus Daniels and the U.S. Navy’s Shipbuilding Program During World War I” Journal of Military History 60, no. 1 (January 1996): 13–14.

[ix] Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 41.

[x] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 8; Department of State, FRUS, 1917, Supplement 1, 182.

[xi] Clephane, Naval Overseas Transportation, xvii; Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 269.

[18]

17 March The Navy Department receives authorization to enlist women to perform yeoman’s duties. With the need for clerical assistance increasing, shore stations find themselves increasingly in need of personnel. Fortuitously, Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels learns that there is no language in the Naval Act of 1916 restricting the enlistment of women in the Naval Reserve. As Daniels recounts in his response to his legal advisors, “‘Then enroll women in the Naval Reserve as yeomen,’ I said, ‘and we will have the best clerical assistance the country can provide.’” Women are given the designation as “Yeomen (F)” indicating their gender. By war’s end, approximately 11,000 Yeomen (F) served in the Navy [i]

17 March A German submarine sinks the steamship City of Memphis with gunfire, 35 miles south of Fastnet Rock, Ireland.[ii]

18 March A German submarine sinks the tanker Illinois with scutting charges in the English Channel, 20 miles north of Alderney, Channel Islands.[iii]

19 March The Navy Department issues orders for building 60 submarine chasers at the New York Navy Yard and four at the New Orleans Navy Yard.[iv]

20 March President Woodrow Wilson holds a cabinet meeting at the White House to discuss the issue of unrestricted submarine warfare by Germany.[v]

20 March H. J. W. Fay of the Submarine Signal Co. meets with the Chief of the Bureau of Steam Engineering about the establishment of an experimental station at Nahant, Massachusetts, for research into the detection of submarines. The meeting results in the bureau chief approaching the establishment of a station and suggests also inviting General Electric Co. and the Western Electric Co. to work there. The station is completed on 7 April.[vi]

21 March Loretta Perfectus Walsh becomes the first female Navy petty officer, sworn in as a

chief yeoman.[vii]

21 March The Navy Department issues orders with private shipyards for the construction of 41 submarine chasers.[viii]

21 March Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels issues confidential instructions regarding updates to Navy mobilization plans in the event of war.[ix]

21 March A German submarine torpedoes and sinks the tanker Healdton, killing 20, about 25 miles north of Terschelling, The Netherlands.[x]

22 March President Woodrow Wilson issues Executive Order 2554, allowing more than eight hours of labor in a day for workers under contract with the Navy Department in all navy yards and private establishments where “such suspension of the provisions of the law will result in hastening preparation to meet present emergency conditions.”[xi]

23 March President Woodrow Wilson issues a proclamation calling for a special session of Congress to meet 2 April to discuss submarine attacks and the European crisis.[xii]

______________

[i] Sweetman, American Naval History, 135; Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 41; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 328–29.

[ii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 8; Department of State, FRUS, 1917, Supplement 1, 180.

[iii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 8; Department of State, FRUS, 1917, Supplement 1, 184.

[iv] Daniels, Our Navy at War, 302.

[v] Still, Crisis at Sea, 1; Daniels, Years of War and After, 22–24; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 30–31; Link, Campaign for Progressivism, 401–08.

[vi] Scott, Naval Consulting Board, 68, 74.

[vii] Susan H. Godson, Serving Proudly: A History of Women in the U.S. Navy (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2001), 60.

[viii] Daniels, Our Navy at War, 302.

[ix] Secretary of the Navy to assorted Commanders in Chief and Commandants about Mobilization Plan, 21 March 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[x] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 8; Doenecke, Nothing Less than War, 282; Department of State, FRUS, 1917, Supplement 1, 183.

[xi] Executive Order 2554, 22 March 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[xii] Doenecke, Nothing Less than War, 282.

[19]

23 March U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain Walter Hines Page cables Secretary of State Robert Lansing to convey that the British government would “fall in with any plan we propose as soon as cooperation can be formally established” regarding closer naval relations. Page adds, “Knowing their spirit and their methods I cannot too strongly recommend that our government send here immediately an admiral of our navy who will bring our navy’s plans and inquiries.”[i]

23 March The Bureau of Ordnance chief, Rear Admiral Ralph Earle, issues instructions on the amount of ammunition, small arms, and spare parts to be provided for Naval Armed Guards stationed aboard armed merchant ships.[ii]

24 March President Woodrow Wilson asks Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels to establish confidential communications with the Royal Navy to work out a scheme of cooperation between U.S. and British fleets.[iii]

24 March The first Yale Unit of 29 men enlist in the Naval Reserve Flying Force and leave college on 28 March to begin military training at West Palm Beach, Florida. They are the first of several college groups to join up as a unit for war service.[iv]

24 March Captain William D. MacDougall, U.S. Naval Attaché in London, cables the Office of Naval Intelligence in Washington to report on British antisubmarine warfare weaponry. He notes that the British “lack sufficient destroyers, so [they] convoy merchant ships out of port but require them to come in alone except troop ships. Force we send here will have everything done for it.”[v]

24 March President Woodrow Wilson issues Executive Order 2559, directing that the authorized enlisted strength of the Navy be increased to 87,000 men.[vi]

25 March The U.S. Atlantic Fleet is ordered to Chesapeake Bay, Virginia, from winter quarters at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.[vii]

26 March Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels orders Rear Admiral W. S. Sims to Washington, D.C., for a meeting with him.[viii]

26 March The Bureau of Navigation cables the Commander-in-Chief, Atlantic Fleet to place in full commission battleships Rhode Island (BB-17), Louisiana (BB-19), Alabama (BB-8), Nebraska (BB-14), North Dakota (BB-29), Minnesota (BB-22), and scout cruiser Birmingham (CS-2).[ix]

26 March The armed passenger liner St. Louis, with two 6-inch guns forward and one 6-inch gun aft, becomes the first armed American merchantman to carry arms to the European war zone, arriving in Liverpool, England.[x]

27 March The Navy Department approves the request from the Bureau of Ordnance to remove 38 3-inch, 50-caliber guns from cruisers and older battleships for installation on merchantmen.[xi]

28 March Rear Admiral W. S. Sims receives written orders “to carry out the confidential instructions which have been given you” in reference to verbal instructions from Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels and Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson.[xii]

______________

[i] Daniels, Our Navy at War, 36–37; cablegram from Walter H. Page to Robert Lansing, 23 March 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[ii] Ralph Earle to all Navy Yards, Commandant’s Naval Districts, Ammunition Depots, and selected commanding officers about ordnance material for Armed Guards on merchant ships, 23 March 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[iii] Daniels, Our Navy at War, 36–38.

[iv] Cooney, Chronology of the U.S. Navy, 224; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 24.

[v] Cablegram from William D. MacDougall to Office of Naval Intelligence, Washington, DC, 24 March 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[vi] Executive Order 2559, 24 March 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[vii] Still, Crisis at Sea, 1.

[viii] W. S. Sims, The Victory at Sea (New York: Doubleday, Page and Co., 1921), 3–4; Still, Crisis at Sea, 1; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 38–39.

[ix] Radiogram from Bureau of Navigation to Commander-in-Chief, Atlantic Fleet, 26 March 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[x] Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 41.

[xi] Ibid.

[xii] Elting E. Morison, Admiral Sims and the Modern American Navy (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1942), 338.

[20]

31 March Rear Admiral W. S. Sims and his aide, Commander John V. Babcock, secretly board the steamship New York under assumed names and sail for Liverpool, England.[i]

31 March The Navy Department places orders with private builders for 179 submarine chasers and order an additional 71 to be constructed at the Norfolk, Charleston, Mare Island, and Puget Sound Navy Yards.[ii]

31 March The Office of the Chief of Naval Operations telegrams the Commandant, Sixth Naval District requesting they take special precautions in cooperation with the Collectors of Customs “to see that refugee German vessels can neither escape nor be destroyed. When necessary have armed vessel on hand ready for action.”[iii]

31 March Commander Edward T. Pollock, commanding the transport Hancock (AP-3), arrives at St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, and takes possession of the recently purchased territory and becomes its acting governor. The United States bought the territory from Denmark in part because of fears regarding German operations based from the islands.[iv]

1 April German submarine U-46 torpedoes and sinks the steamship Aztec off Ushant, France, killing 28 men, including Boatswain’s Mate 1st Class John I. Eopolucci of the Naval Armed Guard, the first member of the U.S. Navy killed in World War I. Aztec, having sailed on 17 March for Havre, France, is the first armed American merchant ship lost during the war.[v]

2 April A special joint session of Congress meets in the evening and President Woodrow Wilson delivers a war message, declaring that recent acts of the German Imperial government are tantamount to war, and therefore requests a war resolution.[vi]

2 April The Navy Departments orders the appointment of a Board of Appraisal under Captain Alexander S. Halstead to appraise and set values upon civilian vessels which the department considered acquiring by purchase or charter for military use.[vii]

3 April President Woodrow Wilson issues Executive Order 2571, authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury upon request of the Secretary of War or the Secretary of the Navy, to detail officers or employees of the Public Health Service for duty with either the Army or the Navy.[viii]

4 April German submarine U-35 stops and sinks the sailing vessel Marguerite off Sardinia.[ix]

4 April German submarine U-52 shells and sinks the steamer Missourian off Porto Maurizio, Italy.[x]

4 April Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels cables the commandant, Sixth Naval District, ordering him to “take no action on your own initiative with the German refugee ships or their personnel,” and to render all possible assistance to representatives of the Treasury Department or Department of Labor when requested.[xi]

4 April The Senate adopts a war resolution on a vote of 82 to 6.[xii]

_____________

[i] Sims, Victory at Sea, 4; Morison, Admiral Sims, 339.

[ii] Daniels, Our Navy at War, 302.

[iii] Telegram from the Office of Chief of Naval Operations to Commandant, 6th Naval District, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[iv] DANFS, entry for Hancock, https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/h/hancock-iii.html.

[v] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 8; Daniels, The Navy and the Nation, x; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 173–74; Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 41.

[vi] Doenecke, Nothing Less than War, 289–90.

[vii] Beers, “Office of Naval Operations, Part II,” 29.

[viii] Executive Order 2571, 3 April 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[ix] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 9.

[x] Ibid.

[xi] Telegram from Josephus Daniels to Commandant, 6th Naval District, 4 April 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[xii] Link, Campaign for Progressivism, 429–30.

[21]

5 April In a memorandum to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, the General Board of the U.S. Navy declares that “the mission of our Navy when war is declared against Germany will best be determined by arrangement with the Allied Powers now engaged in war with that country. We should immediately obtain from the Allied Powers their views as to how we can best be of assistance to them and as far as possible conform our preparations and acts to their present needs, always being in mind that should peace be made by the powers not at war we must also be prepared to meet our enemies single handed. We should not depend upon the defensive but prepare for and conduct a vigorous offensive.”[i]

5 April The Savage Arms Company of Utica, New York, manufacturing Lewis machine guns for the British military chambered in .303-caliber ammunition, test several chambered for .30-caliber ammunition at the urgent request of the Bureau of Ordnance. Following the successful tests, the Lewis MK VI machine gun is adopted as standard for the Navy, with the first contract for 3,500 placed with Savage Arms on 25 April.[ii]

5 April President Woodrow Wilson issues Executive Order 2584, establishing defensive sea areas and regulations for carrying into effect the executive order for selected areas of the U.S. coastline.[iii]

6 April The House of Representatives adopts a war resolution on a vote of 373 to 50. The United States declares war on Germany. The Navy has 197 commissioned ships, 4,376 regular officers, 877 reserve officers, 64,118 regular enlisted men, and 12,206 reservists.[iv]

6 April Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels orders the Atlantic and Pacific Fleets to mobilize for war in accordance with his confidential mobilization plan of 21 March.[v]

6 April The U.S. government seizes all German ships—totaling 90—then in American ports.[vi]

6 April President Woodrow Wilson issues Executive Order 2585, ordering that such radio stations required for naval communications within the jurisdiction of the United States shall be taken over by the federal government and used and controlled by it to the exclusion of any other control or use, and that those other radio stations not required may be closed for radio communication.[vii]

6 April Yeoman (F) 2nd Class Ella C. Leech joins the staff of the Bureau of Ordnance, becoming the bureau’s first female employee.[viii]

6 April U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain Walter H. Page cables Secretary of State Robert Lansing a memorandum received from British Foreign Secretary Arthur J. Balfour reporting on the needs of the Allies in Europe. “Without a doubt the most pressing need of the Allies at this moment is shipping,” opened Balfour, followed by financial support, locomotives and rolling stock, and military forces. For the Navy, the Foreign Secretary observed how “there seems so far as we can judge, to be no immediate sphere of employment for the American battle fleet, but the share which American cruisers could take in policing the Atlantic is of the greatest importance and all craft from destroyers downwards capable of dealing with submarines would be absolutely invaluable.”[ix]

________________

[i] Memorandum from Senior Member of the General Board to the Secretary of the Navy on “Assistance that United States can give Allies upon Declaration of War,” 5 April 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[ii] Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 70.

[iii] Executive Order 2584, 5 April 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[iv] Navy Department, Report of the Secretary of the Navy for Fiscal Year 1917 (Washington, DC: GPO, 1917), appendix; Doenecke, Nothing Less than War, 293–96; Link, Campaign for Progressivism, 430–31; Department of State, FRUS, 1917, Supplement 1, 207–08; Navy Department, Annual Report 1918, 66; Proclamation by the President of the United States of America on the Existence of War with the German Empire, 6 April 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[v] Daniels, Navy and the Nation, xi; Daniels, Years of War and After, 39; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 1–2; radiogram from Josephus Daniels to USS Pennsylvania, USS Minnesota, USS Seattle, USS Columbia, USS Vestal, 6 April 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[vi] Cooney, Chronology of the U.S. Navy, 224; Larzelere, Coast Guard, 190–93.

[vii] Executive Order 2585, 6 April 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[viii] Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 24.

[ix] Cablegram from Walter H. Page to Robert Lansing, 6 April 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[22]

7 April The Navy Department assumes control of all wireless radio stations in the United States.[i]

7 April Executive Order 2587 directs the transfer of the U.S. Coast Guard from the Treasury Department to the operational control of the Navy.[ii]

7 April Sailors and Marines aboard the schooner Supply at Apra Harbor, Guam, sail out to capture the interned German auxiliary cruiser SMS Cormoran. After the German crew fails to heed requests to surrender and begin preparing to scuttle the ship, Corporal Michael B. Chockie, USMC, aboard the Supply, fires rifle shots across the bow—the first shots fired by the United States against Germany in World War I, and the only shots against Germany in the Pacific. Cormoran is scuttled with the loss of nine crew; those remaining are captured as prisoners of war.[iii]

7 April Gunboat Dolphin (PG-24), under destroyer escort, arrives in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, carrying Rear Admiral James Oliver to his post as the first presidentially appointed governor of the territory.[iv]

7 April German submarine U-52 shells and sinks the steamer Seward off Cap Bagur, France.[v]

7 April German submarine UC-25 stops and sinks the schooner Edwin R. Hunt off Cape de Gata, Spain.[vi]

8 April The U.S. government severs diplomatic ties with the Austro-Hungarian Empire.[vii]

9 April The steamship New York strikes a mine four miles off Bar Lightship, Liverpool, England, but is salvaged.[viii]

9 April Rear Admiral W. S. Sims, traveling under a pseudonym and in civilian clothing, arrives in Liverpool, England.[ix]

9 April The General Munitions Board of the Council of National Defense is created with F. A. Scott of the Warner-Swasey Company as its chairman.[x]

9 April The Office of the Chief of Naval Operations orders that all naval vessels not already painted in war color should be painted immediately.[xi]

9 April Admiral Henry T. Mayo, Commander in Chief, Atlantic Fleet, writes Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels requesting if whether the title “United States Fleet” is the proper designation for the force established under his commander in regard to the mobilization plan of 21 March.[xii]

_______________

[i] Cooney, Chronology of the U.S. Navy, 224; Navy Department, History of the Bureau of Engineering, Navy Department, During the World War (Washington, DC: GPO, 1922), 111.

[ii] Adrian O. Van Wyen, Naval Aviation in World War I (Washington, DC: GPO, 1969), 8; Larzelere, Coast Guard, 9–10; Executive Order 2587, 7 April 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[iii] Cooney, Chronology of the U.S. Navy, 224.

[iv] DANFS, entry for Dolphin IV (PG-24), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/d/dolphin-iv.html.

[v] Navy Department, Ship Causalities, 9.

[vi] Ibid.

[vii] Department of State, FRUS, 1917, Supplement 1, 594-95; Cooney, Chronology of the U.S. Navy, 224.

[viii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 17.

[ix] Cooney, Chronology of the U.S. Navy, 224; Sims, Victory at Sea, 4; Morison, Admiral Sims, 341; Still, Crisis at Sea, 21; Senate Subcommittee on Naval Affairs, Naval Investigation Hearings, vol. I, 66th Cong., 2d sess., 1921: 2; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 40–41.

[x] Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 29.

[xi] Radiogram from the Office of Naval Operations to USS Pennsylvania, USS Pittsburgh, USS Brooklyn, USS Tacoma, USS Machias, USS Dolphin, USS Des Moines, USS Charleston, 9 April 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[xii] Memorandum from Henry T. Mayo to Josephus Daniels about questions regarding organization of fleet after mobilization, 9 April 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[23]

10 April Rear Admiral W. S. Sims arrives in London and meets with First Sea Lord Admiral Sir John Jellicoe.[i]

10–11 April British Admiral Sir Montague E. Browning and French Admiral R. A. Gasset arrive at Hampton Roads, Virginia, and in ensuing meetings with Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels and Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson request the dispatch of American destroyers to European waters.[ii]

11 April President Woodrow Wilson issues Executive Order 2588, whereby the Lighthouse Service transfers from Department of Commerce control to the command of the Navy. This transfers 46 steamers used as lighthouse tenders, 4 light vessels, and 21 light stations together with 1,132 personnel to the Navy.[iii]

11 April Steel armed yacht Scorpion (PY-3), on station at Constantinople, is interned by the Ottoman Empire following entry of the United States into World War I.[iv]

12 April The Office of the Naval Auxiliary Reserve is established in New York.[v]

13 April As the result of meetings between Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson and British Admiral Sir Montague E. Browning and French Admiral R. A. Gasset, the Navy agrees to send six destroyers to European waters in the immediate future, supervise the west coast of North America from the Canadian to Columbia boundaries, maintain the China Squadron for the present time, supervise Gulf of Mexico and Central America as far as the Columbia boundary thence to West Point, Jamaica, along north coast of Jamaica to the east point of the Virgin Islands, and send submarines to the Canadian coast in the event enemy submarines appear in those waters.[vi]

13 April President Woodrow Wilson issues Executive Order 2594, creating a Committee on Public Information, composed of the Secretary of State, Secretary of War, Secretary of the Navy, and a civilian executive director, George Creel.[vii]

14 April The Navy’s first guided missile effort commences when the Naval Consulting Board recommends to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels that $50,000 be apportioned to carry out experimental work on aerial torpedoes (unmanned, mechanically controlled aircraft carrying high explosives).[viii]

14 April Rear Admiral W. S. Sims cables Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels following his meeting with the First Sea Lord, writing that “The submarine issue is very much more serious than people realize in America. The recent success of operations and the rapidity of construction constitute the real crisis of the war.” Sims urges the deployment of destroyers, antisubmarine craft, and merchant tonnage to combat the submarine scourge.[ix]

14 April Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels writes Admiral Henry T. Mayo and clarifies that the title of the officer commanding the Atlantic Fleet shall remain “Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Atlantic Fleet.”[x]

______________

[i] Sims, Victory at Sea, 5–11; Morison, Admiral Sims, 341–42; Senate Subcommittee on Naval Affairs, Naval Investigation Hearings, vol. I, 66th Cong., 2d sess., 1921: 2.

[ii] Still, Crisis at Sea, 380–81; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 45–49.

[iii] Executive Order 2588, 11 April 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL; Larzelere, Coast Guard, 167.

[iv] DANFS, entry for Scorpion IV (St. Yacht), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/s/scorpion-iv.html; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 362–63; Department of State, FRUS, 1917, Supplement 1, 601, 603–04.

[v] Clephane, Naval Overseas Transportation, 57.

[vi] Cablegram from Commander-in-Chief N.A. and W.I. to British Admiralty, 13 April 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[vii] Executive Order 2594, 13 April 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[viii] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 8; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 24.

[ix] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to Josephus Daniels, 14 April 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL; Jerry W. Jones, U.S. Battleship Operations in World War I (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1998), 4; Morison, Admiral Sims, 345; Still, Crisis at Sea, 14–15; Senate Subcommittee on Naval Affairs, Naval Investigation Hearings, vol. I, 66th Cong., 2d sess., 1921: 29–30; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 41.

[x] Memorandum from Josephus Daniels to Henry T. Mayo about organization of fleet after mobilization, 14 April 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[24]

14 April Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels issues movement orders for Division Eight, Destroyer Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet to deploy to European waters, “to assist naval operations of Entente Powers in every way possible” and proceed to Queenstown, Ireland.[i]

14 April President Woodrow Wilson issues Executive Order 2597, establishing a defensive sea area at the York River.[ii]

15 April Bureau of Ordnance publishes a memorandum proposing protection of merchant vessels by means of torpedo blisters and of establishing antisubmarine mine barrages enclosing the North Sea and the Adriatic.[iii]

16 April Rear Admiral W. S. Sims cables Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels advising that any destroyer or patrol forces sent to European waters not be based on the French coast but “as far to westward as practicable preferably south coast Ireland to operate principally in designated high sea area in zone to westward and southward which is present critical area.”[iv]

16 April The United States Shipping Board organizes in the District of Columbia the United States Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation with capital stock of $50 million to oversee the board’s construction program.[v]

17 April The Bureau of Ordnance cables Rear Admiral W. S. Sims directing him to report on practicability of efficiently blockading the German coast to make ingress and egress of submarines practically impossible.[vi]

17 April Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels appoints a Commission on Training Activities (later to merge with a similar Army commission) to coordinate the activities of various organizations that dealt with servicemen such as the Young Men’s Christian Association, the Young Women’s Christian Association, Knights of Columbus, and the Salvation Army.[vii]

18 April Rear Admiral W. S. Sims cables Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, writing how “The destroyer has shown itself to be by far the most efficient enemy of submarines operating against commerce,” urging the secretary to “send immediately every destroyer capable of reaching Ireland” and adds that “we should adopt present British methods and base further developments only upon actual experience in cooperation with them.” In a second cable to Secretary Daniels, Sims reemphasizes that communications and supplies to all forces on all fronts are threatened and that “‘Command of the Sea’ is actually at stake.”[viii]

19 April Sailors aboard the armed steamship Mongolia (ID-1615) engage and drive off a U-boat with a 6-inch gun—No. 263, nicknamed “Teddy”—seven miles southeast of Beachy Head in the English Channel. These are the first shots by the Navy against Germany in the Atlantic.[ix]

20 April The Navy’s first airship, DN-1, makes its first, albeit unsatisfactory, flight at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida.[x] 

20 April Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels cables Rear Admiral W. S. Sims requesting immediate and full information concerning British naval aviation, including descriptions of aircraft types employed and tactics that had proven most successful over water, on coastal patrol, and searching for submarines.[xi]

________________

[i] Josephus Daniels to Commander, Eighth Division, Destroyer Force, Atlantic Fleet, USS Wadsworth, about projection of commerce near the coasts of Great Britain and Ireland, 14 April 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL; Joseph K. Taussig, The Queenstown Patrol, 1917: The Diary of Commander Joseph Knefler Taussig, U.S. Navy, ed. William N. Still Jr. (Newport, RI: Naval War College Press, 1996), 15–16; Still, Crisis at Sea, 165; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 53–54.  Josephus Daniels, The Wilson Era: Years of War and After, 19171923 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1946), 71–73.

[ii] Executive Order 2597, 14 April 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[iii] Navy Department, Office of Naval Records and Library, Historical Section, The Northern Barrage and Other Mining Activities (Washington, DC: GPO, 1920), 12–13; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 43–44.

[iv] Cablegram from Walter H. Page to Robert Lansing for W. S. Sims to Josephus Daniels, 16 April 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[v] Scott, Naval Consulting Board, 85–86.

[vi] Navy Department, Northern Barrage, 13; Morison, Admiral Sims, 347; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 44.

[vii] Still, Crisis at Sea, 249.

[viii] Cablegram from Walter H. Page to Robert Lansing for W. S. Sims to Josephus Daniels, 18 April 1917; W. S. Sims to Josephus Daniels, 18 April 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL; Senate Subcommittee on Naval Affairs, Naval Investigation Hearings, vol. I, 66th Cong., 2d sess., 1921: 39.

[ix] Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 269; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 174.

[x] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 8; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 24.

[xi] Cablegram from Josephus Daniels to W. S. Sims, 20 April 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[25]

20 April The Ottoman Empire breaks diplomatic relations with the United States.[i]

21 April The Bureau of Yards and Docks awards a contract for construction of a U.S. Marine Corps training camp at Parris Island, South Carolina.[ii]

21 April Office of the Chief of Naval Operations radios the governor of Guam and directs him to transfer all German prisoners of war (from the auxiliary cruiser Cormoran) to the United States under the custody of the Army.[iii]

22 April Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels cables Rear Admiral W. S. Sims and requests he confer with the British Admiralty and wire his recommendations as to a Russian request for the Navy to send four patrol vessels and four destroyers for the defense of the Russian arctic coast.[iv]

22 April German submarine U-43 sinks the schooner Woodward Abrahams with scuttling charges, 407 miles west of Fastnet, Ireland.[v]

22 April An enemy submarine sinks the schooner Percy Birdsall with gunfire in the Bay of Biscay, approximately 26 miles south from Cordouan Light, France.[vi]

22 April Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson cables Rear Admiral W. S. Sims news to relay to the Allies that the United States has six destroyers ready to sail upon receiving information as to desired port and best route to follow as they approached the Irish coast.[vii]

24 April Division Eight, Destroyer Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet under command of Commander Joseph T. Taussig departs Boston for Queenstown (Cobh), Ireland. The division consists of Wadsworth (DD-60) (Taussig), Conyingham (DD-58), Porter (DD-59), McDougal (DD-54), Davis (DD-65), and Wainwright (DD-62).[viii]

24 April Admiral Henry T. Mayo issues orders to the Battleship Forces (Battleship Divisions Five, Six, Seven, and Eight), which dictated that the fleet would furnish crews of seven to ten men each to man guns on those merchant vessels being armed.[ix]

24 April Rear Admiral W. S. Sims cables Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, reporting the Admiralty’s ability to maintain “fairly exact” information about the location of German U-boats. Sims emphasizes “All the [British] destroyers that can be freed from duty with the fleet are being employed.” He comments how “I believe our Navy has an opportunity for glorious distinction and I seriously recommend that there be sent at once maximum possible number [of] destroyers.”[x] 

24 April A committee appointed by Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels for determining the location of a naval armor plant selects Charleston, West Virginia, as the site for construction of the South Charleston Naval Ordnance and Amor Plant which will provide guns, armor, and armor-piercing projectiles for the Navy. The land deeds will be received on 4 June and the first heat of steel in the projectile plant will be poured on 8 June 1918.[xi]

________________

[i] U.S. Department of State, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1917, Supplement 1, The World War (Washington, DC: GPO, 1931), 598–603.

[ii] Navy Department, Yards and Docks, 94.

[iii] Radiogram from OPNAV to Governor of Guam, 21 April 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[iv] Cablegram from Josephus Daniels to W. S. Sims, 22 April 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[v] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 9.

[vi] Ibid.

[vii] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 22 April 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL; Still, Crisis at Sea, 15, 382.

[viii] Joseph K. Taussig, The Queenstown Patrol, 1917: The Diary of Commander Joseph Knefler Taussig, U.S. Navy, ed. William N. Still, Jr. (Newport, RI: Naval War College Press, 1996), 14–15; cablegram from Josephus Daniels to William D. MacDougall, 24 April 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[ix] Besch, “Navy Second to None,” 337.

[x] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to Josephus Daniels, 24 April 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL. Emphasis in original.

[xi] Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 258–59; Justin Salisbury, “Renders Obsolete: History of the South Charleston Naval Ordnance and Armor Plant” West Virginia Historical Society 20, no. 2 (April 2006), 1–10.

[26]

25 April During a British War Cabinet meeting in London, Rear Admiral W. S. Sims urges the adoption of the convoy system to defeat the U-boat threat.[i]

25 April U.S. Naval Attaché in Paris Lieutenant Commander William R. Sayles meets with Rear Admiral W. S. Sims in London. The men agree that military necessity demands an immediate centralization of all recommendations of policy made to the Navy Department from European powers, and of the need for immediate concerted action to combat the growing submarine menace. Sayles agrees that Sims take responsibility “without reference to the [Navy] Department” with the French Ministry of Marine.[ii]

25 April Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson issues policy to the Bureaus of Ordnance, Construction and Repair, and Navigation as to the requisition of guns from warships for the arming of merchant vessels.[iii]

26 April The Bureau of Yards and Docks receives authorization to construct a receiving camp for 1,000 men at the Charleston (South Carolina) Navy Yard. Ground is broken on 30 April, and the camp is completed on 8 June 1917.[iv]

26 April The Bureau of Ordnance receives authority from the Navy Department to remove 124 3-inch, 50-caliber; 12 4-inch, 40-caliber; 12 5-inch, 50-caliber; and 36 6-inch, 50-caliber guns and mounts from the least advantageous locations on battleships and cruisers for installation on merchantmen.[v]

27 April Captain William D. MacDougall, U.S. Naval Attaché in London, wires the Office of Naval Intelligence that Admiralty experiments have established how California sea lions can accurately locate the sound of submarines, with “the procuring of additional animals recommended as urgently required here.”[vi]

27 April German submarine U-33 burns and sinks the schooner Margaret B. Rouss about 42 miles due south of Monaco.[vii]

28 April The General Board of the U.S. Navy informs Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels that U-boat success could lead to the defeat of the Allies and that the United States must deploy as many patrol craft as possible to European waters.[viii]

28 April The Bureau of Ordnance receives authorization for the removal of an additional 180 3-inch, 50-caliber guns from warships for arming merchantmen.[ix]

28 April President Woodrow Wilson issues Executive Order 2604, prohibiting all companies or individuals controlling or operating telegraph and telephone lines, or submarine cables from transmitting or receiving messages to or from the United States except under rules and regulations established by the Secretary of War for telegraph and telephone lines and by the Secretary of the Navy for submarine cables.[x]

_______________

[i] Jones, Battleship Operations, 5.

[ii] Cablegram from William R. Sayles to Josephus Daniels, 28 April 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[iii] Memorandum from William S. Benson to Chiefs of Bureaus of Ordnance, Construction and Repair, and Navigation, about requisition of guns, 25 April 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[iv] Navy Department, Yards and Docks, 70.

[v] Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 42.

[vi] Cablegram from William D. MacDougall to Office of Naval Intelligence, Washington, DC, 27 April 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[vii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 9.

[viii] Still, Crisis at Sea, 379.

[ix] Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 42.

[x] Executive Order 2604, 28 April 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[27]

28 April The Navy acquires the yacht Kanawha II (SP-130) from John Borden and commissions the ship on the same day, with Lieutenant Commander John Borden commanding.[i]

28 April The German submarine U-21 torpedoes and sinks the tanker Vacuum, killing 24 men, about 120 miles west of Barra Island, Hebrides, Scotland. One of the dead is Lieutenant Clarence C. Thomas, the first naval officer killed in action in World War I.[ii]

28 April The Navy Department cables Rear Admiral W. S. Sims to assume command of all destroyer forces operating from British bases including tenders and auxiliaries. The following day, Sims acknowledges the orders and requests the detail of several officers for a staff to help him fulfill his duties.[iii]

29 April Captain William D. MacDougall, U.S. Naval Attaché in London, cables Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels via the Office of Naval Intelligence urging the Navy to send four big tugs immediately to salvage torpedoed ships and tow sailing vessels.[iv]

30 April The Office of the Chief of Naval Operations orders 24 destroyers to their home navy yards to be fitted out for distant service “at the earliest practicable date.”[v]

30 April Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels appoints Captain D. W. Todd as Chief Cable Censor to censor messages transmitted over cables touching the territory of the United States or the Republic of Panama, except in the Philippines. This is done in accordance with Executive Order 2604. Trans-Atlantic cables will be included beginning on the night of 25–26 July.[vi]

1 May Rear Admiral W. S. Sims cables Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, writing “British Admiralty has decided to give trial to the convoy scheme. . . . Instead of present plan of naval forces operating independently against raiders, there will be a high sea convoy against raiders, such convoy to be established as quickly as possible on all main trade routes, and an approach to dangerous areas on this side will be met by destroyers and escorted into port.”[vii]

1 May A plan for development of the Philadelphia Navy Yard is approved by Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels.[viii]

1 May The German submarine U-45 torpedoes and sinks the steamship Rockingham about 150 miles west-northwest of Ireland, killing two.[ix]

1 May The Office of the Chief of Naval Operations organizes destroyer forces for distant service by designating Destroyer Division Seven as the Rowan (DD-64) (flagship), Ericsson (DD-56), Winslow (DD-53), Jacob Jones (DD-61), Cassin (DD-43), and Tucker (DD-57); Destroyer Division Six as Cushing (DD-55) (flagship), Benham (DD-49), O’Brien (DD-51), Nicholson (DD-52), Cummings (DD-44), and Sampson (DD-63). Division Seven is ordered to be ready and assembled at Boston, Massachusetts for sea duty by 5 May, and Division Six assembled at New York for sea duty by 10 May.[x]

________________

[i] DANFS, entry for Piqua I (SP-130), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/p/piqua-i.html.

[ii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 9; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 174.

[iii] Morison, Admiral Sims, 365; Still, Crisis at Sea, 25; cablegram from Josephus Daniels to William D. MacDougall, 28 April 1917; cablegram from Walter H. Page to Robert Lansing for W. S. Sims to Josephus Daniels, 30 April 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[iv] Cablegram from William D. MacDougall to Office of Naval Intelligence for Josephus Daniels, 29 April 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[v] Radiogram from OPNAV to Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Norfolk, and Charleston Navy Yards, 30 April 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[vi] Beers, “Office of Naval Operations, Part II,” 26–27.

[vii] Morison, Admiral Sims, 350; cablegram from W. S. Sims to Josephus Daniels, 1 May 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[viii] Navy Department, Yards and Docks, 131.

[ix] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 9.

[x] Radiogram from OPNAV to USS Pennsylvania, USS Seattle, USS Rowan, and USS Cushing, 1 May 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[28]

3 May The General Board of the U.S. Navy recommends the immediate dispatch of 36 destroyers and a tender to Europe and an additional 100 antisubmarine warfare vessels as soon as possible.[i]

3 May The Bureau of Yards and Docks requests to construct a receiving camp for an additional 5,000 men at the Charleston Navy Yard, South Carolina.[ii]

3 May Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson issues guidance to all commanders of Naval Armed Guard detachments as to inspections and preparations for the armament and the guard members prior to sailing.[iii]

4 May Division Eight, Destroyer Force, Atlantic Fleet arrives at Queenstown, Ireland; that evening, Commander Taussig paid call on British Vice Admiral Sir Lewis Bayly, commander, Western Approaches. Over dinner, Bayly asked Taussig when his flotilla would be ready, and as popular legend has it, Taussig replied “We are ready now, Sir.”[iv]

5 May Secretary of War Newton D. Baker agreed to a proposal of Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels that a joint board be established for the purpose of standardizing the design and specifications of aircraft. The subsequently established board was originally titled “Joint Technical Board on Aircraft, Except Zeppelins.”[v]

5 May Rear Admiral W. S. Sims cables the Navy Department from Paris to report that relations with the French Navy Department are very satisfactory and that in a conference with the French Navy Minister, French Navy Chief of Staff, French Attaché, British Attaché, and First Sea Lord, all unanimously agreed that the American destroyer force remain concentrated and attack enemy submarines “in whatever area they may be operating in greatest numbers.”[vi]

5 May Destroyer Division Seven, composed of the destroyers Ericsson (DD-56), Winslow (DD-53), Rowan (DD-64), Cassin (DD-43), Jacob Jones (DD-61) and Tucker (DD-57), sails from Boston, Massachusetts, for Queenstown, Ireland.[vii]

6 May Wilmington (PG-8) on the Yangtze River makes steam and heads to the Philippines prior to the Chinese government ordering her to leave Chinese ports or be seized. Lieutenant H. Delano takes command of the gunboats Monocacy (PG-20), Palos (PG-16), Samar (PG-41), Quiros (PG-40), and Villalobos (PG-42) and turns their breech blocks over to the U.S. consul general at Shanghai, neutralizing the guns aboard the vessels.[viii]

6 May Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels authorizes Allied vessels visiting American waters to obtain stores on current contract or from naval bases.[ix]

7 May The Navy Department directs that all naval auxiliaries be placed on full naval status.[x]

7 May The Office of the Chief of Naval Operations organizes destroyers fitting out for distance service to designated divisions. For Destroyer Division Four: Allen (DD-66), Jarvis (DD-38), Fanning (DD-37), McCall (DD-28), Terry (DD-25), and Perkins (DD-26). For Destroyer Division Five: Patterson (DD-36), Paulding (DD-22), Warrington (DD-30), Trippe (DD-33), Jenkins (DD-42), and Drayton (DD-23). For Destroyer Division Nine: Aylwin (DD-47), Parker (DD-48), Wilkes (DD-67), Balch (DD-50), Ammen (DD-35), and Burrows (DD-29). The Office of the Chief of Naval Operations orders Division Five to depart from Boston, Massachusetts, on 21 May, Division Four from New York on 23 May, and Division Nine from New York on 1 June.[xi]

________________

[i] Still, Crisis at Sea, 17.

[ii] Navy Department, Yards and Docks, 70.

[iii] Memorandum from William S. Benson to Commanding Armed Guard via Commandant for all Navy Yards on “Instructions,” 3 May 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[iv] Taussig, Queenstown Patrol, 19–21, 188n84; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 54–55; cablegram from Admiralty to Josephus Daniels, 4 May 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[v] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 8; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 25.

[vi] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to Navy Department, 5 May 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[vii] Cablegram from French Naval Attaché, Washington to General Staff, 6 May 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[viii] A. B. Feuer, The U.S. Navy in World War I: Combat at Sea and in the Air (Westport, CT: Prager, 1999), 115; Senate Subcommittee on Naval Affairs, Naval Investigation Hearings, vol. I, 66th Cong., 2d sess., 1921: 44; Kemp Tolley, Yangtze Patrol: The U.S. Navy in China (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1971), 79–80.

[ix] Cablegram from Josephus Daniels to W. S. Sims, 6 May 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[x] Clephane, Naval Overseas Transportation, 6; Larzelere, Coast Guard, 197.

[xi] Radiogram from OPNAV to Boston and Norfolk Navy Yards, 7 May 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[29]

7 May Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels cables Rear Admiral W. S. Sims requesting his advice in response to a French Government request for the Navy to establish temporary bases at Bordeaux and Brest, France. Based on Sims’ recommendations, he also announced the intention to establish U.S. naval bases at both locations. Sims replies the following day that bases at Brest and Bordeaux are “very desirable but should not divert in any way necessary repair supply and fuel vessels from mobile destroyer base.”[i]

8 May Destroyers Wadsworth (DD-60) and McDougal (DD-54) commence first U.S. combat patrol operations in European waters during World War I.[ii]

9 May Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels directs Captain William D. MacDougall, U.S. Naval Attaché in London, to request of the Admiralty detailed working plans of the captive paravane to enable American production.[iii]

9 May To improve closer cooperation between the three companies working at Nahant, Massachusetts, and the Navy Department, Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels calls a conference which results in him appointing a Special Board on Anti-Submarine Devices. Two days later, Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels appoints Rear Admiral Albert W. Grant as senior member of the board, together with Commanders C. S. McDowell and M. A. Libbey. The board is tasked with the purpose “of procuring, either through original research, experiment, and manufacture, or through the development of ideas and devices submitted by inventors at large, suitable apparatus for both offensive and defensive operations against submarines.”[iv]

10 May Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels orders the Commandants of the Fourth and Fifth Naval Districts to immediately purchase “all fishing vessels inspected and found able to cross Atlantic. Lease all other fishing vessels suitable for district work.”[v]

10 May The steam yacht Noma, acquired from Vincent Astor, commissions as the armed yacht Noma (SP-131) under command of Lieutenant Commander Lamar Richard Leahy.[vi]

10 May The steel-hulled yacht Wacouta, leased to the Navy by G. F. Baker on 23 April, is renamed and commissioned as the armed yacht Harvard (SP-209), with Lieutenant A. G. Sterling in command.[vii]

11 May The destroyer Davis (DD-65) recovers 22 survivors from the sunken British bark Killarney.[viii]

11 May Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels appoints a Special Board on Antisubmarine Devices, for the purpose of procuring, either through original research, experiment, and manufacture, or through the development of ideas and devices submitted by inventors at large, suitable apparatus for both offensive and defensive operations against submarines.[ix]

________________

[i] Senate Subcommittee on Naval Affairs, Naval Investigation Hearings, vol. I, 66th Cong., 2d sess., 1921: 6; cablegram from Josephus Daniels to W. S. Sims, 7 May 1917; cablegram from W. S. Sims to Navy Department, 8 May 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[ii] Taussig, Queenstown Patrol, 28–30; Still, Crisis at Sea, 335.

[iii] Cablegram from Josephus Daniels to William D. MacDougall, 9 May 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[iv] Scott, Naval Consulting Board, 75; Navy Department, Engineering, 48–49.

[v] Telegram from Josephus Daniels to Commandants, Fourth and Fifth Naval Districts, 10 May 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[vi] Feuer, Navy in World War I, 25; DANFS, entry for Noma (S.P. 131), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/n/noma.html.

[vii] DANFS, entry for Harvard II (SP-209), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/h/harvard-ii.html.

[viii] DANFS, entry for Davis II (Destroyer No. 65), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/d/davis-ii.html.

[ix] Navy Department, Engineering, 49.

[30]

11 May Yacht Aphrodite owned by Colonel O. H. Payne of New York is acquired and commissioned by the Navy as the armed yacht Aphrodite (SP-135), with Lieutenant Commander Ralph P. Craft, commanding.[i]

11 May Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels cables Rear Admiral W. S. Sims requesting that he consult with the Admiralty about establishing a barrier using mines, nets, and patrols across the North Sea, Norway, and Scotland, either directly or via the Shetland Islands, to prevent the egress of submarines.[ii]

11 May Destroyer tender Melville (AD-2) sails from Boston, Massachusetts, for Queenstown, Ireland.[iii]

11 May After Guatemala breaks diplomatic relations with Germany on 27 April, Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels cables the armored cruiser Pittsburgh (CA-4) and requests that the ship “stop long enough en route to call on President of Guatemala in order to show the good-will of United States and encourage friendly relations.” [iv]

12 May The Bureau of Yards and Docks requests to erect a naval training camp at the Puget Sound (Washington) Navy Yard for 5,000 men.[v]

12 May Congressional Public Resolution 2 (Senate Joint Resolution 42) authorizes the President “to seize for the United States the possession and title of any vessel within its jurisdiction which at the time of coming therein was owned in whole or in part by any corporation, citizen, or subject of any nation with which the United States may be at war, or was under register of any such nation. . . .” The resolution further authorizes the Secretary of the Navy to appoint a board of survey to ascertain the actual value of the vessels, their equipment, appurtenances, and all property aboard at the time of seizure and report the findings to the Navy Secretary as evidence for any claims for compensation.[vi]

13 May Admiral Sir Alexander Duff, Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff of the Admiralty, writes to the Naval Attaché in Washington, D.C., Admiral Dudley de Chair, that the Admiralty considers the proposed American project to close the exit to the North Sea to enemy submarines by mine barrage impracticable, but that “the proposal to send over all small craft suitable for patrol work would if adopted prove of the very greatest value.”[vii]

14 May Rear Admiral W. S. Sims reports to Bureau of Ordnance that “bitter and extensive experience has forced the abandonment of any serious attempt at blocking” submarines passages in the North Sea.[viii]

14 May President Woodrow Wilson issues Executive Order 2619A, ordering the Secretary of the Navy to take possession, title of, and operate for the United States, the German vessel Odenwald and cargo ship Präsident in the harbor of San Juan, Puerto Rico. Präsident was renamed USS Kittery (AK-2).[ix]

_______________

[i] DANFS, entry for Aphrodite (S.P. 135), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/a/aphrodite.html.

[ii] Cablegram from Josephus Daniels to W. S. Sims, 11 May 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[iii] Cablegram from Josephus Daniels to W. S. Sims, 9 May 1917; Memorandum from Josephus Daniels to Commander, Division Five, Destroyer Force, Atlantic Fleet, USS Patterson, Flagboat, about protection of commerce near British and French coasts, 18 May 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[iv] Radiogram from Josephus Daniels to USS Pittsburgh, Flag, 11 May 1917; J. H. Quinan to E. A. Anderson, 11 May 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[v] Navy Department, Yards and Docks, 79.

[vi] Joint Resolution Authorizing the President to Seize Vessels of Enemy Aliens, Public Resolution 65-2, U.S. Statutes at Large 40 (1917), 75.

[vii] Telegram from Alexander Duff to Dudley de Chair, 13 May 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[viii] Navy Department, Northern Barrage, 14; cablegram from W. S. Sims to Josephus Daniels, 14 May 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[ix] Executive Order 2619A, 14 May 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[31]

15 May J. P. Morgan’s private yacht, Corsair III, is chartered by the Navy and commissioned as armed yacht Corsair (SP-159) with Lieutenant Commander T. A. Kittinger in command.[i]

15 May Destroyer Division Six sails from New York for Queenstown, Ireland, via Halifax, Nova Scotia.[ii]

16 May The Aircraft Production Board is established by resolution of the Council of National

Defense, as a subsidiary agency to act in an advisory capacity on questions of aircraft production and procurement; on 1 October, Congress transferred control of the board to the War and Navy Departments.[iii]

16 May Destroyer Division Seven reports an attempted torpedo attack on either destroyers Ericsson (DD-56) or Jacob Jones (DD-61) in the Western Approaches. The alleged attack is unsuccessful and the destroyers continue to Queenstown, Ireland.[iv]

16 May An enemy submarine torpedoes and sinks the steamship Hilonian, three miles off Albenga, Italy, 30 miles from Genoa, killing four men and injuring three.[v]

16 May Rear Admiral W. S. Sims writes Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson and requests the establishment of a liaison service composed of two officers representing the Bureaus of Operations, Ordnance, Steam Engineering, Construction and Repair, Supplies and Accounts, Medicine and Surgery, and Aeronautics. These men are to be detailed for placement in the Admiralty, the Grand Fleet, or in shipbuilding plants to study and observe their foreign counterparts. Sims contends that “We have now the opportunity to obtain and apply directly the lessons of three years of warfare which these people have had to work out with blood and often bitter disappointment.”[vi]

17 May Destroyer Division Seven arrives in Queenstown, Ireland.[vii]

17 May Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson requests the purchase of 50 aircraft machine guns synchronized to fire through propellers and 50 for all-around fire.[viii]

17 May Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson informs the British Embassy in Washington that the Navy Department is prepared to supply 20 4- or 5-inch guns with 150 rounds per gun to the British government for use aboard merchant vessels during the next two months as need arises.[ix]

17 May Destroyer Division Six sails from Halifax, Nova Scotia, for Queenstown, Ireland.[x]

18 May Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels issues orders to Commander, Destroyer Division Five to “assist the naval operations of the Entente Powers in every possible way,” sailing from St. John’s, Newfoundland, and proceeding to Queenstown, Ireland.[xi]

18 May German submarine UC-73 using scuttling charges bombs and burns the schooner Francis M. off Spain.[xii]

______________

[i] Ralph D. Paine, The Corsair in the War Zone (n.p.: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1920), 21.

[ii] Daniels, Our Navy at War, 58; cablegram from British Naval Attaché, Washington to Admiralty, 11 May 1917; Memorandum from Josephus Daniels to Commander, Division Five, Destroyer Force, Atlantic Fleet, USS Patterson, Flagboat, about protection of commerce near British and French coasts, 18 May 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[iii] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 9; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 25.

[iv] DANFS, entry for Ericsson II (Destroyer No. 56), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/e/ericsson-ii.html; DANFS, entry for Jacob Jones I (Destroyer No. 61), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/j/jacob-jones-i.html.

[v] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 9.

[vi] Memorandum from W. S. Sims to William S. Benson, on “Information re Naval War Experience – Establishment Liaison Service,” 16 May 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[vii] Taussig, Queenstown Patrol, 37–38; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 56; Daniels, Years of War and After, 75.

[viii] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 9; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 25.

[ix] William S. Benson to Guy Gaunt, 17 May 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[x] Cablegram from Josephus Daniels to William D. MacDougall, 19 May 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[xi] Memorandum from Josephus Daniels to Commander, Division Five, Destroyer Force, Atlantic Fleet, USS Patterson, Flagboat, about protection of commerce near British and French coasts, 18 May 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[xii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 9.

[32]

19 May The first U.S. national insignia for aircraft is described in a general order and ordered placed on all naval aircraft. The design calls for a red disc within a white star on a blue circular field, and for red, white, and blue vertical bands on the rudder, with the blue forward.[i]

19 May Seven student aviators comprising the Harvard Unit, with Lieutenant H. B. Cecil in charge, report to the Curtiss Field at Newport News, Virginia, for flight instruction.[ii]

19 May Destroyer Division Nine arrives in Queenstown, Ireland, after an uninterrupted passage.[iii]

19 May Vice Admiral Sir Lewis Bayly addresses the commanding officers of the U.S. destroyers under his command at Queenstown, Ireland. He announces that on 21 May the destroyers will head out on war patrols and passes on guidance to the American officers. Cognizant of the dangers, Bayly emphasizes that “When you pass beyond the defenses of the harbor you face death, and live in danger of death until you return behind such defenses. You must presume from the moment you pass out that you are seen by a submarine and that at no time until you return can you be sure that you are not being watched. You may proceed safely, and may grow careless in your watching; but, let me impress upon you the fact that if you do relax for a moment, if you cease to be vigilant, then you will find yourself destroyed, your vessel sunk, your men drowned.”[iv]

20 May About 200 miles out of New York, an Armed Guard aboard the steamship Mongolia (ID-1615) starts firing the 6-inch gun for target practice. On the third shot, the gun’s brass mouth cup flies in an unexpected direction and strikes a stanchion near several Red Cross nurses, killing two of them and wounding a third.[v]

21 May The Admiralty votes to adopt the convoy system for all merchant shipping one day after an experimental convoy safely reaches England from Gibraltar.[vi]

21 May Destroyer Division Five sails from Boston, Massachusetts, for European waters.[vii]

21 May Destroyer Ericsson (DD-56), while on patrol in the Western Approaches out of Queenstown, Ireland, sights a German submarine running on the surface engaging two sailing vessels, a Russian and a Norwegian, with its deck gun. Ericsson closes on the submarine and opens fire. It lets loose a torpedo against the aggressor at 7,000 yards. This is the first U.S. torpedo fired at the enemy during World War I. Seeing the destroyer’s approach, the submarine dives below the waves and sinks both sailing vessels with torpedo fire of its own. Ericsson searches for the U-boat but can not locate it and then proceeds to pick up the surviving crew of the sunken vessels. It disembarks the survivors at Queenstown and returns to her patrol.[viii]

21 May Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels informs the French Government that the Navy Department would send ten or more yachts for service against enemy submarines off the coast of France, to leave American waters around 1 June.[ix]

21 May Destroyer Division Nine joins Division Eight on sea patrols off Queenstown, Ireland.[x]

_______________

[i] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 9; Cooney, Chronology of the U.S. Navy, 225; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 25.

[ii] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 9.

[iii] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to Josephus Daniels, 19 May 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[iv] Memorandum from W. S. Sims to Destroyer Force, on “Address delivered by Vice Admiral Lewis Bayly, R.N.,” 26 May 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[v] Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 81.

[vi] Senate Subcommittee on Naval Affairs, Naval Investigation Hearings, vol. I, 66th Cong., 2d sess., 1921: 356; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 123.

[vii] Daniels, Our Navy at War, 58.

[viii] DANFS, entry for Ericsson II (Destroyer No. 56), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/e/ericsson-ii.html.

[ix] Cablegram from Josephus Daniels to William R. Sayles, 21 May 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[x] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to Josephus Daniels, 21 May 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[33]

21 May Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson orders the chiefs of the Bureaus of Navigation, Ordnance, Construction and Repair, Steam Engineering, Supplies and Accounts, and Hydrographic Office to make immediate preparations for the departure of a convoy of 24 troop transports on a date to be designated.[i]

21 May Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson informs Admiral Henry T. Mayo that submarine nets will be planted in the defense of Long Island, New York, under the purview of the Commandant of the Third Naval District.[ii]

22 May Destroyer tender Melville (AD-2) arrives in Queenstown, Ireland, becoming the first auxiliary ship to reach the war zone.[iii]

22 May The French Ministry of Marine requests on behalf of the French government that the U.S. government issue identification cards to the crews of all U.S. ships to help prevent enemy agents from infiltrating onto French soil or from conducting espionage operations.[iv]

22 May Congress authorizes friendly aliens enrolling in the Naval Reserve Force who are “subject to the condition that they may be discharged from such enrollment at any time within the discretion of  the Secretary of the Navy” may under existing law become citizens of the United States and who render honorable service in the Naval Reserve Force in time of war for a period of not less than one year may become citizens of the United States without proof of residence on shore and without further requirement than proof of good moral character and honorable discharge.[v]

22 May Congress passes legislation authorizing the enlisted strength of the Navy to be increased from 87,000 to 150,000, including 4,000 additional apprentice seamen.[vi]

22 May President Woodrow Wilson issues Executive Order 2625, requesting the Secretary of the Treasury to transfer the seized German vessels Hohenfelde, Frieda Leonhardt, Nicaria, Kiel, Rudolf Blumberg, Vogesen, Breslau, and Saxonia to the Navy for use as colliers and cargo carriers.[vii]

23 May The initial production program to equip the Navy with the aircraft necessary for war is recommended by the Joint Technical Board on Aircraft. The program comprises 300 school machines, 200 service seaplanes, 100 speed scouts, and 100 large seaplanes.[viii]

23 May Destroyer Division Four departs from New York for European waters.[ix]

23 May An enemy submarine shells and sinks the schooner Harwood Palmer in the Bay of Biscay, six miles southwest of Le Blanche Island, near Basse-Loire, France.[x]

24 May The first Atlantic convoy departs from Hampton Roads, Virginia, escorted by Royal Navy warships.[xi]

______________

[i] Memorandum from William S. Benson to Chiefs of Bureaus of Navigation, Ordnance, Construction and Repair, Steam Engineering, Supplies and Accounts, Hydrographic Office, and Convoy Commander about convoy, 21 May 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[ii] Memorandum from William S. Benson to William T. Mayo, 21 May 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[iii] Still, Crisis at Sea, 156; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 56; Daniels, Years of War and After, 75; cablegram from Williams S. Sim to Josephus Daniels, 24 May 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[iv] Cablegram from William R. Sayles to Josephus Daniels, 22 May 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[v] An Act to amend an Act entitled “An Act making appropriations for the naval service for the fiscal year ending June thirteenth, nineteen hundred and seventeen, and for other purposes,” relative to the enrollments in the Naval Reserve Force, Public Law 65-15, U.S. Statutes at Large 40 (1917): 84.

[vi] An Act to temporarily increase the commissioned and warrant and enlisted strength of the Navy and Marine Corps, and for other purposes, Public Law 65-17, U.S. Statutes at Large 40 (1917): 84.

[vii] Executive Order 2625, 22 May 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[viii] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 9; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 26.

[ix] Daniels, Our Navy at War, 58.

[x] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 9.

[xi] Still, Crisis at Sea, 346.

[34]

24 May The German submarine UC-73 burns and sinks the schooner Barbara, 90 miles west of Gibraltar.[i]

25 May Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels approves the plan for development of the Puget Sound Navy Yard at Bremerton, Washington.[ii]

25 May The German submarine UC-73 shells and sinks the schooner Magnus Manson 50 miles west by south of Cape Vincent, Portugal.[iii]

26 May Rear Admiral W. S. Sims receives temporary promotion to vice admiral.[iv]

26 May Rear Admiral Albert Gleaves, Commander Destroyer Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet, reports to the Navy Department in Washington, D.C., and is designated as Commander U.S. Convoy Operations in the Atlantic, with directions to organize and escort the first American Expeditionary Force to France.[v]

27 May President Woodrow Wilson approves regulations providing for the handling of troop convoys, previously approved by the War and Navy Departments.[vi]

27 May Sultana, a steam yacht loaned to the Navy by Mrs. E. H. Harriman of New York, is commissioned as the armed yacht Sultana (SP-134), Lieutenant E. G. Allen commanding.[vii]

28 May The Navy commissions the armed yacht Vedette (SP-163), a steel-hulled steam yacht acquired from Frederick W. Vanderbilt on 4 May, with Lieutenant Commander Chester L. Hand in command.[viii]

28 May Naval personnel arrive at Bumkin Island, Boston Harbor, Massachusetts, and begin preparing a summer children’s hospital for conversion into a naval training camp to open in November.[ix]

28 May Passenger liner RMS Baltic sails from New York with a naval escort for Liverpool, England, with Major General John J. Pershing and his staff aboard.[x]

28 May The oiler Maumee (AO-2) refuels six destroyers in the North Atlantic, the first fueling underway in U.S. Navy history. Lieutenant Commander Chester W. Nimitz was then serving as the Maumee’s chief engineer and executive officer.[xi]

28 May The Office of the Chief of Naval Operations assigns Destroyer Divisions Four and Nine to Destroyer Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet and orders them held in readiness at navy yards for distant service.[xii]

29 May A contract is reached with the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co., Akron, Ohio, to train 20 men in the operation of lighter-than-air craft.[xiii]

_______________

[i] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 9.

[ii] Navy Department, Yards and Docks, 132.

[iii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 9.

[iv] Morison, Admiral Sims, 365; Still, Crisis at Sea, 27; telegram from William D. MacDougall to W. S. Sims, 26 May 1917; letter from Woodrow Wilson to W. S. Sims, 26 May 1917,  Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[v] Memorandum from Albert Gleaves to Henry T. Mayo, on report of convoy of first U.S. Expeditionary Force to France, 24 July 1917, Reel 18, ME-11, NDL.

[vi] Document titled “Naval Convoy of Military Expeditions,” 27 May 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[vii] DANFS, entry for Sultana (S.P. 134), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/s/sultana.html.

[viii] DANFS, entry for Vedette I (ScStr), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/v/vedette-i.html.

[ix] Navy Department, Yards and Docks, 46–47.

[x] Cablegram from Robert Lansing for W. S. Sims, 25 May 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[xi] DANFS, entry for Maumee II (AO-2), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/m/maumee-ii.html.

[xii] Radiogram from OPNAV to USS Allen, USS Balch, USS Seattle, and USS Pennsylvania, 28 May 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[xiii] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 9; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 26.

[35]

29 May Rear Admiral Albert Greaves is designated commander of the Cruiser and Transport Force, which eventually grows to 45 transports and 24 cruisers, organized to carry troops of the American Expeditionary Force to Europe.[i]

30 May The Navy’s first successful airship, B-1, completes an overnight test flight from Chicago, Illinois, to Akron, Ohio, where it was assembled.[ii]

30 May The destroyer Cushing (DD-55) rescues 13 survivors from the Italian brigantine Luisa damaged by U-boat gunfire.[iii]

30 May Following a conference on 29 May with the French Chief of the Naval Staff, Vice Admiral W. S. Sims conveys to the Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson the French desire to have an American naval officer of captain rank or above be assigned to the French Ministry of Marine.[iv]

30 May Vice Admiral W. S. Sims’s office publishes general instructions for U.S. Naval Destroyer Force operating in European Waters.[v]

31 May Armed yacht Christabel (SP-162) commissions at New York Navy Yard, Lieutenant H. B. Riebe in command. Christabel was purchased by the Navy on 30 April from Irving T. Bush.[vi]

31 May Vice Admiral W. S. Sims cables the Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson that British mine production makes it “unwise to attempt to utilize our present available supply” and relays that the British recommend the Americans concentrating efforts on other work.[vii]

31 May Destroyer tender Dixie (AD-1) sails for Queenstown, Ireland.[viii]

31 May German submarine UC-1 sinks the steamship Dirigo with scuttling charges six miles southwest of Eddystone Lighthouse, England, killing one.[ix]

1 June Destroyer Division Five arrives in Queenstown, Ireland.[x]

1 June The Navy Department orders Captain William B. Fletcher to assume command of eight converted armed yachts—Corsair (SP-159), Aphrodite (SP-135), Harvard (SP-209), Sultana (SP-134), Christabel (SP-162), Kanawha II (SP-130), Vedette (SP-163), and Noma (SP-131)—being fitted out for foreign service to be deployed to France as the U.S. Patrol Squadron Operating in European Waters.[xi]

1 June The Bureau of Navigation requests that the Bureau of Yards and Docks increase the receiving and training barracks capacity at Key West, Florida, for up to 1,000 men.[xii]

3 June Rear Admiral Albert Gleaves arrives aboard armored cruiser Seattle (CA-11) in New York to begin preparing transports for convoying.[xiii]

______________

[i] Cooney, Chronology of the U.S. Navy, 225; Gleaves, Transport Service, 32; Still, Crisis at Sea, 357.

[ii] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 9; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 26.

[iii] DANFS, entry for Cushing II (Destroyer No. 55), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/c/cushing-destroyer-no-55-ii.html.

[iv] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to William S. Benson, 30 May 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[v] Document titled “General Instructions for U.S. Naval Destroyer Force operating in European Waters,” 30 May 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[vi] DANFS, entry for Christabel, https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/c/christabel.html.

[vii] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to Josephus Daniels, 31 May 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[viii] Daniels, Our Navy at War, 58.

[ix] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 9.

[x] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to Josephus Daniels, 2 June 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 8 June 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[xi] Memorandum from Josephus Daniels to William B. Fletcher, 1 June 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL; Still, Crisis at Sea, 388.

[xii] Navy Department, Yards and Docks, 73.

[xiii] Memorandum from Albert Gleaves to Henry T. Mayo, on report of convoy of first U.S. Expeditionary Force to France, 24 July 1917, Reel 18, ME-11, NDL.

[36]

4 June The Bureau of Yards and Docks awards a contract for construction of U.S. Marine Corps barracks at Quantico, Virginia.[i]

4 June Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels cables Vice Admiral W. S. Sims and instructs him to furnish one division of destroyers for each of the four convoys of American troop transports due to sail around 9 June.[ii]

4 June Steamship Norlina is damaged by a torpedo from the German submarine U-88 in the Atlantic Ocean about 180 miles northwest of Inishtrahull Island off the north coast of Ireland. Chief Boatswain’s Mate Olaf J. Gullickson, commanding the Naval Armed Guard aboard the ship, opens fire on the submarine and claims two hits before the submarine disappears. For his quick action, Gullickson receives the Navy Cross.[iii]

5 June Initial elements of the First Aeronautic Detachment commanded by Lieutenant Kenneth Whiting arrives at Pauillac, France, aboard the collier Neptune (AC-8), while the second echelon commanded by Lieutenant G. C. Dichman aboard the collier Jupiter (AC-3) arrives at St. Nazaire, France, on 8 June. The detachment comprises 7 officers and 122 enlisted men under command of Lieutenant Kenneth Whiting.[iv]

5 June Destroyer McDougal (DD-54) is guarding British steamer Manchester Miller when a torpedo strikes the merchantman on its port side. McDougal rescues 32 members of the crew before the steamer sinks bow first.[v]

5 June Destroyers Cassin (DD-43) and Ammen (DD-35) search for a small boat with survivors of a ship loss after a convoyed steamer reports a visual but loses sight of it. The destroyers spot the boat after several hours and a British trawler recovers the survivors.[vi]

6 June Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson informs Vice Admiral W. S. Sims of the organization of ships and forces destined to be known as U.S. Forces Operating in European Waters. The destroyers in Ireland will be known as “U.S. Destroyer Flotilla Operating in European Waters,” and the yachts and other small craft known as “U.S. Patrol Squadrons Operating in European Waters.” Benson clarifies that the small craft fall under Sims’s general command, but that it is the Navy Department’s desire that they be based in France under command of Captain William B. Fletcher. Sims is lastly “authorized to organize your forces at your discretion.”[vii]

7 June British First Sea Lord Admiral Sir John Jellicoe appeals to the Navy Department for light cruisers and other escort-type vessels to be based at Gibraltar.[viii]

7 June The Navy Department suspends battle cruiser construction for the duration of the war to free money and shipyard space for construction of submarine chasers and destroyers.[ix]

7 June Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels writes Secretary of the War Newton D. Baker and suggests a policy for the handling of supply ships, colliers, tugs, and other vessels chartered or owned by the War Department in regard to the Naval Armed Guards, escorts, and communications. On 10 June, Secretary Baker concurs with Daniel’s policy outline.[x]

_______________

[i] Navy Department, Yards and Docks, 94.

[ii] Cablegram from Josephus Daniels to W. S. Sims, 4 June 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[iii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 8; Harry R. Stringer, ed., The Navy Book of Distinguished Service (Washington, DC: Fassett Pub. Co., 1921), 76.

[iv] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 9; Navy Department, Annual Report of the Secretary of the Navy for the Fiscal Year 1919 (Washington, DC: GPO, 1919), 42; memorandum from Kenneth Whiting to Josephus Daniels, about report of operations to date, 20 July 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[v] DANFS, entry for McDougal I (Destroyer No. 54), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/m/mcdougal-i.html.

[vi] DANFS, entry for Cassin I (Destroyer No. 43), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/c/cassin-i.html; DANFS, entry for Ammen I (Destroyer No. 35), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/a/ammen-i.html.

[vii] Memorandum from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, about organization of “U.S. Forces operating on European Waters,” 6 June 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[viii] Still, Crisis at Sea, 314.

[ix] David F. Trask, Captains & Cabinets: Anglo-American Naval Relations, 1917–1918 (Columbia, University of Missouri Press, 1972), 116–25.

[x] Memorandum from Josephus Daniels to Newton Baker, 7 June 1917; memorandum from Newton D. Baker to Josephus Daniels, 10 June 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[37]

9 June Armed yachts Noma (SP-131), Christabel (SP-162), Harvard (SP-209), Kanawha II (SP-130), Sultana (SP-134), and Vedette (SP-163) sail from New York bound for Brest, France.[i]

9 June The Ship Protection Committee, headed by Rear Admiral Harry H. Rousseau, Civil Engineer Corps, reports to Major General George W. Goethals, general manager of the Emergency Fleet Corporation, about studies into protection of merchant vessels from attacks by submarines and additional details about lowering visibility by use of special paint schemes and increasing the offensive power by installing naval guns aboard all merchant vessels traversing the danger zone.[ii]

9 June The German liner and auxiliary cruiser SMS Kronprinz Wilhelm is renamed and commissioned as the troop transport Von Steuben (ID-3017).[iii]

9 June The French Ministry of Marine orders 6 officers and 63 men from the First Aeronautic Detachment—the section aboard the collier Neptune (AC-8)—transferred from St. Nazaire to Brest, France. The men arrive on 10 June.[iv]

10 June Destroyers Walke (DD-34) and Sterett (DD-27) arrive at Queenstown, Ireland, from Brest, having escorted the collier Jupiter (AC-3) to France.[v]

10 June The tanker Petrolite is torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-35 off the coast of Morocco, 185 miles west one-half degree south of Cape Spartel.[vi]

11 June Destroyers Jarvis (DD-38) and Perkins (DD-26) arrive at Queenstown, Ireland, having escorted the collier Neptune (AC-8) to France.[vii]

11 June Vice Admiral W. S. Sims wires Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels that the Admiralty has requested (with Sims’ recommendation) the assignment of a U.S. naval officer to be assigned to Sims’ office for exclusive duty in the Admiralty in connection with convoys, selection of rendezvous points, and other ship movement–related matters.[viii]

11 June Naval Training Camp, San Pedro, California, is established.[ix]

12 June Destroyer tender Dixie arrives at Queenstown, Ireland.[x]

12 June President Woodrow Wilson issues Executive Order 2635, ordering the Secretary of the Navy to take immediate possession and title of the German steamer Staatssekretar Solf at Tutuila, Samoa, and operate it in the service of the Navy.[xi]

12 June The first tentative plans for the North Sea Mine Barrage are formally submitted to the Bureau of Navy Ordnance. This is a proposed mine field extending from the Orkney Islands to the Norwegian coast using a combined British-American force of minelayers deploying the MK VI naval mine.[xii]

12 June In the morning, the tanker Moreni encounters a submarine 17 miles southwest of Tadarca Island, Spain. Despite its guns being out-ranged by the submarine, Moreni fires approximately 150 rounds at the enemy before the tanker’s crew abandons ship after an enemy hit ignites a gasoline tank. Four men are killed in the attack, and the abandoned tanker is later sunk by the submarine.[xiii]

______________

[i] Cooney, Chronology of the U.S. Navy, 226; Wilson, American Navy in France, 24; Joseph Husband, On the Coast of France: The Story of the United States Naval Forces in French Waters (Chicago: A.C. McClurg and Co., 1919), 6–8; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 100.

[ii] Scott, Naval Consulting Board, 90–96.

[iii] Feuer, Navy in World War I, 47.

[iv] Memorandum from Kenneth Whiting to Josephus Daniels, about report of operations to date, 20 July 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[v] Memorandum from W. S. Sims to William S. Benson, about addenda to general report concerning Destroyer Force, British Waters, 15 June 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[vi] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 9.

[vii] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 13 June 1917; memorandum from W. S. Sims to William S. Benson, about addenda to general report concerning Destroyer Force, British Waters, 15 June 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[viii] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to Josephus Daniels, 11 June 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[ix] Navy Department, Yards and Docks, 77.

[x] Still, Crisis at Sea, 156; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 13 June 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[xi] Executive Order 2635, 12 June 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[xii] Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 110, 270; memorandum from Ralph Earle to William S. Benson, about mine barrier, 12 June 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[xiii] Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 51.

[38]

12 June The destroyer Tucker (DD-57) rescues 47 survivors from the merchantman Polyxena.[i]

13 June USCGC McCulloch sinks after colliding with the steamship Governor off San Francisco, California.[ii]

13 June Vice Admiral W. S. Sims cables Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels an outline for handling convoy operations in the war zone.[iii]

14 June Destroyer Division Nine sails from New York for European waters.[iv]

14 June The first American Expeditionary Force convoy in four groups sails from New York bound for St. Nazaire, France. Group 1 consists of the armored cruiser Seattle (CA-11), armed yacht Corsair (SP-159), destroyers Wilkes (DD-67), Terry (DD-25), and Roe (DD-24), the commandeered German liner-turned-armed transport DeKalb (ID-3010), and troopship Tenadores, transports Saratoga and Havana, and store ship Pastores (ID-4540/AF-16). Group 2 consists of the Army-charted troopships Antilles and Momus, and transports Lenape (ID-2700) and Henderson (AP-1), escorted by the scout cruiser Birmingham (CS-2), converted armed yacht Aphrodite (SP-135), and destroyers Fanning (DD-37), Burrows (DD-29), and Lamson (DD-18). Group 3 includes the transports Henry R. Mallory (ID-1531), troopship Finland (ID-4543), and cargo ship San Jacinto (ID-1531), escorted by the protected cruiser Charleston (CA-19), armed collier Cyclops (AC-4), and destroyers Allen (DD-66), McCall (DD-28), and Preston (DD-19). Group 4 contains the cargo ship Montanan, transports Dakotan (ID-3882), El Occidente (ID-3307), and Edward Luckenbach (ID-1662) escorted by the protected cruiser St. Louis (C-20), transport Hancock (AP-3), and destroyers Shaw (DD-68), Ammen (DD-35), Flusser (DD-20), and Parker (DD-48). Oilers Kanawha (AO-1) and Maumee (AO-2) precede the convoy to refuel the destroyers at sea as required.[v]

14 June Vice Admiral W. S. Sims is designated Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Operating in European Waters.[vi]

14 June The schooner A. B. Johnson is captured by the German commerce raider SMS Seeadler in the Pacific Ocean, set on fire, and destroyed 15 June.[vii]

14 June Establishment of aerial patrol stations along the Atlantic coast is implemented as the first contract for base construction is let. The contract covers sites on Long Island, New York, located at Montauk, Rockaway Beach, and Bay Shore.[viii]

16 June The German raider SMS Wolf captures the schooner Winslow in the Pacific Ocean off Raoul, Kermadec Group. Winslow is burned, shelled, and sunk on 22 June.[ix]

16 June The destroyer O’Brien (DD-51), while escorting a vessel off the Irish coast, sights and depth charges a suspected submarine. The Admiralty later credits O’Brien with slightly damaging the submarine. Vice Admiral Sir Lewis Bayly, Commander in Chief, Queenstown, Ireland, nominates Lieutenant Commander Charles A. Blakely, commander of O’Brien, for the Distinguished Service Order and Ensign Henry N. Fallon for the Distinguished Service Cross. Blakely will receive the U.S. Navy Distinguished Service Medal for his actions, while Fallon will receive a Navy Cross for actions as officer of the watch aboard O’Brien in an engagement with another enemy submarine on 14 September 1917.[x]

_______________ 

[i] DANFS, entry for Tucker I (Destroyer No. 57), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/t/tucker-i.html.

[ii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 5.

[iii] Senate Subcommittee on Naval Affairs, Naval Investigation Hearings, vol. I, 66th Cong., 2d sess., 1921: 89–90.

[iv] Daniels, Our Navy at War, 58; DANFS, entry for Burrows II (Destroyer No. 29), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/b/burrows-ii.html.

[v] Cooney, Chronology of the U.S. Navy, 226; Gleaves, Transport Service, 32–41; Wilson, American Navy in France, 23; Paine, The Corsair, 21–22; Still, Crisis at Sea, 357; cablegram from Josephus Daniels to W. S. Sims, 16 June 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL; Memorandum from Albert Gleaves to Henry T. Mayo, on report of convoy of first U.S. Expeditionary Force to France, 24 July 1917, Reel 18, ME-11, NDL.

[vi] Memorandum from Josephus Daniels to W. S. Sims, about change of title, 14 June 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL; Still, Crisis at Sea, 27.

[vii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 7.

[viii] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 9; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 26.

[ix] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 7.

[x] Still, Crisis at Sea, 401; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 60; Stringer, Distinguished Service, 22, 68; Memorandum from W. S. Sims to William S. Benson, on general report, 17 October 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[39]

16 June A German submarine torpedoes and sinks the tanker John D. Archbold off Ushant, France, 85 miles southwest of Penmarch, killing three.[i]

17 June The schooner R.C. Slade is captured by the German commerce raider SMS Seeadler in the Pacific Ocean. She is burned and sunk 18 June.[ii]

18 June The first test of the K-1 mine-firing device for a naval mine is held at the New London, Connecticut, submarine base with promising results. The device was essentially a copper antenna that uses seawater as the electrolyte; contact with steel (a submarine hull) completed the circuit and detonated the device and the mine. The concept of the electrical trigger using seawater as the electrolyte stems from an invention offered to the Navy by Ralph C. Browne of Salem, Massachusetts. While the “Browne submerged gun” was not of interest, the triggering device became the key component of the MK VI mine.[iii]

19 June Destroyers Nicholson (DD-52) and Sampson (DD-63) assist in the recovery of sailors from the sunken British merchantman Batoum.[iv]

20 June The first Curtiss R-5 seaplanes assigned to naval service are received at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida.[v]

20 June The motor boat Gypsy (SP-55) is destroyed by fire off Stony Beach, Allerton Beacon, Boston, Massachusetts, and declared a total loss.[vi]

20 June In a cable to Vice Admiral W. S. Sims, Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels notes that the 32 destroyers currently in European waters are “all that there are available,” that 110-foot submarine chasers bound for France should begin sailing in August along with 12 fishing vessels.[vii]

20 June Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson assigns U.S. Naval Forces Operating in European Waters to duty with the U.S. Atlantic Fleet and requests that Vice Admiral W. S. Sims keep the Commander-in-Chief, Atlantic Fleet, Admiral Henry T. Mayo, informed of the employment of forces under his command and submit such reports as required to Admiral Mayo so he may “supervise the readiness of material and personnel, and to perform their proper functions in the event of fleet operations.”[viii]

21 June A German submarine shells and sinks the schooner Childe Harold off Ushant, France.[ix]

_______________

[i] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 10.

[ii] Ibid., 7.

[iii] Navy Department, Northern Barrage, 18–19.

[iv] Memorandum from W. S. Sims to William S. Benson about general report concerning submarine situation in European waters, 20 July 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[v] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 9.

[vi] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 4.

[vii] Cablegram from Josephus Daniels to William S. Benson, 20 June 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[viii] Memorandum from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 20 June 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[ix] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 10.

[40]

22 June Enlisted men of the First Aeronautic Detachment begin preliminary flight training in Caudron landplanes under French instructors at the Military Aviation School, Tours, France. Around the same time, another 50 men of the detachment were sent to St. Raphael, France, for training as mechanics.[i]

22 June Group 1 of the first American Expeditionary Force convoy reports attacks by enemy submarines, with the transport DeKalb (ID-3010) reporting two torpedo wakes, and two torpedoes reportedly passing close by the transport Havana.[ii]

22 June Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels cables Vice Admiral W. S. Sims to report that the Bureau of Ordnance is now in position to manufacture both the latest British naval mine “or a superior type at the rate of four thousand per week beginning sixty days from now.”[iii]

22 June Vice Admiral W. S. Sims reports to Washington that the British Admiralty have adopted the convoy system and “will put it into full effect as fast as heavy ships can be obtained for high sea convoy against raiders and destroyers for escort duty in submarine zones.” Sims urges support for assisting and cooperating in the assembly of convoys and furnishing one cruiser or reserve battleship a week for escort.[iv]

23 June Destroyers Cushing (DD-55), Jacob Jones (DD-61), Conyngham (DD-58), Nicholson (DD-52), and O’Brien (DD-51), out of Queenstown, Ireland, rendezvous with Group 1, now composed of the armored cruiser Seattle (CA-11), transport DeKalb (ID-3010), destroyers Wilkes (DD-67), Terry (DD-25), and Roe (DD-24), troopship Tenadores, transports Saratoga  and Havana, and store ship Pastores (ID-4540/AF-16), and proceed to escort the ships to France.[v]

23 June Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels orders coordination and organization of efforts among the various research groups considering submarine and antisubmarine devices, placing the effort under the special board with Rear Admiral Albert W. Grant as senior advisor.[vi]

23 June In a reply to various cables from Vice Admiral W. S. Sims, Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels clarifies that the Navy Department “is strongly of the opinion—based on recent experiences—that the question of supplying adequate guns and trained gun crews to merchant ships is one which can—in now wise [sic]—be treated as a minor issue. Coupled with a rigid system of inspection, this method is believed to constitute one of the most effective defensive submarine measures.”[vii]

24 June Destroyer Cushing (DD-55) rescues 54 survivors from the sunken British steamer Obuasi.[viii]

24 June In the morning, at the scheduled rendezvous point, destroyers from Queenstown, Ireland, sight elements of the American Expeditionary Force convoy Group 1.[ix]

25 June A German submarine scuttles and sinks the schooner Galena, 70 miles west by south of Ushant Light, Quessant Island, France.[x]

________________

[i] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 9; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 27.

[ii] Memorandum from Commander Destroyer Force to Commander-in-Chief, Atlantic Fleet, on attacks on convoy by submarines on the nights of 22 June, 26 June, and 28 June 1917, 12 July 1917, Reel 18, ME-11, NDL; Gleaves, Transport Service, 42–43, 167; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 73–74.

[iii] Cablegram from Josephus Daniels to W. S. Sims, 22 June 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[iv] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to Josephus Daniels, 22 June 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[v] Memorandum from Albert Gleaves to Henry T. Mayo, on report of convoy of first U.S. Expeditionary Force to France, 24 July 1917, Reel 18, ME-11, NDL; Taussig, Queenstown Patrol, 69–70.

[vi] Scott, Naval Consulting Board, 76, 82–83.

[vii] Cablegram from Josephus Daniels to W. S. Sims, 23 June 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[viii] DANFS, entry for Cushing II (Destroyer No. 55), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/c/cushing-destroyer-no-55-ii.html.

[ix] Gleaves, Transport Service, 44; Paine, The Corsair, 44.

[x] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 10.

[41]

25 June Captain William V. Pratt succeeds Captain Volney O. Chase as Assistant Chief of Naval Operations, following Chase’s untimely death due to exhaustion.[i]

26 June Group 1 of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) convoy drops anchor in the Loire River off St. Nazaire, France. The troop transports dock at St. Nazaire, and the first elements of the AEF disembark on French soil.[ii]

26 June An enemy submarine shells and damages the schooner A.B. Sherman off the Isles of Scilly, England. The schooner is later towed into port.[iii]

26 June While escorting Group 2 of the American Expeditionary Force, the destroyer Cummings (DD-44) reports spotting a submarine to port and drops a depth charge, which brings considerable oil and some debris to the surface, possibly indicating that the submarine was damaged. Vice Admiral Sir Lewis Bayly, Commander in Chief, Queenstown, Ireland, nominated Lieutenant Commander George P. Neal, commander of the Cummings, for the Distinguished Service Order, Lieutenant Frank Loftin for the British Distinguished Service Cross, and Quartermaster 1st Class W. H. Justice and Chief Machinists’ Mate R. G. McNaughton for the Distinguished Service Medal.[iv]

26 June U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain Walter H. Page wires President Woodrow Wilson and Secretary of State Robert Lansing with news that the heavy loss of British tankers has left the Royal Navy with oil stocks sufficient for only six weeks “at the lowest conventional rate of consumption.” Page recommends that all American tankers carrying oil to neutral countries be diverted to Great Britain, that tankers directly aiding the European military situation be acquired for the conflict, and that construction of tankers be accelerated.[v]

27 June Group 2 of the American Expeditionary Force convoy anchors at St. Nazaire, France.[vi]

27 June Destroyer McDougal (DD-54) picks up 24 survivors from the torpedoed British steamer Begona #4.[vii]

28 June Thomas W. Barrett, a member of First Aeronautic Detachment, dies in an air crash during flight training at Tours, France. He is the first U.S. Navy member killed in France in World War I.[viii]

28 June President Woodrow Wilson signs legislation authorizing the expenditure of $2.8 million for the purchase of the property, equipment, and buildings for a naval operating base at Norfolk, Virginia.[ix]

28 June Group 3 of the first American Expeditionary Force convoy arrives at St. Nazaire, France.[x]

28 June Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels requests Vice Admiral W. S. Sims to provide recommendations for basing a 250-bed Navy hospital to support American naval forces in European waters.[xi]

__________________

[i] Beers, “Office of Naval Operations, Part II,” 23.

[ii] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to Josephus Daniels, 26 June 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[iii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 10.

[iv] Gleaves, Transport Service, 46–47, 167; Still, Crisis at Sea, 358; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 74–75.

[v] Cablegram from Walter H. Page to Robert Lansing, 26 June 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[vi] Memorandum from Albert Gleaves to Henry T. Mayo, on report of convoy of first U.S. Expeditionary Force to France, 24 July 1917, Reel 18, ME-11, NDL; Wilson, American Navy in France, 23; Paine, The Corsair, 44.

[vii] DANFS, entry for McDougal I (Destroyer No. 54), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/m/mcdougal-i.html.

[viii] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 9.

[ix] Michael D. Besch, “A Navy Second to None: The History of U.S. Naval Training in World War I” (PhD diss., Marquette University, 1999), 117.

[x] Memorandum from Albert Gleaves to Henry T. Mayo, on report of convoy of first U.S. Expeditionary Force to France, 24 July 1917, Reel 18, ME-11, NDL.

[xi] Cablegram from Josephus Daniels to W. S. Sims, 28 June 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[42]

28 June While under escort, the transport Edward Luckenbach (ID-1662) of Group 4 narrowly avoids an enemy torpedo. The commander of the armed yacht Kanawha II (SP-130) on escort duty reports having observed a submarine when the torpedo was fired and watching the wake. The armed yacht began shelling the submarine’s periscope and drove the attacker away.[i]

28 June Group 4 of the American Expeditionary Force convoy rendezvous with destroyers Patterson (DD-36), Warrington (DD-30), Trippe (DD-33), Paulding (DD-22), Drayton (DD-23), and Walke (DD-34).[ii]

29 June Armed yachts Noma (SP-131), Kanawha II (SP-130), Vedette (SP-163), Harvard (SP-209), Christabel (SP-162), and Sultana (SP-134) sail from St. Michaels, Azores for Brest, France.[iii]

30 June The naval training camp at Charleston, South Carolina, is established.[iv]

30 June President Woodrow Wilson issues Executive Order 2651, authorizing the U.S. Shipping Board to take possession and title of 87 German ships, seized in American harbors on 6 April, and to place them into service of the United States.[v]

2 July Armed yachts Corsair (SP-159) and Aphrodite (SP-135) arrive in Brest, France.[vi]

2 July The transports Saratoga, Havana, and Lenape (ID-2700) escorted by the scout cruiser Birmingham (CS-2) and destroyers Sampson (DD-63), Jarvis (DD-38), and Allen (DD-66), sail from St. Nazaire, France, bound for the United States. The destroyers are diverted to Queenstown, Ireland, by request of Vice Admiral W. S. Sims the following day.[vii]

2 July The Chief of Naval Operations William S. Benson orders “the twelve most suitable submarines on the Atlantic Coast” to be fitted out for duty in European waters.[viii]

2 July The Office of the Chief of Naval Operations orders the commandants of the First through Ninth, Twelfth, Thirteenth, and Fourteenth Naval Districts to cease negotiations for the purchase of vessels except those capable of crossing the Atlantic.[ix]

2 July The Navy Department informs Vice Admiral W. S. Sims that he is to “hold for duty in European Waters all the destroyers accompanying the Troop convoy [American Expeditionary Force] ship[s].”[x]

2 July Group 4 of the first American Expeditionary Force convoy arrives in St. Nazaire, France.[xi]

3 July Construction expanding the Great Lakes Naval Training Station near North Chicago, Illinois, begins in order to accommodate the massive influx of new recruits.[xii]

3 July The steamship Orleans is torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine UC-61, 165 miles west-southwest from Belle Isle, France, killing four and injuring one.[xiii]

_____________

[i] Memorandum from Commander Destroyer Force to Commander-in-Chief, Atlantic Fleet, on attacks on convoy by submarines on the nights of 22 June, 26 June, and 28 June 1917, 12 July 1917, Reel 18, ME-11, NDL; Gleaves, Transport Service, 45–46, 168.

[ii] Memorandum from Albert Gleaves to Henry T. Mayo, on report of convoy of first U.S. Expeditionary Force to France, 24 July 1917, Reel 18, ME-11, NDL.

[iii] Memorandum from W. B. Furney to W. S. Sims, on movements of squadron, 29 June–4 July 1917, 16 July 1917, Reel 18, ME-11, NDL.

[iv] Besch, “Navy Second to None,” 207.

[v] Executive Order 2651, 30 June 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL; History of the U.S.S. Leviathan, 27–29.

[vi] Wilson, American Navy in France, 23; Paine, The Corsair, 57.

[vii] Memorandum from Albert Gleaves to Henry T. Mayo, on report of convoy of first U.S. Expeditionary Force to France, 24 July 1917, Reel 18, ME-11, NDL.

[viii] Senate Subcommittee on Naval Affairs, Naval Investigation Hearings, vol. I, 66th Cong., 2d sess., 1921: 533.

[ix] Radiogram from the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations to Commandants of 1st–9th, 12th, 13th, and 14th Naval Districts, 2 July 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[x] Cablegram from Washington to W. S. Sims, 2 July 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[xi] Letter from Newton D. Baker to Josephus Daniels, 3 July 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL; Gleaves, Transport Service, 47; Memorandum from Albert Gleaves to Henry T. Mayo, on report of convoy of first U.S. Expeditionary Force to France, 24 July 1917; letter from William L. Sibert to Albert Gleaves, 2 July 1917, Reel 18, ME-11, NDL.

[xii] Besch, “Navy Second to None,” 136.

[xiii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 10.

[43]

3 July District Training Camp at San Pedro, California, officially opens.[i]

3 July President Woodrow Wilson issues Executive Order 2653, authorizing the U.S. Shipping Board to take possession and title of the seized German auxiliary cruiser Prinz Eitel Friedrich at Hoboken, New Jersey, and press her into American service.[ii]

3 July Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels forwards to Secretary of State Robert Lansing a comprehensive statement of American naval policy as it relates to the Allies. Daniels lists six basic principles:

  • hearty cooperation with the Allies against the submarine situation,
  • hearty cooperation with the Allies to meet any future situation arising during the war,
  • realization that although successful termination of the war must always be the first Allied aim, the future U.S. position must in no way be jeopardized by any disintegration of the nation’s main fighting fleets,
  • recognition that the main wartime mission of the Navy is to safeguard lines of communication to the Entente powers,
  • departmental endorsement of offensive policy within the limits imposed by a general commitment to support joint actions proposed by the Allies,
  • a willingness to take certain specific actions, including (a) dispatch of all antisubmarine craft not needed at home; (b) readiness to send the entire fleet if necessary; and (c) receptivity to discussions of joint plans of operations with the Allies.[iii]

3 July Three pilots under command of Lieutenant J. L. Callan open the Moutchic French-American flight training school.[iv]

4 July The armed yachts Noma (SP-131), Sultana (SP-134), Vedette (SP-163), Harvard (SP-209), Christabel (SP-162), and Kanawha II (SP-130), along with Rear Admiral William B. Fletcher arrive in Brest, France. Fletcher assumes the position of Commander, U.S. Naval Forces in France.[v]

4 July Armed yacht Sultana (SP-134) rescues 45 survivors of the steamer Orleans, torpedoed 3 July, and lands them at Brest, France.[vi]

4 July The destroyer Davis (DD-65) rescues sailors from the British steamer Thirlby sunk two days earlier. After disembarking the survivors, she locates more Allied sailors adrift from the British steamer Matador.[vii]

4 July The destroyers Wilkes (DD-67), Shaw (DD-68), Fanning (DD-37), Burrows (DD-29), Ammen (DD-35), and Parker (DD-48) sail from St. Nazaire, France, with Wilkes bound for Portsmouth, England, and the remainder destined for Queenstown, Ireland. All arrive safely at their destinations the following day.[viii]

4 July The first regular four-day convoy leaves Hampton Roads, Virginia, bound for England.[ix]

4 July The collier Orion (AC-11) drives off a German submarine which later shells Ponta Delgada in the Azores.[x]

________________

[i] Besch, “Navy Second to None,” 212.

[ii] Executive Order 2653, 3 July 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[iii] U.S. Department of State, Foreign Relations of the United States, (FRUS) 1917, Supplement 2, The World War (Washington, DC: GPO, 1932, 116–17.

[iv] Besch, “Navy Second to None,” 291.

[v] Henry B. Wilson, An Account of the Operations of the American Navy in France during the War With Germany (n.p.: USS Pennsylvania, 1919), 22, 24; Still, Crisis at Sea, 52; Husband, Coast of France, 8; telegram from William B. Fletcher to W. S. Sims, 4 July 1917, Reel 18, ME-11, NDL.

[vi] DANFS, entry for Sultana (S.P. 134), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/s/sultana.html.

[vii] DANFS, entry for Davis II (Destroyer No. 65), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/d/davis-ii.html.

[viii] Letter from F. M. Perkins to Captain Gilly, Commandant de la Marine, St. Nazaire, 4 July 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to Josephus Daniels, 5 July 1917, Reel 18, ME-11, NDL.

[ix] Still, Crisis at Sea, 348.

[x] Daniels, Our Navy at War, 275–76; cablegram from Ponta Delgada to OPNAV, 5 July 1917; letter from Antonio Rodriguez Salvado, Civil Governor of Ponta Delgada, to Consul of the United States, 5 July 1917; memorandum from William V. Pratt to Commanding Officer, USS Orion, on enemy attack, submarine, at Ponta Delgada, 8 August 1917; memorandum from J. H. Boesch, Commanding Officer, USS Orion, to OPNAV, on enemy attack, submarine, at Pont a Delgada, 4 July 1917, Reel 18, ME-11, NDL.

[44]

4 July Construction commences on the new Naval Operating Base, Hampton Roads, Virginia, on land comprising the old Jamestown Exposition site and the Pine Beach Hotel property.[i]

5 July The Navy Department orders destroyers Reid (DD-21), Flusser (DD-20), Lamson (DD-18), Preston (DD-19), and Smith (DD-17) to proceed to their home navy yards immediately to fit out for foreign service.[ii]

5 July The Office of the Chief of Naval Operations informs Vice Admiral W. S. Sims that a large group of vessels are on their way to European waters, including eight patrol boats on 5 July, ten more converted yachts to sail on 15 July, five Preston (DD-19)–class destroyers bound for the Azores, seven Denver-class protected cruisers, 12 trawlers and one yacht to sail around 10 August, with a further ten cruisers able to send overseas if needed.[iii]

5 July The store ship Pastores (ID-4540/AF-16), troopship Tenadores, and transports Henry R. Mallory (ID-1280), DeKalb (ID-3010), and Henderson (AP-1), sail from St. Nazaire, France, for New York.[iv]

5 July The Bureau of Yards and Docks breaks ground for construction at City Park, Brooklyn, New York, of a naval clearing station for 3,000 Naval Armed Guards. The first men moved into the camp on 10 August.[v]

5 July The steamship Navajo encounters an enemy submarine 110 miles off Portsmouth, England, while sailing to Havre, France. Observing the submarine shelling a British sailing vessel, the Navajo attempts to escape but becomes engaged in a running gun duel with the submarine. Careful maneuvering avoids serious damage to the ship, which receives only one hit while in turn managing to hit the submarine just forward of the deck gun. The submarine is seen sinking with the stern high out of the water and its propellers still turning.[vi]

5 July The Navy Department decides to establish a naval base at Gibraltar.[vii]

5 July Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels issues General Order No. 307, whereby all officers and enlisted men of the Navy and Marine Corps, and all other persons operating under the Navy Department, who should happen to be captured by German forces, are directed to communicate with the American Prisoners Central Committee in Berne, Switzerland.[viii]

6 July First Sea Lord Admiral Sir John Jellicoe with Vice Admiral W. S. Sims’ concurrence, requests the British naval attaché in Washington, Commodore Guy R. A. Gaunt, to ask the Navy Department if the gunboats Sacramento (PG-19), Nashville (PG-7), Marietta (PG-15), Machias (PG-5), Castine (PG-6), Wheeling (PG-14), Paducah (PG-18), and the armed yacht Yankton be sent to Gibraltar for convoy escort duty. Jellicoe also asks if the Navy Department could send over the minelayers Baltimore (CM-1) and San Francisco (CM-2) to help with British minelaying work. While Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson thought the matter a “waste of ships,” Admiral Henry T. Mayo supported sending the scout cruisers Birmingham (CS-2), Chester (CS-1), and Salem (CS-3), armed yacht Yankton, gunboats Nashville, Sacramento, Marietta, Machias, Castine, Wheeling, and Paducah overseas. Benson, however, could not spare San Francisco and Baltimore.[ix]

________________

[i] Navy Department, Yards and Docks, 132, 136.

[ii] Radiogram from Navy Department to USS Reid, USS Flusser, USS Preston, USS Lamson, and USS Smith, 5 July 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[iii] Cablegram from OPNAV to W. S. Sims, 5 July 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[iv] Memorandum from Albert Gleaves to Henry T. Mayo, on report of convoy of first U.S. Expeditionary Force to France, 24 July 1917, Reel 18, ME-11, NDL.

[v] Navy Department, Yards and Docks, 58; Besch, “Navy Second to None,” 241.

[vi] Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 50.

[vii] Daniels, Our Navy at War, 116.

[viii] Josephus Daniels, General Order No. 307, “Communication in Case of Capture by German Forces,” 5 July 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[ix] Cablegram from John R. Jellicoe to Guy R.A. Gaunt, 6 July 1917; cablegram from John R. Jellicoe to Guy R.A. Gaunt, 6 July 1917; cablegram from Guy R. A. Gaunt to John R. Jellicoe, 6 July 1917; cablegram from Guy R.A. Gaunt to John R. Jellicoe, 6 July 1917; radiogram from OPNAV to Commander, Patrol Force Atlantic and Commander-in-Chief Atlantic Fleet, 6 July 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[45]

6 July Vice Admiral W. S. Sims writes Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson a long letter of recommendations for escort procedures to protect future troop convoys in trans-Atlantic passage. Sims bases his recommendations on the lessons learned from the first convoy of American Expeditionary Force elements to France. On 22 July, the Navy Department cables Sims its acceptance of his recommendations to govern future convoy operations.[i]

7 July The motor boat Saxis (SP-615) is stranded at West Point, Virginia.[ii]

7 July The cargo ship Massapequa is sunk by gunfire from an enemy submarine in the Bay of Biscay, 200 miles west of Belle Isle, France.[iii]

7 July The Navy Department cables Vice Admiral W. S. Sims that Captain Nathan C. Twining has been appointed as his chief of staff with orders to report to Sims in London. This came in response to requests from Sims of 3 and 4 July for Twining’s services.[iv]

7 July The schooner Mary W. Bowen is scuttled and sunk by an enemy submarine in the Bay of Biscay.[v]

7 July The destroyer Porter (DD-59) recovers the captain and 12 survivors of the Norwegian steamer Snetoppen, sunk three days earlier. The same day, the destroyer O’Brien (DD-51) rescues the captain and 11 survivors of the Norwegian steamer Victoria II, sunk by a U-boat on 6 July. Destroyers Cushing (DD-55) and Perkins (DD-26) report to the scene of an SOS from the British steamer Tarquah torpedoed off Ireland. Both destroyers recover 5 lifeboats with 155 survivors from the doomed steamer.[vi]

7 July Vice Admiral W. S. Sims cables the Bureau of Steam Engineering in Washington, D.C., that the destroyer Wilkes (DD-67) exercised with a submerged British submarine to test special equipment to listen for and locate the submarine. The tests brought poor results and Sims advises against further installation of present equipment, “but strongly recommend continued and energetic experiment and development” of such equipment at New London, Connecticut.[vii]

7 July Vice Admiral W. S. Sims cables Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels noting the efforts of the Grand Fleet’s destroyers and submarines to intercept enemy submarines north of Scotland. Sims recommends “that all coal-burning Dreadnoughts be kept in readiness for distant service in case future developments should render their juncture with Grand Fleet advisable.” The admiral also recommends the scout cruisers Birmingham (CS-2), Chester (CS-1), and Salem (CS-3) join the Grand Fleet Light Cruiser Squadron and that the coal burning Preston (DD-19)-class destroyers be based at Queenstown, Ireland, rather than at the Azores.[viii]

8 July Destroyers Porter (DD-59), Ericsson (DD-56), O’Brien (DD-51), Nicholson (DD-52), and Cassin (DD-43) arrive at St. Nazaire, France, and report for escort duty.[ix]

_______________

[i] Senate Subcommittee on Naval Affairs, Naval Investigation Hearings, vol. I, 66th Cong., 2d sess., 1921: 157–60; memorandum from W. S. Sims to William S. Benson, “Procedure Concerning Protection of Army Convoys in Transatlantic passage,” 6 July 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[ii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 2.

[iii] Ibid., 10.

[iv] Senate Subcommittee on Naval Affairs, Naval Investigation Hearings, vol. I, 66th Cong., 2d sess., 1921: 213–14.

[v] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 10.

[vi] DANFS, entry for Porter II (Destroyer No. 59), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/p/porter-ii.html; war diary extract for USS Porter, 7 July 1917; war diary extract for USS O’Brien, 7 July 1917, Reel 18, ME-11, NDL.

[vii] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to Bureau of Steam Engineering, Washington, DC, 7 July 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[viii] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to Josephus Daniels, 7 July 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[ix] Memorandum from Albert Gleaves to Henry T. Mayo, on report of convoy of first U.S. Expeditionary Force to France, 24 July 1917, Reel 18, ME-11, NDL.

[46]

8 July The destroyers Perkins (DD-26) and Jacob Jones (DD-61) respond to an SOS from the British steamer Valletta. Perkins searches for the assailant while Jacob Jones rescues 44 crewmembers. The steamer, however, sinks.[i]

8 July The destroyer Cushing (DD-55), responding to an SOS call from the British steamer Onitsha, is directed to the site of the British steamer Obuashi, torpedoed previously in the day. Cushing rescues 54 survivors and takes them to Queenstown, Ireland.[ii]

8 July The German commerce raider SMS Seeadler captures the schooner Manila in the Pacific Ocean and destroys it.[iii]

9 July The German commerce raider SMS Wolf captures the bark Beluga in the Pacific Ocean. Wolf sinks the American ship with gunfire on 11 July.[iv]

9 July Army-chartered troopships Hancock (AP-3), Antilles, and Finland (ID-4543), and the cargo ship San Jacinto (ID-1531), escorted by the protected cruisers St. Louis (C-20), Charleston (CA-19), and the destroyers, which arrived 8 July, sail from St. Nazaire, France, for New York.[v]

9 July A group of 24 potential naval aviators under Ensign Frederick S. Allen as officer-in-charge report at the University of Toronto for the start of flight training under the Canadian Royal Flying Corps. Training was arranged by an agreement with the Army and the Royal Flying Corps that 25 men from the Navy would be included in the contingent of 100 Americans for which the Government of Canada had agreed to provide flight training.[vi]

9 July Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels cables Vice Admiral W. S. Sims the Navy Department’s policy statement in relation to cooperation of its naval forces with those of the Allies. The policy includes:

  • cooperation with the Allies to meet the present submarine situation,
  • cooperation with them to meet any future situation arising during the war,
  • the successful termination of the present war must remain the first Allied war aim,
  • “that the present main military role of the U.S. naval force lies in its safeguarding the line of communications of the Allies,” and
  • that the offensive must always be dominant in any general plans or prepared strategies but that the department “is willing to accept any joint plan of action of the Allies deemed necessary to meet immediate need.”

Pursuant to the general policy outlined, Daniels states the department is willing to send its minor fighting forces to any field of action deemed expedient by joint Allied admiralties, which would not involve a violation of the nation’s present gunboat policy. The Navy Department would not, however, separate any division from the main fleet for service abroad although it is willing to send the entire battleship fleet abroad “to act as a united but co-operating unit when after joint consultations of all Admiralties concerned” and resources can support it.[vii]

10 July An enemy submarine scuttles and sinks the steamship Hildegard ten miles southeast of Start Point, England.[viii]

_______________

[i] DANFS, entry for Perkins I (Destroyer No. 26), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/p/perkins-i.html; DANFS, entry for Jacob Jones I (DD-61), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/j/jacob-jones-i.html.

[ii] Memorandum from D. C. Hanrahan, Commanding Officer, USS Cushing, to W. S. Sims, on report of operations on patrol, 9 July 1917, Reel 18, ME-11, NDL.

[iii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 7.

[iv] Ibid.

[v] Memorandum from Albert Gleaves to Henry T. Mayo, on report of convoy of first U.S. Expeditionary Force to France, 24 July 1917, Reel 18, ME-11, NDL.

[vi] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 32; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 27.

[vii] Cablegram from Josephus Daniels to W. S. Sims, 9 July 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[viii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 10.

[47]

10 July The cargo ship Kansan is torpedoed and sunk without warning by an enemy submarine or mine, approximately three miles east of Kerdonis Point, France, killing four.[i] 

11 July Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels orders the commissioning of 16 ex-German vessels which had been seized by the federal government on 6 April and prepared for service as troop transports as soon as possible. The Bureau of Engineering effects repairs on the ships’ engines which had been sabatoged by the German crews.[ii] 

12 July Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels requests Congress appropriate an additional $100 million for construction of destroyers in a second naval emergency fund.[iii] 

12 July Rear Admiral William B. Fletcher issues Operation Order No. 1 for the U.S. Patrol Squadron Operating in French Waters for the eight armed yachts under his command.[iv] 

12 July President Woodrow Wilson approves a recommendation from Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels and Secretary of War Newton D. Baker to commission the 16 ex-German vessels into troop transports.[v] 

12 July First Sea Lord Admiral Sir John Jellicoe meets with U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain Walter Hines Page as representative of the British government and states that the Admiralty welcomed closer cooperation with the Navy Board. Jellicoe considers it essential that U.S. naval officers work in the Admiralty, notably in the operations, convoy section, anti-submarine division, and material sections of the War Staff.[vi] 

12 July The German submarine U-23 torpedoes and sinks the steamship Grace (ID-1749) in the Mediterranean Sea, 5.5 miles north of Cape Phesso, Andres Island, Greece, killing three and injuring six.[vii] 

13 July The destroyer Fanning (DD-37) rescues 23 survivors of the Greek steamer Charilaos Tricoupis, torpedoed and sunk that same morning.[viii]

13 July The destroyer Warrington (DD-30) sights an enemy submarine about four miles distant while patrolling south of Ireland. The submarine submerges and Warrington drops a depth charge over a large oil slick and later strikes a submerged object, which lifted the stern of the ship. Warrington dropped two additional depth charges. The contact is later classified as “possibly slightly damaging” the submarine.[ix]

13 July The destroyers Porter (DD-59), Nicholson (DD-52), Cassin (DD-43), O’Brien (DD-51), and Ericsson (DD-56) arrive at St. Nazaire, France.[x] 

14 July Captain William B. Fletcher, commander, U.S. Patrol Squadron Operating in European Waters, along with his staff, secures quarters on French soil, and begins first active cooperation with the French Navy against German submarines.[xi] 

14 July The Navy Department directs 11 vessels under command of Rear Admiral Henry B. Wilson to prepare for distant service and sail for Gibraltar at the earliest possible date.[xii]

________________

[i] Ibid.

[ii] Memorandum from Josephus Daniels to Bureaus of Navigation, Construction and Repair, Steam Engineering, Ordnance, Supplies and Accounts, Medicine and Surgery, Yards and Docks, and Commandants of the New York, Boston, and Norfolk Navy Yards, 11 July 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL; Navy Department, Engineering, 80–85; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 91–92.

[iii] William J. Williams, “Josephus Daniels and the U.S. Navy’s Shipbuilding Program during World War I” Journal of Military History 60, no. 1 (January 1996): 25.

[iv] U.S. Patrol Squadron Operating in French Waters, Operation Order No 1, 12 July 1917, Reel 18, ME-11, NDL.

[v] Joint letter from War and Navy Departments to Woodrow Wilson, about transports to be commissioned in the navy, 12 July 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[vi] Telegram from Walter H. Page to Robert Lansing, 13 July 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[vii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 10.

[viii] Memorandum from A.S. Carpender, Commanding Officer, USS Fanning, to W. S. Sims, on survivors—S.S. Charilaos Tricoupis, 15 July 1917, Reel 18, ME-11, NDL.

[ix] Memorandum from Commanding Officer, USS Warrington, to Commander-in-Chief, Coast of Ireland Station, on report of operations, 13 July 1917, 17 July 1917, Reel 18, ME-11, NDL; Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 102.

[x] Cablegram from Ministry of Marine, Paris to W. S. Sims, 14 July 1917, Reel 18, ME-11, NDL.

[xi] Memorandum from William B. Fletcher to W. S. Sims, on report of operations and general survey of situation, 13 July 1917, Reel 18, ME-11, NDL; Husband, Coast of France, 8.

[xii] Daniels, Our Navy at War, 116.

[48]

14 July The armored cruiser Seattle (CA-11), destroyers Porter (DD-59), Nicholson (DD-52), Ericsson (DD-56), Cassin (DD-43), and O’Brien (DD-51), collier Cyclops (AC-4), oiler Kanawha (AO-1), and transports El Occidente (ID-3307), Edward Luckenbach (ID-1662), and Dakotan (ID-3882), Army-chartered troopship Momus, and cargo ship Montanan, sail from St. Nazaire, France, for New York. The destroyers and Kanawha head to Queenstown, Ireland, after escorting the convoy to longitude 17°20"W.[i] 

15 July The German raider SMS Wolf captures, burns, and sinks the schooner Encore in the Pacific Ocean.[ii] 

15 July The schooner Florence Creadick is torpedoed by an enemy submarine in the Bay of Biscay, 20 miles north of Isle de Bas, France. She is later salvaged.[iii] 

16 July Destroyers Shaw (DD-68) and Parker (DD-48), and store ship Celtic (AF-2), arrive at Queenstown, Ireland. Destroyers Smith (DD-17) and Lamson (DD-18) sail from Charleston, South Carolina, for Bermuda.[iv] 

16 July Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels orders Rear Admiral Albert Gleaves to assume duty as Commander, Cruiser Force, Atlantic Fleet.[v] 

17 July France turns over its aviation training school at Moutchie to the U.S. Navy. Lieutenant John L. Callum arrives with three enlisted men to set up facilities for pilot training.[vi] 

18 July The Bureau of Naval Ordnance chief, Rear Admiral Ralph Earle, informs Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson of the development of the new MK VI, Type X naval mine, “which it is confidently believed will facilitate the establishment of submarine barriers.” Earle offers how theoretically, only 72,000 mines would be required for 300 miles of barrier protection and that they have an estimated cost of $320 each.[vii] 

18 July Chief of the Bureau of Navigation, Rear Admiral Leigh C. Palmer issues instructions to the officers in charge of Naval Armed Guards aboard merchant ships that “so long as a ship floats on which men of the Navy are performing duty as Armed Guards that they should remain thereon and take every opportunity that may present itself to destroy the submarines.” This came in response to reports that Armed Guards abandoned vessels after being struck by torpedoes while the ship remained afloat for a considerable time thereafter.[viii] 

18 July A detachment of the Aviation Section of the Signal Reserve Corps numbering one officer and 200 men sails from New York aboard the cargo ship St. Paul (ID-1643).[ix] 

18 July The destroyers Smith (DD-17) and Lamson (DD-18) arrive at Bermuda.[x] 

19 July Vice Admiral W. S. Sims visits the British Grand Fleet at Scapa Flow, Scotland, with First Sea Lord Admiral Sir John Jellicoe, where the request was made by the Admiralty for “the four strongest coal burning battleships with six destroyers [to] be sent [to] join [the] Grand Fleet.”[xi]

______________

[i] Cablegram from Albert Gleaves to OPNAV, 14 July 1917; memorandum from Albert Gleaves to Henry T. Mayo, on report of convoy of first U.S. Expeditionary Force to France, 24 July 1917, Reel 18, ME-11, NDL; Gleaves, Transport Service, 54.

[ii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 7.

[iii] Ibid., 10.

[iv] Cablegram from William B. Fletcher to W. S. Sims, 16 July 1917; memorandum from J. P. Klein Jr., Commanding Officer, USS Smith, to A. M. Proctor, Commanding Officer, USS Panther, on operation of USS Smith and USS Lamson, 16–26 July 1917, 27 July 1917, Reel 18, ME-11, NDL.

[v] Radiogram from Josephus Daniels to USS Seattle, 17 July 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[vi] Still, Crisis at Sea, 121.

[vii] Memorandum from Ralph Earle to William S. Benson, about submarine mine barriers: material for, 18 July 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL; Navy Department, Northern Barrage, 19–20; Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 110, 270.

[viii] Memorandum from Leigh C. Palmer to Commandants of New York, Philadelphia, and Norfolk Navy Yards about Armed Guard on merchant ships to remain on board ships until last possible moment, 18 July 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[ix] Cablegram from Guy A.R. Gaunt to Admiralty, 18 July 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[x] Memorandum from J. P. Klein Jr., Commanding Officer, USS Smith, to A. M. Proctor, Commanding Officer, USS Panther, on operation of USS Smith and USS Lamson, 16–26 July 1917, 27 July 1917, Reel 18, ME-11, NDL.

[xi] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to Josephus Daniels, 21 July 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL; Jones, Battleship Operations, 9–10.

[49]

19 July Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson wires Vice Admiral W. S. Sims requesting his opinion on a request by Captain Walter S. Crosley, U.S. Naval Attaché in Petrograd, Russia, for the Navy Department to send patrol vessels to Archangel “as many and as fast as possible.”[i] 

20 July Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels orders 21 more destroyers to be constructed based on existing designs.[ii] 

20 July Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson assigns Squadron Two, Cruiser Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet, composed of protected cruiser Tacoma (C-18), and light cruisers Chattanooga (CL-16) and Denver (CL-14), to convoy duty from New York.[iii] 

20 July The armed yacht Noma (SP-131) sights and attacks a U-boat running on surface while patrolling off Cape Finisterre, Spain.[iv] 

20 July Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt wires Vice Admiral W. S. Sims, asking for the admiral’s opinion “on the advisability of building a few hundred additional submarine chasers to be finished by next spring, and sent to European waters.”[v] 

20 July The oiler Kanawha (AO-1) arrives at Queenstown, Ireland, with a cargo of fuel oil.[vi] 

20 July The destroyer Jacob Jones (DD-61) escorts British steamship Dafilia when the steamer takes a torpedo hit on its starboard side. Jacob Jones hunts the attacker and barely escapes a torpedo that passes 25 yards under her stern. After Jacob Jones slows to rescue 25 survivors of the sinking steamship, it again sights the submarine and reports another near torpedo miss astern. Jacob Jones continues to search the area until a nearby American merchantman cleared the area.[vii] 

21 July Vice Admiral W. S. Sims met with First Sea Lord Admiral Sir John Jellicoe and Admiral Sir David Beatty and both British officers recommend that four American coal-burning battleships be dispatched at once to join the Grand Fleet at Scapa Flow, Scotland.[viii] 

21 July Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels signs an order to construct 266 new destroyers and concurrently cease production of new battleships.[ix] 

21 July Schooner John Twohy is scuttled and sunk by German submarine U-155 off the Azores, 120 miles south of Ponta Delgada.[x] 

21 July Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson cables Vice Admiral W. S. Sims requesting recommendations in regard to desired modifications, general design changes, and reduced characteristics in order to expedite construction of additional destroyers.[xi] 

21 July The American schooner Augustus Welt is shelled, burned, and sunk by an enemy submarine in the Bay of Biscay.[xii]

________________

[i] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 19 July 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[ii] William J. Williams, “Josephus Daniels and the U.S. Navy’s Shipbuilding Program During World War I” Journal of Military History 60, no. 1 (January 1996): 27.

[iii] Radiogram from OPNAV to USS Tacoma, USS Chattanooga, USS Denver, Commander, Squadron Two Cruiser Force, Commander-in-Chief, Atlantic Fleet, 20 July 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[iv] Feuer, Navy in World War I, 25–26.

[v] Cablegram from Franklin D. Roosevelt via Josephus Daniels to W. S. Sims, 20 July 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[vi] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to Josephus Daniels, 20 July 1917, Reel 18, ME-11, NDL.

[vii] Extract from war diary for USS Jacob Jones, 29 July–5 August 1917, Reel 18, ME-11, NDL; DANFS, entry for Jacob Jones I (DD-61), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/j/jacob-jones-i.html.

[viii] Senate Subcommittee on Naval Affairs, Naval Investigation Hearings, vol. I, 66th Cong., 2d sess., 1921: 2.

[ix] Still, Crisis at Sea, 384.

[x] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 10.

[xi] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 21 July 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[xii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 10.

[50]

22 July Gunboat Sacramento (PG-19) sails for European waters.[i] 

22 July Protected cruiser St. Louis (C-20) sails from Boston, Massachusetts for European waters carrying approximately 400 personnel of all ranks.[ii] 

22 July The convoy system is inaugurated in Mediterranean Sea by order of the British Admiralty.[iii] 

23 July A naval aviation ground school for prospective pilots and aviation ground officers opens at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a class of 43 students comprising the Naval Air Detachment under command of Lieutenant Edward H. McKitterick.[iv] 

23 July Aboard the armored cruiser Pittsburgh (CA-4), several saluting cartridges accidentally explode, killing two men and wounding several others. The explosion knocks Lieutenant Willis W. Bradley unconscious and Seaman Ora Graves hard to the deck. Regaining their bearings, Bradley crawls into the after casemate and extinguishes multiple fires in dangerous proximity to gunpowder, preventing even greater explosions, Graves, bleeding and stunned, crawls toward burning waste near the casemate and extinguishes it with his hands. For their heroism, Bradley and Graves each receive the Medal of Honor.[v] 

24–27 July Vice Admiral W. S. Sims attends naval and military conferences in Paris, which include discussion of naval forces in the Mediterranean, notably the strengthening of an Otranto Material Barrage. In his report to Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson, Sims suggests that American destroyers or other warships could be sent to the Azores to prevent the islands from being used by the enemy as a staging area for U-boat operations, issues of mine barrages, and noted how “it was also made very apparent that closer coordination of effort should be immediately established between the United States and the Allies. All military future plans are certainly largely dependent upon America’s action.”[vi] 

25 July The German Hamburg-American passenger liner Vaterland is commissioned in the U.S. Navy as the troopship Leviathan (ID-1326) in New York harbor. During the war, Leviathan operates as a troop transport, carrying 110,591 American troops to France and England, 1/20th of the entire American Expeditionary Force.[vii] 

25 July The destroyers Ammen (DD-35), Jarvis (DD-38), Paulding (DD-22), Perkins (DD-26) and Wilkes (DD-67) spot and rescue survivors from the British cargo ship Huelva sunk two days earlier.[viii] 

25 July The destroyers Jarvis (DD-38) and Wilkes (DD-67) rescue 45 survivors of the British steamer Purley, sunk by a German submarine earlier in the day.[ix] 

25 July The destroyers Smith (DD-17) and Lamson (DD-18) arrive at Ponta Delgada, Azores. The following day, Smith rescues 100 castaways at Santa Maria Islands, survivors of five ships sunk by enemy submarines, and delivers them to Ponta Delgada. Smith’s commanding officer meets with the commanding officer of the collier Orion (AC-11) to deliver coded instructions for Orion to sail for Hampton Roads, Virginia, accompanied by the destroyers. He also meets with the American Consul at Ponta Delgada to register the cable address “Senafloat, Ponta Delgada.”[x]  

_____________

[i] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 28 July 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[ii] Cablegram from Washington to W. S. Sims, 25 July 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[iii] Daniels, Our Navy at War, 116.

[iv] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 32; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 28; Besch, “Navy Second to None,” 271.

[v] “Bradley, Willis W., Lieutenant, USN (Retired) (1884–1954), NHHC, http://www.history.navy.mil/our-collections/photography/us-people/b/bradley-willis-w.html; William A. DuPuy and John W. Jenkins, The World War and Historic Deeds of Valor from Official Records and Illustrations of the United States and Allied Governments, vol. VI (Chicago: National Historic Pub. Association, 1919), 486–87; Navy Department, Record of Medals of Honor Issued to the Officers and Enlisted Men of the United States Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard (Washington, DC: GPO, 1924), 43.

[vi] Letter from W. S. Sims to William S. Benson, 30 July 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL.

[vii] History of the U.S.S. Leviathan: Cruiser and Transport Forces United States Atlantic Fleet (Brooklyn: Eagle Press, 1919), 7, 45–46. Daniels claimed 119,215 persons in total, including crew. See Daniels, Our Navy at War, 97.

[viii] DANFS, entry for Ammen I (Destroyer No. 35), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/a/ammen-i.html.

[ix] Extract from war diary of USS Jarvis, 25 July 1917; extract from war diary of USS Wilkes, 25 July 1917, Reel 18, ME-11, NDL.

[x] Memorandum from J. P. Klein Jr., Commanding Officer, USS Smith, to A. M. Proctor, Commanding Officer, USS Panther, on operation of USS Smith and USS Lamson, 16–26 July 1917, 27 July 1917, Reel 18, ME-11, NDL.

[51]

26 July The oiler Kanawha (AO-1) sails from Queenstown, Ireland, for Norfolk, Virginia.[i] 

27 July Construction of Naval Aircraft Factory at Philadelphia Navy Yard is authorized for purposes of building aircraft, undertaking aeronautical developments, and providing aircraft construction cost data.[ii] 

27 July The steamer Carmelia is captured and sunk by an enemy submarine in the English Channel, 25 miles southwest of Lizard, England.[iii] 

27 July The German submarine U-44 captures and sinks the schooner John Hays Hammond with gunfire, 350 miles northwest of Ireland.[iv] 

27 July An Act of Congress authorizes the president to take possession of North Island, San Diego, California, for use by the Army and Navy in establishing permanent aviation stations and aviation schools.[v] 

27 July The destroyer McDougal (DD-54) rescues 24 survivors from the British steamer Begona #4, torpedoed and sunk that morning.[vi] 

27 July Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels cables Vice Admiral W. S. Sims about the Navy Department’s policy regarding troop transports, writing: “The paramount duty of the destroyers in European waters is principally the proper protection of transports with American troops. Be certain to detail an adequate convoy of destroyers and in making the detail bear in mind that everything is secondary to having a sufficient number to insure protection to American troops.”[vii] 

28 July The armed yacht Alcedo (SP-166), donated by George Drexel, is commissioned as a submarine chaser under command of Lieutenant Commander William T. Conn Jr.[viii] 

28 July Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson informs Vice Admiral W. S. Sims that six U.S. Coast Guard vessels will be augmenting the Gibraltar-based patrol force.[ix] 

28 July Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson authorizes Vice Admiral W. S. Sims to accept the British government’s offer to furnish coal to U.S. Navy patrol forces based at French ports.[x] 

28 July The destroyer Fanning (DD-37), while on patrol in the Irish Sea, sights several small boats in the morning hours and picks up a total of 57 survivors from the British steamer Belle of England, torpedoed on the afternoon of 27 July.[xi] 

28 July In a cablegram to Vice Admiral W. S. Sims, Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels clarifies Navy Department policy regarding escorts for troopships, writing “The paramount duty of the destroyers in European waters is principally the proper protection of transports with American troops.”[xii]

_______________

[i] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 25 July 1917, Reel 18, ME-11, NDL.

[ii] Cooney, Chronology of the U.S. Navy, 226; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 28; Navy Department, Annual Report 1918, 64; Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 32.

[iii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 10.

[iv] Ibid.

[v] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 32; Cooney, Chronology of the U.S. Navy, 226; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 28.

[vi] Extract from war diary for USS McDougal, 27 July 1917, Reel 18, ME-11, NDL.

[vii] Cablegram Josephus Daniels to W. S. Sims, 27 July 1917, Reel 1, ME-11, NDL; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 76; Daniels, Years of War and After, 95.

[viii] Feuer, Navy in World War I, 28; DANFS, entry for Alcedo, https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/a/alcedo.html.

[ix] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 28 July 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[x] Ibid.

[xi] Extract from war diary of USS Fanning, 28 July 1917, Reel 18, ME-11, NDL.

[xii] Daniels, Our Navy at War, 76.

[52]

28 July Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels requests Secretary of State Robert Lansing to relay a message to U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain Walter Hines Page that the Navy Department desires a conference between the commanders in chief of the Allied governments to “secure the fullest cooperation of the American and Allied fleets and to discuss the best plans of operation to insure victory.” The Navy intends to send Admiral Henry T. Mayo and Vice Admiral W. S. Sims as its representatives at such a conference.[i] 

28 July President Woodrow Wilson issues Executive Order 2673-A, authorizing the discharge of specific persons at local Selective Service boards if they are employed by the federal government in the transmission of mails and artificers, or workmen employed in the federal armories, arsenals, and navy yards, or employed in the service of the federal government designated as exempted by the president.[ii] 

30 July The Bureau of Ordnance chief writes the Chief of Naval Operations with details about the MK VI mine and proposes a formal plan for a joint American-British northern mine barrage in the North Sea.[iii] 

30 July Work commences on extensions to Bancroft Hall at the U.S. Naval Academy. The extensions, once completed, provide 574 additional rooms for midshipmen, 52 new rooms for classes, offices, and additional purposes as well as enlarged spaces for the laundry and tailor shop.[iv] 

30 July The destroyer Benham (DD-49), while in the approaches to the English Channel, sighted a periscope wake, opens fire with its bow gun, and drops several depth charges. Crewmembers below decks also claim that the destroyer struck a submerged object. Bubbles and a large oil slick over the area result in Benham’s contact being classified as “probably seriously damaged.”[v] 

30 July The destroyer Winslow (DD-53) picks up 27 survivors of the British steamer Whitehall, torpedoed on the night of 28 July.[vi] 

31 July Vice Admiral W. S. Sims wires Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels to report the Admiralty cordially welcomes the suggestion of a naval conference in London with Admiral Henry T. Mayo as the U.S. representative.[vii] 

31 July A contingent of 410 men arrive at the William Hood Dunwoody Industrial Institute of

Minneapolis, Minnesota, from the Great Lakes Naval Training Station for technical training in a variety of specialties. These are the first of 3,836 sailors to train at Dunwoody.[viii] 

31 July The tanker Motano is torpedoed and sunk by an enemy submarine, about 20 miles southeast of Start Point, England, killing 24.[ix]

_______________

[i] Letter from Josephus Daniels to Robert Lansing, 28 July 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[ii] Executive Order 2673-A, 28 July 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[iii] Navy Department, Northern Barrage, 20–23; Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 110, 270.

[iv] Navy Department, Annual Report 1919, 86.

[v] Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 102–103; war diary extract for USS Wilkes, 30 July 1917; letter from O. A. R. Murray to W. S. Sims, 21 August 1917; memorandum from D. Lyons, Commanding Officer, USS Benham, to W. S. Sims, on submarine engagement, 29 August 1917, Reel 18, ME-11, NDL.

[vi] Memorandum from Commanding Officer, USS Winslow, to W. S. Sims, on report of picking up survivors from SS Whitehall, 31 July 1917, Reel 18, ME-11, NDL.

[vii] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to Josephus Daniels, 31 July 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[viii] Besch, “Navy Second to None,” 316.

[ix] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 10.

[53]

1 August Vice Admiral W. S. Sims issues Campaign Order No. 1 from Headquarters, U.S. Naval Forces Operating in European Waters—destroyer flotillas based at Queenstown, Ireland; patrol squadrons operating on the French coast at Brest and Bordeaux; and the patrol squadron based on Gibraltar—which emphasizes local command and control and keeping the force commander informed of military operations performed or contemplated and of supply and financial needs.[i] 

1 August President Woodrow Wilson issues Executive Order 2676-A, enabling the United States to take possession of the whole of North Island, San Diego, California, for use by the Army and Navy for aviation school purposes.[ii] 

1 August The Bureau of Yards and Docks commences construction of Naval Training Camp Pelham Bay, New York, intended to house 5,000 men.[iii] 

1 August In a cablegram to Vice Admiral W. S. Sims, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson notes that the Navy Department does not wish to limit Sims’s initiative in any way regarding all matters directly connected with naval policy, but reminds the vice admiral that “questions which involve national policy should not be initiated by you.”[iv] 

1 August The destroyer Conyngham (DD-58) searches for survivors of the sunken British steamer Karina. She locates and recovers 39 survivors and three bodies.[v] 

1 August The French transport Rochambeau sails from New York for Bordeaux, France, with a detachment of 60 Army clerks and six draftsmen for duty with engineer regiments in France, together with several Army Medical Corps personnel.[vi] 

2 August Vice Admiral W. S. Sims reports to the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations that there is ample room for three battleships of any size in Berehaven, Ireland.[vii] 

2 August Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels requests that every officer in the Navy submit their views and plans to the Chief of Naval Operations “in order that nothing may be left undone by the American Navy to win the war.” Those officers submitting plans “that give promise of helping to secure victory” will be ordered to Washington for consultation.[viii] 

3 August While on patrol, the destroyer Parker (DD-48) acquires a report of a submarine 30 miles away. Reaching the scene, she finds the cargo ship Newby Hall had been attacked and escorts the merchantman to port. Returning to locate the submarine, Parker sights her and drops two depth charges over an oil slick left after she submerged. This brings up more oil, bubbles, and bits of debris. The Admiralty later credits Parker’s contact as “probably seriously damaged” by the destroyer.[ix] 

3 August Troop transports Tenadores, transport Henry R. Mallory (ID-1280), and store ship Pastores (ID-4540/AF-16) sail for St. Nazaire, France, carrying 139 officers and 3,668 troops of the Fifth Field Artillery less Batteries E and F, Sixth Field Artillery, Seventh Field Artillery less Battery F, and Second Field Battalion Signal Corps.[x]

______________

[i] Campaign Order No. 1, U.S. Naval Forces operating in European Waters, 1 August 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[ii] Executive Order 2676-A, 1 August 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[iii] Navy Department, Yards and Docks, 55.

[iv] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 1 August 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[v] War extract from USS Tucker, 1 August 1917, Reel 18, ME-11, NDL; DANFS, entry for Conyngham I (Destroyer No. 58), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/c/conyngham-i.html.

[vi] Cablegram from William S. Benson to John J. Pershing, 4 August 1917, Reel 18, ME-11, NDL.

[vii] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 2 August 1918, Reel 5, ME-11, NDL.

[viii] Radiogram from Josephus Daniels to ALNAV, 2 August 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[ix] Memorandum from Halsey Powell, Commanding Officer, USS Parker, to W. S. Sims, on report of action with enemy submarine, 5 August 1917; letter from W. S. Sims to Halsey Powell, 13 December 1917, Reel 18, ME-11, NDL; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 60–61.

[x] Cablegram from William S. Benson to John J. Pershing via W. S. Sims, 3 August 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[54]

3 August President Woodrow Wilson issues Executive Order 2677, transferring the ex-German cargo ships Andromeda and Staatssekretar Solf from the U.S. Shipping Board to the Navy Department.[i] 

3 August Rear Admiral Albert Gleaves is designated as Commander of the Transport Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet.[ii] 

4 August In response to apparent submarine attacks on the passenger liners-turned-troop transports St. Louis and Philadelphia, Vice Admiral W. S. Sims cables Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels and requests to be informed of the sailings and to direct the troop transports to travel in British liner convoys to ensure safe passage.[iii] 

4 August Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson issues a memorandum clarifying the general policy of convoying troop transports to Vice Admiral W. S. Sims and the commander of the Cruiser Force, notably in regard to the responsibility to provide naval escorts at the points of embarkation and debarkation.[iv] 

5 August The armed yacht Alcedo (SP-166) departs Newport, Rhode Island, via Newfoundland and the Azores for Brest, France.[v] 

5 August Vice Admiral W. S. Sims writes to Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson regarding U.S. shipping in European water to clarify the plans and instructions currently in use to govern the handling of American troop transports, shipping of supplies to the American Expeditionary Force, and mercantile shipping.[vi] 

6 August The armed steamer Campana encounters German submarine U-61 in the Mediterranean Sea and engages in a running gun duel for several hours before finally running out of ammunition and being forced to abandon ship. The Germans capture the ship, remove valuables and instrumentation, and then sink her with scuttling charges. Before departing, the Germans take the Campana’s captain, Alfred Oliver, and five members of the Naval Armed Guard—Chief Gunners Mate James Delaney, Boatswain’s Mate 2nd Class R. Roop, Gunner’s Mate 3rd Class C. Q. Kline, Seaman 2nd Class W. A. Mill, and Seaman 2nd Class F. S. Jacob—as prisoners. These are the first Americans taken prisoner in World War I.[vii] 

7 August Submarine O-6 (SS-67) is mistakenly attacked by both a British merchant ship and the destroyer Paul Jones (DD-10). While under fire, O-6 commander Lieutenant A. S. Glann signals the submarine’s identity to the attacking vessels. Glann later receives the Navy Cross for his heroism.[viii] 

7 August Vice Admiral W. S. Sims wires the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations to report that facilities at Brest, France, are “overtaxed and unable to meet U.S. requirements for repairs to patrol vessels based there.” Sims recommends building a small facility at Pauillac on a site selected by the French as a storage depot and to base a repair vessel there.[ix] 

7 August The German submarine U-155 scuttles and sinks the bark Christiane, about 200 miles east of St. Michaels, Azores.[x]

______________

[i] Executive Order 2677, 3 August 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[ii] Beers, “Office of Naval Operations, Part II,” 35.

[iii] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to Josephus Daniels, 2 August 1917, RG45, NARA, Reel 2A.

[iv] Memorandum from William S. Benson to Commanding Officer, U.S. Naval Forces in European Waters and Commander of Cruiser Force, 4 August 1917, RG45, NARA, Reel 2A.

[v] DANFS, entry for Alcedo, https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/a/alcedo.html.

[vi] W. S. Sims to William S. Benson on “U.S. Shipping in European Waters,” 5 August 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[vii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 10; Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 49–50; cablegram from William R. Sayles to W. S. Sims, 8 August 1917; cablegram from William R. Sayles to W. S. Sims, 10 August 1917; letter from Andrew L. Mellgard to D. T. Warden, 9 August 1917; Office of Naval Intelligence, report of commanding officer of armed guard on board the S.S. Campana, 29 August 1917, Reel 18, ME-11, NDL; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 178.

[viii] Feuer, Navy in World War I, 42; Stringer, Distinguished Service, 73–74.

[ix] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 7 August 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[x] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 10.

[55]

7 August Through an oral agreement between Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels and Rear Admiral Washington L. Camps, General Manager of the Emergency Fleet Corporation, the parties state “that in the present emergency merchant vessels suitable for the purpose of the Emergency Fleet Corporation and now under construction at private shipbuilding yards will be given precedence over battle cruisers and scout cruisers, and also of battle ships where battle ships are not actually laid down on the building slips.” The parties also agree that “It is fully understood of course that the destroyer program takes precedence over everything.”[i] 

7 August Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels approves plans to establish one training station and three coastal patrol air stations in France.[ii] 

8 August The armed yacht Noma (SP-131) attacks German submarine UC-71, which had shelled and torpedoed the British Q-ship HMS Dunraven. Noma’s depth charge attack forces the submarine to withdraw, saving the damaged Dunraven until British destroyers arrive to take the wounded and tow the Q-ship to port.[iii] 

8 August Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson writes Vice Admiral W. S. Sims to report that U.S. Army authorities have been requested to insist to owners that American liners carrying more than 100 troops be required to join British liner convoys sailing out of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Benson, in a second cable, reports to Sims that every effort will also be made to place the bulk of supply ships into convoys departing from Hampton Roads, Virginia.[iv] 

8 August The scout cruiser Birmingham (CS-2) with Rear Admiral Henry B. Wilson aboard, together with a patrol force of four other ships, sails for Gibraltar.[v] 

9 August The Bureau of Ordnance places a contract for 10,000 mine-firing mechanisms (K-1 devices) destined for use in the MK VI mines of the North Sea Mine Barrage.[vi] 

9 August USCGC Seneca departs New York for the Azores.[vii] 

9 August Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson issues instructions to the commandants of all domestic navy yards and the Bureaus of Navigation, Construction and Repair, Ordnance, and Steam Engineering regarding the installation of guns on merchant vessels slated to receive Naval Armed Guards.[viii] 

10 August Ground is broken for the Naval Aircraft Factory at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania.[ix] 

11 August The Office of the Chief of Naval Operations cables Vice Admiral W. S. Sims, informing him that the C-Tube listening device is being shipped to the Admiralty for submarine detection work and that 12 trawlers and 12 submarine chasers destined for France are equipped with the devices.[x] 

11 August President Woodrow Wilson delivers an address aboard the battleship Pennsylvania (BB-38) at Yorktown, Virginia, to Admiral Henry T. Mayo and officers of the Atlantic Fleet, where the president notes how “We are hunting hornets all over the farm and letting the nest alone. None of us knows how to go to the nest and crush it, yet I despair of hunting for hornets all over the sea when I know where the nest is and know that the nest is breeding hornets as fast as I can find them. I am willing for my part, and I know you are willing because I know the stuff you are made of, I am willing to sacrifice half the navy Great Britain and we together have to crush that nest, because if we crush it, the war is won.”[xi]

____________

[i] Letter from Josephus Daniels to General Manager of the Emergency Fleet Corporation, 7 August 1917; letter from Washington L. Camps to Josephus Daniels, 7 August 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[ii] Cablegram from Josephus Daniels to W. S. Sims, 7 August 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL; Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 33; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 28.

[iii] Still, Crisis at Sea, 400; Husband, Coast of France, 11; Feuer, Navy in World War I, 26; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 102–103.

[iv] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 8 August 1917; cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 8 August 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[v] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 8 August 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[vi] Navy Department, Northern Barrage, 50.

[vii] Larzelere, Coast Guard, 41.

[viii] Circular letter from William S. Benson to Commandants, Navy Yards at Boston, New York, Portsmouth, Washington, Norfolk, Philadelphia, New Orleans, San Francisco, Charleston, and Puget Sound, and Bureaus of Navigation, Construction and Repair, Ordnance, and Steam Engineering, about details for fitting out Armed Guards for merchant ships, 9 August 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[ix] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 33; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 29.

[x] Cablegram from OPNAV to W. S. Sims, 11 August 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[xi] Copy of speech from The President to the Officers of the Atlantic Fleet, 11 August 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 145–48.

[56]

11 August Headquarters, U.S. Naval Forces Operating in European Waters issues Force Instructions No. 1, clarifying that the U.S. Naval Forces Operating in European Waters constitute a task force of the Atlantic Fleet, whose flag officer is officially styled the force commander with his flag aboard the destroyer tender Melville (AD-2), stationed in Queenstown, Ireland, and outlining the disposition of forces and bases.[i] 

12 August In response to an increase in collisions, Vice Admiral W. S. Sims issues information and guidance to the destroyer force of the U.S. Naval Forces Operating in European Waters.[ii] 

12 August A force of six armed yachts sails from St. John’s in Newfoundland for France by way of the Azores.[iii] 

12 August The Norwegian cargo ship Falkland is sunk while under escort by the destroyer Paulding (DD-22) and other vessels.[iv] 

13 August The motor boat Nemes (SP-424) is destroyed by fire near Key West, Florida.[v] 

13 August District One training camp at Hingham, Massachusetts, is established.[vi] 

13 August In a general report to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, Vice Admiral W. S. Sims strongly recommends that the Bureau of Ordnance and Admiralty establish closer cooperation in regard to the design, manufacture, and supply of mines and depth charges in order to mitigate against confusion and miscommunication.[vii] 

14 August Lieutenant Edward O. McDonnell launches the first torpedo from a seaplane in U.S. Navy history at Huntington Bay, New York.[viii] 

14 August China enters World War I by declaring war on Austria-Hungary and Germany. All U.S. Navy gunboats seized in May are released from internment on 16 August and their breech blocks returned from the consul general on 21 August.[ix] 

15 August Admiral Henry T. Mayo, Commander in Chief, Atlantic Fleet, confers with Rear Admiral Ralph Earle and members of the Bureau of Ordnance’s mine section about the MK VI mine and its value for the proposed North Sea Mine Barrage. The bureau personnel provide Mayo, on his way to England, with assorted information about the mine and the proposed barrage.[x] 

15 August The armed yacht Noma (SP-131) engages a surfaced U-boat in a gun duel which continues until the submarine submerges.[xi]

______________

[i] Force Instructions No. 1, U.S. Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, about organization and communications, 11 August 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[ii]Memorandum from W. S. Sims to U.S. Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, about averting of collisions, 12 August 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[iii] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 14 August 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[iv] DANFS, entry for Paulding, (Destroyer No. 22), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/p/paulding.html.

[v] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 4.

[vi] Besch, “Navy Second to None,” 230.

[vii] Memorandum from W. S. Sims to William S. Benson, about general report, period 31 July to 8 August 1917, 13 August 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[viii] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 33; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 29.

[ix] Radiogram from Josephus Daniels to ALNAV, 15 August 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL; Feuer, Navy in World War I, 115; William R. Braisted, The United States Navy in the Pacific, 1909–1922 (Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1971), 315; Tolley, Yangtze Patrol, 80.

[x] Navy Department, Northern Barrage, 23–27.

[xi] Husband, Coast of France, 10–11.

[57]

15 August Vice Admiral W. S. Sims wires the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations to request that “only regularly commissioned and experienced officers be sent for duty with destroyers,” due to the highly specialized elements of the vessels and the “nature of their present service.”[i] 

16 August The gunboat Sacramento (PG-19) enters the harbor at Gibraltar, the first American warship to arrive for a force assigned to operate out of the British fortress.[ii] 

16 August Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels cables Vice Admiral W. S. Sims, directing him to oversee the procurement of the “best obtainable satisfactory type seaplane complete with engines and necessary spares in sufficient numbers to provide until April 1918 for needs of air stations now authorized.”[iii] 

17 August At dawn, the armed yacht Noma (SP-131) sights a large U-boat watching convoys close to the French coast and straddles it with salvos until it submerges.[iv] 

17 August The scout cruiser Birmingham (CS-2) arrives at the harbor at Gibraltar with Rear Admiral Henry B. Wilson aboard to commence establishment of U.S. Navy base in the Mediterranean Sea.[v] 

17 August The Office of the Chief of Naval Operations details officers to command the Naval Armed Guards aboard U.S. Army transport and cargo vessels.[vi] 

17 August The Navy Department transfers Captain William H. G. Bullard from command of the battleship Arkansas (BB-33) to Malta with the rank of temporary rear admiral. Bullard will arrive in Malta on 23 August.[vii] 

17 August Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson wires Vice Admiral W. S. Sims to report that the Bureau of Ordnance has “developed [a] mine which it is hoped may have decisive influence upon operations against submarine[s]. Utmost secrecy [is] considered necessary. Request that [the] officer representing [the] Admiralty clothed with power to decide be sent here and inspect and thoroughly test mine if found satisfactory arrange for co-operation in mine operation.”[viii] 

17 August Vice Admiral W. S. Sims cables the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, reporting an urgent need for four coal burning dreadnoughts and six destroyer escorts. The American dreadnoughts are requested to fill a gap in the Grand Fleet caused by the decommissioning of one King Edward-class dreadnought due to personnel shortages, and five more decommissionings scheduled by end of the year.[ix]

______________

[i] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 15 August 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[ii] Still, Crisis at Sea, 478; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 117.

[iii] Cablegram from Josephus Daniels to W. S. Sims via U.S. Naval Attaché in London, 16 August 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[iv] DANFS, entry for Noma (S.P. 131), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/n/noma.html.

[v] Memorandum from Henry B. Wilson to W. S. Sims, on report of operations patrol squadron based on Gibraltar, 17–25 August, 25 August 1917, Reel 18, ME-11, NDL; Still, Crisis at Sea, 478; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 117.

[vi] Radiogram from OPNAV to Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, 17 August 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[vii] Still, Crisis at Sea, 480.

[viii] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 17 August 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[ix] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 17 August 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[58]

18 August Admiral Henry T. Mayo, Commander in Chief, U.S. Atlantic Fleet, sails from New York aboard the troop transport St. Louis for Liverpool together with his staff composed of Captain O. P. Jackson, Commander Ernest J. King, Commander D. C. Bingham, Lieutenant Commander A. B. Cook, Lieutenant Commander Leigh Noyes, Lieutenant H. W. McCormack, Naval Constructor W. G. DuBose, Paymaster J. H. Hatch, and six enlisted men.[i] 

18 August The Bureau of Ordnance commences shipping the latest type 14-inch, 45-caliber guns to the Admiralty for use on shallow draft monitors bombarding the Belgian coast.[ii] 

18 August The gunboat Nashville (PG 7) arrives at Gibraltar.[iii] 

19 August Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson replies to Vice Admiral W. S. Sims’s request of 17 August for dreadnoughts, stating that “the strategic situation necessitates keeping battleship force concentrated and cannot therefore consider the suggestion of sending a part of it across. The logistics of the situation would prevent the entire force going over except in case of extreme necessity.”[iv] 

19 August The British steamer Spectator is struck by a torpedo on its port side while under American destroyer escort. The destroyer Paulding (DD-22) recovers 46 survivors accounting for the entire crew, but Spectator sinks.[v] 

19–20 August German U-boats attack an American convoy of troop transports while approaching the French coast. Although no ships are lost, the attacks badly disorganized control of the convoy, calling into question the policies of escort protection as Naval Armed Guards aboard the transports almost hit the escorting destroyers with gunfire.[vi] 

20 August The British sloop Zinnia collides with the destroyer Benham (DD-49), nearly sinking the latter. Zinnia later tows Benham to Queenstown, Ireland.[vii] 

20 August The destroyers Conyngham (DD-58), Cummings (DD-44), and McDougal (DD-54) arrive at Chatham, England.[viii] 

20 August Relaying orders from Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, Admiral Henry T. Mayo, Commander in Chief, U.S. Atlantic Fleet, orders Rear Admiral Albert W. Grant to assume command of Battleship Division One with his flag aboard Minnesota (BB-22), Rear Admiral Hugh Rodman assumes command of Battleship Division Two with his flag aboard Missouri (BB-11), Captain Frank M. Bennett takes command of Battleship Division Three with his flag aboard Rhode Island (BB-17), and Captain Samuel S. Robinson assumes command of Submarine Force, Atlantic Fleet, with his flag on the submarine tender Chicago (CA-14).[ix] 

21 August The C-Tube listening device, later evolved into the K-Tube, is demonstrated in Boston Harbor, Massachusetts. The C-Tube is a primitive hydrophone for detecting submerged submarines.[x] 

21 August A U.S. Naval Port Office opened in St. Nazaire, France.[xi]

______________

[i] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 15 August 1917; memorandum from Henry T. Mayo to Josephus Daniels, on progress of naval mission, 30 August 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[ii] Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 62.

[iii] Daniels, Our Navy at War, 117.

[iv] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 19 August 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[v] DANFS, entry for Paulding, (Destroyer No. 22), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/p/paulding.html.

[vi] Memorandum from W. S. Sims to Josephus Daniels, on Conduct of Group 6 troop transports, 30 August 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[vii] Memorandum from D. Lyons, Commanding Officer, USS Benham to W. S. Sims, on report of collision with HMS Zinnia, 24 August 1917, Reel 18, ME-11, NDL; DANFS, entry for Benham I (DD-49), (Destroyer No. 49), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/b/benham-i.html; memorandum from W. S. Sims to Josephus Daniels, on general weekly report—period of 18–30 August 1917, 30 August 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[viii] Telegram from Admiral Chatham to Admiralty, 20 August 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[ix] Radiogram from Henry T. Mayo to Josephus Daniels, 20 August 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[x] Navy Department, Engineering, 55; Scott, Naval Consulting Board, 76.

[xi] Wilson, American Navy in France, 114.

[59]

21 August President Woodrow Wilson issues Executive Order 2687, authorizing the Secretary of the Navy to exercise all power and authority vested in the President and in selected legislation in furtherance of the construction of vessels for use by the Navy and of contracts for the construction and completion of such vessels and all power and authority applicable to and in furtherance of the production, purchase, and requisitioning of materials for construction of vessels for the Navy and of war materials, equipment, and munitions required for use of the Navy.[i] 

22 August Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson approves the establishment of a naval aeronautics headquarters in Paris.[ii] 

22 August The armed yachts Alcedo (SP-166), Remlik (SP-157), Wanderer (SP-132), Carola IV (SP-812), Corona (SP-813), and Guinevere (SP-512), and patrol boat Emeline (SP-175), sail from the Azores for Brest, France.[iii] 

23 August Rear Admiral Henry B. Wilson, Commander, Patrol Force Gibraltar, cables Vice Admiral W. S. Sims, recommending that several well-armed yachts be sent to Gibraltar.[iv] 

23 August Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson attaches yachts sailing from St. Johns, Newfoundland, to France to Commander, U.S. Naval Forces in France.[v] 

23 August The German submarine U-93 captures and sinks with gunfire the schooner Carl F. Cressy, 180 miles northwest of Cape Finisterre, Spain.[vi] 

24 August Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson approves the establishment of an additional naval aviation station at Brest, France.[vii] 

25 August The cargo ships Houston (AK-1), Carib (ID-1765), Newport News (AK-3), and mine carrier Ozama arrive at Brest carrying 13,000 tons of coal and a large quantity of lubricating oil to supply the patrol force in French waters.[viii] 

25 August The patrol boat Elfrida (SP-988) suffers an explosion while making passage from Norfolk to Yorktown, Virginia, killing one.[ix] 

26 August The converted armed yacht Wakiva II (SP-160), cargo ship Bath (ID-1997/AK-4), six submarine chasers, and ten minesweepers sail from Provincetown, Massachusetts, for Brest, France.[x] 

26 August Admiral Henry T. Mayo and his staff arrive in Liverpool, England, and dock the following day.[xi] 

26 August All American gunboats, previously interned by the Chinese government, return to full commission in advance of those of other nations.[xii]

_______________

[i] Executive Order 2687, 21 August 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[ii] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 22 August 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[iii] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to William B. Fletcher, 23 August 1917, Reel 18, ME-11, NDL.

[iv] Cablegram from Commander, Patrol Force Gibraltar to W. S. Sims, 23 August 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[v] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 23 August 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[vi] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 11.

[vii] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 24 August 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[viii] Memorandum from W. S. Sims to Josephus Daniels, on general weekly report—period of 18–30 August 1917, 30 August 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[ix] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 4.

[x] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 26 August 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL; Wilson, American Navy in France, 24, 123–24.

[xi] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 27 August 1917; memorandum from Henry T. Mayo to Josephus Daniels, on progress of naval mission, 30 August 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[xii] Braisted, Navy in the Pacific, 315.

[60]

27 August President Woodrow Wilson issues Executive Order 2692 establishing defensive sea areas for terminal ports of the Panama Canal and providing regulations for the government of persons and vessels within these areas.[i] 

28 August Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson orders the naval attaché in London to serve as the intelligence officer on the staff of Vice Admiral W. S. Sims. The naval attachés in Paris; Rome; Madrid; Petrograd, Russia; and Copenhagen, Denmark, are likewise to communicate directly with Sims through his new intelligence officer. Benson also reports that naval attachés will be appointed to The Hague, Stockholm, and Copenhagen at the earliest practicable date and instructed to report to Sims’s intelligence officer.[ii] 

28 August Admiral Henry T. Mayo, after consultation with First Sea Lord Admiral Sir John Jellicoe, Admiral Sir David Beatty, and Vice Admiral W. S. Sims, cables the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations and recommends sending one division of submarines and the monitor tender Tonopah (BM-8) to the Azores, and then sending the tender Panther (AD-6) and Destroyer Division One to operate from Brest, France. Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson approves these recommendations on 31 August.[iii] 

29 August Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson, in a circular letter to the commandants of all domestic navy yards, orders that Naval Armed Guards will not be furnished to any merchant vessel not fitted with a radio, and that those guards previously furnished will be removed unless the ship owners indicate intent to equip the vessel with radio.[iv] 

29 August The schooner Laura C. Anderson is captured and sunk by an enemy submarine in the English Channel, 15 miles east of Barfleur, France.[v] 

29 August USCGC Manning and gunboat Wheeling (PG-14) sail from Charleston, South Carolina, for Gibraltar. USCGC Seneca arrives at Ponta Delgada, Azores.[vi] 

30 August The armed yachts Alcedo (SP-166), Remlik (SP-157), Wanderer (SP-132), Guinevere (SP-512), Corona (SP-813), Carola IV (SP-812), and patrol boat Emeline (SP-175) arrive in Brest, France, as the Second U.S. Patrol Squadron Operating in European Waters.[vii] 

30 August USCGC Ossipee arrives at Gibraltar for convoy escort duty, assigned to Squadron Two of the Patrol Forces of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet.[viii] 

30 August Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson inquires with the Bureau of Navigation as to “how many recruit seamen, firemen, [and] machinists mates can be received on destroyers and tenders [and] put into training. . . in addition can more be put in barracks on shore” to accelerate training for new destroyers under construction.[ix] 

30 August The Lighthouse Service’s biological station at Woods Hole, Massachusetts, is turned over to the Navy as a base for the patrol fleet.[x] 

30 August Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson wires Vice Admiral W. S. Sims to report that the tender Panther (AD-6) will serve as a repair ship at Brest, France.  The passenger liner Bridgeport is being converted to a destroyer tender for Pauillac, France, while Savannah (ID-3015/AS-8) is being converted to assist Bushnell (AS-2) as submarine tenders, and Prairie (AD-5) is being fitted as a destroyer tender for home waters.[xi]

______________

[i] Executive Order 2692, 27 August 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[ii] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 28 August 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[iii] Cablegram from Henry T. Mayo to OPNAV, 29 August 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[iv] Circular letter from William S. Benson to Commandants, Boston, Portsmouth, Charleston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington, New Orleans, Puget Sound, Mare Island, and Norfolk Navy Yards, on armed guards not to be assigned to ships not fitted with radio installation, 29 August 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[v] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 11.

[vi] Larzelere, Coast Guard, 41–42.

[vii] Cablegram from William B. Fletcher to W. S. Sims, 30 August 1917; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 31 August 1917, Reel 18, ME-11, NDL; Still, Crisis at Sea, 389; Husband, Coast of France, 9.

[viii] Larzelere, Coast Guard, 41, 50.

[ix] Cablegram from William S. Benson to Bureau of Navigation, 30 August 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[x] Navy Department, Annual Report 1918, 128.

[xi] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 30 August 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[61]

30 August Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels orders Captain William D. MacDougall, U.S. Naval Attaché in London, to assume duties as intelligence officer on the staff of Vice Admiral W. S. Sims “in addition to present duties.”[i] 

30 August Vice Admiral W. S. Sims reports to the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations that the Admiralty has offered the passenger liner RMS Olympic—sister ship of the ill-fated RMS Titanic—for use as a troop transport, if desired.[ii] 

30 August The U.S. Naval Communication and Telegraph Office opens at headquarters of Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, 30 Grosvenor Gardens, London, England.[iii] 

31 August Naval Air Station Moutchic, a flight and ground training station, is established in France.[iv] 

31 August Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson asks Admiral Henry T. Mayo to request the British to send a few destroyers to aid the Italians in the Adriatic Sea, “in view of condition and the fact we are sending over so many antisubmarine craft.”[v] 

1 September The gunboat Marietta (PG-15) and USCGCs Yamacraw and Algonquin sail for Gibraltar.[vi] 

1 September Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels cables the naval attaché in London enquiring “what success has there been against submarines with special ships fitted for carrying bomb dropping hydroaeroplanes?” Vice Admiral W. S. Sims replies on 5 September, stating no ships are fitted for seaplanes as no suitable ships are available and the seaplanes are assigned to shore.[vii] 

4 September USCGC Seneca arrives at Gibraltar and is assigned to Squadron Two of the Patrol Forces of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet.[viii] 

4 September Vice Admiral W. S. Sims writes Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson that “it is not at all inconceivable that German submarines may operate off the main harbors of America or the Panama Canal,” and recommends that the Navy Department be prepared for the situation by preparing well-defined channels into harbors maintained by constant sweeping and preparing lines of approach for ships into harbors.[ix] 

4 September Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson wires Vice Admiral W. S. Sims to report that by 2 October, the forces at the Azores should consist of one division of submarines, the monitor tender Tonopah (BM-8), yacht Atlantic, and destroyers Whipple (DD-15) and Truxton (DD-14), all of which are placed under Sim’s general instruction, although the yacht is to remain in the general operating area from the Azores to the Canary Islands.[x]

_______________

[i] Cablegram from Josephus Daniels to William D. MacDougall, 30 August 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[ii] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 30 August 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[iii] Memorandum from W. S. Sims to Secretary, British Admiralty, Whitehall, about communications, 30 August 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[iv] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 33.

[v] Cablegram from William S. Benson to Henry T. Mayo, 31 August 1917, RG45, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[vi] Larzelere, Coast Guard, 42.

[vii] Cablegram from Josephus Daniels to William D. MacDougall, 1 September 1917; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 5 September 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[viii] Larzelere, Coast Guard, 50; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 122.

[ix] Memorandum from W. S. Sims to William S. Benson, on approach routes to Atlantic Coast ports, 4 September 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[x] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 6 September 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[62]

4–5 September An Allied naval conference is held in London between British and American naval officials. The United States is represented by Admiral Henry T. Mayo and Vice Admiral W. S. Sims. The parties discuss the North Sea Mine Barrage and agree that it should not be undertaken until sufficient supplies of mines were obtained.[i] 

5 September Destroyer Jacob Jones (DD-61) sights a surfaced submarine in the evening hours. The submarine submerges before the destroyer can fire a shot, but after a depth charge is dropped, a large pool of oil appears. Three crewmen on the Jacob Jones report seeing a body of a man close to the oil, but repeated searches prove futile. Commander-in-Chief Vice Admiral Sir Lewis Bayly concludes that submarine was probably damaged in the attack.[ii] 

5 September Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels authorizes the establishment of two dirigible stations in France in response to a French offer to supply armaments and five dirigibles.[iii] 

7 September Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson requests that Admiral Henry T. Mayo and Vice Admiral W. S. Sims express their views in regard to a request to send battleships or other warships to Norway in the event that country enters the war.[iv] 

7 September A winged, foul anchor is adopted as the official device to be worn on left breast by all qualified naval aviators.[v] 

7 September The U.S. Shipping Board provides Secretary of State Robert Lansing with a statement for the British in regard to the official views of the U.S. government. Mainly, that it is the first duty of the United States to safeguard its sea lines of communication to France for the safe passage of troop and supply ships. Subsequently, the United States will not turn over any existing merchant tonnage or that under construction to foreign nations without first attending to the needs of the American Expeditionary Force and then the Allied nations.[vi] 

7 September Radio signals sent from a Curtiss R-6 seaplane flying from Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida, are received by Naval Radio Station New Orleans, Louisiana, 140 miles away. Later tests lead to additional orders for 300 Simon radio transmitters.[vii] 

8 September A site at Naval Operating Base Hampton Roads, Virginia, is established as an air training station and patrol base to conduct experimental work in seaplane operations.[viii] 

8 September The schooner William H. Clifford is scuttled and sunk by the German submarine U-88, west of the Cotentin Peninsula, France.[ix] 

8 September Vice Admiral Sir Lewis Bayly convenes a conference in Queenstown, Ireland, of British and American commanding officers of all sloops, destroyers, and service ships to compile suggestions for the best means of sinking submarines and protecting shipping. Vice Admiral W. S. Sims passes the conference conclusions, an array of technical and tactical operational and formational suggestions, to the Admiralty for consideration.[x]

________________

[i] Telegram from British Foreign Office to French and Italian government, 17 August 1917; cablegram from Henry T. Mayo to OPNAV, 5 September 1917; cablegram from Henry T. Mayo to OPNAV, 6 September 1917; memorandum from Henry T. Mayo to Josephus Daniels, on report of international naval conference held in London, 4–5 September 1917 and kindred matters, 8 September 1917; cablegram from Henry T. Mayo to William S. Benson, 5 September 1917; cablegram from Henry T. Mayo to William S. Benson, 6 September 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL; Jones, Battleship Operations, 11; Navy Department, Northern Barrage, 29–30; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 132–33.

[ii] Letter from Lewis Bayly to Admiralty, 15 September 1917; memorandum from commanding officer, USS Jacob Jones to W. S. Sims, on reports action with submarine September 5, 1917, 9 September 1917, Reel 18, ME-11, NDL.

[iii] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, 30 August 1917; cablegram from Josephus Daniels to W. S. Sims, 5 September 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[iv] Cablegram from William S. Benson to Henry T. Mayo and W. S. Sims, 7 September 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[v] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 33; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 29.

[vi] Cablegram from Robert Lansing to Walter H. Page, 7 September 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[vii] Ibid.

[viii] Ibid.

[ix] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 11.

[x] Memorandum from W. S. Sims to Commander, Patrol Squadrons based on Gibraltar, 12 September 1917; memorandum from W. S. Sims to Josephus Daniels, on monthly meeting of commanding officers on vessels engaged in anti-submarine operations, 15 September 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[63]

9 September The Bureau of Navigation authorizes a hydrophone school for training officers to supervise the installation, care, maintenance, and repair of the devices.[i] 

10 September Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson reports to Vice Admiral W. S. Sims that hydroaeroplane engines to meet established requirements cannot be constructed in the United States.[ii] 

10 September The scout cruiser Chester (CS-1) and armed yacht Yankton arrive at Gibraltar, and the cargo ship Houston (AK-1) arrives at Queenstown, Ireland, while the oiler Cuyama (AO-3), cargo ship Newport News (AK-3), and mine carrier Ozama sail for Hampton Roads, Virginia.[iii] 

10 September Vice Admiral W. S. Sims breaks his flag on the destroyer tender Melville (AD-2).[iv] 

10 September Vice Admiral W. S. Sims replies to an Office of the Chief of Naval Operations inquiry that he can accommodate 35 quartermasters or seamen for quarters training, 35 radio electricians, 70 machinists mates, 180 seamen, and 180 firemen for training on destroyers.[v] 

10 September Columbia University’s Mechanical Engineering Department convenes its first submarine chaser engine school to train engineers on gasoline engine maintenance.[vi] 

11 September Vice Admiral W. S. Sims reports to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels that nine regularly organized mercantile convoys arrive in British waters every eight days, originating from Sydney, Australia; Cape Breton, Nova Scotia; Hampton Roads, Virginia; Halifax, Nova Scotia; Dakar, French West Africa; Freetown, Sierra Leone; and two convoys from New York and Gibraltar.[vii] 

12 September Vice Admiral W. S. Sims provides Rear Admiral William B. Fletcher, Commander, U.S. Naval Forces in French Waters, with clarification on his primary and secondary missions. The primary duty is the protection of inbound and outbound troop and supply transports, with a secondary duty to coordinate to the fullest extent with French forces.[viii] 

12 September The German submarine U-64 torpedoes and sinks the cargo ship Wilmore in the Mediterranean Sea, about four miles east of Hormigas Light, Cape Palos, Spain.[ix] 

13 September A total of 15 armed yachts are based at Brest, France, engaged in escort duty for inbound and outbound convoys.[x] 

14 September The first class of the Annapolis Reserve Officer Program graduates and is commissioned from the U.S. Naval Academy after receiving ten weeks of education and training to serve in the line corps.[xi] 

14 September The cargo ship Carib (ID-1765) spots and picks up one officer and seven men from the British merchant steamship Vienna, torpedoed and sunk on 11 September.[xii]

______________

[i] Navy Department, Engineering, 59–60.

[ii] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 10 September 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[iii] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 10 September 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[iv] Memorandum from J. R. Poinsett Pringle to U.S. Destroyer Flotillas Operating in European waters, on hoisting flag of Vice Admiral Sims on U.S.S. Melville and visit of Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Atlantic Fleet to Queenstown, 5 September 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[v] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 10 September 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[vi] Besch, “Navy Second to None,” 311.

[vii] Letter from W. S. Sims to Josephus Daniels, 11 September 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[viii] Memorandum from W. S. Sims to William B. Fletcher, on employment of U.S. naval vessels in French waters, 12 September 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[ix] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 11.

[x] Memorandum from W. S. Sims to Josephus Daniels, on operations of forces based on French coast, 13 September 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[xi] Besch, “Navy Second to None,” 190–95.

[xii] Memorandum from Commanding Officer, USS Aphrodite, to Commander, U.S. Patrol Squadron, on rescue at sea, boat party, British ship Vienna, 14 September 1917, Reel 18, ME-11, NDL.

[64]

15 September USCGC Tampa sails for Gibraltar.[i] 

15 September Margaret La Mothe joins the Bureau of Ordnance as its first female civil service employee.[ii] 

15 September The Admiralty accepts the U.S. Navy’s offer of MK VI mines and of combined joint operations for installing a mine barrage in the North Sea.[iii] 

15 September The German submarine U-63 torpedoes and sinks the tanker Platuria, west from Gibraltar off Tangier, killing ten.[iv] 

15 September The Navy Department authorizes the establishment of 15 naval air stations overseas to be in operation by 1 July 1918, each equipped for seaplane operations; five would also have facilities for operation of airships and supporting kite balloon operations.[v] 

16 September USCGCs Manning and Yamacraw arrive at Gibraltar for convoy escort duty.[vi] 

16 September An enemy submarine captures and sinks the American schooner Ann J. Trainer 30 miles off Ushant, France.[vii] 

17 September A kite balloon from the armored cruiser Huntington (CA-5) is hit by squall. While being retrieved by the ship, the balloon struck the water hard enough to knock the observer, Lieutenant (j.g.) Henry W. Hoyt out of the basket where he became entangled in the lines. Shipfitter 2nd Class Patrick McGunigal went over side, cleared the lines, and secured a line on Hoyt to haul him aboard. McGunigal was later awarded the Medal of Honor.[viii] 

18 September A production program for 1,700 operational aircraft is established on the basis of a report issued by the Joint Technical Board of Aircraft.[ix] 

18 September The destroyers Whipple (DD-15) and Truxtun (DD-14) along with the gunboat Wheeling (PG-14) arrive in the Azores.[x] 

18 September The armed yacht Wakiva II (SP-160), minesweepers Anderton (SP-530), Cahill (SP-493), Rehoboth (SP-384), Lewes (SP-383), Otis W. Douglas (SP-313), P. K. Bauman (SP-377), Courtney, and Hinton (SP-485), together with cargo ship Bath (ID-1997/AK-4) and five French submarine chasers arrive in Brest, France.[xi] 

20 September At an urgent request from General John J. Pershing for coal for the American Expeditionary Force, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson orders Vice Admiral W. S. Sims to place the cargo ship Bath (ID-1997/AK-4) into service ferrying coal between England and France and advises of the possible use of the collier Nero (AC-17) for similar duty. In his reply of 22 September, Sims reports the situation is “being taken up vigorously.”[xii] 

21 September The Navy Department detaches Destroyer Division C from the Asiatic Fleet and assigns it for duty with Commander, Patrol Force Gibraltar.[xiii]

______________

[i] Larzelere, Coast Guard, 41.

[ii] Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 24.

[iii] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 15 September 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[iv] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 11.

[v] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 15 September 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL; Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 33; Feuer, Navy in World War I, 124–26.

[vi] Larzelere, Coast Guard, 50–51.

[vii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 11.

[viii] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 33; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 29; Feuer, Navy in World War I, 93–94; William A. DuPuy and John W. Jenkins, The World War and Historic Deeds of Valor from Official Records and Illustrations of the United States and Allied Governments, vol. VI (Chicago: National Historic Pub. Association, 1919), 486; Navy Department, Record of Medals of Honor Issued, 80.

[ix] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 33; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 29.

[x] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 18 September 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[xi] Telephone message from William R. Sayles to C. E. Gilpin, 19 September 1917, Reel 18, ME-11, NDL; Wilson, American Navy in France, 24; Husband, Coast of France, 11–12.

[xii] Telegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 20 September 1917; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 22 September 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[xiii] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to Comrolfor, Gibraltar, 21 September 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[65]

22 September First Sea Lord Admiral Sir John Jellicoe hands a memorandum to Admiral Henry T. Mayo detailing specific requests by Great Britain to the U.S. Navy Department. These include four coal-burning battleships to replace Grand Fleet dreadnoughts, an increase in the number of destroyers for enhanced convoy protection, an increase in the number of cruisers for better convoy protection, an increase in the number of patrol craft, tugs, and other small craft for antisubmarine work, a rapid building of merchant ships, and a large supply of mines for the proposed mine barrage between Scotland and Norway and assistance in laying them by provision of American minelayers.[i] 

22 September Vice Admiral W. S. Sims issues Force Instructions No. 2 for U.S. Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, providing policies of the force commander, disseminating information on successful operational practices, and facilitating administration of operations.[ii] 

22 September Vice Admiral W. S. Sims clarifies for Rear Admiral Henry B. Wilson that his intention for the patrol squadron based on Gibraltar is to operate only under the command of Wilson, with all other forces operating on the French coast to be under the control of Rear Admiral William B. Fletcher. The matter came to a head over confusion between Wilson and Fletcher regarding the division of command.[iii] 

23 September The German submarine U-60 torpedoes and sinks the schooner Henry Lippitt near Brest, France.[iv] 

24 September President Woodrow Wilson issues Executive Order 2702 transferring the survey ships Surveyor, Isis, and Bache and selected personnel of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey to the Navy.[v] 

25 September President Woodrow Wilson issues Executive Order 2708, establishing under the jurisdiction of the Committee on Public Information the divisions of pictures, films, and publications “for the purpose of stimulating recruiting and patriotic interest in the war; to the end that the utmost cooperation of all citizens in the successful prosecution of the war be secured.” The order authorizes the Secretaries of State, War, and the Navy to detail an officer or officers to the committee to assist in this work.[vi] 

25 September The bark Paolina is shelled and sunk by the German submarine U-43 off Ushant, France.[vii] 

26 September Lieutenant Louis H. Maxfield, commander, Naval Air Detachment at Akron, Ohio, reports the qualification of 11 students including himself as lighter-than-air pilots and requests designation as Naval Aviator (Dirigible). These are the Navy’s first men trained specifically as dirigible pilots.[viii] 

26 September Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson addresses the issue of relative rank between officers of the Navy and Marine Corps, and those of the Coast Guard. A Coast Guard third lieutenant equates with a Navy ensign, a second lieutenant with lieutenant (j.g.), first lieutenant with lieutenant, captain with lieutenant commander, senior captain with commander, and captain commandant with captain.[ix]

_____________

[i] Memorandum from Henry T. Mayo to Josephus Daniels, on specific requests for assistance from the several allied powers, enclosure B, 11 October 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL; Navy Department, Northern Barrage, 36. 

[ii] U.S. Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, “Force Instructions No. 2,” 22 September 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[iii] Memorandum from W. S. Sims to Henry B. Wilson, on duties of squadron commander, 22 September 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[iv] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 11.

[v] Executive Order 2707, 24 September 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL; Navy Department, Annual Report 1918, 127.

[vi] Executive Order 2708, 25 September 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[vii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 11.

[viii] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 33; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 29–30.

[ix] Memorandum from William S. Benson to Commandants, Naval Districts, Commander-in-Chief, Atlantic Fleet, Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Fleet, Commanders of Forces, Commander Division Two, Pacific Fleet, and Bureaus and Offices of the Department, on rank of officers of the Navy and Coast Guard, 26 September 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[66]

27 September Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson assigns the collier Nero (AC-17) to carry coal between England and France, escorted by the tender Panther (AD-6) and Division One destroyer force.[i] 

27 September Ensign Robert A. Lovett makes the first flight at Naval Air Station Moutchic, France, in an F.B.A. seaplane. Lovett will later serve as the fourth Secretary of Defense.[ii] 

27 September The Navy requisitions oil tankers Gold Shell (ID-3021), Los Angeles (ID-1470), William D. Rockefeller (ID-1581), Standard Arrow (ID-1532), and Topila (ID-3001) from private ownership on a bare ship basis and commissions them as auxiliaries, with their officers and crews enlisted or enrolled in naval service or reserve.[iii] 

27 September President Woodrow Wilson issues Executive Order 2709 authorizing the Secretary of the Navy to take immediate possession and title to the German yacht Hermes at Honolulu, Hawaii, and operate the ship in the service of the U.S. Navy.[iv] 

28 September The first radio messages exchanged between Naval Station Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and the Atlantic Coast occurs.[v] 

28 September Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson cables Vice Admiral W. S. Sims that the Navy Department does not consider it advisable to provide a seaplane carrier at the present time.[vi] 

28 September Admiral Henry T. Mayo and his staff arrive in Queenstown, Ireland, to inspect the destroyer patrol force and meet with personnel stationed there.[vii] 

29 September The store ship Pastores (ID-4540/AF-16) and troopships Tenadores, DeKalb (ID-3010), Huron (ID-1408), and Pocahantas (ID-3044) sail from St. Nazaire, France, for the United States.[viii] 

1 October USCGC Mohawk sinks while on patrol duty in vicinity of Ambrose Channel lightship off New York.[ix] 

1 October President Woodrow Wilson signs into law an act creating the Aircraft Board for expanding and coordinating industrial activities relating to aircraft and developing air service.[x] 

1 October Minesweepers assigned to U.S. Naval Forces in France stationed at Brest are reassigned to convoy duty and begin their first operations.[xi] 

1 October The first class of cadets enters the Officers’ Material School of the Naval Auxiliary Reserve Force at the Pelham Bay Naval Training Camp, New York.[xii]

______________

[i] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 27 September 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[ii] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 33–34; Still, Crisis at Sea, 462.

[iii] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 27 September 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[iv] Executive Order 2709, 27 September 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[v] Daniels, Years of War and After, 105.

[vi] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 28 September 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[vii] Memorandum from J. R. Poinsett Pringle to U.S. Destroyer Flotillas Operating in European waters, on hoisting flag of Vice Admiral Sims on U.S.S. Melville and visit of Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Atlantic Fleet to Queenstown, 5 September 1917; cablegram from W. S. Sims to Lewis Bayly, 26 September 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[viii] Cablegram from Richard H. Jackson to W. S. Sims, 29 September 1917, Reel 18, ME-11, NDL.

[ix] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 5.

[x] Navy Department, Digest Catalogue, 10; Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 44.

[xi] Wilson, American Navy in France, 124.

[xii] Besch, “Navy Second to None,” 203; William J. Byrne, ed., The Deck School Log of the Naval Auxiliary Reserve (New York: Wynkoop Hallenbeck Crawford Co., 1920), 15.

[67]

1 October Captain John R. Y. Blakely recommends to Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson that the commandants of Naval Districts on the Atlantic Coast be prepared to plant naval mines in U.S. coastal waters and take immediate steps to provide equipment and train personnel.[i] 

1 October Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson authorizes Vice Admiral W. S. Sims to “redistribute the naval forces under your command to meet such changes as may arise in European waters. Every re-distribution of your command shall be made with a view not only to meeting the military situation but also, with a view to foster feeling and harmony among the Allies concerned.”[ii] 

2 October The Navy Department states that Ponta Delgada will be the site of the permanent base for U.S. Naval Forces based on the Azores.[iii] 

3 October The Navy Department informs French Naval Minister Charles Chaumet that investigations and arrangements are in progress for selecting ports in France and England that can best be used for debarkation of American troops and equipment. This was provided among other replies to French inquiries presented to the American representatives at the naval conference of 4–5 September.[iv] 

3 October The German submarine UC-65 scuttles and sinks the American schooner Annie F. Conlon 15 miles southeast of St. Mary’s, off the Isles of Scilly, England. The schooner is later salvaged.[v] 

3 October The Bureau of Ordnance places a contract for an additional 90,000 K-1 mine-firing mechanisms a month before the adoption of the North Sea Mine Barrage.[vi] 

4 October The minesweeper Rehoboth (SP-384), while on convoy duty, springs a leak, founders, and is later sunk by gunfire from the British light cruiser HMS Castor.[vii] 

4 October Commander, U.S. Naval Forces operating in European Waters issues sailing orders to the cargo ship Bath (ID-1997/AK-4), placing it temporarily at the disposal of the U.S. Army to carry coal between Cardiff, England, and French ports as requested.[viii] 

4 October The Bureau of Ordnance issues orders for the removal of 28 3-inch, 50-caliber; 26 5-inch, 51-caliber; and two 4-inch, 40-caliber guns from cruisers and battleships for installation on merchant ships.[ix] 

4 October Captain Nathan C. Twining, acting for Vice Admiral W. S. Sims, informs Rear Admiral William B. Fletcher that a number of vessels will be placed into service in the coal trade for the western French ports carrying coal for the U.S. Army.[x] 

4 October Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson notifies the commandants of the 1st through 8th Naval Districts that with forces sufficiently strong at the districts, protection against possible submarine activities near the nation’s ports will commence. This antisubmarine protection will accompany efforts to defend against enemy raiders, principally by using district vessels to escort merchant vessels designated for convoy duty from the harbor entrance off shore.[xi]

______________

[i] Memorandum from John R. Y. Blakely to William S. Benson, on preparation for mine planting on Atlantic Coast, 1 October 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[ii] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 1 October 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[iii] Memorandum from W. S. Sims to Josephus Daniels, about U.S. Naval Forces based on Azores, 15 October 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[iv] Letter from W. S. Sims to Minister of Marine, Ministry of Marine, Paris, 3 October 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[v] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 11.

[vi] Navy Department, Northern Barrage, 50; Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 116.

[vii] Memorandum from W. S. Sims to William S. Benson, on general report, 9 October 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 6 October 1917, Reel 18, ME-11, NDL; Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 2; Wilson, American Navy in France, 125.

[viii] Memorandum from Commander, U.S. Naval Forces operating in European Waters to Commanding Officer, U.S.S. Bath, on sailing orders for U.S.S. Bath, 4 October 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[ix] Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 43–44.

[x] Memorandum from Nathan C. Twining for W. S. Sims to William B. Fletcher, on coal for the U.S. Army in France, 4 October 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[xi] Memorandum from William S. Benson to Commandants, 1st–8th Naval Districts, on anti-submarine convoy for shipping, 4 October 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[68]

5 October U.S. Navy Base Hospital No. 5 arrives in St. Nazaire.[i] 

5 October The converted armed yacht Nahma (SP-771) accidentally attacks two Italian submarines off Gibraltar, killing two sailors.[ii] 

6 October President Woodrow Wilson signs the Urgent Deficiencies Act to provide the Navy with $225 million to start a standardized destroyer program and $100 million for the second naval emergency fund.[iii] 

6 October President Woodrow Wilson assigns Naval Hospital Unit No. 1 to duty with the Army.[iv] 

6 October The Secretary of War Newton D. Baker authorizes the Navy to use part of the Army landing field at Anacostia, D.C., for the erection and maintenance of a seaplane hangar. In January 1918, Naval Air Station Anacostia, D.C., is established to provide a base for short test flights, provide housing and repair services for seaplanes on test flights from Naval Air Station Hampton Roads, Virginia, and the Army station at Langley Field, Virginia, and set up new seaplane types for study by those responsible for their construction and improvement.[v] 

7 October The destroyers Dale (DD-4), Bainbridge (DD-1), Barry (DD-2), Chauncey (DD-3), and Decatur (DD-5) of the Asiatic Fleet arrive at Malta together with the ex-German steamer Camilla Rickmers. The steamer sails the same day for Naples, Italy, and the destroyers to Gibraltar.[vi] 

8 October American and British naval officials agree to establish four seaplane stations and a kite balloon station in Ireland.[vii] 

8 October The tender Panther (AD-6), destroyers Smith (DD-17), Lamson (DD-18), and Preston (DD-19) all sail from the Azores.[viii] 

8 October The destroyer Tucker (DD-57) saved 13 sailors from the torpeded British steamship Richard de Larrinaga.[ix] 

9 October Vice Admiral W. S. Sims reports to Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson that depth charges and dropping gear have been supplied by the Admiralty to all U.S. Naval Forces in European Waters except for the armed yacht Wakiva II (SP-160), cargo ship Bath (ID-1997/AK-4), and ten recently-arrived minesweepers.[x] 

11 October Naval Hospital Unit No. 1 is temporarily established at Angers, France.[xi] 

11 October Cargo ship Lewis Luckenbach is torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-53, 10 miles west of La Vierge Lighthouse on the northwest coast of France, killing ten crewmen.[xii]

_____________

[i] Wilson, American Navy in France, 98.

[ii] Still, Crisis at Sea, 396; telegram from Charles R. Train to Office of Naval Intelligence, Washington, 7 December 1917, Reel 18, ME-11, NDL.

[iii] Navy Department, Digest Catalogue, 16; Navy Department, Annual Report 1918, 34.

[iv] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 17 April 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL.

[v] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 44; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 30.

[vi] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 8 October 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[vii] Still, Crisis at Sea, 105–106.

[viii] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to the Office of Chief of Naval Operations, 8 October 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[ix] DANFS, entry for Tucker I (Destroyer No. 57), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/t/tucker-i.html.

[x] Memorandum from W. S. Sims to William S. Benson, on general report, 9 October 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[xi] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 11 October 1917, Reel 18, ME-11, NDL.

[xii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 11; memorandum from William B. Fletcher to Josephus Daniels, on report of sinking of American steamer Lewis Luckenbach by submarine at 8 p.m. 11 October 1917, 13 October 1917; cablegram from W. S. Sims to the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, 14 October 1917, Reel 18, ME-11, NDL. 

[69]

12 October The submarine tenders Chicago (CA-14) and Bushnell (AS-2), along with submarines K-1 (SS-32), K-2 (SS-33), K-5 (SS-36), and K-6 (SS-37) sail from New London, Connecticut, for Halifax, Nova Scotia, before heading on to the Azores.[i] 

12 October Construction on Naval Training Station Hampton Roads, Virginia, is finished as the first regiment arrives from training camp at St. Helena, Virginia.[ii] 

12 October Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson informs the commandants of the 1st through 8th Naval Districts of the Navy Department’s desire to prepare additional seagoing tugs-turned-minesweepers for service at short notice. Benson requests that the commandants do so with a minimum of interference with the transportation, fishing, or other maritime industries.[iii] 

13 October Vice Admiral W. S. Sims cables Rear Admiral Henry B. Wilson asking if he would be agreeable in changing duties from Commander, Patrol Force Gibraltar to those of Commander, U.S. Naval Forces in French Waters. The following day, Wilson cables Sims that the changes are agreeable, provided he can take his staff officers and select personnel.[iv] 

15 October Destroyer Cassin (DD-43) is ambushed and torpedoed by German submarine U-61 off the south coast of Ireland. Although she is seriously damaged and cruising uncontrollably in a circle, the destroyer continues to engage the U-boat with her guns and drives off her assailant. Allied vessels then tow Cassin back to Queenstown, Ireland, the next day. Gunner’s Mate 1st Class Osmond K. Ingram posthumously received the Medal of Honor for his efforts to dump depth charges prior to the torpedo striking the ship; 23 Navy Crosses were awarded to members of the crew for their heroic actions to save their ship.[v] 

15 October At a conference in the office of Chief of the Naval Operations, Admiral William S. Benson, after consultation with the Secretary of the Navy, issues a directive to the Chief of the Bureau of Ordnance to proceed with procurement of 100,000 MK VI mines in consideration of an Admiralty report on the proposed North Sea Mine Barrage.[vi] 

15 October Naval Air Station Rockaway Beach, New York, is established with Lieutenant Commander Warren G. Child in command.[vii] 

15 October The U.S. Shipping Board charters every vessel over 26 tons carrying capacity for the U.S. Government. The board forced neutral parties to take time charters from them, resulting that freight from the United States being shipped to European waters would be flying under the American flag and the neutral parties operated under U.S. insurance rates.[viii] 

15 October Army-chartered troopships Henderson (AP-1) and Antilles, together with transport Willehad sail from St. Nazaire, France, for New York. The cargo ship City of Atlanta follows on the 16th.[ix] 

15 October The tanker St. Helens is torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-22, about 100 miles west northwest from Cape Villano, Spain, killing 24.[x]

______________

[i] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 12 October 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[ii] Besch, “Navy Second to None,” 118.

[iii] Memorandum from William S. Benson to Commandants, 1st–8th Naval Districts, on fitting out of tugs for mine sweeping purposes in advance of taking over, 12 October 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[iv] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to Henry B. Wilson, 13 October 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL; cablegram from Henry B. Wilson to W. S. Sims, 14 October 1917, Reel 18, ME-11, NDL.

[v] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 1; Stringer, Distinguished Service, 17; Navy Department, Annual Report 1918, 182–85; Feuer, Navy in World War I, 18–21; Navy Department, Record of Medals of Honor Issued, 55–56; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 16 October 1917; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 17 October 1917; memorandum from Commanding Office, USS Cassin, to W. S. Sims, on Cassin torpedoed on 15 October 1917, 17 October 1917, Reel 18, ME-11, NDL.

[vi] Navy Department, Northern Barrage, 35; Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 110.

[vii] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 44; Larzelere, Coast Guard, 149.

[viii] Scott, Naval Consulting Board, 88–89.

[ix] Cablegram from Thomas P. Magruder to W. S. Sims, 16 October 1917, Reel 18, ME-11, NDL.

[x] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 11.

[70]

16 October USCGC Algonquin arrives at Gibraltar for convoy escort duty.[i] 

16 October The submarine tenders Chicago (CA-14) and Bushnell (AS-2), and submarines K-1 (SS-32), K-2 (SS-33), K-5 (SS-36), and K-6 (SS-37) sail from Halifax, Nova Scotia, for the Azores.[ii] 

16 October Vice Admiral W. S. Sims wires the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations requesting approval by the Navy Department to accept loan of the British Q-ship Pargust to be manned by American personnel and with its operating costs covered by the Navy. Sims writes, “If [the] ship becomes [a] total loss, Admiralty will not expect reimbursement. No legal difficulties seen if Government gives authority to fly our colors.”[iii] 

16 October The schooner Jennie E. Righter is sunk by gunfire from the German submarine U-22 off northwest Spain.[iv] 

17 October The homeward-bound Army-chartered troopship Antilles, under command of Commander Daniel T. Ghent, is torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-62 two days out of Quiberon Bay, France. The armed yachts Alcedo (SP-166) and Corsair (SP-159) rescued 167 survivors, but 67 are killed, the largest American loss of life to date in World War I.[v] 

17 October Vice Admiral W. S. Sims designates a special division of yachts under command of Commander F. N. Freeman to be used primarily for escort of convoys along the French coast. The division consists of the armed yachts Aphrodite (SP-135), Corsair (SP-159), Alcedo (SP-166), Wakiva II (SP-160), Noma (SP-131), and Kanawha II/Piqua (SP-130).[vi] 

19 October The destroyer Nicholson (DD-52) comes to the aid of the cargo ship J. L. Luckenbach about 200 miles west of Brest, France. In a gunnery duel with the German submarine U-86, Nicholson fires four shots forcing the submarine to break off the engagement and submerge. The badly damaged steamer with nine wounded manages to make her way to Le Havre, France.[vii] 

19 October USCGC Seneca sails as first U.S. Coast Guard ocean escort, convoying 11 ships from Gibraltar to Wales.[viii] 

19 October The German submarine U-62 engages convoy H.D. 7 and torpedoes the British armed merchant cruiser HMS Orama. The destroyer Conyngham (DD-58) drops depth charges and subsequently notices debris in the water.  The British Admiralty ruled the attack “probably seriously damaged” the submarine. American destroyer escorts help save hundreds on board Orama as she sinks.[ix] 

20 October The destroyers Reid (DD-21), Flusser (DD-20), Preston (DD-19), Lamson (DD-18), Smith (DD-17), and the tender Panther (AD-6) arrived off the French coast.[x] 

20 October The destroyers Dale (DD-4), Bainbridge (DD-1), Barry (DD-2), Chauncey (DD-3), and Decatur (DD-5) of the Asiatic Fleet arrive at Gibraltar. The ships left their base at Cavite in the Philippines on 1 August and steamed by way of Borneo, Singapore, Ceylon, India, Egypt, and Malta. The Navy Department and Vice Admiral W. S. Sims extend a commendation to the destroyer force on their passage from Cavite to Gibraltar on 23 October.[xi]

______________

[i] Larzelere, Coast Guard, 51.

[ii] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 16 October 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[iii] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 16 October 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[iv] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 11.

[v] Navy Department, Annual Report 1918, 185–88; Gleaves, Transport Service, 103–108, 168; Wilson, American Navy in France, 146–47; Paine, The Corsair, 101–21; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 104–105.

[vi] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, 17 October 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[vii] Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 50–51; Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 11.

[viii] Larzelere, Coast Guard, 54.

[ix] DANFS, entry for Conyngham I (Destroyer No. 58), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/c/conyngham-i.html.

[x] Wilson, American Navy in France, 26; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 107–108.

[xi] DANFS, entry for Bainbridge II (Torpedo-boat Destroyer No. 1), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/b/bainbridge-ii.html;  DANFS, entry for Barry I (Destroyer No. 2), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/b/barry-destroyer-no-2-i.html; DANFS, entry for Chauncey I (DD 3), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/c/chauncey-i.html; DANFS, entry for  Decatur II ( DD-5), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/d/decatur-ii.html; DANFS, entry for Dale II (DD-4), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/d/dale-ii.html; cablegram from W. S. Sims to SENAFLOAT, Gibraltar, 23 October 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[71]

20 October The Navy Department inquires of the Admiralty if the plan for placing a mine barrier across the North Sea along the Aberdeen, Scotland–Egersund, Norway line has been approved.[i] 

20 October Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels cables Vice Admiral W. S. Sims the Navy Department’s replies to the Admiralty’s memorandum of 22 September. The department:

  • seriously considered sending a division of four American coal-burning battleships,
  • an increase in destroyers was not practicable at present but would increase as rapidly as practicable when new destroyers became available,
  • rearrangement of cruiser squadrons will provide four additional cruisers for convoy protection;
  • arrangements were underway to commandeer and send additional small vessels overseas;
  • construction of merchant vessels was proceeding as fast as conditions permitted;
  • contract had been made for 100,000 MK VI mines and preparation of minelayers; and
  • careful consideration was being given to the mine barrage, among other matters.[ii]

21 October Rear Admiral William B. Fletcher is relieved as Commander, U.S. Naval Forces in France, and is replaced by Rear Admiral Henry B. Wilson.[iii] 

22 October The first radio message is received at Headquarters, Commander of U.S. Naval Forces in France after completion of a French radio station at Roche Mengam on the north shore of the Goulet de Brest.[iv] 

22 October Vice Admiral W. S. Sims recommends to the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations that coastal air stations be established at Wexford, Queenstown, Bantry Bay, and Loch Foyle in Great Britain; at Dunkirk, Brest, Ile Tudy, LeCroisic, San Trojan, Arcachon, and Fromentine in France, with a repair and assembly plant at Paulliac, France, and finishing school at Lacanau, France.[v] 

22 October Special courses to train men as inspectors are added to the ground school program at the the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with 14 men enrolled. It is eventually established as an Inspector School, a program to meet the expanding need for qualified inspectors of aeronautical material by producing 58 motor and 114 airplane inspectors before end of the war.[vi] 

23 October The General Board of the U.S. Navy completes its report in consideration of the North Sea Mine Barrage and approves the project in conjunction with British acceptance of the barrage, first received by Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson on 17 October.[vii] 

23 October Vice Admiral W. S. Sims writes to Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson explaining a need for increased staff on account of the expanding activities of the war and administrative burdens. Sims outlines the need for a planning staff and how it “could, and would, work in close cooperation with a recently established planning staff of the British Admiralty. By this means close cooperation between the two services could be secured, and facilities furnished for impressing our views on the British Admiralty to a much greater extent than has been possible in the past.” [viii]

_______________

[i] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 20 October 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[ii] Cablegram from Josephus Daniels to W. S. Sims, 20 October 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL; Navy Department, Northern Barrage, 36; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 133.

[iii] Memorandum from W. S. Sims to William S. Benson, on general report, 5 November 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL; Husband, Coast of France, 15; Still, Crisis at Sea, 54.

[iv] Wilson, American Navy in France, 86.

[v] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 22 October 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[vi] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 44.

[vii] Cablegram from Admiralty to Guy R. A. Gaunt, 22 October 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL; Still, Crisis at Sea, 430; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 134.

[viii] Memorandum from W. S. Sims to Josephus Daniels, on need for an increased staff for force commander, 23 October 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[72]

23 October A draft of Navy surgeons, nurses, and enlisted medical personnel arrive in England aboard the troop transport St. Louis.[i] 

24 October President Woodrow Wilson issues Executive Order 2737, correcting a typographic error in Executive Order 2692 regarding defensive sea areas for the terminal ports of the Panama Canal.[ii] 

24 October The first organization of U.S. Naval Aviation Forces, Foreign Service, which evolved from the First Aeronautic Detachment, is established over all naval aviation forces abroad under command of Captain Hutch I. Cone, who relieved Lieutenant Commander Kenneth Whiting.[iii] 

25 October Ground is broken for construction of a mine-loading plant at St. Julien’s Creek, Norfolk Navy Yard, Virginia, for assembly and shipment overseas of all mine barrage material. The 22-building plant, with accompanying barracks, covers an area approximately 3,000- by 800-feet including the wharf. The construction is to be complete by March 1918.[iv] 

25 October The German submarine U-35 scuttles and sinks the schooner Frannie Prescott 50 miles south of Cape Cantin off West Africa.[v] 

26 October The Bureau of Ordnance informs Vice Admiral W. S. Sims that it is preparing to manufacture MK VI mines in sufficient quantity for the contemplated North Sea Mine Barrage, with planned shipment to commence after 1 January 1918.[vi] 

27 October The submarine tender Bushnell (AS-2) and submarines K-1 (SS-32), K-2 (SS-33), K-5 (SS-36), and K-6 (SS-37) arrive in Ponta Delgada, Azores.[vii] 

27 October Steamer D. N. Luckenbach is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-93 in the Bay of Biscay, killing five.[viii] 

27 October USCGC Tampa, arrives at Gibraltar, the last of six Coast Guard cutters sent to Gibraltar for convoy escort work.[ix] 

28 October The homeward-bound Army troopship Finland (ID-4543), commanded by Captain Stephen V. Graham, is torpedoed by the German submarine U-93, killing nine. Graham keeps his vessel afloat and steers her back to Brest, France. He later receives the Distinguished Service Medal for meritorious conduct in saving the ship.[x] 

29 October Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels approves the General Board’s report for working with the British to install the North Sea Mine Barrage.[xi]

______________

[i] Memorandum from W. S. Sims to William S. Benson, on general report, 5 November 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[ii] Executive Order 2737, 24 October 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[iii] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 44; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 30.

[iv] Navy Department, Northern Barrage, 55; Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 117.

[v] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 11.

[vi] Memorandum from Ralph Earle to W. S. Sims, 26 October 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL; Navy Department, Northern Barrage, 61–62.

[vii] Still, Crisis at Sea, 137, 457; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 277.

[viii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 11.

[ix] Larzelere, Coast Guard, 51.

[x] Navy Department, Annual Report 1918, 188–91; Gleaves, Transport Service, 108–110, 168; Wilson, American Navy in France, 147–48; Feuer, Navy in World War I, 30–31; Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 11.

[xi] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 31 October 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL; Navy Department, Northern Barrage, 37; Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 111; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 134.

[73]

29 October Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson cables Vice Admiral W. S. Sims to send “detailed information as to action being taken by French authorities in [the] matter of establishing [of a] high [-frequency] radio station of at least 350 kilowatt[s]. Matter very urgent. If material in this country is necessary, manufacture must be started immediately and rushed with all possible speed.”[i]   

30 October President Woodrow Wilson approves the North Sea Mine Barrage.[ii] 

30 October Rabbi David Goldberg is commissioned and appointed by the Bureau of Navigation as the first Jewish chaplain in the U.S. Navy.[iii] 

31 October At a meeting of Inter-Allied Radio Commission in Paris, the French government expresses favor toward a U.S. Navy idea to establish a high-power radio station in southwest France for transatlantic communication.[iv] 

31 October The Navy Department requests the naval districts take immediate steps to requisition the steamship Massachusetts and passenger steamship Bunker Hill for conversion and commissioning as minelayers, for the inspection of the steamers Harvard (ID-1298) and Yale (ID-1672) to determine if modifications will make them suitable as minelayers, and requisition of four additional steamers for conversion to minelayers.[v] 

1 November Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson cables the Admiralty and reports that the Navy Department concurs in the project for a mine barrier between Scotland and Norway. He further acknowledges that the department has begun to expedite the fitting out of eight vessels as mine layers and expects the first shipment of mines to begin about 15 January.[vi] 

1 November Rear Admiral Henry B. Wilson arrives in Brest, France, to assume command of U.S. Naval Forces in France from Rear Admiral William B. Fletcher.[vii] 

1 November The armed yachts Cythera (SP-575), Druid (SP-321), and Lydonia (SP-700) along with three French submarine chasers sail from Newport News, Virginia, via Bermuda and the Azores for Gibraltar.[viii] 

1 November The troop transport Great Northern (ID-4569) commissions.[ix] 

1 November The Office of the Chief of Naval Operations detaches armored cruiser South Dakota (CA-9) from Division One, Pacific Fleet, and assigns her to Division Two, Cruiser Force, Atlantic Fleet; protected cruiser Raleigh (C-8) is detached from Cruiser Force, Atlantic Fleet, and assigned to Division One, Pacific Fleet.[x] 

2 November Twelve men who had organized as the Second Yale Unit and had taken flight training at their own expense at Buffalo, New York, are commissioned as ensigns in the U.S. Naval Reserve Force, and soon after receive designations as naval aviators.[xi]

______________

[i] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 29 October 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[ii] Navy Department, Northern Barrage, 37.

[iii] Clifford M. Drury, The History of the Chaplain Corps, United States Navy, vol. 1, 1778–1939 (Washington, DC: GPO, 1983), 168.

[iv] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 8 November 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[v] Memorandum from William V. Pratt to Naval Districts Section, about requisition of vessels needed for mine planters, 31 October 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[vi] Navy Department, Northern Barrage, 37.

[vii] Memorandum from W. S. Sims to William S. Benson, on general report, 5 November 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL; Wilson, American Navy in France, 22; Still, Crisis at Sea, 55; Daniels, Years of War and After, 88. 

[viii] Cablegram from OPNAV for W. S. Sims, 27 October 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL; DANFS, entry for Cythera I (S.P. No. 575), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/c/cythera-s-p-no-575-i.html; DANFS, entry for Lydonia, https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/l/lydonia.html.

[ix] D. K. Romig, The United States Ship Great Northern: History of A Troop Transport (New York: Eagle Press, 1919), 7.

[x] Telegram from OPNAV to Commander-in-Chief, Commander Cruiser Force, and Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Fleet, 1 November 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[xi] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 44; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 30.

[74]

2 November Vice Admiral W. S. Sims wires the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations the Admiralty’s report on the suggested organization of bases for the North Sea Mine Barrage. Two American bases, at Invergordon and Inverness, Scotland, are recommended for handling 2,000 and 1,500 mines weekly, respectively. To avoid labor complications, the Admiralty recommends the use of enlisted personnel with each base commanded by a naval commander.[i] 

2 November The German submarine U-95 torpedoes and sinks the steamer Rochester, about 300 miles west of Torry Island, Ireland, killing 23.[ii] 

2 November President Woodrow Wilson issues Executive Order 2748, authorizing the U.S. Shipping Board to take title and possession of the ex-German steam tug Pollux (ID-2573) in the Port of New York and to operate the vessel in the service of the United States.[iii] 

3 November The Office of the Chief of Naval Operations requests Vice Admiral W. S. Sims to transfer 75 men to the receiving ship in Boston, Massachusetts, for assignment aboard the three new destroyers Little (DD-79), Kimberly (DD-80), and Sigourney (DD-81).[iv] 

3 November The armed yachts Artemis (SP-593), May (SP-164), Wenonah (SP-165), Rambler (SP-211), Helenita (SP-210), Margaret (SP-527), and Towanah, towing seven French submarine chasers, sail from New York to Gibraltar via Bermuda and the Azores.[v] 

3 November Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson wires Vice Admiral W. S. Sims that the Bureau of Ordnance is preparing to supply 60,000 MK VI mines and sinkers and that the Navy is obtaining eight minelayers.[vi] 

3 November The Navy Department reports it is able to furnish Naval Armed Guards “without delay” to all vessels taken over for use by the War Department.[vii] 

4 November The passenger barge Empress (SP-569), while under tow from New York City to Newport, Rhode Island, has her seams open up, takes on water, and sinks at sea.[viii] 

4 November The converted armed yacht Margaret (SP-527), commanded by Lieutenant Commander Frank J. Fletcher, sails from Newport, Rhode Island, accompanied by the tender Hannibal (AG-1), and converted armed yachts Helenita (SP-210), May (SP-164), Rambler (SP-211), Utowana (SP-951), and Wenonah (SP-165). Each yacht tows an American-built French submarine chaser.[ix] 

5 November The armed yacht Alcedo (SP-166) is torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine UC-71 off Quiberon Bay, France, killing one officer and 20 enlisted men.[x] 

5 November A draft of 45 men, one of various enlisted ratings for the Queenstown, Ireland forces, and a second draft of 18 officers and 30 mechanics bound for a course of instruction in dirigible work at the Royal Aviation School at Cranwell arrive in Liverpool, England.[xi] 

5 November While towing a submarine chaser destined for European waters, the armed yacht May (SP-164) begins to take on water. Seaman Tedford H. Cann of the Naval Reserve heads below decks into the flooded compartment, locates the leak, and manages to stop it. This act saves the May from sinking, and for this act Cann receives the Medal of Honor, the first Naval Reservist so honored.[xii]

_____________

[i] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 2 November 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[ii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 12.

[iii] Executive Order 2748, 2 November 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[iv] Cablegram from OPNAV to W. S. Sims, 3 November 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[v] Cablegram from OPNAV to W. S. Sims, 27 October 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[vi] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 3 November 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[vii] Memorandum from William S. Benson (signed by Josephus Daniels) to Chief of Embarkation Service, on furnishing Armed Guards to vessels taken over for use of War Department, 3 November 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[viii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 2.

[ix] Stephan D. Regan, “When Frank Jack Met Maggie,” Naval History 25, no. 1 (February 2011): 52–57.

[x] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 1; Navy Department, Annual Report 1918, 191–93; Still, Crisis at Sea, 398–99; Husband, Coast of France, 68; Feuer, Navy in World War I, 32–33; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 106.

[xi] Memorandum from W. S. Sims to William S. Benson, on general report, 5 November 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[xii] “Cann, Tedford H., Ensign USNRF (1896–??),” NHHC, http://www.history.navy.mil/our-collections/photography/us-people/c/cann-tedford-h.html ; William A. DuPuy and John W. Jenkins, The World War and Historic Deeds of Valor from Official Records and Illustrations of the United States and Allied Governments, vol. VI (Chicago: National Historic Pub. Association, 1919), 487; Navy Department, Record of Medals of Honor Issued, 17.

[75]

5 November Captain Hutch I. Cone writes Vice Admiral W. S. Sims and recommends that the Navy Department take up with the War Department at home “the question of getting us priority on all deliveries of material in France as well as in the United States in order that we may get seaplanes operating on patrol against submarines as early as possible.”[i] 

6 November The steamship Massachusetts and passenger steamer Bunker Hill arrive at the Boston Navy Yard (the latter on 10 November) for conversion into the minelayers Shawmut (CM-4) and Aroostook (CM-3), respectively.[ii] 

7 November The Pelham Bay, New York, naval training camp commissions.[iii] 

7 November The Office of the Chief of Naval Operations cables Admiral Austin M. Knight, Commander-in-Chief, Asiatic Fleet, stating that the Navy Department “considers it extremely desirable” for Knight and the armored cruiser Brooklyn (CA-3) to proceed to Vladivostok “to emphasize to the people of the new democracy of Russia the desire of the democracy of the United States to establish and hold the closest possible bonds of understanding and friendship.”[iv] 

7 November Vice Admiral W. S. Sims orders all destroyer flotillas operating in European waters to carry their full allowance of torpedoes.[v] 

7 November The Philippine steamer Villemer is torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine UC-38 in the Mediterranean Sea, killing two.[vi] 

7 November President Woodrow Wilson issues Executive Order 2751, transferring John E. Peters from the list of U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey officers assigned to the War Department to the Navy Department.[vii] 

7 November Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson arrives in London as naval representative for an American mission led by President Woodrow Wilson’s close adviser “Colonel” Edward M. House to attend an inter-Allied conference and meetings with European officials.[viii] 

8 November Lieutenant W. N. Corry Jr. assumes command of the naval air station at Le Croisic, France.[ix] 

8 November Lieutenant Earl W. Spencer arrives at North Island, San Diego, California, under orders to establish and command a station for the purpose of training pilots and mechanics and conducting coastal patrols. This marks the beginning of Naval Air Station North Island.[x]

_____________

[i] Memorandum from Hutch I. Cone to W. S. Sims, on priority in delivery of material, 5 November 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[ii] Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 124.

[iii] Besch, “Navy Second to None,” 201.

[iv] Cablegram from OPNAV to Austin M. Knight, 7 November 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[v] Memorandum from W. S. Sims (signed by J. R. P. Pringle) to U.S. Destroyer Flotillas Operating in European Waters, on full allowance of torpedoes to be carried on board, 7 November 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[vi] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 12.

[vii] Executive Order 2751, 7 November 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[viii] David F. Trask, Captains and Cabinets: Anglo-American Naval Relations, 19171918 (Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 1972), 173–74.

[ix] Memorandum from W. S. Sims to Josephus Daniels, on aviation—weekly report of operations, 17 November 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[x] Paolo Enrico Coletta and Karl Jack Bauer, United States Navy and Marine Corps Bases, Domestic (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1985), 561.

[76]

9 November Permission is received from the Argentine Government to use three Argentine naval officers, recently qualified as U.S. naval aviators, as instructors in the ground school at Pensacola, Florida.[i] 

9 November After meeting with First Sea Lord Admiral Sir John Jellicoe, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson recommends to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels sending one division of coal-burning Utah (BB-31)–class dreadnoughts to join the Grand Fleet and be relieved later by another division “until all of the fleet has had the experience or until conditions change.”[ii] 

9 November The tender Hannibal (AG-1), converted armed yachts Margaret (SP-527), Helenita (SP-210), May (SP-164), Rambler (SP-211), Utowana (SP-951), and Wenonah (SP-165), and six submarine chasers arrive in Hamilton, Bermuda.[iii] 

9 November The Philippine steamship Rizal is torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-39 in the Mediterranean Sea, nine miles from Cape Cavallo, Corsica.[iv] 

10 November A Navy N-9 “flying bomb” manufactured by Glenn H. Curtiss is delivered for testing. Essentially an aerial torpedo, it was designed for automatic operation, carrying 1,000 pounds of explosives at range of 50 miles with top speed of 90 miles per hour.[v] 

10 November The U.S. Navy began assigning Coast Guard officers to six seized German and Austrian cruise liners being converted into troop transports.[vi] 

10 November Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson cables Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels and recommends that the Navy Department dispatch four coal-burning battleships for service with the Grand Fleet.[vii] 

10 November Vice Admiral W. S. Sims issues Campaign Order No. 2 for U.S. Naval Forces Operating in European Waters. In addition to the elements of Campaign Order No. 1, Sims orders the Azores Detachment to deny the islands to enemy submarines and operate offensively against such vessels when reported in the vicinity as far as the capabilities and radius of action permit.[viii] 

10 November Redesigns for the sinker or anchor for the MK VI mine are completed and readied for submission to prospective bidders.[ix] 

10 November Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels assigns all officers and men of the Navy serving in Army transports to be under the direction of the Commander Cruiser Force, Atlantic Fleet.[x] 

11 November The Bureau of Navigation establishes a mine force training camp at Cloyne Field Barracks, Newport, Rhode Island, to train personnel for what will become Mine Squadron One, which will install the North Sea Mine Barrage.[xi]

11 November The cargo ship Pensacola (ID-2078/AK-7), transporting lubricating oil, naval stores, and senior naval officials bound for France, sails for the Azores from Virginia.[xii] 

11 November Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson recommends to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels that Rear Admiral W. S. Sims be ordered as Naval Attaché in London in addition to his other duties. Captain William D. MacDougall is to be relieved, ordered home, and assigned to other duty.[xiii]

____________

[i] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 44; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 30.

[ii] Cablegram from William S. Benson (via W. S. Sims) to OPNAV, 9 November 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[iii] Regan, “When Frank Jack Met Maggie.”

[iv] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 12.

[v] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 45.

[vi] Larzelere, Coast Guard, xviii.

[vii] Jones, Battleship Operations, 16; Still, Crisis at Sea, 412.

[viii] United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, “Campaign Order No. 2,” 10 November 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[ix] Navy Department, Northern Barrage, 47.

[x] Memorandum from Josephus Daniels to Commander-in-Chief, Atlantic Fleet, Commander, Cruiser Force, Atlantic Fleet, Commandants of the New York and Norfolk Navy Yards, All Bureaus, Senior Naval Officers on Board all Army transports, and Chief of Embarkation Service, U.S. Army, on status of officers and men serving on army transports, 10 November 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[xi] Navy Department, Northern Barrage, 76–78. 

[xii] Cablegram from OPNAV to W. S. Sims, 14 November 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL. 

[xiii] Cablegram from William S. Benson (via W. S. Sims) to OPNAV, 11 November 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[77]

12 November The Navy Department selects battleships New York (BB-34), Florida (BB-30), Delaware (BB-28), and Wyoming (BB-32) as the four coal-burning battleships to form the division to be sent to Scapa Flow, Scotland, commanded by Rear Admiral Hugh Rodman.[i] 

12 November The cargo ship Gulfport (SP-2989), unprotected cruiser Schurz (formerly SMS Geier), and Submarine Division 3, composed of the K-boats K-3 (SS-34), K-4 (SS-35), K-7 (SS-38), and K-8 (SS-39), arrive in San Diego, California, after 12 days of non-stop sailing.[ii] 

12 November Rear Admiral Ralph Earle, Chief of the Bureau of Ordnance, writes Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson and suggests mounting 14-inch naval guns along the French coast. “Manned by our seamen, a battery of four of these guns might not be a bad answer to the long-range German bombardment of Dunkirk,” stated Earle.[iii] 

12 November Rear Admiral Albert P. Niblack arrives in London.[iv] 

13 November Rear Admiral Hugh Rodman assumes command of the Atlantic Fleet’s Battleship Division Nine.[v] 

13 November Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels orders that no American vessel carrying a Naval Armed Guard shall enter or pass through Norwegian territorial waters.[vi] 

14 November Secretary of War Newton D. Baker approves a recommendation “that priority be given by the War Department to naval needs for aviation material necessary to equip and arm seaplane bases.”[vii] 

14 November The Navy Department assigns Rear Admiral Herbert O. Dunn as the senior naval officer at the U.S. Naval Base in the Azores.[viii] 

14 November In a meeting with Admiral Sir David Beatty and other senior British naval officers, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson reports to the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations that “investigation shows decided inferiority of destroyers with main fleet compared to the number that could be sent out by Germany. Every possible effort should be made to speed up our destroyer construction.”[ix] 

16 November The Morgan Line steamer El Dia arrives at the Tietjan and Lang’s shipyard, Hoboken, New Jersey, for conversion into the minelayer Roanoke (ID-1695). The cargo ship El Rio, converted to minelayer Housatonic (SP-1697), arrives on 25 November.[x] 

16 November The German submarine U-151 shells and sinks schooner Margaret L. Roberts off Madeira, Portugal.[xi] 

16 November With deployment of Battleship Division Nine, the Bureaus of Navigation and Operations establish a new policy. The mission of vessels of Battleship Force Two shall be to maintain themselves in instant readiness for battle. The immediate mission for Battleship Force One is to train officers and men for service on other vessels. It is to maintain a permanent nucleus of organization for both officers and men to maintain material in constant readiness and permit rapid preparation for battle when the battle complement is assigned. Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson approves the policy on 18 November.[xii]

_________________

[i] Cablegram from Josephus Daniels to William S. Benson, 12 November 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[ii] DANFS, entry for Schurz, https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/s/schurz.html.

[iii] Navy Department, Office of Naval Records and Library, Historical Section, The United States Naval Railway Batteries in France (Washington, DC: GPO, 1922; reprint, Washington, DC: Naval Historical Center, 1988), 2–3; Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 270.

[iv] Memorandum from W. S. Sims to William Benson, on general report, 15 November 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[v] Jones, Battleship Operations, 25.

[vi] Circular letter from Josephus Daniels to Commandants of Boston, Washington, New Orleans, New York, Norfolk, San Francisco, Portsmouth, Philadelphia, Charleston, and Puget Sound Navy Yards, on armed guard ships to keep outside of Norwegian territorial waters, 13 November 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[vii] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 45; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 30.

[viii] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 14 November 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[ix] Cablegram from William S. Benson (via W. S. Sims) to OPNAV, 14 November 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[x] Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 123–24.

[xi] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 12.

[xii] Cablegram from William V. Pratt to William S. Benson, 16 November 1917; cablegram from William S. Benson to OPNAV, 18 November 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[78]

16 November Secretary of Navy Josephus Daniels orders the establishment of a torpedo repair station at Queenstown, Ireland, to later consist of three officers and 23 men. The initial force will sail from the United States on 17 December to open the station with a capacity to maintain 130 torpedoes. Work on the station will commence on 30 December.[i] 

17 November Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels cables Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson, then overseas in London, that “After thinking carefully subject feel that it would be to advantage if we have a permanent War Staff in England, as part of the plans department of the Admiralty.”[ii] 

17 November The destroyers Fanning (DD-37) and Nicholson (DD-52) sink the German submarine U-58, the first U.S. Navy U-boat sinking of the war and first time U.S. Navy warships sink a submarine in combat (CSS H. L. Hunley notwithstanding); 38 of 40 crewmembers of the U-58 survive and became prisoners of war. Captain F. D. Berrien, commander of Nicholson, and Lieutenant Commander A. S. Carpender, commander of Fanning, each receive the Distinguished Service Medal for the destruction of U-58.[iii] 

17 November Captain Hutch I. Cone recommends to Vice Admiral W. S. Sims the location of two additional naval air stations at Treguier and L’Aber-Vrach, France. The bases are approved on 22 November.[iv] 

17 November The Navy supplied Italy with 5-inch, 51-caliber guns for defense of Venice and for use on the Piave front.[v] 

18 November The bark John H. Kirby is captured and sunk by the German raider SMS Wolf in the Pacific Ocean.[vi] 

18 November U.S. Navy Tellier seaplanes from LeCroisic, France, at the mouth of the Loire River, begin the first Navy aerial coastal patrols over European waters.[vii] 

18 November The converted armed yachts Artemis (SP-593), Cythera (SP-575), Lydonia (SP-700), Margaret (SP-527), May (SP-164), Rambler (SP-211), and Wenonah (SP-165) together with tender Hannibal (AG-1) and six submarine chasers sail from Bermuda bound for the Azores.[viii] 

19 November The destroyer Chauncey (DD-3) is accidentally rammed and sunk by the British merchant steamship Rose 110 miles west of Gibraltar, killing three officers and 18 men.[ix] 

19 November A fire practically destroys the No. 2 solvent recovery house along with 58,000 pounds of powder at the Naval Powder Factory at Indian Head, Maryland.[x] 

19 November Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson authorizes creation of the American Naval Planning Section, London, for facilitating joint operations and obtaining the latest British and Allied information. He urges use as joint plans such plans as American estimates and policy may indicate.[xi]

_______________

[i] Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 169.

[ii] Senate Subcommittee on Naval Affairs, Naval Investigation Hearings, vol. I, 66th Cong., 2d sess., 1921: 226.

[iii] Cooney, Chronology of the U.S. Navy, 227; Stringer, Distinguished Service, 22–23; Still, Crisis at Sea, 402–403; Feuer, Navy in World War I, 23–24; Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 103–104.

[iv] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 17 November 1917; cablegram from W. S. Sims to Hutch I. Cone, 22 November 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[v] Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 62, 270. The same document says guns were delivered in September 1917.

[vi] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 7.

[vii] Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 31.

[viii] Regan, “When Frank Jack Met Maggie;” DANFS, entry for Wenonah I (S.P. 165), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/w/wenonah-i.html.

[ix] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 5; Navy Department, Annual Report 1918, 210–11; Still, Crisis at Sea, 395; Feuer, Navy in World War I, 22–23.

[x] Navy Department, Annual Report 1918, 498.

[xi] Navy Department, The American Naval Planning Section London (Washington, DC: GPO, 1923), 489.

[79]

20 November The armed yachts Kanawha II (SP-130), Wakiva II (SP-160), and Noma (SP-131), sailing from Quiberon Bay, France, spot a submarine periscope and depth charge the position. Oil, air bubbles, and wreckage are observed after the attack.[i] 

20 November Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels wires Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson to report that the Italian government has requested fuel oil, naval mines and personnel to assemble them, American-crewed submarine chasers. The government also requests the establishment of aviation bases in Italy furnishing both the aircraft and personnel to operate them in the waters in and around the country.[ii] 

20 November Vice Admiral W. S. Sims assumes additional duty as U.S. Naval Attaché, London.[iii] 

21 November The Navy N-9 flying bomb is demonstrated at Amityville, Long Island, New York before Army Major General George O. Squier, Chief Signal Officer. The Army subsequently establishes a parallel aerial torpedo project.[iv] 

21 November The Navy Department wires Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson that Captain Frank H. Schofield and Commander Dudley W. Knox will be ordered to London to serve on the London Planning Section under Vice Admiral W. S. Sims.[v] 

21 November The steamer Schuylkill is torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-39 in the Mediterranean Sea, about 15 miles east of Tenes Light, Cape Tenes, Algeria.[vi] 

21 November The Navy Department requests the State Department to obtain permission from the Portuguese government to dispatch Rear Admiral Herbert O. Dunn and his staff to Ponta Delgada in the Azores to temporarily command the naval base there while also sending one aviation company of 90 men with aircraft and 50 marines for sentry and guard duty.[vii] 

22 November During the first armed patrol by U.S. naval aviators in European waters, a Tellier seaplane, piloted by Ensign Kenneth R. Smith with Electrician’s Mate Wilkinson and Machinist’s Mate Brady on board, is forced down at sea while investigating reported German submarines south of Belle Isle, France. The crew is rescued two days later.[viii] 

22 November President Woodrow Wilson approves “Rules for Naval Convoy of Military Expeditions” formulated by a joint Army and Navy Board.[ix] 

22 November The Morgan Line steamer El Siglo arrives at the Morse Shipyard, South Brooklyn, New York, for conversion into the minelayer Canandaigua (ID-1694). The cargo ship El Cid arrives on 24 November for conversion into the minelayer Canonicus (ID-1696).[x]

______________

[i] Wilson, American Navy in France, 148–49.

[ii] Cablegram from Josephus Daniels to William S. Benson, 20 November 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[iii] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 20 November 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[iv] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 45; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 31.

[v] Senate Subcommittee on Naval Affairs, Naval Investigation Hearings, vol. I, 66th Cong., 2d sess., 1921: 227.

[vi] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 12.

[vii] Cablegram from OPNAV to William S. Benson, 21 November 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[viii] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 45; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 31.

[ix] “Rules for Naval Convoy of Military Expeditions,” 22 November 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[x] Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 124.

[80]

22 November The collier Ajax (AC-14), protected cruiser Cincinnati (C-7), and monitor Monterey (BM-6) arrive in Guam; Cincinnati then sails for Honolulu. The submarine tender Cheyenne (BM-10) and two H-class submarines arrive at Key West, Florida.[i] 

22 November The destroyer Conyngham (DD-58) removes the crew of the British steamer Hartland after the vessel is torpedoed.[ii] 

23 November The armored cruiser Brooklyn (CA-3) arrives at Vladivostok, Russia, on a diplomatic visit after the Bolshevik Revolution.[iii] 

23 November The armored cruiser Saratoga (CA-2) sails from the Canal Zone for Hampton Roads, Virginia.[iv] 

23 November Commander O. G. Murfin, representative of the Bureau of Ordnance, arrives in London to command the U.S. Mine Force and oversee all matters relating to the establishment of U.S. naval mine depots in Great Britain.[v] 

24 November The destroyer Wainwright (DD-62) collides with the British steamer Chicago City in the early morning hours while at sea. The damage to the destroyer requires nearly three weeks to repair.[vi] 

24 November The General Ordnance Co. begins production of the Y Gun, which is designed to throw two depth charges simultaneously to port and starboard of a destroyer or submarine chaser’s stern.[vii] 

24 November The American steamer Actaeon is torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine UB-58 about 150 miles north-northwest of Cape Finisterre, Spain, killing four.[viii] 

24 November Vice Admiral W. S. Sims writes to Rear Admiral Henry B. Wilson that “In carrying out the policy of sending Officers from Queenstown [Ireland] to bring out new destroyers, it is desired to also give Officers who are serving in other Destroyers and Yachts the same opportunity.” Sims requests that Wilson submit a list of five commanding officers of yachts for transfer to command of Queenstown destroyers provided the selections are governed by length of service in European waters and seniority.[ix] 

25 November Ground is broken at Gulfport, Mississippi, for construction of a 2,000-man naval training camp.[x] 

25 November Battleship Division Nine—the coal-burning New York (BB-34), Delaware (BB-28), Florida (BB-30), and Wyoming (BB-32)—departed Hampton Roads, Virginia, for Scapa Flow, Scotland. Aboard Delaware are Commander Richard H. Leigh and a party of four technical experts, two officers, and six enlisted men who are trained listeners in the C-Tube underwater listening apparatus. With the men are six sets of C-Tubes, six sets of C-Tubes for installation through the bottoms of vessels, four sets of K-Tubes, four sets of radio telephones, and one Mason detection device for testing and demonstration in European waters.[xi]

________________

[i] Cablegram from William V. Pratt to OPNAV, 28 November 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[ii] DANFS, entry for Conyngham I (Destroyer No. 58), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/c/conyngham-i.html.

[iii] Cablegram from William V. Pratt to OPNAV, 28 November 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[iv] Ibid.

[v] Navy Department, Northern Barrage, 63.

[vi] DANFS, entry for Wainwright I (Destroyer No. 62), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/w/wainwright-i.html; memorandum from Chief of Staff to W. S. Sims to William S. Benson, on general report, 8 December 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[vii] Malcolm Llewellyn-Jones, The Royal Navy and Anti-Submarine Warfare, 1917–49 (London: Routledge, 2006), 161.

[viii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 12.

[ix] Memorandum from W. S. Sims to Henry B. Wilson, on commissioned personnel of new destroyers, 24 November 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[x] Navy Department, Yards and Docks, 74.

[xi] Jones, Battleship Operations, 26; Feuer, Navy in World War I, 12, 40; Still, Crisis at Sea, 412; cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 19 November 1917; cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 26 November 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[81]

25 November A high-power radio station at Nantes, France, commences operations. It is reserved for communication ships and Atlantic shore stations beyond the range of French coastal stations.[i] 

25 November Rear Admiral Henry B. Wilson is ordered to command U.S. Naval Forces in France; Rear Admiral Albert P. Niblack receives orders to replace Wilson as commander of U.S. Naval Force in the Mediterranean.[ii] 

26 November The Navy Department approves construction of five 14-inch railway mounts and complete support trains for five 14-inch, 50-caliber MK IV Navy rifles. A sixth train is constructed to accommodate staff to communicate between batteries.[iii] 

26 November The British steamship Crenella is torpedoed while under escort. The destroyer Cushing (DD-55) helps chase away the assailant and escorts the damaged steamer to Queenstown, Ireland.[iv] 

27 November Naval Air Station Lecroisic, France, is commissioned with Lieutenant William M. Corry in command.[v] 

27 November The destroyers Roe (DD-24) and Monaghan (DD-32) arrive at Brest from St. Nazaire, France.[vi] 

27 November The first draft of men of the U.S. Mine Force sent to install the North Sea Mine Barrage arrives in Liverpool, England.[vii] 

27 November The cargo ship Gulfport (SP-2989), unprotected cruiser Schurz (formerly SMS Geier), and submarines K-3 (SS-34), K-4 (SS-35), K-7 (SS-38), and K-8 (SS-39) sail for the Canal Zone from Hawaii via San Diego, California.[viii] 

28 November Construction is completed on the Naval Aircraft Factory, Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania.[ix] 

28 November The armed yachts Noma (SP-131) and Wakiva II (SP-160) spot and attack two enemy submarines on the surface off the French coast. Lieutenant Commander Lamar R. Leahy of Noma is awarded the Navy Cross for his actions.[x] 

28 November The Fifteenth Naval District is formed with Captain Leonard R. Sargent as its first commandant. The district encompasses the waters adjacent to the Canal Zone exclusive of the inner Defensive Sea Areas. The district will maintain patrols for possible enemy submarine activity threatening the Panama Canal’s safety.[xi] 

28 November The American tanker Albert Watts strikes a mine or is torpedoed by an enemy submarine 50 miles west of Genoa, Italy. The damage caused a gasoline leak, which the next day caught fire, eventually sinking the tanker with the loss of one crewmember.[xii]

______________

[i] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 29 November 1917, Cablegram from William V. Pratt to OPNAV, 28 November 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[ii] Still, Crisis at Sea, 479.

[iii] Navy Department, Naval Railway Batteries, 4; Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 270.

[iv] DANFS, entry for Cushing II (Destroyer No. 55), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/c/cushing-destroyer-no-55-ii.html.

[v] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 45.

[vi] Husband, Coast of France, 16.

[vii] Navy Department, Northern Barrage, 64.

[viii] Cablegram from William V. Pratt to OPNAV, 28 November 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[ix] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 35; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 239.

[x] Husband, Coast of France, 69–72; Stringer, Distinguished Service, 94; Feuer, Navy in World War I, 26; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 106–107.

[xi] Donald A. Yerxa, “The United States Navy in Caribbean Waters During World War II” Military Affairs vol. 51, no. 4 (October 1987): 184.

[xii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 18.

[82]

29–30 November The Allied Naval Conference is held in Paris with France, England, Italy, Japan, the United States, and Greece in attendance. The participants agree to constitute an Inter-Allied Naval Council with Vice Admiral W. S. Sims as the American representative.[i] 

1 December Naval Air Station Pauillac, France, commissions as an assembly, repair, and supply station for all French-based U.S. naval air stations. Ensign R. F. Nourse is acting commander.[ii] 

1 December The Navy Department issues its official doctrine: “a bond of mutual understanding . . . to coordinate decisions and to promote prompt and united action.” The general doctrines published “will be regarded by all ranks as a basis for decisions before and during battle.” It also includes command and action doctrines.[iii] 

2 December The Navy Department takes possession of the Old Dominion Line steamer Jefferson for conversion into the minelayer Quinnebaug (ID-1687) at the Robbins Repair Yard, Erie Basin, South Brooklyn, New York.[iv] 

3 December The second draft of men of the U.S. Mine Force shipped out to install the North Sea Mine Barrage arrives in Liverpool.[v] 

4 December Naval Air Station Cape May, New Jersey, commissions as a seaplane and lighter-than-air patrol station.[vi] 

4 December The gunboat Palos (PG-16) puts Lieutenant (j.g.) E. T. Short and 23 men ashore to protect the American consulate in Chungking, China. The men return to Palos on 6 December.[vii] 

5 December The destroyer Warrington (DD-30) arrives in Brest, France.[viii] 

5 December The German submarine UB-80 torpedoes the U.S. steamer Armenia in the English Channel. The ship is beached and salvaged.[ix] 

5 December Vice Admiral W. S. Sims cables the Bureau of Yards and Docks requesting that five 4,000-ton fuel oil tanks be installed at Brest for fueling American naval vessels in French waters.[x] 

5 December A flotilla of armed yachts and six submarine chasers arrives in the Azores.[xi] 

5 December The U.S. Atlantic Fleet publishes Standing Order No. 3, “Submarine Offensive; Doctrine,” clarifying doctrine for antisubmarine and non-antisubmarine vessels in the fleet.[xii] 

6 December At 9:04 a.m., the French cargo ship SS Mont-Blanc explodes in Halifax harbor, Nova Scotia, after colliding with the Norwegian steamer SS Imo. Considered one of the largest man-made non-atomic explosions in history, the blast kills approximately 2,000 residents and sailors in and around the harbor. While at sea passing Halifax to the United States, protected cruiser Tacoma (C-18) and troopship Von Steuben (ID-3017) are struck by shock waves from the blast and change course for the harbor. Over the next three days they assist with relief work for the port community.[xiii]

_______________

[i] Letter from William S. Benson to Josephus Daniels, 1 December 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[ii] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 45; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 31; Still, Crisis at Sea, 124.

[iii] Navy Department, “Doctrine,” signed by William S. Benson, 1 December 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[iv] Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 124.

[v] Navy Department, Northern Barrage, 64.

[vi] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 45.

[vii] Tolley, Yangtze Patrol, 80.

[viii] Wilson, American Navy in France, 27.

[ix] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 12.

[x] Navy Department, Yards and Docks, 360.

[xi] Regan, “When Frank Jack Met Maggie;” DANFS, entry for Wenonah I (S.P. 165), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/w/wenonah-i.html.

[xii] U.S. Atlantic Fleet, Standing Order No. 3, “Submarine Offensive; Doctrine,” 5 December 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[xiii] Laura M. MacDonald, Curse of the Narrows: The Halifax Disaster of 1917 (New York: HarperCollins, 2005), 70–71; DANFS, entry for Tacoma II (Cruiser No. 18), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/t/tacoma-ii.html.

[83]

6 December The destroyer Jacob Jones (DD-61) is torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-53 near Isles of Scilly, England. Two officers and 62 enlisted men are killed, and two—Ship’s Cook 1st Class Francis Murphy and Seaman 2nd Class Albert DeMello—are taken prisoner. Three and a half hours after the sinking, the British steamer Catalina recovered seven survivors and radioed news of the sinking.[i 

6 December The Navy Department takes possession of the Old Dominion Line steamer Hamilton for conversion into the minelayer Saranac (ID-1702) at the James Shewan and Sons’ Repair Yard, South Brooklyn, New York.[ii] 

7 December The United States declares war on the Austro-Hungarian Empire.[iii] 

7 December Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson orders the removal of two 5-inch guns, mounts, accessories, and spare parts from the battleships Kearsarge (BB-5), Kentucky (BB-6), Arkansas (BB-33), Texas (BB-35), Nevada (BB-36), Oklahoma (BB-37), Pennsylvania (BB-38), and Arizona (BB-39); four 5-inch guns, mounts, accessories, and spare parts from Utah (BB-31) and North Dakota (BB-29); four 6-inch guns, mounts, accessories, and spare parts from Virginia (BB-13); Nebraska (BB-14), Georgia (BB-15), New Jersey (BB-16), and Rhode Island (BB-17),  and two 3-inch, 50-caliber guns, mounts, accessories, and spare parts from Virginia, Nebraska, Georgia, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Connecticut (BB-18), Louisiana (BB-19), Vermont (BB-20), Kansas (BB-21), Minnesota (BB-22), New Hampshire (BB-25), South Carolina (BB-26), and Michigan (BB-27).[iv] 

7 December The British sloop Camellia recovers the main body of the destroyer Jacob Jones’s (DD-61) survivors after a frigid night in open boats. Several died of exposure. A British patrol picked up the last of the survivors four hours later near the Isles of Scilly.[v] 

7 December Battleship Division Nine—Delaware (BB-28), Florida (BB-30), Wyoming (BB-32), and New York (BB-34)—under the command of Rear Admiral Hugh Rodman, arrives at Scapa Flow in the Orkneys to join the Royal Navy’s Grand Fleet.[vi] 

7 December The minelayers Massachusetts (ID-1255/CM-4)—renamed Shawmut in January 1918­—and Aroostook (CM-3) are commissioned at the Boston Navy Yard, Massachusetts, and destined for the North Sea Mine Barrage project. Shawmut will be renamed Oglala in 1928 and sunk at Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941.[vii] 

7 December Fighter-type aircraft development is initiated with Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels’s authorization for the Curtiss HA, or “Dunkirk Fighter.” The single-pontoon seaplane is equipped with dual synchronized machine guns forward and dual flexible machine guns in the rear cockpit.[viii] 

7 December Naval Aeronautic Station Pensacola, Florida, is re-designated as a Naval Air Station.[ix]

______________

[i] Memorandum from Chief of Staff to W. S. Sims to William S. Benson, on general report, 8 December 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL; Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 1; Navy Department, Annual Report 1918, 193–96; Still, Crisis at Sea, 399; Feuer, Navy in World War I, 21–22.

[ii] Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 124.

[iii] Cablegram from Robert Lansing to American Embassy, London, 7 December 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL; Navy Department, Office of Naval Records and Library, Historical Section, Digest Catalogue of Laws and Joint Resolutions: The Navy and the World War (Washington, DC: GPO, 1920), 7.

[iv] Radiogram from Bureau of Ordnance to Commander-in-Chief, 7 December 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[v] DANFS, entry for Jacob Jones I (DD-61), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/j/jacob-jones-i.html.

[vi] Cooney, Chronology of the U.S. Navy, 227; Jones, Battleship Operations, 27; Feuer, Navy in World War I, 12; Still, Crisis at Sea, 411.

[vii] Navy Department, Northern Barrage, 75; DANFS, entry for Oglala, (CM-4), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/o/oglala.html.

[viii] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 45; Cooney, Chronology of the U.S. Navy, 227; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 31.

[ix] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 45; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 31.

[84]

7 December The Bureau of Ordnance issues orders for the removal of 20 5-inch, 51-caliber; 20 6-inch, 50-caliber; 4 5-inch, 50-caliber; and 26 3-inch, 50-caliber guns from the fleet for use on merchant men.[i] 

8 December The patrol boat Rush (SP-712) strikes a submerged log at the entrance of the back channel of League Island Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, and is later salvaged.[ii] 

8 December The Bureau of Ordnance awards the first contract for depth charge throwing Y Guns to the General Ordnance Company of Groton, Connecticut, although work had begun on 24 November in advance of the contract. The first deliveries are made on 10 December.[iii] 

9 December The schooner barge Washington (SP-1241) runs aground and sinks at the entrance to Ambrose Channel between New York and New Jersey.[iv] 

10 December An enemy submarine torpedoes and sinks the steamer Owasco in the Mediterranean Sea, killing two.[v] 

10 December The Navy Department takes delivery of the first Y Guns.[vi] 

11 December The submarine tender Bushnell (AS-2), tugs Genesee (AT-55), Conestoga (SP-1128), and Lykens (SP-876/AT-56), and submarines L-1 (SS-40), L-2 (SS-41), L-3 (SS-42), L-4 (SS-43), L-9 (SS-49), L-10 (SS-50), L-11 (SS-51), and E-1 (SS-24) sail from Newport, Rhode Island, to the Azores. E-1 is ordered to remain there, while Bushnell and the L-class boats proceed to Queenstown, Ireland. The tugs return to the United States.[vii] 

12 December The motor boat Elizabeth (SP-972) collides with the American steamer Northland and sinks in the harbor at Norfolk, Virginia. Two are killed, but the vessel is salvaged.[viii] 

13 December Vice Admiral W. S. Sims relieves Captain William D. MacDougall as Naval Attaché in London.[ix] 

14 December Battleship Division Nine is assigned to the Grand Fleet as the Sixth Battle Squadron. Rear Admiral Hugh Rodman recommends to Vice Admiral W. S. Sims that Texas (BB-35) be added to the division.[x] 

15 December Vice Admiral W. S. Sims visits the Sixth Battle Squadron at Scapa Flow, Scotland.[xi] 

15–16 December During severe weather while at sea, the destroyers Ammen (DD-35), Parker (DD-48), Paulding (DD-22), and Sampson (DD-63) suffer the loss of funnels and masts.[xii] 

16 December The destroyer Benham (DD-49) recovers four boat loads of survivors from the British steamer Foylemore. The destroyer made the recovery in adverse weather conditions that later devolved into a whole gale. She disembarked the survivors and weathered the storm at Falmouth, England.[xiii]

______________

[i] Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 44.

[ii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 2.

[iii] Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 106.

[iv] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 2.

[v] Ibid., 12.

[vi] Llewellyn-Jones, Royal Navy, 161.

[vii] Cablegram from OPNAV to W. S. Sims, 13 November 1917; cablegram from OPNAV to W. S. Sims, 4 December 1917; cablegram from W. S. Sims to Herbert O. Dunn, 11 December 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[viii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 5.

[ix] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 13 December 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[x] Cablegram from Hugh Rodman to W. S. Sims, 14 December 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[xi] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to Hugh Rodman, 15 December 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[xii] Memorandum from W. S. Sims to William S. Benson, on general report, 31 December 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[xiii] DANFS, entry for Benham I (Destroyer No. 49), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/b/benham-i.html.

[85]

17 December The troopship Leviathan (ID-1326) leaves her pier in Hoboken, New Jersey, for her first journey across the Atlantic, carrying 7,254 troops and 2,000 sailors to Liverpool, England. She arrives on 24 December.[i] 

17 December Submarine F-1 (SS-20) is rammed and sunk by F-3 (SS-22) off San Pedro, California; 19 enlisted men are killed.[ii] 

17 December The torpedo repair base is established at Queenstown, Ireland, after Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels ordered its establishment on 16 November.[iii] 

17 December Caught in a violent gale while patrolling in the Bay of Biscay, the armed yacht Remlik (SP-157) sights a submarine, which submerges before the gun crew could fire a shot. As the waves broke over her stern, a depth charge broke free and began rolling around on deck, its safety pin having worked loose. Amid the storm, Chief Boatswain’s Mate John MacKenzie dashed out and secured the weapon while other crew members lashed it down, potentially preventing a detonation and loss of the ship. For his heroism, he receives the Medal of Honor.[iv] 

17 December The Armed yacht Nokomis (SP-609/PY-6) with tugs Nahant (SP-1250) and Penobscot (SP-982), towing three French submarine chasers, sail from Philadelphia for Gibraltar by way of Bermuda and the Azores.[v] 

18 December Naval Air Station Key West, Florida, is established, Lieutenant Stanley V. Parker, USCG, commanding.[vi] 

18 December The battleship Mississippi (BB-41) is commissioned under command of Captain Joseph L. Jayne.[vii] 

19 December At the suggestion of the Admiralty, American L-class submarines are designated “AL” while serving in European waters so as to avoid confusion with British L-class submarines. U.S. Naval Forces Operating in European Waters issues an official statement about this change on 22 December.[viii] 

19 December The monitor Monterey (BM-6) in tow by collier Ajax (AC-14) arrives at Pearl Harbor Naval Station. The monitor will serve as station ship at Pearl Harbor for the remainder of World War I.[ix] 

20 December The armed yacht Galatea (SP-714), tug Concord (SP-773), and two submarine chasers arrive at Bermuda.[x] 

20 December An enemy submarine torpedoes the steamer Suruga in the Mediterranean Sea off Santa Stefano, Italy, near San Remo, one mile from shore. The ship is beached and salvaged.[xi] 

20 December Congress passes legislation authorizing each senator and representative in Congress to appoint an additional candidate for commissioning at the U.S. Naval Academy, increasing the total to five midshipmen per member of Congress. The legislation also authorizes the Secretary of the Navy to appoint 100 midshipmen from the enlisted ranks.[xii]

______________

[i] History of the U.S.S. Leviathan, 56, 61–62.

[ii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 5.

[iii] Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 169, 270.

[iv] Daniels, Our Navy at War, 112–13; William A. DuPuy and John W. Jenkins, The World War and Historic Deeds of Valor from Official Records and Illustrations of the United States and Allied Governments, vol. VI (Chicago: National Historic Pub. Association, 1919), 487; Navy Department, Record of Medals of Honor Issued, 69.

[v] Cablegram from OPNAV to W. S. Sims, 18 December 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[vi] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 45; Larzelere, Coast Guard, 149.

[vii] DANFS, entry for Mississippi II (Battleship No. 41), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/m/mississippi-iii.html.

[viii] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 19 December 1917; U.S. Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, Office Memorandum No. 25, 22 December 1917,  Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[ix] DANFS, entry for Monterey II (Monitor No. 6), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/m/monterey-ii.html.

[x] Cablegram from OPNAV to W. S. Sims, 24 December 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[xi] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 12.

[xii] An Act to Increase the Number of Midshipmen at the United States Naval Academy, Public Law 65-93, U.S. Statutes at Large 40 (1917): 430; Navy Department, Annual Report 1918, 74.

[86]

22 December The submarine chaser SC-117 burns off Fortress Monroe, Virginia, lighthouse.[i] 

22 December The armed yacht Venetia (SP-431), tugs Barnegat (SP-1232) and Gypsum Queen (SP-430), and five submarine chasers sail for European waters.[ii] 

23 December The armed yacht Nokomis (SP-609/PY-6), tugs Nahant (SP-1250) and Penobscot (SP-982), and three submarine chasers arrive at Bermuda.[iii] 

24 December Henry Ford writes to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels proposing the production of fabricated boats, up to 500 in number. Ford wrote, “We will undertake the construction of these boats with all possible speed, and deliver them to the U.S. Government without profit to us.” This proposal results in the creation of the “Eagle” boats.[iv] 

26 December American Naval Planning Section, London, forms at the headquarters of the Force Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Operating in European Waters.[v] 

27 December The Q-ship Santee is torpedoed, possibly by the German submarine U-105, off Queenstown, Ireland. Santee is damaged but made port.[vi] 

28 December Lieutenant (j.g.) F. P. Culbert assumes command of the U.S. Naval Aviation Forces, Foreign Service, Centre des Dirigibles, Paimboeuf, France.[vii] 

28 December U.S. Naval Forces Operating in European Waters issues Force Instructions No. 4, regarding organization and communications among forces in the war zones.[viii] 

28 December By agreement between the Department of the Treasury and the Navy Department, the Office of Naval Intelligence through the Aid for Information begins cooperating with the Division of Customs in all ports of the United States in the examination and inspection of personnel and material on merchant vessels incoming, outgoing, and in port.[ix] 

28 December The U.S. government assumes control of all of the nation’s railroads, and the Navy simultaneously assigns Henry P. Anewalt of the Bureau of Ordnance to oversee the efficient movement of supplies for the war effort.[x] 

29 December The armed yachts May (SP-164) and Cythera (SP-575) arrive at Gibraltar. The cargo ship Buena Ventura (ID-1335) sails for Hampton Roads, Virginia.[xi]

30 December Vice Admiral W. S. Sims requests that consideration be given to destroyers safely carrying the maximum number of depth charges possible. This includes sacrificing use of the aft gun if necessary.[xii] 

31 December The American Naval Planning Section, London, submits Memorandum No. 1, concerning the North Sea Mine Barrage.[xiii]

______________

[i] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 4.

[ii] Cablegram from OPNAV to W. S. Sims, 24 December 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[iii] Ibid.

[iv] Daniels, Our Navy at War, 303.

[v] Navy Department, The American Naval Planning Section London (Washington, DC: GPO, 1923), 490.

[vi] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 1; Still, Crisis at Sea, 476.

[vii] Memorandum from W. S. Sims to Josephus Daniels, on aviation—weekly report of operations, 15 January 1918, Reel 3, ME-11, NDL.

[viii] U.S. Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, Force Instructions No. 4, 28 December 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[ix] Memorandum from William S. Benson to Commandant, Fifth Naval District, on co-operation of the Aid for Information with the Department of the Treasury at the ports in the Fifth Naval District, 28 December 1917, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[x] Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 30–31.

[xi] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, 1 January 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, 1 January 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL. 

[xii] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to MELVUS, 30 December, Reel 2, ME-11, NDL.

[xiii] Navy Department, Naval Planning, 1–9.

[87]

1918

1 January Naval Air Station Dunkirk, France, is established with Lieutenant Godfrey deC. Chevalier in command.[i] 

2 January The cargo ships Neches, Ohioan (ID-3280), Apelles, and Montpelier (ID-1954), and transport Florence Luckenbach, arrive at St. Nazaire, France. Transports Monticello, Franklin, and cargo ship Kerowlee arrive at La Pallice.[ii] 

2 January The destroyer Rowan (DD-64) chases off a submarine engaging three merchant vessels. Her intervention saves two vessels, but Rowan is forced to help a third abandon ship before it sinks.[iii] 

2 January K-Tube listening devices are used for the first time in attempting to locate submerged U-boats in the English Channel, where one is attacked there after the device helps locate it. The sub is believed to be destroyed in the attack, but evidence is unclear.[iv] 

2 January The American Naval Planning Section in London publishes its Memorandum No. 2. It recommends:

  • that the planning section work as a unit, with all members considering the same subject simultaneously;
  • that its duty be more general than proposed by the First Sea Lord;
  • that it be free to consider questions that seem most urgent to the Force Commander [Sims] and to members of the section;
  • and that it be accorded the privileges of the Admiralty, with complete freedom of action so far as the Admiralty is concerned.

All of the recommendations are later approved. The memorandum also lists seven initial areas of study: the North Sea Mine Barrage, the English Channel, the Strait of Otranto, tactics of contact with submarines, the convoy system, cooperation of the U.S. naval forces and naval forces of the Allies, and joint naval doctrine. [v] 

3 January The destroyers Conyngham (DD-58), Porter (DD-59), and Drayton (DD-23) arrive at Birkenhead, England. The cargo ship Munplace (ID-2346) and oiler George G. Henry (ID-1560) arrive at Bordeaux, France.[vi] 

3 January Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson informs Vice Admiral W. S. Sims that the Bureau of Ordnance will have ten 14-inch, 50-caliber guns available as scheduled for use as railway guns and that plans are in the works for preparing mounts for them. Benson requests that Sims approach the Admiralty to ensure it is favorable toward a plan to have Navy personnel man the guns ashore.[vii] 

3 January The Office of the Chief of Naval Operations informs Vice Admiral W. S. Sims that it has decided to merge all naval forces in France under a single command, designated U.S. Naval Officer in France, under the direct orders of Commander, U.S. Naval Forces in European Waters. Rear Admiral Henry B. Wilson is directed to assume the new position, reporting to Vice Admiral W. S. Sims.[viii]

______________

[i] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 60; Still, Crisis at Sea, 123.

[ii] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 2 January 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 5 January 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[iii] DANFS, entry for Rowan, (Destroyer No. 64), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/r/rowan-ii.html; submarine report from Commanding Officer USS Rowan to Commander U.S. Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, 7 January 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[iv] Feuer, Navy in World War I, 40; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 285–86.

[v] Navy Department, American Naval Planning Section, 10–11, 490.

[vi] Cablegram from Gay (Liverpool) to William S. Sums, 3 January 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 3 January 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 3 January 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[vii] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 3 January 1918, Reel 3, ME-11, NDL.

[viii] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 3 January 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[88]

4 January Rear Admiral Albert P. Niblack breaks his flag aboard the destroyer Decatur (DD-5) as Commander, Squadron Two, Patrol Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet, also known as U.S. Patrol Forces Based on Gibraltar.[i] 

4 January Vice Admiral W. S. Sims cables General John J. Pershing reporting that “all the forces under my command are disposed with the primary purpose of assisting in the safe and prompt dispatch of troops and supplies to France and safe convoy out of France.” He adds that he will divert vessels to new destinations at Pershing’s request.[ii] 

4 January The Office of the Chief of Naval Operations cables Admiral Austin M. Knight, Commander-in-Chief, Asiatic Fleet, and orders him to proceed immediately to Yokohama, Japan, for a courtesy visit and to await further orders in regard to the deteriorating situation in Vladivostok, Russia.[iii] 

4 January The Admiralty requests that the first shipment of MK VI mines sail from the United States to Scotland on 1 February, with the bases at Invergordon and Inverness capable of handling 3,500 mines per week.[iv] 

5 January The American cargo ship A. A. Raven, commanded by Lieutenant Commander Heckel, rescues a French sailor, R. P. Marie, who was the only survivor of the French patrol boat Gouland II, sunk 4 January.[v] 

5 January The American Naval Planning Section, London, issues Memorandum No. 3, which addresses further characteristics of the North Sea Mine Barrage in regard to Memorandum No. 1.[vi] 

5 January The transport George Washington (ID-3018) and troopship Finland (ID-4543) sail for Norfolk, Virginia, from European waters. The cargo ship Munalbro arrives at Bordeaux, France, and the cargo ship Manta (ID-2036) arrives at Ponta Delgada, Azores.[vii] 

6 January The Rochefort District of U.S. Naval Forces in France is established with the arrival of Rear Admiral Newton A. McCully Jr.[viii] 

6 January The steamer Harry Luckenbach is torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-93 two miles north-northwest of Penmarch, France, while in a convoy under escort by the armed yachts Wanderer (SP-132) and Kanawha II (SP-130). Eight were killed, however Wanderer rescues 26 survivors.[ix] 

6 January The cargo ship Montoso arrives at Bordeaux, France.[x] 

7 January The scout cruiser Birmingham (CS-2) arrives in Plymouth, England.[xi] 

7 January Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson approves the establishment of kite balloon patrol stations at Berehaven and Queenstown, Ireland. On 8 January, Sims cables Benson to clarify that the stations turned over from the British would be at Berehaven and Loch Swilly, Ireland.[xii]

______________

[i] Cablegram from Albert P. Niblack to W. S. Sims, 4 January 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[ii] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to John J. Pershing, 4 January 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[iii] Cablegram from OPNAV to Austin M. Knight, 4 January 1918, Reel 3, ME-11, NDL.

[iv] Memorandum from W. S. Sims to Bureaus of Ordnance, Supplies and Accounts, and Commandant, Norfolk Navy Yard, on schedule for shipment of mines, 4 January 1918, Reel 3, ME-11, NDL.

[v] Extract from war diary of U.S.S. A. A. Raven, 3 February 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[vi] Navy Department, Naval Planning, 12–13.

[vii] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 5 January 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 6 January 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 7 January 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 13 January 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[viii] Wilson, American Navy in France, 119.

[ix] Wilson, American Navy in France, 165–67; Husband, Coast of France, 73–75; cablegram from Henry T. Wilson to W. S. Sims, 6 January 1918; memorandum from Commanding Officer, U.S.S. Wanderer to Commander Patrol Force, on operations of convoy January 5, 1918, resulting in loss of four ships, 7 January 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL; Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 12.

[x] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 7 January 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[xi] Cablegram from Hussey to W. S. Sims, 7 January 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[xii] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 7 January 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 8 January 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[89]

7 January The store ship Bridge (AF-1) arrives in Brest, France, while the cargo ship Dochra (ID-1758) sails for the United States from European waters.[i] 

7 January The British transports Lapland and Canada, and troop transport Saxonia arrive in European waters.[ii] 

7 January In response to the U.S. Army using Bordeaux, France, as a port for store ships and its requests to use it as a port for troop transports, Vice Admiral W. S. Sims asks if the Navy Department can send additional destroyers for escort service along the French coast.[iii] 

7 January The armed yachts Nokomis (SP-609/PY-6), Venetia (SP-431), and Galatea (SP-714), tugs Nahant (SP-1250), Barnegat (SP-1232), Gypsum Queen (SP-430), Concord (SP-773), and Penobscot (SP-982), along with ten French submarine chasers, sail from Bermuda for the Azores.[iv] 

8 January Two parties of men, commanded by Lieutenant Commander Edwin Wolleson and Lieutenant Commander L. M. Stewart arrive at Invergordon and Inverness, Scotland, to begin development of Overseas Mine Bases 17 and 18, respectively. Base 17 will use the facilities at the Dalmore Distillery at Dalmore, Alness, and Base 18 those of the Glen Albyn Distillery.[v] 

8 January Vice Admiral W. S. Sims reports to the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations about the Army’s use of Bordeaux, France, for store ships, creating an immediate demand for more destroyers to protect the French coast.[vi] 

8 January The first group of student officers report from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to Naval Air Station Key West, Florida, for flight training.[vii] 

8 January The Swiss Red Cross reports that Ship’s Cook 1st Class Francis Murphy and Seamen 2nd Class Albert DeMello of the torpedoed destroyer Jacob Jones (DD-61) are prisoners of war in Germany.[viii] 

8 January Vice Admiral W. S. Sims is officially designated as the American member of the Allied Naval Council.[ix] 

8 January Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson appoints Commander Hutch I. Cone, Commander Frank MacCrary, and Lieutenant (j.g.) G. R. Fearing as members of a Joint Army-Navy Aircraft Committee in Paris.[x] 

8 January The armed yacht May (SP-164) sails from Gibraltar for Brest, France, while the protected cruiser New Orleans (CL-22) arrives at Gibraltar with transport Otsego (ID-1628) and Italian steamer Marte. The steamer Olivant and cargo ship Satsuma (SP-2038) arrive at Brest, with Satsuma sailing to Bordeaux, France, the same day.[xi]

____________

[i] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 7 January 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 7 January 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[ii] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 8 January 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[iii] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 7 January 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[iv] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 8 January 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[v] Navy Department, Northern Barrage, 65.

[vi] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 8 January 1918, Reel 3, ME-11, NDL.

[vii] Besch, “Navy Second to None,” 276.

[viii] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 8 January 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[ix] Trask, Captains and Cabinets, 180.

[x] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 8 January 1918, Reel 3, ME-11, NDL.

[xi] Cablegram from S. N. O. Gibraltar to Admiralty, 9 January 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 9 January 1918; cablegram from Albert P. Niblack to W. S. Sims, 10 January 1918; cablegram from Henry B. Wilson to W. S. Sims, 15 January 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[90]

9 January The Naval Overseas Transportation Service is officially established under the direction of Commander Charles Belknap. The service took control of all U.S. shipping of troops to the war zone from the Bureau of Supplies and Accounts. Established to transport supplies for military and naval forces overseas, it grows to include 490 cargo vessels of 3.8 million deadweight tons.[i] 

9 January The gunboat Paducah (PG-18) arrives at Ponta Delgada, Azores.[ii] 

9 January The transport Hancock (AP-3) and destroyers Terry (DD-25) and Beale (DD-40) sail from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for the Azores. Hancock carries Rear Admiral Herbert O. Dunn, Staff Aviation Company, and a Marine guard of 50 men and two 7-inch guns intended for the defense of Ponta Delgada.[iii] 

10 January Vice Admiral W. S. Sims cables the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, detailing that Captain Richard H. Leigh, after two weeks of work with listening devices in the English Channel, reports that the American gear proved superior to that of the British. Sims notes, “The maximum possible number of submarine chasers equipped with listening devices and manned by personnel trained for this work should be placed in service in [the] war zone without delay.”[iv] 

10 January Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson wires Vice Admiral W. S. Sims to report that Texas (BB-35) will be assigned to Battleship Division Nine, and be accompanied by the destroyer Caldwell (DD-69).[v] 

10 January The American Naval Planning Section, London, publishes Memorandum No. 5, concerning the employment of merchant vessels as auxiliary cruisers.[vi] 

10 January The Admiralty writes Vice Admiral W. S. Sims that they “anticipate that enemy ‘U’ Cruisers [long-range U-boats] will probably be ready for service in the early Spring and are likely to operate off the Coast of America.”[vii] 

10 January The transport Kentuckian (ID-1544) arrives at St. Nazaire, France.[viii] 

10 January The transports DeKalb (ID-3010), Antigone (ID-3007), El Occidente (ID-3307), Suwanee (ID-1320), Floridian (ID-3875), and Dakotan (ID-3882), cargo ships Minnesotan (ID-4545) and City of Savannah, along with store ship Calamares (ID-3662/AF-18), sail from Quiberon, France, for the United States.  The cargo ship Moldegaard (ID-4324) sails for Lisbon, Portugal, while the cargo ship Nansemond (ID-1395) and armed yacht Artemis (SP-593) arrive at St. Nazaire and the transport Virginian (ID-3920) arrives at La Pallice.[ix] 

11 January The cargo ships Munwood (ID-4460) and Cauto (ID-1538), and collier Nero (AC-17) arrive at Bordeaux, France; the latter with a cargo of coal. The tanker Gold Shell (ID-3021) sails from Lamlash, Scotland, for Rosyth, Scotland.[x] 

11 January The American Naval Planning Section, London, publishes Memorandum No. 6 about the closing of the Skagerrak in the Baltic Sea. This is the first strategic problem solved by the planning section. The solution was requested by the Admiralty Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff to provide an alternative plan to compare with that prepared by their own plans division.[xi]

_______________

[i] Navy Department, Annual Report 1918, 19; Clephane, Naval Overseas Transportation, 1; Navy Department, Annual Report 1919, 26–27; memorandum from William S. Benson to Commandants of 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th Naval Districts, Commandants of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Norfolk Navy Yards, Bureaus of Navigation, Ordnance, Steam Engineering, Construction and Repair, Medicine and Surgery, and Supplies and Accounts, Commander-in-Chief, Atlantic Fleet, Commander Train, Atlantic Fleet, commanding officers of all vessels of Naval Overseas Transportation Service and of Train Atlantic Fleet, on Naval Overseas Transportation Service, 9 January 1918, Reel 3, ME-11, NDL.

[ii] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to Albert P. Niblack, 9 January 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[iii] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 8 January 1918; cablegram from OPNAV to W. S. Sims, 10 January 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to SENAFLOAT, Ponta Delgada, 10 January 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[iv] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 10 January 1918, Reel 3, ME-11, NDL.

[v] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 10 January 1918, Reel 3, ME-11, NDL.

[vi] Navy Department, Naval Planning, 25–26.

[vii] Letter from W. F. Nicholson to W. S. Sims, 10 January 1918, Reel 3, ME-11, NDL.

[viii] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 10 January 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[ix] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to War Department, 11 January 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[x] Cablegrams from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 12 January 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 14 January 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[xi] Navy Department, Naval Planning, 27–34.

[91]

11 January Vice Admiral W. S. Sims cables the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations and reports a plan to use 14-inch guns as railroad artillery “is considered feasible but not thought practicable or desirable to man and use them as a purely U.S. naval operation.”[i] 

12 January Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson cables Vice Admiral W. S. Sims, noting “We are so much impressed by the success of C and K tubes we are sending them over as fast as we can have them made and delivered. The numerous sinkings close inshore along [the] south and west coast[s] of [the] United Kingdom impress upon us the tremendous possibilities of successful offensive operations by vigorous use of these tubes.”[ii] 

12 January The cargo ships Beaufort (ID-3008/AK-6), Fred Luckenbach, and Kerowlee arrive in France with cargoes of coal.[iii] 

12 January The oiler Arethusa (AO-7), tug Genesee (AT-55), and submarines E-1 (SS-24), L-3 (SS-42), and L-4 (SS-43) arrive at Ponta Delgada, Azores.[iv] 

12 January The cargo ship City of Atlanta sails for the United States while the transport Iroquois arrives at La Pallice, France.[v] 

13 January The destroyers Paulding (DD-22) and Ammen (DD-35) sail from Queenstown, Ireland, to Brest, France, to escort an American store ship.[vi] 

13 January The gunboat Paducah (PG-18) sails from Ponta Delgada, Azores, for Gibraltar as destroyer Aylwin (DD-47) arrives at Ponta Delgada. The cargo ship Edgar Luckenbach (ID-4597) arrives at St. Nazaire, France, and the cargo ship Montoso sails for Hampton Roads, Virginia.[vii] 

13 January The Navy Department designates the gunboat Wheeling (PG-14) as a shore station to assist Allied men-of-war and merchant vessels in passing distress and other messages to naval authorities until a British wireless station at the Azores is completed. On 20 January, Wheeling begins operations by issuing war warnings.[viii] 

13 January The number two turbine generator casing on destroyer Rowan (DD-64) explodes, killing Chief Machinist’s Mate Willis Martin Goodrow.[ix] 

14 January The destroyers Aylwin (DD-47) sails from Ponta Delgada, Azores, and store ship Bridge (AF-1) sails from Brest, France, both bound for Queenstown, Ireland. The American cargo ship Adelheid arrives at Gibraltar.[x] 

14 January The American Naval Planning Section, London, publishes Memorandum No. 7, concerning assigning American destroyers to the Grand Fleet at Scapa Flow, Scotland. The section recommends that 12 destroyers exchange duty with an equivalent number of British destroyers, rotating ships until all American destroyers have experience with the Grand Fleet.[xi]

______________

[i] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 11 January 1918, Reel 3, ME-11, NDL.

[ii] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 12 January 1918, Reel 3, ME-11, NDL.

[iii] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 12 January 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[iv] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 13 January 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[v] Ibid.

[vi] Cablegram from Admiralty to W. S. Sims, 13 January 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[vii] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 13 January 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 14 January 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[viii] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 13 January 1918; document from U.S. Navy Route Office, New York City, about war warnings from USS Wheeling, for information of Allied merchantmen, 23 January 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[ix] DANFS, entry for Rowan, II (Destroyer No. 64), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/r/rowan-ii.html.

[x] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to Melvus, Queenstown, 14 January 1918; cablegram from Albert P. Niblack to W. S. Sims, 15 January 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 15 January 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[xi] Navy Department, Naval Planning, 35–36.

[92]

15 January The British troop transport Nyanza arrives at St. Nazaire, France, and the cargo ship Levisa (ID-1573) sails from Brest for Bordeaux. The cargo ship Bath (ID-1997/AK-4) arrives at Bordeaux with load of coal, and the armed yacht May (SP-164) arrives at Brest.[i] 

15 January Henry Ford submits a proposal to the Navy Department for 100 to 500 “Eagle” boats. These would have 500-tons displacement, be 200-feet long, capable of steaming at 18 knots with a cruising radius of 3,500 miles, and be armed with two 4-inch, 50-caliber guns, Y Guns, machine and antiaircraft guns.[ii] 

16 January The store ship Bridge (AF-1) and destroyers Paulding (DD-22), Aylwin (DD-47), and Ammen (DD-35) arrive at Queenstown, Ireland.[iii] 

16 January The cargo ships Newport News (AK-3), Munplace (ID-2093), and Shoshone (ID-1760), in company with the oiler George G. Henry (ID-1560), sail from Verdon-sur-Mer, France, for the United States.[iv] 

16 January In the evening hours when 100 miles out from Liverpool, England, the Armed Guard aboard the steamer New York spot a barrel-shaped object on the port beam about 1,800 yards away and fire five rounds from the 3-inch gun and two from the 6-inch gun. Their unidentified target is the destroyer Jenkins (DD-42). One of New York’s shells ricochets off the water, passing through a stanchion on the after deck house, killing Seaman 2nd Class William Lusso. It passes through a gun shield striking a gun, injuring four other crewmembers.[v] 

17 January The Navy Department places an order with the Ford Motor Company for construction of 100 Eagle-class patrol boats.[vi] 

17 January The troop transport Mercury (ID-3012) arrives at St. Nazaire, France; the steamer New York arrives at Liverpool, England, and the cargo ship Manta (ID-2036) sails for Hampton Roads, Virginia.[vii] 

17 January While steaming on the Yangtze River approximately 50 miles north of Chenglin, China, Chinese soldiers fire on the gunboat Monocacy (PG-20). Despite displaying the U.S. flag, the attack continues. The Americans return fire with small arms and a battery of 6-pound guns. Chief Yeoman Henry LeRoy O’Brien dies in the exchange and two other men are wounded. Eighteen months after the event, the Chinese government settles with an indemnity of $525.25 to the wounded and $25,000 to Chief O’Brien’s widow.[viii] 

18 January The radio department of the U.S. naval base at Gibraltar is established with Lieutenant B. F. Jenkins as officer in charge.[ix] 

18 January The oiler Cuyama (AO-3) arrives at Lamlash, Firth of Clyde, Scotland.[x] 

18 January Rear Admiral Henry B. Wilson recommends approving the expenditure of 1.1 million francs for the excavation and construction of foundations for three 7,000-ton fuel oil storage tanks at Brest to support American naval forces operating along the French coast.[xi]

_____________

[i] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 15 January 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 16 January 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 16 January 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[ii] Daniels, Our Navy at War, 303.

[iii] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to AMPAT Brest, 16 January 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[iv] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 18 January 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[v] Memorandum from F. H. Weaver, Armed Guard officer, SS New York, to William S. Benson, on report of East-bound voyage, 17 January 1918; memorandum from Commanding Officer, USS Jenkins to W. S. Sims, on firing upon U.S.S. Jenkins by S.S. New York, 17 January 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[vi] Navy Department, Annual Report 1918, 34; Navy Department, Engineering, 39.

[vii] Cablegram from Henry B. Wilson to W. S. Sims, 17 January 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 18 January 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 20 January 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[viii] DANFS, entry for Monocacy II (Gunboat No. 20), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/m/monocacy-ii.html; Tolley, Yangtze Patrol, 81–82.

[ix] Navy Department, Engineering, 127.

[x] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 20 January 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[xi] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 18 January 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[93]

19 January The scout cruiser Birmingham (CS-2) sails from Falmouth, England, for Gibraltar, and the transports Terry and Hancock (AP-3) arrive at Horta, Fayal, Azores. The oil tanker Topila (ID-3001) arrives at Devonport, England, and the tanker William D. Rockefeller (ID-1581) arrives at Lamlash, Firth of Clyde, Scotland. The submarine tender Bushnell (AS-2), fleet tug Genesee (AT-55), and submarines L-1 (SS-40), L-2 (SS-41), L-4 (SS-43), L-10 (SS-50), and L-11 (SS-51) sail for Queenstown, Ireland, from the Azores. Submarine L-3 (SS-42) returns to Ponta Delgada after discovering a chlorine leak in the after batteries.[i] 

19 January During a heavy northwest gale, submarine chaser SC-319 built for the French Navy gets separated from a convoy on its way from Bermuda to the Azores. The tug Concord (SP-773) reports the French ensign on the SC-319 refused a tow and insisted on proceeding under her own power. Later, repeated searches fail to locate the vessel or her crew.[ii] 

19 January Rear Admiral Herbert O. Dunn assumes command of the Azores naval detachment.[iii] 

19 January Naval Air Station Anacostia, D.C., is established to provide a base for short test flights, provide housing and repair services for seaplanes on test flights from Hampton Roads and Langley Field, Virginia, and display new seaplane types for study by personnel working in Navy Department offices concerned with their construction and improvement.[iv] 

19 January Rear Admiral Albert P. Niblack urgently recommends that a repair ship be assigned to Gibraltar to support American naval forces with a complement of enlisted personnel, two engineer officers, tools, and equipment.[v] 

20 January The first stores forwarded from the United States arrive by way of Liverpool, England, at Overseas Mine Bases 17 and 18, Scotland.[vi] 

20 January The tanker Gargoyle (ID-1656) arrives at Portsmouth, England. The tug Gypsum Queen (SP-430), destroyer Beale (DD-40), and submarine chaser SC-170 arrives at Ponta Delgada, Azores.[vii] 

21 January The United States Lighthouse Service’s biological station at Beaufort, North Carolina, is placed under Navy jurisdiction.[viii] 

21 January The American Naval Planning Section, London, releases Memorandum No. 8, providing an estimate of the general naval situation. This provided a self-education for the Americans and was submitted to the Allied Naval Council, where it received favorable informal comment from the French and Italian members.[ix] 

21 January Vice Admiral W. S. Sims reports to the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations that the British agree to accept 40 American naval aviators for practice patrol flights in various types of seaplanes. Replying on 24 January, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson notes 36 aviators have been ordered overseas since 1 January and “Aviators are being sent abroad as rapidly as they become available.”[x]

______________

[i] Cablegram from Falmouth to W. S. Sims, 18 January 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 21 January 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 22 January 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 22 January 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[ii] Cablegram from Herbert O. Dunn to W. S. Sims, 24 January 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 27 January 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 31 January 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[iii] Cablegram from Herbert O. Dunn to W. S. Sims, 20 January 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[iv] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 60.

[v] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 19 January 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[vi] Navy Department, Northern Barrage, 66.

[vii] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 22 January 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 21 January 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[viii] Navy Department, Annual Report 1918, 128.

[ix] Navy Department, Naval Planning, 37–58.

[x] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 21 January 1918; cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 24 January 1918, Reel 3, ME-11, NDL.

[94]

21 January The transport John D. Rockefeller sails for Newport News, Virginia.[i] 

23–23 January The Allied Naval Council meets in London for the first time, with Vice Admiral W. S. Sims in attendance as the U.S. representative. The representatives adopt articles defining its constitution, membership, purposes, and methods, and decide that every nation present appoint a naval officer of suitable rank residing in France to serve as the liaison officer to the Allied War Council.[ii] 

23 January The oil tanker Tolipa sails from Devonport, England, for the United States. The cargo ship Pensacola (ID-2078/AK-7) sails for New Orleans, Louisiana.[iii] 

24 January Specifications and blueprints are drawn up by Bureau of Construction and Repair for the Davis Gun Carrier [recoilless aircraft cannon] and received at the Naval Aircraft Factory. Later designated N-1, this was the first airplane designed and built by the Navy for the attack role.[iv] 

24 January The transport  Hancock (AP-3); and armed yachts Venetia (SP-431), Galatea (SP-714), and Nokomis (SP-609/PY-6); destroyers Beale (DD-40) and Terry (DD-25); tugs Nahant (SP-1250), Barnegat (SP-1232), Gypsum Queen (SP-430), Penobscot (SP-982), Concord (SP-773), and Kingfisher; troopship Buford; and submarine chasers SC-29, SC-67, SC-170, SC-172, SC-314, SC-160, and SC-318 arrive at Ponta Delgada, Azores. SC-171 arrives in Bermuda.[v] 

25 January The armed yacht Guinevere (SP-512) strikes a rock in a storm off the French coast on Talut Point near Lorient, wrecks, and is lost.[vi] 

25 January The minelayers Roanoke (ID-1695) and Housatonic (SP-1697) are commissioned.[vii] 

25 January Rear Admiral Herbert O. Dunn wires Vice Admiral W. S. Sims, requesting a repair ship be stationed at Ponta Delgada, Azores, as soon as possible. He deemed the existing repair facilities at U.S. Naval Base No. 13 “absolutely inadequate.” Dunn adds that two tugs are essential to assist disabled vessels and handle vessels in the harbor and that yachts “are of no real value at this base.”[viii] 

26 January The tug Concord (SP-773) and armed yacht Venetia (SP-431) sail from Ponta Delgada, Azores, to search for the missing French submarine chaser SC-319.[ix] 

26 January The fulminate drying rooms at the Naval Torpedo Station, Newport, Rhode Island, explode, killing 13 and injuring 12.[x] 

26 January The submarine L-10 (SS-50) arrives at Berehaven, Queenstown, Ireland, while the transport America (ID-3006) and store ship Bridge (AF-1) sail for the United States.[xi] 

27 January The submarines L-1 (SS-40), L-2 (SS-41), L-3 (SS-42), and L-4 (SS-43), the submarine tender Bushnell (AS-2), and the fleet tug Genesee (AT-55) arrive in Queenstown, Ireland, from the Azores after leaving Newport News, Virginia, on 4 December 1917. The cargo ship Munindies (ID-2093) arrives at Bordeaux, France, while the cargo ship Bath (ID-1997/AK-4) departs Bordeaux for Brest. The armed yacht Corsair (SP-159) sails from Lisbon, Portugal, for Brest.[xii]

_____________

[i] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 22 January 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[ii] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 4 January 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 27 January 1918, Reel 3, ME-11, NDL; Halpern, Naval War in the Mediterranean, 426–27.

[iii] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 23 January 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 23 January 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[iv] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 60.

[v] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 24 January 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 25 January 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to Herbert O. Dunn, 24 January 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[vi] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 2; Wilson, American Navy in France, 126; Husband, Coast of France, 75–76; cablegram from Henry B. Wilson to W. S. Sims, 25 January 1918; extracts from war diary of Squadron Four Patrol Force while based on Brest, France, 25 January 1918 to 4 February 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[vii] Navy Department, Northern Barrage, 78.

[viii] Cablegram from Herbert O. Dunn to W. S. Sims, 25 January 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[ix] Cablegram from Ponta Delgada to Admiralty, 26 January 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[x] Navy Department, Annual Report 1918, 498; Robert L. Sminkey, “Naval Torpedo Station, Newport, Rhode Island, http://www.diodon349.com/torpedoman/tm_stuff/naval_torpedo_station_newport_rhode_island.htm.

[xi] Cablegram from Joel R. P. Pringle to W. S. Sims, 27 January 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 27 January 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[xii] Still, Crisis at Sea, 458; cablegram from Henry B. Wilson to W. S. Sims, 27 January 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[95]

27 January The schooner Julia Frances is sunk by gunfire from the German submarine U-152 approximately 100 miles from Lisbon, Portugal.[i] 

28 January A group of 50 enlisted men from Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida, report to the Naval Aircraft Factory in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for training in aircraft repair before assignment overseas.[ii] 

28 January The Navy Department approves designating Rear Admiral Henry B. Wilson as Commander, U.S. Naval Forces in France.[iii] 

28 January The destroyers Beale (DD-40) and Terry (DD-25), and troopship Buford sail for St. Nazaire, France, from Ponta Delgada, Azores. The armed yacht Corsair (SP-159) arrives in Brest while the cargo ships Munalbro departs Bordeaux for Brest and Tiger (ID-1640) from St. Nazaire for Bordeaux. The armed yacht Utowana (SP-951) and four Canadian drifters arrive at Ponta Delgada.[iv] 

29 January The destroyers Worden (DD-16) and Stewart (DD-13) arrive at Ponta Delgada, Azores. The steamer Madawaska (ID-3011), transport Mercury (ID-3012), and cargo ships Neches, Santa Rosa (ID-2169), and Santa Clara (ID-4523) sail for the United States.[v] 

29 January The Navy Department designates Lorient and Rochefort, France, as U.S. Naval Bases No. 19 and 20, respectively.[vi] 

29 January U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain Walter Hines Page wires Secretary of State Robert Lansing to report that a proposal by the Admiralty to make Vice Admiral W. S. Sims an honorary member of the Board of the Admiralty was approved by King George V, “who has expressed the hope that this plan will receive your sanction.”[vii] 

30 January The battleship Texas (BB-35) sails for Scapa Flow to join Battleship Division Nine.[viii] 

30 January The Sixth Battle Squadron accompanies the Grand Fleet for maneuvers in the North Sea; it returns to Scapa Flow on 2 February.[ix] 

30 January The American Naval Planning Section, London, releases Memorandums No. 9 and 10. The former examines the Adriatic situation, providing Vice Admiral W. S. Sims with an offensive naval plan for presentation and discussion before the Allied Naval Council. The latter addresses the problems of German cruiser submarines and how to best defend, hunt, and destroy the long-range U-boats.[x]

______________

[i] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 12; report from U.S.S. Hancock, “American Schooner Julia Frances sunk by Gunfire, Latitude 38N, Longitude 11–17W,” 7 April 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[ii] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 60.

[iii] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to Henry B. Wilson, 28 January 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[iv] Cablegram from Herbert O. Dunn to W. S. Sims, 28 January 1918; cablegram from Henry B. Wilson to W. S. Sims, 28 January 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 28 January 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[v] Cablegram from Herbert O. Dunn to W. S. Sims, 29 January 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 30 January 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[vi] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 29 January 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[vii] Cablegram from Walter H. Page to Robert Lansing, 29 January 1918, Reel 3, ME-11, NDL.

[viii] Jones, Battleship Operations, 39; Still, Crisis at Sea, 412.

[ix] Jones, Battleship Operations, 33.

[x] Navy Department, Naval Planning, 59–83.

[96]

30 January The Navy Department closes contracts with 30 lumber mills in New England for their entire output of airplane-grade spruce for the next six months for the construction of naval aircraft.[i] 

31 January The tanker Gargoyle (ID-1656), troopship Mount Vernon (ID-4508), and transport Agamemnon (ID-3004) sail for the United States.[ii] 

31 January President Woodrow Wilson issues Executive Order 2798 transferring the Department of Commerce lighthouse tender Palmetto to the Navy.[iii] 

1 February The first H-16 flying boat assigned to operational service is delivered to the air station at Hampton Roads, Virginia. Built by Curtiss and the Naval Aircraft Factory, the H-16 is used on antisubmarine patrol.[iv] 

1 February The Navy Department appoints a special board to make recommendations for the methods to be taken to provide for “defense against submarines in home waters.” The Chief of Naval Operations approves board’s plan on 6 March.[v] 

1 February The destroyer Allen (DD-66) attacks what is most likely the German submarine UB-63 in the Irish Sea. German records reveal the submarine was lost on patrol in the area. The Admiralty credits Allen with slightly damaging the submarine.[vi] 

2 February The gunboat Paducah (PG-18) sails for the Azores.[vii] 

3 February Aerial gunnery training for prospective naval aviators and enlisted men begins under Canadian Royal Flying Corps instructors at the Army field at Camp Taliaferro, Fort Worth, Texas.[viii] 

3 February The submarines L-2 (SS-41) and L-4 (SS-43) arrive at Queenstown, Ireland. The American transport Amphion (ID-1888) and cargo ship Montanan arrive at La Pallice, France. The cargo ships Mundale, Mariana (ID-3944), and Moldegaard (ID-4324); and animal transport Rappahannock (ID-1854) arrive at Verdon-sur-Mer, France. The oiler Cuyama (AO-3) and transport Hancock (AP-3) sail for the United States.[ix] 

4 February The destroyers Beale (DD-40) and Terry (DD-25) sail from St. Nazaire, France, for Queenstown, Ireland. The cargo ship Kerowlee arrives at La Pallice; cargo ship Kerkenna at St. Nazaire; steamer Erny, transports El Occidente (ID-3307) and Lenape (ID-2700), and Quiberon arrive at Bordeaux. The armed yacht Isabel (SP-521) arrives at Ponta Delgada, Azores.[x] 

4 February A convoy of 10 vessels, including five store ships, sails from Hampton Roads, Virginia, under escort of the protected cruiser Charleston (CA-19).[xi] 

4 February The American Naval Planning Section, London, publishes Memorandum No. 4 covering notes on submarine hunting by sound that was prepared in collaboration with Captain Richard H. Leigh from his extensive work with early hydrophone technology.[xii]

______________

[i] Navy Department, Annual Report 1918, 515.

[ii] Cablegrams from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 1 February 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[iii] Executive Order 2798, 31 January 1918, Reel 3, ME-11, NDL.

[iv] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 60.

[v] Navy Department, German Submarine Activities, 8–9; memorandum Special Board to Formulate a Plan of Defense in Home Waters to William S. Benson, on defense against submarine attack in home waters, 6 February 1918, Reel 3, ME-11, NDL.

[vi] Still, Crisis at Sea, 401.

[vii] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 4 February 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[viii] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 60; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 32.

[ix] Cablegram from Bryant to W. S. Sims, 3 February 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 3 February 1918; cablegrams from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 4 February 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[x] Cablegrams from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 5 February 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 7 February 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[xi] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to Henry B. Wilson, 9 February 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[xii] Navy Department, Naval Planning, 14–24.

[97]

4 February After two Allied convoys unknowingly cross paths, the British steamer Glenmorag rams American destroyer McDougal (DD-54), shearing off a part of her stern but causing no casualties. Allied vessels towed the destroyer to Liverpool where she underwent repairs.[i] 

5 February The British-chartered troop transport Tuscania, carrying 2,200 American soldiers of the 32nd Infantry Division, in a British convoy, is torpedoed by the German submarine U-77 and sinks with the loss of 39 crew and 310 soldiers. Tuscania is the first troopship sunk carrying American troops in European waters.[ii] 

5 February The destroyers Beale (DD-40) and Terry (DD-25) arrive at Queenstown, Ireland. The protected cruiser Des Moines (C-15), survey ship Surveyor, Montauk (SP-1213), and submarine chaser SC-173 arrives at Ponta Delgada, Azores. The cargo ship Beaufort (ID-3008/AK-6) arrives at Bordeaux, France, while the steamer Erny and transport Henderson (AP-1) arrive at St. Nazaire.[iii] 

5 February Vice Admiral W. S. Sims wires the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations to report that the location for a high-powered radio station will be 17 miles southwest of Bordeaux, France, on the railroad between Bordeaux and Archachon.[iv] 

5 February The American steamer Alamance is torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine UB-73, four miles east of the Maidens, Ireland, with a loss of six lives. The 19-man Naval Armed Guard aboard Alamance was on its way back to the United States after being transferred from the troopship Leviathan (ID-1326). All survived.[v] 

7 February The destroyer Patterson (DD-36), while patrolling in the Irish Sea, sights a small boat and subsequently rescues 12 men, survivors of the British steamer Mexico City bound from Hong Kong and torpedoed and sunk on 5 February.[vi] 

7 February The destroyer Stockton (DD-73) and gunboat Paducah (PG-18) arrive at Ponta Delgada, Azores, while the transport Mercury (ID-3012) sails from Ponta Delgada for Hampton Roads, Virginia.[vii] 

7 February The Bureau of Navigation requests the Bureau of Yards and Docks to provide barracks at the Ford Motor Company’s River Rouge plant in Detroit, Michigan, for prospective crews—1,000 enlisted men and 200 training officers—who were to man the Eagle boats under construction. Building commenced 16 February and was completed on 8 June 1918.[viii] 

8 February The former French naval prison in Brest is established as Carola Naval Barracks, eventually housing more than 3,500 Bluejackets.[ix] 

8 February The armed yacht Venetia (SP-431); tugs Nahant (SP-1250) and Penobscot (SP-982); and French submarine chasers SC-29, SC-314, and SC-318 sail for Leixoes, Portugal, from Ponta Delgada, Azores. The Canadian naval drifters 12 and 75 arrive at Ponta Delgada.[x] 

8 February A change in the national aircraft insignia is promulgated by the Navy, which replaces the white star with concentric red, white, and blue circles, with red center most, and reversed the order of the red, white, and blue vertical bands on the rudder, placing the red nearest the rudder post.[xi]

______________

[i] DANFS, entry for McDougal I (Destroyer No. 54), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/m/mcdougal-i.html; document titled “Sum. Of Military Information in War Diaries Received February 1–7,” 4 February 1917; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 8 February 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[ii] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 7 February 1918; memorandum from Richard Werner, commanding officer, USS Kanawha to W. S. Sims, on S.S. Tuscania torpedoed or mined in convoy, 7 February 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL; Still, Crisis at Sea, 371–72.

[iii] Cablegram from Joel R. P. Pringle to W. S. Sims, 5 February 1918; cablegrams from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 5 February 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 6 February 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[iv] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 5 February 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[v] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 12; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 9 February 1918; memorandum from Chief Gunner’s Mate O. J. Murphy, commanding Armed Guard, SS Alamance to William S. Benson, on report of torpedoing and sinking of SS Alamance, 20 February 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[vi] Document titled “Sum. of Military Information in War Diaries Received February 8–16, 1918”; memorandum from Spencer S. Lewis, commanding officer, USS Patterson, to W. S. Sims, on escort duty, 12 February 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[vii] Cablegram from Herbert O. Dunn to W. S. Sims, 7 February 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[viii] Navy Department, Yards and Docks, 76.

[ix] Wilson, American Navy in France, 102; Still, Crisis at Sea, 112–13.

[x] Cablegram from Herbert O. Dunn to W. S. Sims, 8 February 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[xi] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 60; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 32; cablegram from OPNAV to W. S. Sims, 27 January 1918, Reel 3, ME-11, NDL.

[98]

8–9 February A special commission of the Allied Naval Council meets in Rome, Italy, to consider the naval situation in the Mediterranean Sea. During the meeting, Vice Admiral W. S. Sims agrees to send the first American submarine chasers to the Mediterranean and the council discusses and accepts a British plan for establishing in the Strait of Otranto a strong patrol to bottle up enemy submarines in the Adriatic Sea.[i] 

9 February The national ensign is formally raised over Overseas Mine Base 18, Inverness, Scotland.[ii] 

9 February The American steamer Armenia is torpedoed a second time by an enemy submarine, this occurance in the English Channel off St. Catherine’s Light. The ship does not sink and British tugs tow her to Stokes Bay, England.[iii] 

9 February The tugs Concord (SP-773) and Kingfisher, armed yachts Utowana (SP-951) and Rambler (SP-211), and French submarine chasers SC-67, SC-160, SC-170, and SC-172 sail from Ponta Delgada, Azores, for Leixoes, Portugal, while the destroyer Stockton (DD-73) sails from Ponta Delgada bound for Queenstown, Ireland. The destroyers Worden (DD-16) and Stewart (DD-13) arrive at Brest, France. The protected cruiser Des Moines (C-15) sails from Ponta Delgada to Hampton Roads, Virginia.[iv] 

9 February Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson assigns the tugs Montauk (SP-1213) and Gypsum Queen (SP-430) to the forces under command of Vice Admiral W. S. Sims for duty at U.S. Naval Base No. 7, Brest, France.[v] 

10 February Rear Admiral Henry B. Wilson writes Vice Admiral W. S. Sims requesting two destroyer divisions for escort and coastal convoy work due to the U.S. Army, beginning in December 1917, routing its store ships to Bordeaux and La Pallice, France.[vi] 

10 February The first Gibraltar-to-Genoa, Italy, convoy sails. It consists of 29 ships and four escorts.[vii] 

11 February The battleship Texas (BB-35) joins the Sixth Battle Squadron at Scapa Flow, Scotland.[viii] 

11 February While their destroyer was undergoing repairs at Liverpool, England, a machine gun crew from McDougal (DD-54) helps board the Russian patrol boats Rasveet and Probeet and arrest their mutinous crews sympathetic to the Bolshevik revolution.[ix] 

11 February The repair ship Prometheus (AR-3), destroyers McCall (DD-28) and MacDonough (DD-9), monitor tender Tonopah (BM-8), submarine L-9 (SS-49), and French submarine chaser SC-171 arrive at Ponta Delgada, Azores. The gunboat Paducah (PG-18) and Canadian naval drifters 2, 7, 8, and 11, sail from Ponta Delgada for Gibraltar.[x]

______________

[i] Still, Crisis at Sea, 447, 493; Halpern, Naval War in the Mediterranean, 430–37; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 14 February 1918, Reel 3, ME-11, NDL.

[ii] Navy Department, Northern Barrage, 65; Still, Crisis at Sea, 100.

[iii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 12; cablegram from OPNAV to W. S. Sims, 9 March 1918; account of the second torpedoing of the Armenia from Chief Boatswain’s Mate Homiak, 9 February 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[iv] Cablegram from Herbert O. Dunn to W. S. Sims, 9 February 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to MELVUS, Queenstown, 12 February 1918; cablegrams from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 10 February 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[v] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 9 February 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[vi] Memorandum from Henry O. Wilson to W. S. Sims, on necessity for more destroyers, 10 February 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[vii] Cablegram from Albert P. Niblack to W. S. Sims, 11 February 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[viii] Jones, Battleship Operations, 38; Still, Crisis at Sea, 421.

[ix] DANFS, entry for McDougal I (Destroyer No. 54), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/m/mcdougal-i.html; memorandum from W. P. Shiel to commanding officer, USS McDougal, on report of operations, 11 February 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[x] Cablegram from Herbert O. Dunn to W. S. Sims, 11 February 1918; cablegram from Herbert O. Dunn to W. S. Sims, 13 February 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 14 February 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[99]

12 February The destroyer Stockton (DD-73) arrives in Queenstown, Ireland. The troopship Leviathan (ID-1326) sails for New York from Liverpool, England. The oil tanker Hisko (SP-485) arrives at Devonport, England. The transport Huron (ID-1408) and troopship Tenadores sail for the United States.[i] 

12 February The national ensign is formally raised over Overseas Mine Base 17, Invergordon, Scotland.[ii] 

12 February The War Department approves General John J. Pershing’s agreement to accept the Navy Department’s offer to use 14-inch naval railroad batteries in the American Expeditionary Forces’ area of operations.[iii] 

13 February The Navy Department awarded a contract to the Baldwin Locomotive Works for the manufacture of naval railway gun cars and locomotives. The company promised to deliver the equipment by 15 June.[iv] 

13 February The minesweeper Anderton (SP-530), of the reestablished minesweeper squadron at U.S. Naval Base Lorient, France, explodes the first enemy naval mine for the squadron.[v] 

13 February The cargo ship Pensacola (ID-2078/AK-7) arrives for fuel at Horta, Fayal, Azores, en route to New Orleans, Louisiana. The cargo ship Houston (AK-1) sails for Ponta Delgada, Azores, from Brest, France.[vi] 

13 February Captain Hutch I. Cone cables Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson to report that there are three experienced H-16 pilots now on active duty with the Royal Naval Air Service. Cone recommends that the first four to six H-16 flying boats be retained in the United States for instructional purposes.[vii] 

13 February The American Naval Planning Section, London, publishes Memorandum No. 11, a study of both Allied and enemy morale. In particular, it looks at how to raise morale among the Allied nations in Europe to counter a downturn in spirit.[viii] 

13 February Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson wires Vice Admiral W. S. Sims and Rear Admiral Henry B. Wilson, requesting both men take action to ensure “every possible step is taken to reduce [the] delay of troop transports to [an] absolute minimum.”[ix] 

14 February The repair ship Prometheus (AR-3) and destroyers McCall (DD-28) and MacDonough (DD-9) sail from Ponta Delgada, Azores, for Brest, France. The lighter Hercules, with a cargo of 1,400 horses, escorted by destroyers Drayton (DD-23) and Jarvis (DD-38), sails from Queenstown, Ireland, for Brest.[x] 

14 February The armed yachts Nokomis (SP-609/PY-6), Rambler (SP-211), and Utowana (SP-951), tugs Concord (SP-773) and Kingfisher, and French submarine chasers SC-67, SC-160, SC-170, and SC-172 arrive at Leixoes, Portugal.[xi]

_______________

[i] Cablegrams from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 13 February 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[ii] Navy Department, Northern Barrage, 65; Still, Crisis at Sea, 100.

[iii] Naval Railway Batteries, 3.

[iv] Ibid., 5; Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 270.

[v] Wilson, American Navy in France, 125.

[vi] Cablegrams from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 14 February 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[vii] Cablegram from Hutch I. Cone to W. S. Sims, 13 February 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[viii] Navy Department, Naval Planning, 84–90.

[ix] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 13 February 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[x] Cablegram from Herbert O. Dunn to W. S. Sims, 14 February 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to Henry B. Wilson, 14 February 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[xi] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to Henry B. Wilson, 16 February 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[100]

15 February The destroyers Jarvis (DD-38) and Drayton (DD-23) arrive in Brest, France, and transfer homeport from Queenstown, Ireland, for Brest.[i] 

15 February The American transport Astoria (ID-2005/AK-8) is rammed by the French steamer La Drome while anchored in port at Brest, France. The damage requires weeks of repairs.[ii] 

15 February The American Naval Planning Section, London, publishes Memorandum No. 12, which discusses further development of American naval aviation efforts in European waters.[iii] 

15 February The survey ship Surveyor escorts submarines L-3 (SS-42) and L-9 (SS-49) as they sail from Ponta Delgada, Azores, destined for Bantry Bay, Ireland. The cargo ship Pensacola (ID-2078/AK-7) sails from Horta Fayal, Azores, for New Orleans, Louisiana.[iv] 

16 February The transport Henderson (AP-1) sails for the United States.[v] 

16 February In response to intelligence of the sailing of German battle cruisers, the Grand Fleet with the Sixth Battle Squadron sails to reinforce the Fourth Battle Squadron supporting a Scandinavian convoy.[vi] 

17 February The destroyer Davis (DD-65) recovers 22 survivors from the British steamer Pinewood sunk earlier that day.[vii] 

17 February The armed yacht Kanawha II (SP-130) sails for the United States.[viii] 

18 February The first U.S. mine carrier, Ozama, arrives at Kyle of Loch Alsh, Scotland, with stores and equipment for Overseas Mine Bases 17 and 18.[ix] 

18 February The repair ship Prometheus (AR-3), destroyers MacDonough (DD-9) and McCall (DD-28), and armed yacht Isabel (SP-521) arrive in Brest, France. The transport Astoria (ID-2005/AK-8) arrives in Paulliac, France, while the gunboat Paducah (PG-18) and Canadian naval drifters 2, 7, 8, and 11 arrive in Gibraltar.[x] 

18 February Rear Admiral Henry B. Wilson shifts his flag to repair ship Prometheus (AR-3).[xi] 

18 February A board of investigation holds Lieutenant (j.g.) Enoch N. Gracie, commander of the tug Concord (SP-773), responsible for the loss of French submarine chasers SC-28 and SC-319.[xii] 

18 February The armed yacht Venetia (SP-431), tugs Penobscot (SP-982) and Nahant (SP-1250), French naval drifters Camelia and Canard, and French submarine chasers SC-160, SC-170, SC-173, SC-314, and SC-318 sail from Leixoes, Portugal, for Gibraltar.[xiii] 

19 February The protected cruiser Tacoma (C-18) arrives in Ponta Delgada, Azores, for coal en route to Hampton Roads, Virginia.[xiv]

_______________

[i] Wilson, American Navy in France, 29; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 108; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 15 February 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[ii] Cablegram from Henry B. Wilson to W. S. Sims, 7 March 1918; memorandum from Warren T. Purdy, Commanding Officer, USS Astoria, to W. S. Sims, about damages and repairs to Astoria, 28 February 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[iii] Navy Department, Naval Planning, 91–116.

[iv] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to MELVUS, Queenstown and C-in-C, 16 February 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 17 February 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[v] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 18 February 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[vi] Jones, Battleship Operations, 42.

[vii] DANFS, entry for Davis II (Destroyer No. 54), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/d/davis-ii.html.

[viii] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 18 February 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[ix] Navy Department, Northern Barrage, 66; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 19 February 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[x] Wilson, American Navy in France, 70; Husband, Coast of France, 17; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 18 February 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 27 February 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[xi] Cablegram from Henry B. Wilson to W. S. Sims, 18 February 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[xii] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 18 February 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[xiii] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 20 February 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[xiv] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to SENAFLOAT, Ponta Delgada, 19 February 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[101]

19 February The French submarine chaser SC-28 belatedly arrives at Horta, Fayal, Azores, after losing its tow from the tug Concord (SP-773) on 15 January in rough seas. With six sails made from bedsheets, SC-28 made 2 to 3 knots before the wind, and using only a compass to navigate, reached Horta by estimating her position.[i] 

19 February The transports Artemis (ID-2187), China, Aeolus (ID-3005), and Powhatan (ID-3013), and store ship Calamares (ID-3662/AF-18) sail for the United States. The cargo ship Munsomo (ID-1607) arrives at Brest, France.[ii] 

20 February The minesweeper Annie E. Gallup (SP-694) wrecks on Cape Henlopen, Delaware.[iii] 

20 February Captain Charles P. Plunkett begins to assemble and train personnel for the naval railroad batteries.[iv] 

20 February Rear Admiral Albert P. Niblack orders the name of armed yacht Artemis (SP-593) changed to Arcturus.[v] 

20 February The armed yacht Isabel (SP-521) and destroyer MacDonough (DD-9) arrive in Brest, France. The tanker Hisko (SP-485) sails for the United States, while the cargo ship Panaman (ID-3299) arrives at St. Nazaire.[vi] 

21 February Naval Air Station Bolsena, Italy, is established with Ensign William B. Atwater commanding. The station is primarily used for training, and is the first of two air stations established in Italy during the war.[vii] 

21 February The armed yacht Venetia (SP-431), tugs Nahant (SP-1250) and Penobscot (SP-982), and French submarine chasers SC-314, SC-318, SC-170, and SC-172 arrive at Gibraltar. The destroyer Nicholson (DD-52) arrives at Chatham, England, while the protected cruiser Tacoma (C-18) sails from Ponta Delgada, Azores, for Hampton Roads, Virginia. The French tanker Quevilly arrives at Ponta Delgada and the destroyer McCall (DD-28) sails from Brest, France, for Queenstown, Ireland. The French submarine chasers SC-29 and SC-67 arrive at Brest.[viii] 

22 February The French naval drifters Camelia and Canard, and submarine chaser SC-160 arrive at Gibraltar. The destroyer McCall (DD-28) arrives at Queenstown, Ireland.[ix] 

22 February Naval Air Station Queenstown, Ireland, is established with Lieutenant Commander Paul J. Peyton commanding. The station is used as an assembly and repair station serving all naval air stations in Ireland.[x] 

22 February The Director of Naval Communications was requested to provide wireless shore transmitting and receiving facilities at five naval air stations on the Atlantic Coast and at San Diego, California, and Coco Solo, Panama, to permit pilots on patrol to communicate with their bases. In May, this request was expanded to include all naval air stations.[xi]

______________

[i] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 20 February 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to Henry B. Wilson, 21 February 1918; cablegram from Herbert O. Dunn to W. S. Sims, 23 February 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 165–66.

[ii] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 20 February 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 22 February 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[iii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 3.

[iv] Naval Railway Batteries, 5.

[v] DANFS, entry for Artemis I (Yacht), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/a/artemis-yacht-i.html.

[vi] Wilson, American Navy in France, 27; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 21 February 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 22 February 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[vii] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 60; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 32.

[viii] Cablegram from Albert P. Niblack to W. S. Sims, 21 February 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to Henry B. Wilson, 22 February 1918; cablegrams from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 22 February 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 23 February 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[ix] Cablegram from Albert P. Niblack to W. S. Sims, 23 February 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 23 February 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[x] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 60; Still, Crisis at Sea, 107.

[xi] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 60; Cooney, Chronology of U.S. Navy, 228; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 32.

[102]

22 February The survey ship Surveyor and submarines L-3 (SS-42) and L-9 (SS-49) arrive at Bantry Bay, Ireland, and the cargo ship Houston (AK-1) arrives at Ponta Delgada, Azores.[i] 

23 February The oiler Arethusa (AO-7) sails from Ponta Delgada, Azores, for New York. The American cargo ships Charlton Hall (ID-1359), Mexican (ID-1655), Santiago (ID-2253), and Millinocket, along with the British cargo ship War Rose and transport Beckenham, French transport Ville d’Oran, and Norwegian steamer Havö, arrive at Quiberon, France.[ii] 

23 February The American Naval Planning Section, London, releases Memorandum No. 13 concerning the employment of K-Tube hydrophones in antisubmarine operations.[iii] 

24 February The destroyers Davis (DD-65), Paulding (DD-22), and Trippe (DD-33) attack a submarine with guns and depth charges and force it to surface. After leaving the exposed submarine, her crew signaled “We Are English” and identified the vessel as HMS L2. The engagement did not result in any casualties and Davis escorted the British submarine to Berehaven, Ireland, for repairs.[iv] 

24 February The troopship Von Steuben (ID-3017), transports Antigone (ID-3007) and Martha Washington (ID-3019), and cargo ships Casco (ID-1957), Lewis K. Thurlow, Wachusett (ID-1840), and Woonstocket arrive at Brest, France. The troopship Finland (ID-4543), transport President Lincoln, British cargo ship War Rose, and American cargo ships Santiago (ID-2253), Charlton Hall (ID-1359), and Mexican (ID-1655) arrive at St. Nazaire, France.[v] 

25 February The survey ship Surveyor arrives at Milford Haven, England, en route to Gibraltar.[vi] 

25 February The Turner Construction Co. of New York assumes the general contract from the Bureau of Yards and Docks and begins construction of the emergency concrete Navy Department Main Building and War Department Munitions Building adjacent to the reflecting pool of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. Ten Civil Engineer Corps officers and 120 enlisted personnel from the 12th Regiment (Public Works) of the Great Lakes Naval Training Station, Illinois, assist the rapid pace of construction. Commander A. L. Parsons, CEC, assistant chief of the bureau, oversees the entire project for the Navy.[vii] 

25 February The American Naval Planning Section, London, publishes Memorandum No. 14 concerning the denial of the English Channel to enemy submarines.[viii] 

25 February The tanker Santa Maria is torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-19 off the northeast coast of Ireland, one mile from land near Loch Swilly.[ix] 

26 February The cargo ship Bath (ID-1997/AK-4) sails for the United States, while the cargo ship Long Beach (ID-2136/AK-9) arrives at Lough Swilly, Ireland.[x] 

26 February The tug Cherokee (SP-458) founders and sinks 12.5 miles off Fenwick Island Light Vessel, Delaware. Five officers and 23 men are lost.[xi]

______________

[i] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 22 February 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 24 February 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[ii] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 23 February 1918; cablegram from Henry B. Wilson to W. S. Sims, 24 February 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[iii] Navy Department, Naval Planning, 117–20.

[iv] John S. Barleon, “U.S.S. Paulding Attack on British Submarine L-2, 24 February 1918”; “Report of damage sustained by H.M. Submarine L-2 as a result of being attacked by U.S. ships Davis, Paulding, and Trippe on 24 February 1918,” Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[v] Cablegrams from Henry B. Wilson to W. S. Sims, 24 February 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[vi] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 25 February 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[vii] Navy Department, Yards and Docks, 483, 492.

[viii] Navy Department, Naval Planning, 121–32.

[ix] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 12; Office of Naval Intelligence, “Report of Commanding Officer of the Armed Guard, on board the S.S. Santa Maria,” 26 March 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[x] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 27 February 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 28 February 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[xi] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 3.

[103]

26 February The tug Mariner (SP-1136) founders and sinks with no casualties.[i] 

26 February The destroyer Parker (DD-48), while patrolling near South Light of Lundy Island off Devon, England, sights a small raft with a man on it, a survivor of the British hospital ship Glenart Castle torpedoed earlier that morning. Parker continues searching and finds three more rafts, bringing aboard eight more survivors, although one dies before the destroyer returns to port.[ii] 

27 February The survey ship Surveyor sails from Milford Haven, England, for Gibraltar.[iii] 

28 February The destroyer Caldwell (DD-69) arrives at Ponta Delgada, Azores and the cargo ships Minnesotan (ID-4545) and F. J. Luckenbach (ID-2160) arrive in Brest, France.[iv] 

1 March The dirigible station at Paimboeuf, France, where several aviation personnel had been on duty with the French since November 1917, is taken over by American forces and established as a naval air station, Lieutenant Commander Louis H. Maxfield commanding.[v] 

1 March The armed yacht Kanawha II is renamed Piqua (SP-130).[vi] 

1 March The cargo ships Lewis K. Thurlow and Casco (ID-1957) arrive in St. Nazaire, France, the British steamer Inverarnan in Nantes, and cargo ships El Oriente (ID-4504) and Iowan (ID-3002) in La Pallice. The troopships Von Steuben (ID-3017) and Antigone (ID-3007), transport Martha Washington (ID-3019), and cargo ship Tiger (ID-1640) sail for the United States.[vii] 

1 March U.S. Overseas Mine Bases 17 and 18 are at a state of completion where mines can now be received and assembly work commenced if necessary. The main construction work for both bases is practically completed by 1 April.[viii] 

1 March The Naval Armed Guard aboard the tanker Paulsboro begins a running gun duel with an enemy submarine. By elevating the ship’s guns beyond the sight scale, the Armed Guard is able to get the range of the submarine and drop shells directly on her. The submarine breaks off pursuit and submerges in a little under an hour, having fired 50 rounds to Paulsboro’s 88 3-inch shells. One crewmember suffers a shrapnel injury, but otherwise the tanker makes port unscathed.[ix] 

2 March The minelayers Canandaigua (ID-1694) and Canonicus (ID-1696) are commissioned.[x] 

2 March The gunboat Sacramento (PG-19) arrives in Milford Haven, England.[xi] 

2 March The British steamer Rutherglen collides in the evening darkness with the British submarine H5, sinking the submarine with all hands aboard, including American Lieutenant Earle W. F. Childs who is acting as an observer.[xii] 

3 March The collier Sterling arrives at Brest, France. She steams for Paulliac, France, on 6 March.[xiii]

______________

[i] Ibid.

[ii] Memorandum from Cmdr. Halsey Powell, Commanding Officer, USS Parker,  to W. S. Sims, on rescuing survivors of S.S. Glenart Castle, 26 February 1918, 3 March 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[iii] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 28 February 1918, RG45, NARA, Reel 19.

[iv] Cablegram from Herbert O. Dunn to W. S. Sims, 28 February 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 2 March 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[v] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 61; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 32–33; Still, Crisis at Sea, 465.

[vi] DANFS, entry for Piqua I (SP-130), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/p/piqua-i.html.

[vii] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 2 March 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[viii] Navy Department, Northern Barrage, 66.

[ix] Memorandum from Joseph E. Reiter, commanding Armed Guard, S.S. Paulsboro to William S. Benson, on Report of Voyage (Westward) S.S. Paulsboro, 18 March 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[x] Navy Department, Northern Barrage, 78.

[xi] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to Herbert O. Dunn, 3 March 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[xii] Letter from Lewis Bayly to Poinsett Pringle, 7 March 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 17 March 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[xiii] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 8 March 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[104]

3 March The blimp AT-1, obtained from the French on 1 March, makes its first flight under American control at Paimboeuf, France.[i] 

3 March Vice Admiral W. S. Sims forwards to the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations a request with his endorsement from the Admiralty for the dispatch of an American warship to Northern Russian to provide material assistance and impress the Russians. Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson will confer with the State Department and conclude not to send a warship to Murmansk at the present time.[ii] 

4 March The destroyer Wadsworth (DD-60) arrives in Brest, France, from Queenstown, Ireland. The transports George Washington (ID-3018) and President Grant (ID-3014), and troopship Covington (ID-1409), arrive in Brest. The transports Wilhelmina (ID-2168) and President Lincoln, troopship Finland (ID-4543), and cargo ship Panaman (ID-3299), sail for the United States.[iii] 

4 March The troopship Leviathan (ID-1326) and minelayer Baltimore (CM-1) sail from New York Harbor with 8,242 troops onboard bound for Liverpool, England. They arrive on 12 March.[iv] 

4 March The American Naval Planning Section, London, publishes Memorandum No. 15 about Allied strategy in regard to advocating the conclusion of peace with the Ottoman Empire.[v] 

4 March The collier Cyclops (AC-4) sails from Barbados, British West Indies, and mysteriously disappears along with her 15 officers and 221 crewmembers, 64 naval personnel, two Marines, and an American consul. No trace of her is ever found. Her loss remains largest single loss of life in U.S. Navy history not directly involving combat.[vi] 

5 March The cargo ship El Sol (ID-4505), troop transports Manchuria (ID-1633), DeKalb (ID-3010), and Susquehana (ID-3016), and store ship Pastores (ID-4540/AF-16) arrive at St. Nazaire, France. The destroyer Wadsworth (DD-60) transfers to U.S. Naval Forces Operating in French Waters and the destroyer Caldwell (DD-69) arrives at Queenstown, Ireland.  The gunboat Paducah (PG-18) sails from Gibraltar to Ponta Delgada, Azores, while the submarine tender Camden (ID-3143/AS-6) arrives at Liverpool, England, and the cargo ship Long Beach (ID-2136/AK-9) at Dublin, Ireland.[vii] 

6 March The Bureau of Navigation establishes instrument allowances for naval aircraft allotting a compass, two altimeters, and a clock for service seaplanes and flying boats; a compass, altimeter, clock, and statoscope for dirigibles and free balloons; and an altimeter and clock for kite balloons and training planes.[viii] 

6 March An unmanned flying-bomb type plane is launched successfully and flown for 1,000 yards at Sperry Flying Field, Copiague, Long Island, New York.[ix] 

6 March Two American submarines left port at Berehaven, Bantry Bay, Ireland for the first combat patrol in European waters.[x]

_____________

[i] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 61; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 33.

[ii] Henry P. Beers, “U.S. Naval Forces in Northern Russia (Archangel and Murmansk), 1918–1919,” Navy Department, Office of Records Administration, 1943, 6–7.

[iii] Wilson, American Navy in France, 29; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 108; cablegram from Henry B. Wilson to W. S. Sims, 4 March 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 5 March 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[iv] History of the U.S.S. Leviathan, 67–68; Belknap, Yankee Mining Squadron, 33.

[v] Navy Department, Naval Planning, 133–36.

[vi] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 3; Sweetman, American Naval History, 138; Navy Department, Annual Report 1918, 28; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 244–46.

[vii] Cablegram from Henry B. Wilson to W. S. Sims, 5 March 1918; cablegrams from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 5 March 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 7 March 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 8 March 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[viii] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 61; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 33.

[ix] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 61.

[x] Still, Crisis at Sea, 459.

[105]

6 March The supply ship Culgoa (AF-3), transports Dakotan (ID-3882), Floridian (ID-3875), and Kroonland (ID-1541), troopship Ticonderoga (ID-1958), cargo ships Santa Barbara (ID-4522), Munplace (ID-2346), and City of Atlanta, oiler George G. Henry (ID-1560), and British transport Czaritza arrive at Brest, France. The collier Jupiter (AC-3) arrives the following day. The mine carrier Ozama arrives in Glasgow, Scotland.[i] 

7 March The Office of the Director of Naval Aviation is established in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations and the Aviation Section was raised from section to a division.[ii] 

7 March The American Naval Planning Section, London, publishes Memorandum No. 16 detailing American and British agreements in regard to military plans for the Adriatic Sea.[iii] 

8 March The minelayer Baltimore (CM-1) arrives at the Clyde River, Scotland, the first American minelayer in British waters. The tanker Topila (ID-3001) arrives at Portsmouth, England. The transport Kroonland (ID-1541) and troopship Ticonderoga (ID-1958) sail from Brest, France, for St. Nazaire; the cargo ship Santa Barbara (ID-4522) for La Pallice; the cargo ship City of Atlanta for Rochefort; and the transports Dakotan (ID-3882) and Floridian (ID-3875), oiler George G. Henry (ID-1560), and cargo ship Munplace (ID-2346) for Bordeaux.[iv] 

8 March The Sixth Battle Squadron with a screen of eight destroyers puts to sea to provide cover for a Scandinavian convoy.[v] 

8 March Quartermaster 2nd Class H. J. Veile, Naval Reserve, is killed in an airplane accident with the Royal Flying Corps at Ayr, Scotland, when the aircraft fails to recover from a spinning nose dive.[vi] 

10 March The transports Agamemnon (ID-3004) and America, troopship Mount Vernon (ID-4508), and armored cruiser Seattle (CA-11) arrive at Brest, France, and the collier Sterling arrives at Paulliac. The cargo ship Macona (ID-3305) sails from Brest for Bordeaux, the cargo ship Santiago (ID-2253) from St. Nazaire for Verdon-sur-Mer, and Astoria (ID-2005/AK-8) and cargo ship Santa Barbara (ID-4522) from Paulliac for La Pallice. The cargo ship Lewis K. Thurlow arrives at Brest, and the store ship Bridge (AF-1) arrives at Queenstown, Ireland. The transports DeKalb (ID-3010), George Washington (ID-3018), and Susquehanna (ID-3016), troopship Covington (ID-1409), and store ship Pastores (ID-4540/AF-16), sail for the United States.[vii] 

11 March The gunboat Paducah (PG-18) arrives at Ponta Delgada, Azores, with orders to proceed to Funchal, Madeira, Portugal, then to Tenerife, Canary Islands. The tanker Frank E. Buck (ID-1613) arrives at Lough Swilly, Scotland.[viii] 

12 March The American Naval Planning Section, London, releases a review of mining policy in regard to European waters in Memorandum No. 17.[ix] 

12–14 March The Allied Naval Council meeting in London recommends dispatching the first 36 American submarine chasers to the Mediterranean Sea for use on the Otranto Material Barrage (a combination of mines, nets, and vessels) to prevent submarines from leaving the Adriatic Sea. The decision is also made to assign six to eight of the submarine chasers to British waters for “experimental purposes.” Vice Admiral W. S. Sims presents to the assembled representatives an American operation for offensive action in the Adriatic.[x]

____________

[i] Cablegrams from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 8 March 1918; cablegrams from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 5 March 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[ii] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 61; Cooney, Chronology of the U.S. Navy, 228; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 33.

[iii] Navy Department, Naval Planning, 137–38.

[iv] Navy Department, Northern Barrage, 102; cablegrams from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 8 March 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[v] Jones, Battleship Operations, 45.

[vi] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 9 March 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[vii] Cablegrams from Henry B. Wilson to W. S. Sims, 10 March 1918; cablegram from Henry B. Wilson to W. S. Sims, 11 March 1918; cablegrams from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 11 March 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[viii] Cablegram from Herbert O. Dunn to W. S. Sims, 11 March 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 11 March 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[ix] Navy Department, Naval Planning, 139–70.

[x] Still, Crisis at Sea, 447, 493; Halpern, Naval War in Mediterranean, 439–47; Navy Department, American Naval Planning Section, 59–75; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 5 April 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL.

[106]

13 March The German submarine U-152 scuttles and sinks the American schooner A. E. Whyland, 55 miles off Tenerife, Canary Islands.[i] 

14 March Naval Air Station Ile Tudy, France, is established with Lieutenant Charles E. Sugden, USCG, commanding.[ii] 

14 March An enemy submarine torpedoes and sinks the American cargo ship A. A. Raven, 16 miles south-southwest of Wolf Rock Light, Isles of Scilly, England, killing seven and injuring six.[iii] 

15 March The Bureau of Yards and Docks breaks ground for massive expansion of Naval Training Camp, Pelham Bay, New York, for an additional 10,000 men.[iv] 

15 March The Bureau of Ordnance commences work at the Naval Gun Factory on designing a mobile caterpillar tractor field mount for 7-inch, 45-caliber naval guns removed from Connecticut (BB-18)–class battleships for use by the Marines. On 18 June, the bureau awards the contract to the Baldwin Locomotive Works to manufacture and deliver 20 of the mounts by 18 October.[v] 

16 March Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels forbids the sale of liquor within five miles of naval bases and stations.[vi] 

17 March Destroyer Stewart (DD-13) responds to the scene of a collision between the British steamers William Ball and Falstaff. Stewart comes alongside the Ball and secures the damaged ship to herself, transferring the crew and its valuable cargo to the destroyer before the Ball sinks.[vii] 

17 March The minelayer Baltimore (CM-1) arrives at Greenock, Scotland, although the MK VI mines for her to lay do not arrive until 13 April.[viii] 

18 March The German submarine U-46 torpedoes and sinks the steamship Atlantic Sun, 19 miles off Orsay Island, Scotland, killing two.[ix] 

19 March A formation of flying boats on reconnaissance patrol of the German coast is attacked by German seaplanes. Ensign Stephen Potter shoots down one attacker and is officially credited as the first American naval aviator to shoot down an enemy seaplane.[x] 

19 March The destroyer Manley (DD-74) collides with the British auxiliary cruiser HMS Montague while escorting a convoy, detonating depth charges on board the destroyer and severely damaging the ship and killing one officer and 33 men. She is taken in tow and moored in Queenstown Harbor, Ireland.[xi]

_____________

[i] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 12.

[ii] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 61; Larzelere, Coast Guard, 146–47.

[iii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 12.

[iv] Navy Department, Yards and Docks, 57.

[v] Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 205–208.

[vi] Cooney, Chronology of the U.S. Navy, 228.

[vii] Wilson, American Navy in France, 149–50.

[viii] Belknap, Yankee Mining Squadron, 33.

[ix] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 12.

[x] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 61; Cooney, Chronology of the U.S. Navy, 229; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 33; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 233–34.

[xi] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 5; John D. Alden, Flush Decks and Four Pipes (1965, repr. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1990), 5.

[107]

20 March Fire breaks out in the powder testing room of the chemical laboratory at the Naval Smokeless Powder Factory at Indian Head, Maryland, gutting the building and causing more than $52,000 in damages.[i] 

21 March The U.S. government requisitions all 101 Dutch merchant vessels then in American ports.[ii] 

21 March The Curtiss HA seaplane, or “Dunkirk Fighter,” makes its first flight at Port Washington, Long Island, New York.[iii] 

21 March The steamer Chincha is fired upon by the German submarine U-154 off Gibraltar. Four men are killed but Chincha escapes.[iv] 

23 March The minelayer Quinnebaug (ID-1687) is commissioned.[v] 

23 March Tests of a towed version of the K-Tube underwater listening apparatus prove encouraging, although ships must not exceed 3 knots cruising speed otherwise listening becomes impossible.[vi] 

23 March Rear Admiral Joseph Strauss, Commander, Mine Force, arrives in Liverpool, England, and reports in London to Vice Admiral W. S. Sims, Commander, U.S. Naval Forces, European Waters.[vii] 

23 March The cargo ship Chattahoochee is torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine UB-55 in the English Channel, 28 miles south of Penzance, England.[viii] 

25 March Ensign John F. McNamara, flying out of RNAS Portland, England, makes the first attack on a German U-boat by a U.S. naval aviator. The submarine is later evaluated as “possibly damaged.”[ix] 

26 March The armed steam yacht Admiral (SP-967) runs aground on rocks and sinks at Brant Rock, off Scituate, Massachusetts. She is later salvaged.[x] 

26 March The Bureau of Ordnance places a contract for an order of 200 pieces of MK I depth charge launching gear. Deliveries begin on 10 April. The gear consists of a track holding eight depth charges that is operated either by control from the ship’s bridge or by manual control at the track itself.[xi] 

26 March The American Naval Planning Section, London, releases Memorandum No. 19 examining the reorganization of U.S. Naval Forces in European Waters in consideration of the arrival of additional ships.[xii] 

27 March The first product of the Naval Aircraft Factory, an H-16 seaplane, Bureau Number A-1049, makes its first flight.[xiii]

_____________

[i] Navy Department, Annual Report 1918, 498.

[ii] Ibid., 20.

[iii] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 61; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 33.

[iv] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 12.

[v] Navy Department, Northern Barrage, 78.

[vi] Memorandum from W. S. Sims to William S. Benson, on general report, 17 April 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL.

[vii] Navy Department, Northern Barrage, 87.

[viii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 13.

[ix] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 61; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 33.

[x] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 3.

[xi] Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 104; Llewellyn-Jones, Royal Navy, 161.

[xii] Navy Department, Naval Planning, 186–93.

[xiii] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 61; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 33; Navy Department, Annual Report 1918, 64.

[108]

28 March The Secretaries of Navy and War agree to a series of articles governing the disposition of sick, wounded, and dead of the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps for passage between Europe and the United States, or in France. At sea, the Navy is charged with care of all patients and anyone who dies at sea will have their remains returned to the United States.[i] 

28 March President Woodrow Wilson issues Executive Order 2825A authorizing the Secretary of the Navy to take over, on behalf of the United States, “all tackle, apparel, furniture and equipment and all stores, including bunker fuel, aboard each of the vessels of Netherlands registry now lying with the territorial jurisdiction of the United States. . . .”[ii] 

28 March The American Naval Planning Section, London, Memorandum No. 18 is published. It concerns antisubmarine policy and includes a joint memorandum from the British and American planning sections.[iii] 

29 March Rear Admiral Joseph Strauss assumes formal command of the U.S. Navy Mine Force at U.S. Naval Base No. 18, Inverness, Scotland.[iv] 

30 March The destroyer Stockton (DD-73) collides with the British troopship Slieve Bloom in the Irish Sea. All troops transfer over to the Stockton and destroyer Ericsson (DD-56) before the transport sinks.[v]  

1 April A British paravane shed at Haulbowline, Ireland, is turned over to the U.S. Navy to serve as a torpedo repair station, which begins operations on 1 May. On 1 July, the force commander decides to expand the station to overhaul all torpedoes north of the Mediterranean, with the station later capable of maintaining 400 torpedoes per month.[vi] 

3 April The destroyer Porter (DD-59) spots a suspicious object and drops a pattern of depth charges. The crew spots debris after the attack and believes that Porter either sunk or seriously damaged a submarine. After the war, the Admiralty disagrees and concludes that there were no submarines in the vicinity on that date.[vii] 

3 April The American Naval Planning Section, London, publishes Memorandum No. 20 emphasizing principles in previous memoranda and for establishing doctrine for antisubmarine attack.[viii] 

4 April Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels orders all work to cease in removing guns from battleships and armored cruisers for installation on merchant ships.[ix] 

4 April The transports Henry R. Mallory (ID-1280) and Mercury (ID-3012), and troopship Tenadores are attacked by a surfaced U-boat. The three ships attack the submarine and apparently damage her; she submerged and her fate remains unknown.[x] 

5 April Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson asks Vice Admiral W. S. Sims if there is still a necessity for the presence of American men of war at Murmansk, Russia, and if so if ships should be sent.[xi]

____________

[i] Navy Department, General Order 392, Disposition of Sick, Wounded, and Dead of the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps, 28 March 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL; Navy Department, Annual Report 1919, 2105–106.

[ii] Executive Order 2825A, 28 March 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL.

[iii] Navy Department, Naval Planning, 171–85.

[iv] Belknap, Yankee Mining Squadron, 104.

[v] Memorandum from W. S. Sims to William S. Benson, on general report, 5 April 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL; DANFS, entry for Stockton II ( Destroyer No. 73), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/s/stockton-ii.html.

[vi] Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 169–70.

[vii] DANFS, entry for Porter II (Destroyer No. 59), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/p/porter-ii.html.

[viii] Navy Department, Naval Planning, 194–96.

[ix] Telegram from Josephus Daniels to Portsmouth, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Norfolk Navy Yards, 4 April 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL.

[x] Gleaves, Transport Service, 168.

[xi] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 5 April 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL.

[109]

5 April Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels signs orders to furnish personnel and cooperation for a British effort to lay a 36-mile oil pipeline across Scotland. The pipe and associated materials will be transported in American vessels and the work carried out under the direction of Commander W. A. Barstow.[i] 

6 April Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson cables Vice Admiral W. S. Sims to report the Navy Department has received intelligence that one German submarine will soon sail “for Mexico with military mission and arms. [It is b]elieved that [it] may be U-151 converted into [a] submarine cruiser.”[ii] 

8 April The first 16-inch, 50-caliber MK 2 naval gun is proved at the Naval Gun Factory, Washington Navy Yard, D.C.[iii] 

8 April Vice Admiral W. S. Sims wires Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson regarding the situation in Murmansk, Russia, and the defense of Allied supplies. “[A] force of considerable strength may be needed at any time. The Russians of all classes should be impressed with the unity of the Allies.”[iv] 

8 April Vice Admiral W. S. Sims wires Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson reporting that the Admiralty believes it desirable for an American warship to be at Murmansk, Russia. Sims notes that there is no suitable vessel to send from his forces, “but that a pre-dreadnought battleship or armored cruiser from home waters [could] be sent.” In reply the following day, Benson wires Sims that the only vessel “which might be possibly made available for this duty is USS Olympia.” Sims approves the selection of the protected cruiser Olympia (C-6), recommending she proceed via Scapa Flow, Scotland.[v] 

8 April The Navy Department begins assisting the Treasury Department in the supervision and examination of ships, passengers, and crews arriving and departing from American ports. Naval Port Guards are stationed on board ships without Armed Guards or gun crews and Navy representatives are present at the examination of ships, cargoes, and crews by the Treasury Department for the remainder of the war.[vi] 

8 April In recognition of German submarines carrying heavier naval guns, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson agrees to cooperate with the War Department to mount at least one 5- or 6-inch gun aft on Army cargo transports, which were then carrying nothing heavier than 3-inch, 50-caliber or 4-inch, 40-caliber guns.[vii] 

8 April The tender Leonidas (AD-7), tanker Chestnut Hill (ID-2526), armed yacht Yacona (SP-617), Army tugs Slocum, San Luis, Cadmus, and Fischer, and French tug Seminol together with U.S. submarine chasers SC-90, SC-94, SC-95, SC-143, SC-147, SC-148, SC-151, SC-177, SC-179, SC-215, SC-225, SC-226, SC-227, SC-324, SC-337, SC-338, and SC-351, sail from Bermuda for the Azores.[viii] 

9 April The minelayer Saranac (ID-1702) is commissioned.[ix]

_____________

[i] Daniels, Our Navy at War, 281–82.

[ii] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 6 April 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL.

[iii] Navy Department, Annual Report 1919, 66–67.

[iv] Kemp Tolley, “Our Russian War of 1918–1919” Proceedings 95, no. 792 (February 1969): 61.

[v] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 8 April 1918; cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 9 April 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 12 April 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL.

[vi] Memorandum from William S. Benson to the Commandants of all Naval Districts except the 9th, 10th, and 11th, on participation of the Navy Department in the supervision and examination of ships, passengers and crews arriving at or departing from the ports of the United States and its possessions, 8 April 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL.

[vii] Memorandum from William S. Benson to Director of Storage and Traffic, on heavier guns aft for certain Army cargo transports, 8 April 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL.

[viii] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 9 April 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL.

[ix] Navy Department, Northern Barrage, 78.

[110]

9 April Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels announces that seven War Department ships—Finland (ID-4543), store ship Pastores (ID-4540/AF-16), troopship Tenadores, transport Henry R. Mallory (ID-1280), Lenape (ID-2700), Mongolia (ID-1615), and Manchuria (ID-1633)—are being taken over by the Navy.[i] 

10 April The submarine chaser SC-126 grounds and partially sinks near Two Rocks Passage, Bermuda Harbor. She is later salvaged.[ii] 

10 April Mine Squadron One of the Atlantic Fleet is organized at Hampton Roads, Virginia, aboard the flagship San Francisco (CM-2).[iii] 

10 April A training school for female apprentices begins at the Naval Aircraft Factory, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[iv] 

11 April The trawler Mary B. Garner (SP-682) runs aground and is wrecked at Prime Hook Beach, Delaware, killing one person.[v] 

11 April The mine carrier Lake Moor (ID-2180) is torpedoed by the German submarine UB-73 and sinks off Corsewall Point Light, killing five officers and 41 enlisted men. The ship carried MK VI mine components, mostly anchors, for the North Sea Mine Barrage.[vi] 

12 April President Woodrow Wilson issues Executive Order 2839, transferring Maurice Eli Levy, a junior hydrographic and geodetic engineer, from the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey to the U.S. Navy.[vii] 

13 April The Navy officially declares the collier Cyclops (AC-4) as lost; nothing has been heard from the ship since 4 March. Newspapers report the loss on 15 April.[viii] 

13–14 April The minelayer Baltimore (CM-1) lays 179 mines in conjunction with the Royal Navy. She is the first American minelayer to lay mines for the North Sea Mine Barrage.[ix] 

14 April Corfu is selected as the base for 36 American submarine chasers, destined to take part in the Otranto Material Barrage.[x] 

15 April The scout cruiser Salem (CS-3), armed yacht Wadena (SP-158), submarine chasers SC-77, SC-78, SC-79, SC-80, SC-81, SC-92, SC-93, SC-96, SC-124, SC-125, SC-227, SC-128, SC-129, SC-244, SC-255, SC-256, SC-224, SC-327, SC-349, Army ferry lighter Amackassin, Army tug No. 21, tugs Conestoga (SP-1128), Lykens (SP-876/AT-56), and Knickerbocker, British submarine H-14, French tugs Mohican, Apache, and Rene, and French submarine chasers SC-30, SC-32, SC-142, SC-146, SC-161, SC-169, SC-174, SC-175, SC-176, and SC-350, sail from Bermuda for Ponta Delgada, Azores.[xi] 

16 April The first detachment of trained aerologists, consisting of nine officers and 15 enlisted men, depart for duty at naval air stations in Europe.[xii]

____________

[i] Telegram from Josephus Daniels to Commandant Third Naval District, 9 April 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL.

[ii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 3.

[iii] Belknap, Yankee Mining Squadron, 104.

[iv] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 64.

[v] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 3.

[vi] Ibid., 1; Navy Department, Northern Barrage, 60, 89; Byrne, Deck School Log, 83–84.

[vii] Executive Order 2839, 12 April 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL.

[viii] Marvin W. Barrash, U.S.S. Cyclops (Westminster, MD: Heritage Books, 2010), 552, 554.

[ix] Navy Department, Northern Barrage, 103.

[x] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to William S. Benson, 14 April 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL.

[xi] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 15 April 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL.

[xii] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 64; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 34.

[111]

17 April The Sixth Battle Squadron sails on the last mission to protect Scandinavian convoys.[i] 

17 April The cargo ship Florence H. lying in harbor at Quiberon Bay, France, with a cargo of 2,200 tons of smokeless powder suddenly explodes. The destroyer Stewart (DD-13) and converted armed yachts Sultana (SP-134), Corona (SP-813), Wanderer (SP-132), and Christabel (SP-162) respond, but the wooden yachts could not enter the area of burning water. Stewart and destroyers Whipple (DD-15) and Truxtun (DD-14) steam into the wreckage and rescue survivors. Two men aboard the Stewart, Seaman 2nd Class Jesse W. Covington and Quartermaster 1st Class Frank M. Upton receive the Medal of Honor for pulling men from the water while surrounded by flaming debris and cases of explosives. Lieutenant Commander H. J. Abbett, commanding Whipple; Lieutenant Commander H. S. Haislip, commanding Stewart; and Lieutenant James G. Ware, commanding Truxtun, each receive the Distinguished Service Medal. In all, 62 Navy Crosses are awarded to participants in the rescue efforts.[ii] 

19 April Fireman 3rd Class Clarence Ellis Jones of the destroyer Paulding (DD-22) dies when he is washed overboard and the crew is unable to recover him.[iii] 

21 April The first “Homeward-to-the-Bay-of-Biscay” convoy sails from the United States for Brest, France, arriving 10 May. In this convoy system, a mixed French and American destroyer escort takes over escorting duties from a mixed American-British destroyer escort at a rendezvous point between the French and British coasts. Ships bound for Britain split off and those headed to France are taken directly to the Gironde River, St. Nazaire, or a position fairly close to the French coast. Of the latter vessels, those bound for Bordeaux and La Pallice are taken directly to the Gironde, while those headed for St. Nazaire and Brest are led to Quiberon Bay or occasionally directly to Brest.[iv] 

22 April The destroyer tender Black Hawk (AD-9) and minelayers Aroostook (CM-3) and Shawmut (CM-4) are assigned to Mine Squadron One.[v] 

23 April A section of aircraft from Naval Air Station Ile Tudy, France—one manned by QM1c(A) R. H. Harrell and QM2c(A) H. W. Studer, and the other by Ensign K. R. Smith and Ensign O. E. Williams—attack a submarine stalking the convoy they are covering. Smith’s aircraft drops two bombs, which bring bits of wreckage and sea growth to the surface, and appeared to have effectively stopped the submarine. The ensigns are officially credited by French naval authorities with having sunk a submarine, are cited in the Order of the Day, and awarded the Croix de Guerre with Palm.[vi] 

23 April In quite possibly the same submarine attacked by the aircraft from Naval Air Station Ile Tudy, France, the destroyer Stewart (DD-13), while escorting a convoy of 17 ships, is directed by an American seaplane to the location where the aircraft and wingman had dropped bombs. Stewart notices a distinct wake and possibly a periscope. Five depth charges are dropped on the submarine U-108, the first two bringing up oil and discolored water, but the U-boat escaped. She is damaged by another destroyer days later.[vii]

____________

[i] Jones, Battleship Operations, 47.

[ii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 17; Stringer, Distinguished Service, 21, 26–27, 33; Wilson, American Navy in France, 150–52; Husband, Coast of France, 103–107; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 110–12; Navy Department, Record of Medals of Honor Issued, 24, 116.

[iii] DANFS, entry for Paulding (Destroyer No. 22), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/p/paulding.html; Navy Department, Officers and Enlisted Men of the United States Navy Who Lost Their Lives during the World War, from April 6, 1917 to November 11, 1918 (Washington, DC: GPO, 1920), 406.

[iv] Wilson, American Navy in France, 61.

[v] Memorandums from William S. Benson to Commanding Officers, USS Aroostook, USS Black Hawk, USS Shawmut, on orders assigning to Mine Force, 22 April 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL.

[vi] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 64; Larzelere, Coast Guard, 147–49; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 232–33. 

[vii] DANFS, entry for Stewart I (Destroyer No. 13), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/s/stewart-i.html; memorandum from W. S. Sims to William S. Benson, on general report, 21 May 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL. 

[112]

23 April While serving as a dental officer with the 5th Marine Regiment, Lieutenant Commander Alexander G. Lyle rushes from cover under heavy shellfire to the assistance of Corporal Thomas Regan who was seriously wounded. Lyle administers surgical aid under fire saving Regan’s life. For his actions, Lyle receives the Medal of Honor.[i] 

23 April Vice Admiral W. S. Sims requests that the destroyer force at Queenstown, Ireland, install K-Tube tanks on all destroyers being refitted.[ii] 

23 April The American Naval Planning Section, London, releases Memorandum No. 23 answering a series of questions posed to the section by Vice Admiral W. S. Sims on the importance of military uniforms.[iii] 

24 April The Grand Fleet including the Sixth Battle Squadron sail to intercept the High Seas Fleet. The latter turn back, despite the Grand Fleet making contact with the Germans on the 25th.[iv] 

24 April The troopship Leviathan (ID-1326) sails from Hoboken, New Jersey, for Brest, France, with 8,909 troops on board, arriving on 2 May.[v] 

24 April Vice Admiral W. S. Sims, cognizant of the ground fighting on the Western Front and recent German advances, cables Washington recommending “all serviceable destroyers be sent [at the] earliest practicable moment.”[vi] 

25 April The cargo ship St. Paul (ID-1643) capsizes at Pier 61, North River, New York, killing two.[vii] 

25 April The first 14-inch naval railway mount is completed by Baldwin Locomotive Works.[viii] 

26 April Out of necessity to keep pace with increasing ranges of naval gunfire, Congress passes legislation authorizing the Secretary of the Navy to expend $1 million to increase the facilities for the proof and testing of the Navy’s largest guns at their longest ranges. On 10 June, through a presidential proclamation, an 11,000-acre tract of land near Machodoc Creek, Virginia, is acquired to serve as what will become the Naval Weapons Station Dahlgren.[ix] 

26 April The destroyer Stewart (DD-13) collides in an evening fog with a French man-of-war while in a convoy. The collision cuts Stewart almost to the midships line and requires weeks of repair work.[x] 

26–27 April The Allied Naval Council meets in Paris and agrees to act on the deteriorating situation at Archangel and Murmansk, Russia. It also agrees to further study a proposed Adriatic offensive.[xi] 

27 April The blimp AT-1, commanded by Lieutenant Frederick P. Culbert and a crew including Ensigns Merrill P. Delano, Arthur D. Brewer, and Thomas E. McCracken, completes a 25-hour, 43-minute flight out of Paimboeuf, France. During the flight, they escorted three convoys through a mined zone. For their flight, the longest on record for an aircraft of the type, the commanding officer and crew are officially commended by the French Naval Minister.[xii]

_____________

[i] Navy Department, Record of Medals of Honor Issued, 68; “Lyle, Alexander G., Vice Admiral, USN, (1889–1955),” NHHC, http://www.history.navy.mil/our-collections/photography/us-people/l/lyle-alexander-g.html.

[ii] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to MELVUS, Queenstown, 23 April 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL.

[iii] Navy Department, Naval Planning, 203–204.

[iv] Jones, Battleship Operations, 49.

[v] History of the U.S.S. Leviathan, 70–72.

[vi] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 24 April 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL.

[vii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 3.

[viii] Navy Department, Naval Railway Batteries, 6; Navy Department, Annual Report 1918, 47; Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 188, 271.

[ix] An Act to Authorize the Secretary of the Navy to Increase the Facilities for the Proof and Test of Ordnance Material, and for Other Purposes, Public Law 65-140, U.S. Statutes at Large 40 (1918): 537–38; Navy Department, Annual Report 1918, 58.

[x] Memorandum from W. S. Sims to William S. Benson, on general report, 21 May 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL; DANFS, entry for Destroyer No. 13), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/s/stewart-i.html.

[xi] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 1 May 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL; Halpern, Naval War in the Mediterranean, 463–65.

[xii] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 64; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 34.

[113]

27 April Captain Hutch I. Cone wires Vice Admiral W. S. Sims recommending the Navy “take over [the] Italian Station[s] at Porto Corsini and Pesaro” for use by naval aviation. He notes that Italy promises the stations will be ready around 1 May and 1 June, respectively, with the United States only needing to provide personnel. Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson wires his approval on 7 May.[i] 

28 April The destroyer Porter (DD-59) is on convoy duty when she spots a periscope 1,000 yards away on her starboard bow. She manages to close in to within 40 yards of the surfaced sub before it submerged. The German captain overestimated the destroyer’s distance because of encroaching darkness and her dazzle camouflage. Porter drops 22 depth charges, badly damaging the German submarine U-108, and putting her out of service for two months.[ii] 

29 April The Royal Flying Corps kite balloon station at Castletownbere, Ireland, is turned over to the United States and established as a naval air station, Ensign C. E. Shumway, commanding.[iii] 

29 April The U.S. schooner City of Pensacola is sunk by the German submarine UB-105 in the Mediterranean Sea, near Garrucha, Spain.[iv] 

30 April In a report to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, Vice Admiral W. S. Sims writes “There is always a likelihood that a submarine may appear off the American coast. In the same manner, and this would be fully as embarrassing, submarines may begin operations west of the 20th meridian. The losses from all such operations must be accepted. We are certain that they will be small, and will not, for many reasons be regularly carried on. I see nothing in the submarine situation today to warrant any change in the present policy of the Department.”[v] 

30 April Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels approves a plan recommended by the General Board of the U.S. Navy and developed by U.S. Naval Forces in European Waters for air operations in the Dunkirk-Zeebrugge area against German submarine support facilities. A specially organized unit, later designated as the Northern Bombing Group, is assigned the operation. Daniels also directed bureaus and offices to expedite assembly of personnel and equipment.[vi] 

30 April The first completed 14-inch, 50-caliber railway gun mount is successfully tested at Sandy Hook Proving Ground, New Jersey.[vii] 

1 May Vice Admiral W. S. Sims cables the Navy Department warning that he received information about a Deutschland-type submarine sailing to the American coast and due to arrive about 24 May. Sims later identifies this submarine as U-151.[viii] 

1 May The Cherbourg District of U.S. Naval Forces in France is established with Captain David F. Boyd commanding.[ix]

______________

[i] Cablegram from Hutch I. Cone to W. S. Sims, 27 April 1918; cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 7 May 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL.

[ii] DANFS, entry for Porter (Destroyer No. 59), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/p/porter-ii.html; memorandum from W. S. Sims to William S. Benson, on general report, 21 May 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL. 

[iii] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 64.

[iv] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 13.

[v] Memorandum from W. S. Sims to Josephus Daniels, on areas of operations of enemy submarines, 30 April 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL.

[vi] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 64; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 34.

[vii] Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 196–97, 271; cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 1 May 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL.

[viii] Navy Department, German Submarine Activities, 9–10; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 1 May 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL.

[ix] Wilson, American Navy in France, 113.

[114]

2 May Naval Air Station Wexford, Ireland, a seaplane station, and a kite balloon station at Berehaven are commissioned.[i] 

2 May The German submarine UB-48 torpedoes and sinks the steamer Tyler in the Mediterranean Sea, killing 11.[ii] 

2 May The American Naval Planning Section, London, in Memorandum No. 24 states that one tender for every 24 destroyers and another for every 24 Eagle boats should accompany the 265 destroyers and 100 Eagle boats currently under construction when they proceed to the war zone.[iii] 

2 May Troop transport Pocahontas (ID-3044), while 1,000 miles west of Brest, France, observes a surfacing large U-boat cruiser, which begins firing at the transport. Pocahontas returns fire and makes flank speed to outdistance the submarine, which broke off the attack and submerged.[iv] 

3 May The minelayer Roanoke (ID-1695) sails from the United States destined for the two U.S. mine force bases in Scotland.[v] 

6 May Naval Air Station Coco Solo, Panama, is established with Lieutenant Ralph G. Pennoyer commanding. It serves as a base for seaplane patrols over the approaches to the Panama Canal.[vi] 

8 May The armed yacht Lydonia (SP-700) and British destroyer HMS Basilisk attack what is believed to be German submarine UB-70, which torpedoed and sank the British steamship Ingleside. The escorts subsequently depth charged the sub’s location and postwar were credited with sinking the U-boat. This is the only enemy vessel known sunk by an American warship in the Mediterranean Sea. Commander R. P. McCullough, commander of Lydonia, receives the Distinguished Service Medal for the ship’s actions.[vii] 

8 May The American Naval Planning Section, London, in Memorandum No. 25, recommends that a uniform system of convoy orders be instituted in the interest of clearness, precision, and easy reference.[viii] 

9 May The first six of the new, 110-foot wooden-hulled American sub chasers reaches the European war zone at Plymouth, England.[ix] 

9 May Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels approves the instructions concerning the disposition of prisoners of war captured by U.S. Naval Forces in European or other foreign waters. The instructions state that German prisoners of war will be treated under the provisions of Article XXIV of the Treaty of Prussia of 1799, revived by the Treaty of 1828.[x] 

11 May The first radio message is transmitted from Headquarters of Commander, U.S. Naval Forces in France after the completion and installation of radio stations and operating bases along the French coast.[xi] 

_____________

[i] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 64; memorandum from W. S. Sims to William S. Benson, on general report, 12 May 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL.

[ii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 13.

[iii] Navy Department, Naval Planning, 205–206.

[iv] Gleaves, Transport Service, 161–62, 168.

[v] Navy Department, Northern Barrage, 104.

[vi] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 64; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 34.

[vii] Still, Crisis at Sea, 402; DANFS, entry for Lydonia, https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/l/lydonia.html; Stringer, Distinguished Service, 30; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 119–20; cablegram from W. S. Sims to SENAFLOAT, Gibraltar, 28 August 1918, Reel 5, ME-11, NDL.

[viii] Navy Department, Naval Planning, 207–12.

[ix] Still, Crisis at Sea, 449.

[x] Navy Department, “Instructions Concerning the Disposition of Prisoners of War Captured by U.S. Naval Forces in European or Other Foreign Waters,” 9 May 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL.

[xi] Wilson, American Navy in France, 92.

[115]

11 May President Woodrow Wilson issues Executive Order 2859A authorizing the U.S. Shipping Board to take title and possession of the Austro-Hungarian-owned passenger steamship Martha Washington at the port of New York and to operate her in the service of the United States as transport Martha Washington (ID-3019).[i] 

11 May Mine Squadron One, squadron flagship and minelayer San Francisco (CM-2), minelayers Housatonic (SP-1697), Canonicus (ID-1696), Canandaigua (ID-1694), and Quinnebaug (ID-1687), and fleet tug Sonoma (AT-12) sail for Overseas Mine Bases 17 and 18.[ii] 

12 May The cargo ship Zaanland (ID-2746) collides with the tanker Hisko (SP-485) and sinks west of France.[iii] 

12 May The destroyer Davis (DD-65) rescues 26 surviving crew members of the German submarine U-103 after a collision with the British troopship HMT Olympic leaves the submarine in a sinking condition.[iv] 

13 May The protected cruiser Olympia (C-6) arrives at the Royal Navy anchorage at Scapa Flow, Scotland, anchoring off Kirkwall in the Orkney Islands. Submarine chasers SC-143, SC-148, SC-177, SC-224, SC-226, and SC-351 arrive at Portsmouth, England.[v] 

13 May The destroyer Parker (DD-48) collides with the British seaplane tender HMS Engadine requiring repairs.[vi] 

15 May The Bureau of Steam Engineering reports that the Marconi SE 1100 radio transmitter demonstrated dependability in voice communication at distances up to 50 nautical miles and in code communication at up to 120 nautical miles. Initially designed for use on H-16 flying boats, it becomes one of the first radio sets widely used in, and first tube set developed for, naval aircraft.[vii] 

15 May The radio repair base at La Pallice, France, is established.[viii] 

16 May President Woodrow Wilson issues Executive Order 2861, which transfers the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey patrol vessels Explorer and Patterson (renamed Forward) to the Navy.[ix] 

16 May The U.S. Naval Base Hospital No. 2 is commissioned at Inverness, Scotland, and receives 26 U.S. Navy patients collected at the Royal Naval Hospital, Chatham, England.[x] 

16 May The American Naval Planning Section, London, recommends sending American battleships to the Grand Fleet rather than the Mediterranean Sea, and that British battleships be sent to the Adriatic Sea in response to the Germans seizing ex-Russian battleships in the Black Sea.[xi] 

17 May The gunboat Wheeling (PG-14), survey ship Surveyor, and armed yacht Venetia (SP-431), while escorting merchantmen on the Gibraltar-Bizerte convoy, sight the track of an enemy torpedo which hits one of the merchant ships. The escorts locate the wake of the submarine periscope and drop a spread of depth charges. The three were credited by the Admiralty with damaging the German submarine U-39, which interns herself at Cartagena, Spain.[xii] 

____________

[i] Executive Order 2859A, 11 May 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL.

[ii] Navy Department, Northern Barrage, 84; Reginald R. Belknap, The Yankee Mining Squadron or Laying the North Sea Mine Barrage (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1920), 12; Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 124; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 135.

[iii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 5.

[iv] DANFS, entry for Davis II (Destroyer No. 65), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/d/davis-ii.html; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 9 January 1919, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL.

[v] Benjamin F. Cooling, USS Olympia: Herald of Empire (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2000), 187; memorandum from W. S. Sims to William S. Benson, on general report, 21 May 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL. 

[vi] Memorandum from W. S. Sims to William S. Benson, on general report, 29 May 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL.

[vii] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 64; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 34.

[viii] Navy Department, Engineering, 127.

[ix] Navy Department, Annual Report 1918, 127; Executive Order 2861, 16 May 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL.

[x] Memorandum from W. S. Sims to William S. Benson, on general report, 21 May 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL. 

[xi] Navy Department, Naval Planning, 224.

[xii] Daniels, Our Navy at War, 120; DANFS, entry for Wheeling I (Gunboat No. 14), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/w/wheeling-i.html.

[116]

17 May Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson issues an order to all bureaus directing the organization of a force to operate naval guns on shore overseas.[i] 

17 May The American Naval Planning Section, London, releases Memorandums No. 26 and 28. The former provides an estimate of the threat of a raid by a German battle cruiser in the Atlantic, and the latter gives Vice Admiral W. S. Sims a study of American relations with the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria.[ii] 

18 May Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson wires Vice Admiral W. S. Sims to report that four HS-1 seaplanes are being shipped to Europe on board the troopship Mount Vernon (ID-4508) [1], transport Agamemnon (ID-3004) [1], and troopship Leviathan (ID-1326) [2].[iii] 

18 May The steamer John G. McCullough is torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine, about eight miles south of Ile d’Yeu, killing one man and injuring another.[iv] 

18 May The tanker William D. Rockefeller (ID-1581) is torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine UC-58 off Scotland in the North Sea. One officer and two enlisted men are killed.[v] 

19 May In response to the Conscription Crisis of 1918, which is causing much civil and political unrest in Ireland, Vice Admiral W. S. Sims cables the U.S. Naval forces in Queenstown, Ireland, the Navy Department policy that they “should defend themselves against actual attack, [but] they should not take part in anything which could be construed as assisting in the execution of conscription law in Ireland.”[vi] 

20 May The battleship New Mexico (BB-40) is commissioned under command of Captain Ashley H. Robertson.[vii] 

20 May The protected cruiser Olympia (C-6) sails from Scapa Flow, Scotland, for Murmansk, Russia.[viii] 

21 May The mine carrier Ozama arrived at Corpach, Scotland, with the first MK VI mine spheres for Overseas Mine Base 18 and the North Sea Mine Barrage.[ix] 

21 May Off the French coast, the armed yacht Christabel (SP-162) sights the periscope of the German submarine UC-56, shadowing the convoy, 300 yards off her starboard beam. The yacht drops several depth charges in the vicinity of the sighting, bringing oil and splintered wood to the surface. The damaged submarine is forced to sail to Santander, Spain, where local authorities intern her. During the engagement, Ensign Daniel A. J. Sullivan falls on live depth charges that had broken loose and secures them. He later receives the Medal of Honor for his bravery.[x] 

21 May In a report to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, Vice Admiral W. S. Sims raises the issue of the Navy Department compiling an official history of the U.S. Navy in World War I. “If such a history is considered as being justified it is desired to point out that the longer the inauguration of its compilation is postponed the more difficult the task will be. The records are becoming more voluminous daily,” notes the admiral.[xi]

______________

[i] Memorandum from William S. Benson to All Bureaus, on organization of a force to operate naval guns on shore overseas, 17 May 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL.

[ii] Navy Department, Naval Planning, 213–23, 225–26.

[iii] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 18 May 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL.

[iv] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 13.

[v] Ibid., 1; Navy Department, Naval Overseas Transportation Service, 118, 251.

[vi] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to MELVUS, Queenstown, 19 May 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NARA.

[vii] DANFS, entry for New Mexico (Battleship No. 40), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/n/new-mexico.html.

[viii] Cooling, Olympia, 187.

[ix] Navy Department, Northern Barrage, 66.

[x] Wilson, American Navy in France, 168–69; Husband, Coast of France, 76; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 107.

[xi] Memorandum from W. S. Sims to William S. Benson, on general report, 21 May 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL. 

[117]

22 May The armed yacht Wakiva II (SP-160) sinks after colliding with the freighter Wabash (ID-1824) in heavy fog along the French coast. Two men are killed.[i] 

22 May The Naval Aircraft Factory completes construction of the first N-1, an experimental seaplane.[ii] 

22 May The troopship Leviathan (ID-1326) sails from Hoboken, New Jersey, to Brest, France, with 10,577 troops on board. She arrives on 31 May.[iii] 

23 May The British-chartered armed merchant cruiser RMS Moldavia transporting men of the Fourth Infantry Division is torpedoed off Beachy Head in the English Channel by the German submarine UB-57. Fifty-six soldiers perish in the sinking.[iv] 

23 May Vice Admiral W. S. Sims relays to Washington a message received from Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, Commander-in-Chief British Army France, stating “I do not wish to press for 14-inch United States guns if Americans want them but will be glad to receive them if they are not required by [the] Americans.”[v] 

23 May The Admiralty cables the camouflage section of the Navy Department, informing the Americans that white paint is being given up in dazzle painting in favor of No. 1 Gray, Gray-Blue, or Gray-Green paint on dazzle designs. This change is because the white paint was found to reveal the ship in moonlight and under certain circumstances against a misty background.[vi] 

24 May The first shipment of American-built aircraft—six Curtiss HS-1s—are delivered at Naval Air Station Pauillac, France, after being carried aboard the cargo ships Houston (AK-1) and Lake Placid (ID-1788).[vii] 

24 May The protected cruiser Olympia (C-6), commanded by Captain Bion B. Bierer, arrives at Murmansk, Russia, as part of the Allied naval forces in North Russia and disembarks a landing force.[viii] 

24 May A U.S. naval base is established at Corfu by Commander Richard H. Leigh, Commander of Submarine Chasers for Distance Service.[ix] 

25 May The schooner Hattie Dunn is scuttled and sunk by the German submarine U-151 south of Chincoteague, Virginia. U-151 is the first U-boat to engage in combat operations off the U.S. coast.[x] 

25 May As of this day, Captain Hutch I. Cone reports 289 naval aviators abroad, with 181 heavier-than-air pilots, 23 dirigible, and 34 kite balloon pilot officers. For enlisted personnel, there are 24 heavier-than-air qualified enlisted naval aviators, 29 student naval aviators, and one enlisted dirigible student naval aviator.[xi]

______________

[i] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 5; Still, Crisis at Sea, 394; Husband, Coast of France, 76–77.

[ii] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 65.

[iii] History of the U.S.S. Leviathan, 76–79.

[iv] Still, Crisis at Sea, 371–72; R. Nell Scott, Many Were Held by the Sea: The Tragic Sinking of HMS Otranto (New York: Rowman and Littlefield Pubs, Inc., 2012), 141.

[v] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 23 May 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL.

[vi] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 16 June 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL.

[vii] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 65; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 35.

[viii] Cooney, Chronology of the U.S. Navy, 229; Still, Crisis at Sea, 86; Cooling, Olympia, 189; Tolley, “Our Russian War,” 61.

[ix] Daniels, Our Navy at War, 164.

[x] Cooney, Chronology of the U.S. Navy, 229; Navy Department, German Submarine Activities, 26.

[xi] Cablegram from Hutch I. Cone to W. S. Sims, 25 May 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL.

[118]

25 May The schooner Hauppauge is scuttled and sunk by the German submarine U-151 off Virginia south of Chincoteague. It is later salvaged. Immediately thereafter, U-151 attacks the schooner Edna, boards her, and places scuttling bombs, which damage but do not sink the vessel.[i] 

25 May The American Naval Planning Section, London, issues recommendations on the stationing of new submarine chasers due to arrive in European waters on or before 15 August.[ii] 

25 May The Baldwin Locomotive Works completes last of order of five 14-inch, 50-caliber railway gun mounts.[iii] 

25–26 May Mine Squadron One arrives in Scotland. The flagship and minelayer San Francisco (CM-2), minelayers Canandaigua (ID-1694) and Canonicus (ID-1696), and fleet tug Sonoma (AT-12) at Inverness Firth of Overseas Mine Base 18 and minelayers Housatonic (SP-1697) and Quinnebaug (ID-1687), and collier Jason (AC-12) to Cromarty Firth, Overseas Mine Base 17 to join minelayer Roanoke (ID-1695).[iv] 

26 May The first draft of eight officers and 250 men for naval railroad batteries sails from the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, bound for France.[v] 

28 May Construction begins on the Lafayette Radio Station at Croix d’ Hins, Bordeaux, France.[vi] 

28 May Construction begins at Machodoc Creek and Blackstone Island, Virginia, on a new naval proving ground to relieve the burden on the Indian Head Naval Proving Ground.[vii] 

28 May Submarine telegraph cables leading from New York to Europe and Central America are cut by the German submarine U-151, 60 miles southeast of Sandy Hook, New Jersey. They are repaired on 25 June and 4 July.[viii] 

29 May The mine carrier Lake Superior (ID-2995) arrives at Kyle Loch, Scotland, with the first MK VI mine spheres for Overseas Mine Base 17 and the North Sea Mine Barrage. Final assembly of the mines begins the same day.[ix] 

30 May The radio repair base at Gironde River, France, is established.[x] 

31 May The former German steamer, now U.S. troop ship President Lincoln is torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-90 about 300 miles west of France, killing 26. Lieutenant Edouard V. M. Izac is captured by U-boat and taken prisoner back to Germany.[xi] 

31 May The Bureau of Construction and Repair writes to Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson outlining a priority for painting camouflage on American ships. The bureau states that all transports should be camouflaged and receive top priority, followed by all destroyers, cargo, and supply vessels in the war zone, cruisers, and gunboats. No camouflage is to be applied to battleships except in conjunction with anti-range finding tests.[xii]

________________

[i] Navy Department, German Submarine Activities, 26–28.

[ii] Navy Department, Naval Planning, 227–29.

[iii] Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 188, 271.

[iv] Navy Department, Northern Barrage, 85, 104; Belknap, Yankee Mining Squadron, 12–13; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 135.

[v] Navy Department, Naval Railway Batteries, 8.

[vi] Daniels, Our Navy at War, image opposite of 257.

[vii] Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 252–53.

[viii] Navy Department, German Submarine Activities, 120, 123; William Bell Clark, When the U-boats Came to America (Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1929), 34–35.

[ix] Navy Department, Northern Barrage, 66.

[x] Navy Department, Engineering, 127.

[xi] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 1; Navy Department, Annual Report 1918, 196–201; Gleaves, Transport Service, 111–24, 168, 217–26; Wilson, American Navy in France, 157–60; Byrne, Deck School Log, 59–64; Husband, Coast of France, 93–94; Feuer, Navy in World War I, 55–62; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 78–81.

[xii] Robert F. Sumrall, “Ship Camouflage (WW I): Deceptive Art” Proceedings 97, no 7. (July 1971), 60.

[119]

1 June The radio repair base established at Le Havre, France.[i] 

1 June The troop transport Leviathan (ID-1326) with the destroyer Nicholson (DD-52) sights a submarine about 1,000 yards off the transport’s starboard quarter. She opens fire and Nicholson drops depth charges over the location of the periscope. The results are unknown.[ii] 

1 June The destroyer Ward (DD-139) is launched at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, in a record-breaking 17.5 days after her keel-laying on 15 May. She is commissioned on 24 July. Decades later, Ward fires the first American shots of World War II, sinking a Japanese midget submarine outside the entrance to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.[iii] 

2 June The minelayer Baltimore (CM-1) arrives at Overseas Mine Base 18, Scotland.[iv] 

2 June On “Black Sunday,” the German submarine U-151 sinks six vessels off New Jersey and New York using scuttling charges or gunfire. The ships include the schooners Isabel B. Wiley, Jacob M. Haskell, and Edward H. Cole, steamer Winneconne, cargo ship Texel, and the passenger steamer Carolina. Thirteen people from Carolina die when their lifeboat capsizes.[v] 

3 June The schooner Sam C. Mengel is sunk with scuttling charges by the German submarine U-151 off Maryland south of Delaware.[vi] 

3 June The Office of Naval Operations sends a dispatch to the commandants of all Atlantic coast naval districts to “assume control of coastwise shipping and handle traffic in accordance therewith” in regard to the German submarine U-151’s attacks. Later in the day, the office reports “unmistakable evidence [of] enemy submarine immediately off [the] coast between Cape Hatteras and Block Island. Vessels not properly convoyed [are] advised to make port until further directed.”[vii] 

3 June The Coastwise Routing Office is organized as part of the Office of Naval Operations as the Navy thereafter controls coastwise shipping to protect it against enemy attack.[viii] 

3 June The heads of the Bureaus of Construction and Repair, Ordnance, and Steam Engineering send the Secretary and the General Board of the U.S. Navy designs for a single class of heavily armored fast battleship to replace battleship and battle cruiser construction.[ix] 

3 June The Office of the Chief of Naval Operations (OPNAV) requests that any destroyers under repair in the Norfolk, Virginia, or New York Navy Yards be prepared for service at the earliest possible moment. A second message requests the commandants of the First through Seventh Naval Districts “make full and immediate report of all anti-submarine craft available for immediate operation” in response to U-boat attacks along the East Coast. All submarine chasers equipped with listening devices and depth bombs are ordered by OPNAV to also prepare immediately for sea duty.[x]

______________

[i] Navy Department, Engineering, 127.

[ii] Gleaves, Transport Service, 168.

[iii] Alden, Flush Decks, 7, 92; Navy Department, Annual Report 1919, 63; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 297–98.

[iv] Navy Department, Northern Barrage, 85, 105.

[v] Navy Department, German Submarine Activities, 30–38; cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 3 June 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL.

[vi] Navy Department, German Submarine Activities, 41–42.

[vii] Ibid., 39; radiogram from NAVATA Pensacola to Navy Radio, Mobile, Alabama, 3 June 1918; radiogram from Washington to All Ships and Stations, 3 June 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL.

[viii] Navy Department, German Submarine Activities, 39.

[ix] Bureaus of Construction and Repair, Ordnance, and Steam Engineering, “Capital Ships—Preliminary Design,” 3 June 1918, RG80, Office of the Secretary of the Navy; Formerly Confidential Correspondence, 1917–1919, Box 83, Subject C-34:4, NARA, 2–4.

[x] Cablegram from OPNAV to NAVSTA New York, NAVSTA Norfolk, Commandants, Third and Fifth Naval Districts, 3 June 1918; cablegram from OPNAV to Commandants, First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh Naval Districts, 3 June 1918; cablegram from OPNAV to Naval District Base New London, Commandants of Third, Fourth, and Fifth Naval Districts, 3 June 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL.

[120]

3 June The tanker Herbert L. Pratt (ID-2339) strikes a mine probably laid by the German submarine U-151, 2.5 miles off Overfalls Lightship, Cape Henlopen, Delaware. She makes the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, for repairs.[i] 

4 June Naval Air Station L’Aber Vrach, France, is established with Lieutenant Henry B. Cecil in command. Its seaplanes cover the western English Channel.[ii] 

4 June The schooner Edward R. Baird, Jr. is sunk with scuttling charges by the German submarine U-151 off Cape Charles, Virginia.[iii] 

4 June The first nine submarine chasers arrive at Corfu after a 32-day voyage from the United States. U.S. Naval Base No. 25 is soon established there.[iv] 

4 June Vice Admiral W. S. Sims wires the Naval Communication Office Paris that “in view of [the] present situation [on the] Western front, [the] Department considers that the decision to establish [the] Northern Bombing Squadron and repair base in Northern France should be given full reconsideration.”[v] 

5 June The submarine chaser SC-132 sinks after colliding with the protected cruiser Tacoma (C-18) off Barnegat Light, New Jersey.[vi] 

5 June The U.S. destroyer Rowan (DD-64) mistakenly attacks the American submarine L-3 (SS-42), but breaks off after L-3 fires a smoke grenade corresponding to the daily recognition symbol.[vii] 

5 June The American steamer Argonaut is torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-82 in the English Channel.[viii] 

6 June The submarine chasers SC-354, SC-95, and SC-256 depart Inverness, Scotland, for Archangel, Russia.[ix] 

6 June During the Battle of Belleau Wood, Lieutenant (j.g.) Weedon Osborne, a dental surgeon with the 6th Marine Regiment, devoid of his dental equipment, serves with a front line aid party. As the Marines close quarters with German forces, Osborne “threw himself zealously into the work of rescuing the wounded. Extremely courageous in the performance of this perilous task,” he runs out to help carry grievously wounded Marine Captain Donald Duncan to safety. While carrying the captain an artillery shell burst kills both men instantly. For his selfless heroism, Osborne posthumously receives the Medal of Honor and Army Distinguished Service Cross.[x] 

7 June Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson wires Vice Admiral W. S. Sims that legislation is pending that will permit American military personnel to wear foreign decorations. Until the legislation passes, however, Sims is authorized to accept the decorations for American naval personnel and hold them in his custody until the legislation, contained in the Army Appropriations Act, passes on 9 July.[xi]

_____________

[i] Navy Department, German Submarine Activities, 41; Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 18.

[ii] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 65.

[iii] Navy Department, German Submarine Activities, 42.

[iv] Halpern, Naval War in Mediterranean, 503; William W. Nutting, The Cinderellas of the Fleet (Jersey City, NJ: Standard Motor Construction Co., 1920), 97.

[v] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to AMNAVPAR, Paris, 4 June 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL.

[vi] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 6.

[vii] DANFS, entry for Rowan II (Destroyer No. 64), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/r/rowan-ii.html.

[viii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 13.

[ix] Nutting, The Cinderellas, 117, 126.

[x] Navy Department, Record of Medals of Honor Issued, 86; “Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Weeden Edward Osborne, USN (Deceased),” United States Marine Corps History Division, http://www.mcu.usmc.mil/historydivision/Pages/Who's%20Who/M-O/osborne_we.aspx.

[xi] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 7 June 1918; cablegram from Leigh Palmer to W. S. Sims, 18 July 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL; Army Appropriations Act, Public Law 65-193, U.S. Statutes at Large 40 (1918): 845–96.

[121]

8 June The destroyers Sigourney (DD-81), Wainwight (DD-62), and Fanning (DD-37) arrive in Brest, France.[i] 

8 June Naval Air Station Arachon, France, is established with Ensign J. N. Brown as acting commander.[ii] 

8 June The cargo ship Pinar Del Rio is sunk by gunfire from the German submarine U-151 east-northeast of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.[iii] 

8 June Mine Squadron One begins the first entirely American mining operation, laying a section of the North Sea Mine Barrage and planting 3,385 MK VI mines.[iv] 

8 June A landing party from the protected cruiser Olympia (C-6), composed of eight officers and 100 enlisted men—one fourth of the crew—goes ashore at Murmansk, Russia, to cooperate with a detachment of British marines manning guard positions around the port.[v] 

8 June Twenty-one submarine chasers and the tender Leonidas (AD-7) enter the bay at Corfu after stops at Gibraltar and Malta. The force is commanded by Captain Charles P. Nelson.[vi] 

9 June The destroyers Tucker (DD-57), Winslow (DD-53), and Porter (DD-59) arrive in Brest, France.[vii] 

9 June The British steamship Vandalia is torpedoed and sunk. While hoisting survivors on board, lookouts on the destroyer Cummings (DD-44) sight a submarine 1,000 yards away. Cummings releases the lifeboats and attacks the U-boat without result. She later continues to recover survivors.[viii] 

9 June To avoid confusion with German submarines, American submarines operating in Atlantic home waters begin displaying a four-foot diameter white circle on their decks between the conning tower and torpedo hatch and a four-foot white equilateral triangle on each side of the conning tower.[ix] 

10 June The first draft of personnel for the naval railroad batteries arrived in St. Nazaire, France.[x] 

10 June Conversion work for minelayers Shawmut (CM-4) and Aroostook (CM-3) is completed at the Boston Navy Yard, Massachusetts, and both ships sail for Scotland six days later.[xi] 

11 June Vice Admiral W. S. Sims cables the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, seeking approval for a request to the Admiralty for one or more Q-ships to operate against the German submarine U-151 or, lacking the ships, to place British experience of fitting out such vessels at the disposal of the Navy Department to help combat U-boats off the U.S. coast. The Navy Department declines to pursue the matter.[xii] 

11 June The destroyers O’Brien (DD-51), Cummings (DD-44), Benham (DD-49), and Cushing (DD-55) arrive in Brest, France.[xiii]

_______________

[i] Wilson, American Navy in France, 29–30; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 108–109.

[ii] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 65.

[iii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 13. Navy Department, German Submarine Activities, 45–46.

[iv] Navy Department, Northern Barrage, 104–105, chart opposite 121.

[v] Still, Crisis at Sea, 89; Cooling, Olympia, 190–91; Tolley, “Our Russian War,” 62.

[vi] Halpern, Naval War in Mediterranean, 503; DANFS, entry for Leonidas II (AD-7), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/l/leonidas-ii.html.

[vii] Wilson, American Navy in France, 30.

[viii] DANFS, entry for Cummings I (Destroyer No. 44), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/c/cummings-destroyer-no-44-i.html.

[ix] Cablegram from OPNAV to W. S. Sims, 8 June 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL.

[x] Navy Department, Naval Railway Batteries, 57; Navy Department, Annual Report 1918, 47; Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 189.

[xi] Navy Department, Northern Barrage, 75.

[xii] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 11 June 1918; cablegram from OPNAV to W. S. Sims, 12 June 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL.

[xiii] Wilson, American Navy in France, 30.

[122]

11 June During the Battle of Belleau Wood, Lieutenant Orlando H. Petty, a Naval Reservist and assistant surgeon attached to the 5th Marine Regiment, comes under heavy German artillery fire. While at his dressing station at Lucy-le-Bocage, Petty treats and evacuates the wounded despite being knocked to the ground by an exploding gas shell, which tore his gas mask, rendering it useless. As his dressing station disintegrates around him, Petty carries wounded Marine Captain Lloyd W. Williams to safety. For his actions, Petty receives the Medal of Honor.[i] 

12 June The destroyers Burrows (DD-29), Little (DD-79) and Conner (DD-72) arrive in Brest, France.[ii] 

12 June Vice Admiral W. S. Sims reports receives reliable information that the German submarine U-151 has instructions to cut submarine cables at its discretion.[iii] 

12–16 June The first antisubmarine search in the Adriatic Sea for enemy submarines is undertaken by nine recently arrived submarine chasers based at Corfu.[iv] 

13 June The first American-built aircraft to be assembled in France, a Curtiss HS-1, makes its first flight at Pauillac, piloted by Lieutenant Charles P. Mason with Commander James B. Patton and Lieutenant William B. Jameson, USNRF, as passengers.[v] 

13 June Vice Admiral W. S. Sims wires Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson regarding the situation in Russia: “The British admiral at Murmansk . . . had been told not to commit himself to any land operations away from the port . . . but he may use the crews . . . to stiffen local resistance against the Germans if found practicable.”[vi] 

14 June The troop transport Leviathan (ID-1326) sails from New York with 10,423 soldiers bound for Brest, arriving in France on 21 June.[vii] 

15 June The destroyer Ericsson (DD-56) arrives in Brest, France.[viii] 

15 June A radio repair base is established at Marseille, France.[ix] 

15 June The second draft of men for the naval railroad batteries, consisting of six officers and 207 men, sails from the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, for France. It arrives at St. Nazaire on 29 June.[x] 

16 June Lookouts on the troop transport Princess Matoika (ID-2290), commanded by Commander William D. Leahy, report sighting a submarine and a torpedo, which misses the ship. The Armed Guard fire at the attacker and claim a hit with their second shot.[xi] 

17 June The minelayers Shawmut (CM-4), Saranac (ID-1702), and Aroostook (CM-3), and destroyer tender Black Hawk (AD-9), sail from Boston, Massachusetts, for Scotland.[xii] 

18 June The troop transport Von Steuben (ID-3017), on a return voyage to New York from Brest, France, encounters wreckage and survivors of the British passenger steamship Dwinsk. While maneuvering to recover survivors, lookouts spot a torpedo fired from the German submarine U-151. The transport’s gun crews fire at the torpedo and the ship manages to avoid being hit. After glimpsing what appears to be a periscope, the transport depth charges the submarine, which breaks off its attack and Von Steuben continues on to New York undamaged.[xiii]

_________________

[i] Navy Department, Record of Medals of Honor Issued, 89.

[ii] Wilson, American Navy in France, 30.

[iii] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 12 June 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL.

[iv] Nutting, Cinderellas of the Fleet, 97–99; Still, Crisis at Sea, 451; Halpern, Naval War in Mediterranean, 505.

[v] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 65; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 35; Still, Crisis at Sea, 463.

[vi] Tolley, “Our Russian War,” 62.

[vii] History of the U.S.S. Leviathan, 82–83.

[viii] Wilson, American Navy in France, 30.

[ix] Navy Department, Engineering, 127.

[x] Navy Department, Naval Railway Batteries, 8.

[xi] Gleaves, Transport Service, 168.

[xii] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 17 June 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL.

[xiii] Gleaves, Transport Service, 169, 204–16; Feuer, Navy in World War I, 49–51.

[123]

18 June The Navy Department publishes a secret joint memorandum by the British and American Planning Division in London on antisubmarine attack by convoy escorts. It emphasizes that the offensive is the controlling principle in the operation of all antisubmarine craft in both escort and independent operations.[i] 

18 June The troopship Tenadores spots a periscope 1,500 yards away on the port quarter. Gunfire and skillful maneuvering prevent the submarine from attacking.[ii] 

18 June The submarine chasers SC-354, SC-95, and SC-256 arrive and anchor off Archangel, Russia.[iii] 

19 June Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida, begins taking upper atmospheric weather soundings to provide information on wind velocity and direction.[iv] 

19 June Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels grants authority to pay $1,000 to any person furnishing authentic information leading to the discovery of an enemy submarine base.[v] 

20 June The first 14-inch naval railroad gun is shipped from the United States bound for St. Nazaire, France.[vi] 

21 June The unprotected cruiser Schurz (formerly SMS Geier) collides with the American cargo ship Florida southwest of Cape Lookout lightship, North Carolina, and drifts about 12 miles before sinking, killing one.[vii] 

22 June The Naval Overseas Transportation Service cargo ship Californian is sunk by an enemy sea mine in the Bay of Biscay, France. The armed yacht Corsair (SP-159) rescues the ship’s survivors.[viii]

22 June Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, in response to an inquiry from Secretary of War Newton Baker about collaborating on a general staff history of the war, establishes a Historical Section under the Chief of Naval Operations.[ix]

22 June The steamer Fenimore (ID-2681), chartered by the Navy, burns while at anchor in the York River, Virginia, killing two. She is declared a total loss.[x] 

25 June In the eastbound cargo convoy HH 58, the British passenger steamship Atlantian opens fire in the darkness just as a torpedo hits her. The armored cruiser Rochester (CA-2) spots the enemy submarine in the darkness, which fires a torpedo that the cruiser avoids. Atlantian is soon struck by a second torpedo and quickly sinks. Rochester zigzags and interposes herself between the submarine and the convoy and arranges the rescue of Atlantian survivors.[xi] 

27 June Secretary of State Robert Lansing informs Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson that the policy for the Navy in Russia is to protect Allied property now in Murmansk and Vladivostok, to conduct no active operations on Russian soil except on invitation of a recognized Russian authority, and to make no promise to Czechoslovak troops, but to transport them to the European front is desired.[xii]

_________________

[i] Navy Department, Joint Memorandum by British and American Planning Division: Antisubmarine Attack by Convoy Escorts (Washington, DC: GPO, 1918).

[ii] Gleaves, Transport Service, 169.

[iii] Nutting, Cinderellas of the Fleet, 122, 126.

[iv] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 65; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 35.

[v] Telegram from Josephus Daniels to Commandants, First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, and Fifteenth Naval Districts, Commander-in-Chief, Atlantic Fleet, Commander, Division 2, Pacific Fleet, and Commander, American Patrol Force, 19 June 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL.

[vi] Navy Department, Naval Railway Batteries, 8; Navy Department, Annual Report 1918, 47; Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 271.

[vii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 6.

[viii] Ibid., 2; Paine, The Corsair, 233–38.

[ix] Memorandum from the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations to Simsadus, 22 June 1918, Box 675, Entry 464B, RG45, NARA. 

[x] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 4.

[xi] Gleaves, Transport Service, 157–60, 169.

[xii] Tolley, “Our Russian War,” 62.

[124]

27 June The American Naval Planning Section, London, releases Memorandum No. 37, providing Vice Admiral W. S. Sims with an estimate of the general situation in the Mediterranean, particularly in regard to possible and proposed mining operations in its eastern reaches.[i] 

28 June The cargo ships Carolinian (ID-1445) and Frederick Luckenbach arrive at Cardiff, Wales. The transport Carib (ID-1765) and six submarine chasers arrive at Corfu, Greece.[ii] 

29 June The minelayers Saranac (ID-1702), Shawmut (CM-4), and Aroostook (CM-3) arrive at Overseas Mine Bases 17 and 18. The cargo ships Guantanamo (ID-1637) and Mariana (ID-3944), and refrigerated ship Muscatine (ID-2226) arrive at Verdon-sur-Mer, France. The cargo ships Lake Tulare (ID-2652) and Astoria (ID-2005/AK-8) arrive at Cardiff, Wales, and the cargo ship Lewis K. Thurlow arrives at Brest, France. The cargo ship Westland sails from St. Nazaire for Verdon-sur-Mer, France.[iii] 

29 June President Woodrow Wilson issues Executive Order 2898 establishing defensive sea areas for the Chesapeake Bay area.[iv] 

30 June The first Navy pilots of Night Wing, Northern Bombing Group, to take special training with British units, mark completion of their course by participating as observers in a night bombing raid by Royal Air Force Squadron 214.[v] 

30 June The Sixth Battle Squadron departs Scapa Flow with a supporting force of British light cruisers and destroyers to screen minelayers of Mine Squadron One, Atlantic Fleet, laying the North Sea Mine Barrage off the Norwegian coast.[vi] 

30 June The cargo ship Hilton (ID-1574) sails from Brest, France, for Barry, Wales.[vii] 

30 June Four 14-inch, 50-caliber railway guns and mounts ship from Washington, D.C., for St. Nazaire, France. Two additional guns and one mount ship on 10 July.[viii] 

1 July President Woodrow Wilson signs legislation appropriating $125 million for destroyer construction and $32 million for submarines.[ix] 

1 July Naval Air Station Lough Foyle, Ireland, is established with Commander H. D. Cooke commanding.[x] 

1 July The troop transport Covington (ID-1409)—formerly the Hamburg-American liner Cincinnati—is torpedoed by the German submarine U-86 off Brest, France, killing six men. She is scuttled 2 July after efforts to save her fail.[xi] 

1 July A total of 2,220 MK VI mines are laid during the second American operation of the North Sea Mine Barrage.[xii]

_______________

[i] Navy Department, Naval Planning, 245–54.

[ii] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 1 July 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL.

[iii] Navy Department, Northern Barrage, 85; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 1 July 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL.

[iv] Executive Order 2898, 29 June 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL.

[v] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 65; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 35.

[vi] Jones, Battleship Operations, 56.

[vii] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 1 July 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL.

[viii] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 1 July 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL.

[ix] Navy Department, Digest Catalogue, 17.

[x] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 80.

[xi] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 1; Navy Department, Annual Report 1918, 202–206; Gleaves, Transport Service, 124–32, 169; Wilson, American Navy in France, 160–62; Byrne, Deck School Log, 65–69; Husband, Coast of France, 94–95; Feuer, Navy in World War I, 63–67.

[xii] Navy Department, Northern Barrage, chart opposite 121.

[125]

1 July Ground school classes begin at the University of Washington in Seattle. It is similar to the program established in 1917 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.[i] 

2 July The cargo ship Levisa (ID-1573) arrives at Brest, France; the cargo ships Lake Weston (ID-2926) and Lake Ledmando arrive at St. Nazaire; the transport Kentuckian (ID-1544) and cargo ship Drechterland (ID-2793) dock at Verdon-sur-Mer; the cargo ship Kerwood (ID-1489) arrives at Rochefort; and the cargo ships Hatteras (ID-2142) and Kerowlee arrive at Gironde, France.[ii] 

2 July A fire breaks out in the forward hold of the transport Henderson (AP-1), which despite the efforts of the crew soon spreads to store rooms, the electrical shop, carpenter shop, and crew compartments. After transferring the transport’s passengers to the troopship Von Steuben (ID-3017) and destroyer Mayrant (DD-31), Henderson’s crew extinguishes the fire and Captain G. W. Steele Jr. returns the transport to the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, on 5 July.[iii] 

3 July The cargo ships Katrina Luckenbach (ID-3020), Texan (ID-1354), and Santa Paula (ID-1590) arrive at Gibraltar; the cargo ship Levisa (ID-1573) sails from Brest for Nantes, France; the cargo ships Lake Lillian (ID-4410-E), Lake Elizabeth (ID-2957), and Lake Arthur (ID-2915) arrive at Rochefort, France; the cargo ships Lake Traverse (ID-2782), Lake Clear (ID-3597-D), and Craster Hall (ID-1486) arrive at Bordeaux; the cargo ship Louis K. Thurlow docks at Gironde; and the cargo ships Medina, El Sol (ID-4505), Munindes, Montanan, Santa Rosa (ID-2169), and transport Kentuckian (ID-1544) sail from Verdon-sur-Mer for Quiberon, France.[iv] 

4 July Naval Air Station Whiddy Island, Ireland, is established.[v] 

5 July Seaplanes piloted by Ensign Harold J. Rowen and Quartermaster 1st Class C. J. Boylan leave Naval Air Station Ile Tudy, France, in answer to a report of an enemy submarine off Point L’Ervilly. Both aircraft attack what they assume to be a submarine, but there is no evidence of damage.[vi] 

5 July The submarine chasers SC-354, SC-95, and SC-256 sail from Archangel to Murmansk, Russia; and the cargo ship Munsomo (ID-1607) arrives at Verdon-sur-Mer, France .[vii] 

6 July After holding three hearings on the suggestions of the bureaus of Construction and Repair, Steam Engineering, and Ordnance, the General Board of the U.S. Navy rejects the new designs, and reaffirms their commitment to the extant battle cruiser design.[viii] 

6 July The American cargo ship Newport News (AK-3), and cargo ships Cacique (ID-2213), Apelles, and Casco (ID-1957) sail from Brest for St. Nazaire, France; the cargo ship Minnesotan (ID-4545) and tanker Socony sail from Brest for La Pallice; cargo ship Isabella sails from Brest for Rochefort; the cargo ships Oregonian (ID-1323), Hawaiian (ID-3277), Walter D. Munson (ID-1510), and Bavaria (ID-2179) sail for Bordeaux; and the Army tug Fischer sails from Gibraltar for Brest.[ix]

_______________

[i] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 80.

[ii] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 5 July 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL.

[iii] Gleaves, Transport Service, 176–79; Feuer, Navy in World War I, 52–54.

[iv] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 5 July 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL.

[v] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 80.

[vi] Ibid.

[vii] Nutting, Cinderellas of the Fleet, 126; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 7 July 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL.

[viii] General Board to Josephus Daniels, 6 July 1918, RG80, Confidential Correspondence, 1917–1919, Box 83, C-34:4, NARA, 6–7.

[ix] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 7 July 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL.

[126]

6 July Captain Bion B. Bierer, commander of the protected cruiser Olympia (C-6), signs an agreement with the Murmansk Regional Council providing that the region would be defended against the Germans and that the Allies would furnish military supplies and equipment, foodstuffs, manufactured goods, and funds to be charged against the government debt of Russia and that the internal government of the region would be exercised by the council. Vice Admiral W. S. Sims will provisionally approve the accord on 3 August, which opens the region to Allied penetration.[i] 

7 July The submarine chasers SC-354, SC-95, and SC-256 arrive at Murmansk, Russia.[ii] 

7 July The Naval Aircraft Factory completes its first order for 50 H-16 flying boats.[iii] 

7 July Motor launch No. 3429 is sunk by German shore batteries near Nieuport, Belgium, killing two men.[iv] 

7 July A convoy consisting of the French tugs Beaurouge, Huron, and Inca, U.S. Army tugs Whitney and Broadway, tender Buffalo, destroyer tender Bridgeport (AD-10), armed yacht Wadena (SP-158), oiler Arethusa (AO-7), tugs Conestoga (SP-1128), Arapaho (AT-14), and Arctic (SP-1158), salvage tug Favorite (ID-1385), and trawler East Hampton (SP-573), together with 25 American and three French submarine chasers sail from Bermuda for the Azores. The cargo ships Katrina Luckenbach (ID-3020), Santa Paula (ID-1590), and Texan (ID-1354) arrive at Marseille, France.[v] 

8 July The cargo ship Newport News (AK-3) arrives at St. Nazaire, France, carrying the first shipment of material for the naval railway batteries.[vi] 

8 July The cargo ship Minnesotan (ID-4545) and tanker Socony arrive at La Pallice, France; the cargo ship Lake Champlain (ID-1791) arrives at Oban, Scotland; the cargo ship Lake Traverse (ID-2782) sails from Bordeaux for Brest, France; the cargo ships Lake Weston (ID-2926), Kerkenna, and Lake St. Regis (ID-4261) sail from St. Nazaire for Brest; the cargo ship City of Atlanta sails from Rochefort for Verdon-sur-Mer; the oiler Cuyama (AO-3) sails from Milford, England, for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; the cargo ship Lake Champlain (ID-1791) moves from Oban to Kyle, Scotland; the transport Nopatin (ID-2195) sails from Brest for Portsmouth, England; and the steamer Berwind sails from Brest for Barry, Wales.[vii] 

8 July The cargo ships Frederick Luckenbach, Lake Crescent (ID-2557), Astoria (ID-2005/AK-8), Lake Weston (ID-2926), Lake St. Regis (ID-4261), and Kerkenna arrive at Brest, France; the cargo ships Western Queen, Oregonian (ID-1323), Hawaiian (ID-3277), Walter D. Munson (ID-1510), and Casco (ID-1957) arrive at the Gironde River; the cargo ship City of Atlanta arrives at Verdon-sur-Mer; the cargo ship Isabella arrives at Rochefort, all in France; the cargo ship Kermoor sails from St. Nazaire, France, for Barry, Wales; and the cargo ship West Eagle sails from St. Nazaire for Verdon-sur-Mer, France.[viii] 

8 July For her sixth trip to Brest, France, the troopship Leviathan (ID-1326) sails from New York with 10,534 soldiers aboard. She arrives in France on 15 July.[ix]

_________________

[i] Beers, “Naval Forces in Northern Russia,” 10–11.

[ii] Nutting, Cinderellas of the Fleet, 126.

[iii] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 80; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 35.

[iv] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 1.

[v] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 8 July 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 10 July 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL.

[vi] Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 190.

[vii] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 10 July 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL.

[viii] Ibid.

[ix] History of the U.S.S. Leviathan, 83–84.

[127]

8–9 July The King and Queen of Belgium review the Grand Fleet including the Sixth Battle Squadron. They tour the battleship New York (BB-34) on the 9th.[i] 

9 July Ensign John J. Schieffelin, on a flight out of Killingholme, England, attacks a U-boat, which later surfaces and is sunk by gunfire from British destroyers.[ii] 

9 July Sixty-two and a half tons of black powder explodes at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, ammunition depot, killing six.[iii] 

9 July The cargo ship Ontario arrives at Queenstown, Ireland; the cargo ship Lake Crescent (ID-2557) sails from Brest for Tonnay Charente, France; the cargo ship Frederick Luckenbach sails from Brest for St. Nazaire; the cargo ships Kerkenna and Lake West sail from Brest for Barry, Wales; the cargo ship Mercurius (ID-2516) from the River Clyde, Scotland for the United States; and the cargo ships Hilton (ID-1574) and Kermoor, and collier Nero (AC-17) arrive at Brest, France.[iv] 

9 July The cargo ship Oosterdijk (ID-2586) of the Naval Overseas Transportation Service sinks after a collision with the cargo ship San Jacinto (ID-1531).[v] 

10 July The transport F. H. Buck arrives at Rosyth, Scotland; the cargo ship William A. McKenney (ID-2102) sails from Brest for St. Nazaire, France; the transport Astoria (ID-2005/AK-8) and collier Nero (AC-17) sail from Brest for Nantes; the British cargo ship Escrick sails for La Pallice; the cargo ship Hilton (ID-1574) sails for London; the cargo ships Charlton Hall (ID-1359) and Santa Rosalia (ID-1503), and steamer R. M. Thompson sail for Bordeaux; the cargo ships Kermoor and Lake St. Regis (ID-4261) sail for Barry, Wales; and the cargo ship Lake Elizabeth (ID-2957) sails from Rochefort, France, for Barry.[vi] 

10 July The British naval base at Corfu is turned over to Captain Charles P. Nelson for American submarine chaser operations. It is known as Base Number 25.[vii] 

11 July The first Eagle-class patrol boat, PE-1, built by Ford Motor Company’s River Rouge plant is launched.[viii] 

11 July The cargo ship Westover (ID-2687) is torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-92. Three officers and eight men are killed.[ix] 

13 July The American Naval Planning Section, London, issues Memorandum No. 41 about antisubmarine tactics and focuses on the best tactical weapons and methods for combating enemy submarines.[x] 

14 July Naval Air Station St. Trojan, France, is established with Lieutenant V. C. Griffin commanding.[xi] 

14 July The battleship Arkansas (BB-33) sails from Hampton Roads, Virginia, with 14 members of the subcommittee of the House Naval Committee onboard.[xii]

______________

[i] Jones, Battleship Operations, 60.

[ii] Feuer, Navy in World War I, 126.

[iii] Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 90.

[iv] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 10 July 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 11 July 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL.

[v] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 6.

[vi] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 10 July 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL.

[vii] Halpern, Naval War in Mediterranean, 505.

[viii] Feuer, Navy in World War I, 44; DANFS, entry for Eagle No. 1, https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/e/eagle-no-1-through-eagle-no-10.html.

[ix] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 1; Byrne, Deck School Log, 71–75.

[x] Navy Department, Naval Planning, 269–88.

[xi] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 80; Still, Crisis at Sea, 122.

[xii] Navy Department, Annual Report 1918, 158; Jones, Battleship Operations, 62.

[128]

14 July The troop transport America (ID-3006), formerly the German-owned Amerika, collides with and sinks the British steamer Instructor in the Atlantic.[i] 

15 July A total of 5,395 MK VI mines are laid in less than five hours for the North Sea Mine Barrage. This is the greatest number of mines yet laid in a single operation.[ii] 

16 July The armed yacht Piqua (SP-130), on convoy escort duty, sights the conning tower of a U-boat. The yacht closes the distance and begins firing, which forces the submarine to submerge.[iii] 

16 July The destroyer Cushing (DD-55) spots two submarines on the horizon attacking the Italian steamer Lamia L. The destroyer opens fire at extreme range and chases off the assailants. Lamia L. sinks and Cushing rescues her crew.[iv] 

17 July The U.S. Army turns over to the Navy 19 transports and 20 steamships previously operated by General John J. Pershing’s American Expeditionary Forces.[v] 

17 July Crewmen from the protected cruiser Olympia (C-6) take possession of the dilapidated but repairable Russian torpedo-boat destroyer Kapitan Yourasovski. After reconditioning, she is placed into service as a patrol vessel under the Imperial Russian Navy with a crew of two Russian and three American officers, eight Russian sailors and 47 American Bluejackets.[vi] 

19 July The armored cruiser San Diego (CA-6) strikes a mine laid by the German submarine U-156 off Long Island, New York, ten miles from Fire Island lightship, and sinks, killing six men. Two aircraft from Naval Air Station Montauk, New York, sight the stricken cruiser and send the first reports of her sinking.[vii] 

19 July Ensign John J. Schieffelin, on a flight out of Killingholme, England, sights the surfaced German submarine U-110 off Whitby and attacks. The submarine disappeared at a steep angle after a bomb blows the boat’s stern clear of the water. The result of the attack is assessed as “probably seriously damaged.”[viii] 

19 July Assistant Surgeon (Lieutenant) Joel T. Boone while serving with the 6th Marine Regiment, “with absolute disregard for personal safety, ever conscious and mindful of the suffering fallen, Surgeon Boone, leaving the shelter of a ravine, went forward onto the open field where there was no protection and despite the extreme enemy fire of all calibers, through a heavy mist of gas, applied dressings and first aid to wounded marines. This occurred southeast of Vierzy, near the cemetery, and on the road south from that town. When the dressings and supplies had been exhausted, he went through a heavy barrage of large-caliber shells, both high explosive and gas, to replenish these supplies, returning quickly with a sidecar load, and administered them in saving the lives of the wounded. A second trip, under the same conditions and for the same purpose, was made by Surgeon Boone later that day.” For these actions, Boone receives the Medal of Honor. By war’s end, he also receives the Army Distinguished Service Cross, six Silver Stars, and three Purple Hearts, making him the most highly decorated medical officer in Navy history.[ix]

_______________

[i] DANFS, entry for America II (screw steam passenger liner), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/a/america-ii.html.

[ii] Navy Department, Northern Barrage, 109, chart opposite 121.

[iii] DANFS, entry for Piqua I (SP-130), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/p/piqua-i.html.

[iv] DANFS, entry for Cushing II (Destroyer No. 55), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/c/cushing-destroyer-no-55-ii.html.

[v] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 17 July 1918; memorandum from Frank T. Hines to William S. Benson, on naval crews, 13 July 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL.

[vi] DANFS, entry for Yourasovski, https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/y/yourasovski.html; Tolley, “Our Russian War,” 65.

[vii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 2; Navy Department, Annual Report 1918, 206–207; Gleaves, Transport Service, 137–42, 169; Navy Department, German Submarine Activities, 124, 126–28; Feuer, Navy in World War I, 103–106; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 82–83.

[viii] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 80; Still, Crisis at Sea, 467.

[ix] Navy Department, Record of Medals of Honor Issued, 9–10; NHHC, “MOH Was Just the Beginning for VADM Joel T. Boone’s Navy Career,” The Sextant, 19 July 2015, http://usnhistory.navylive.dodlive.mil/moh-was-just-the-beginning-for-vadm-joel-t-boones-navy-career/.  

[129]

19 July In action at Vierzy, France, while attached to the 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, Pharmacist’s Mate 1st Class John H. Balch “unhesitatingly and fearlessly exposed himself to terrific machinegun and high-explosive fire to succor the wounded as they fell in the attack, leaving his dressing station voluntarily and keeping up the work all day and late into the night unceasingly for 16 hours.” For his actions, Balch receives the Medal of Honor. By war’s end, his service with the 6th Marine Regiment includes the Army Distinguished Service Cross, three Silver Stars, and the Purple Heart.[i] 

20 July Royal Air Force station, Killingholme, England, is turned over to American forces and re-commissions as a naval air station under command of Lieutenant Commander Kenneth Whiting.[ii] 

20 July King George V inspects the battleship New York (BB-34) at Scapa Flow and officers and men from the other American battleships. This is the first visit by an English monarch to an American warship and first time that the British Royal Standard flew beside the American flag on a U.S. warship. The King called New York “a most beautiful clean ship.”[iii] 

21 July The German submarine U-156 surfaces three miles off coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and shells and sinks the tug Perth Amboy and four barges, Lansford, Barge No. 403, Barge No. 740, and Barge No. 766 at Nauset Beach. Shells from the submarine strike the beach, making Orleans, Massachusetts, the only location in the United States to receive enemy fire during World War I. U-156 is attacked by seaplanes from Naval Air Station Chatham, Massachusetts, but their bombs fail to explode and the submarine escapes. This is also the first time American aviators attack an enemy vessel in the western Atlantic.[iv] 

22 July The schooner Robert & Richard is sunk with scuttling charges by the German submarine U-156, 60 miles southeast of Cape Porpoise, Maine.[v] 

22 July American destroyers Benham (DD-49) and Jarvis (DD-38) collide during convoy duty causing significant damage to both. Seaman Charles Augustus Porter of Benham fell overboard in the aftermath and drowned.[vi] 

23 July The Royal Air Force facility at Eastleigh, England, is established as a naval air station for use as a supply, assembly, and repair station supporting the Northern Bombing Group.[vii]

23 July The destroyer McDougal (DD-54) arrives in Brest, France.[viii] 

23 July The submarine L-3 (SS-42) is fired upon and hit by an unidentified transport despite flashing blinker light recognition signals.[ix] 

24 July Naval Air Station Porto Corsini, with Lieutenant Wallis B. Haviland in command, is established as the only U.S. Navy seaplane patrol station in Italy during World War I.[x] 

24 July The steamers Charles, Yale (ID-1672), and British tanker Narragansett arrive at Southampton, England.[xi]

_________________

[i] Navy Department, Record of Medals of Honor Issued, 4; “Balch, John Henry,” Congressional Medal of Honor Society, http://www.cmohs.org/recipient-detail/2499/balch-john-henry.php.

[ii] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 80; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 35; W. S. Sims to William S. Benson, on general report, 4 August 1918, Reel 5, ME-11, NDL.

[iii] Jones, Battleship Operations, 60; Still, Crisis at Sea, 425–26. 

[iv] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 80; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 35; Navy Department, German Submarine Activities, 54–55.

[v] Navy Department, German Submarine Activities, 55–56; Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 14.

[vi] DANFS, entry for Benham (Destroyer No. 49), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/b/benham-i.html; DANFS, entry for Jarvis I (Destroyer No. 38), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/j/jarvis-i.html.

[vii] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 80.

[viii] Wilson, American Navy in France, 30; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 109.

[ix] Still, Crisis at Sea, 351.

[x] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 80; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 35.

[xi] Memorandum from W. S. Sims to William S. Benson, on general report, 4 August 1918, Reel 5, ME-11, NDL.

[130]

24 July While flying as an observer, Lieutenant (j.g.) John C. Foster’s aircraft is forced down during a bombing raid on German positions near Bruges, Belgium. Foster is severely injured in the ensuing crash, suffering a dislocated and fractured left arm. Undaunted, he manages to free himself and the pilot pinned under the wreckage, and carry him about 40 yards from the aircraft before its load of sixteen 50-pound bombs detonates. For his bravery, Foster receives the Distinguished Service Medal.[i] 

25 July The Secretary of War approves a recommendation, which assigns responsibility for developing rigid airships for the American military to the Navy.[ii] 

25 July The steamer Tippecanoe is torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-91, 550 miles from Brest, France, killing one person.[iii] 

25 July Members of the subcommittee of the House Naval Committee arrive in Scapa Flow aboard the battleship Arkansas (BB-33) to inspect U.S. naval bases in Europe. Arkansas joins the Sixth Battle Squadron replacing Delaware, which sails for the United States on 30 July.[iv] 

26 July The armed yacht Wadena (SP-158) sails from the Azores for Gibraltar.[v] 

26 July The assembly of 14-inch naval railway guns begins at St. Nazaire, France.[vi] 

27 July Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson cables Vice Admiral W. S. Sims, that the Navy Department “feels very apprehensive of at least one enemy battle cruiser getting out as a forlorn hope and attacking U.S. Naval Vessel convoys. It is proposed to send three oil-burning dreadnoughts to Berehaven or Queenstown to be in [a] position to protect convoys, depending upon [the] British to give us information immediately of the exit of cruisers from German waters.”[vii] 

27 July N-1, the first experimental aircraft built at Naval Aircraft Factory, makes the first test of the Davis recoilless gun. Lieutenant Victor Vernon piloted and Lieutenant Sheppard operated the weapon, which was reported to have had a very satisfactory performance against a target moored in the Delaware River near the factory.[viii] 

29 July The destroyer Dyer (DD-84) arrives at Gibraltar.[ix] 

30 July Mine Squadron One lays 5,399 naval mines for the North Sea Mine Barrage.[x] 

30 July The U.S. Navy formally assumes command of the Killingholme air station from the British.[xi] 

30 July Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson writes Vice Admiral W. S. Sims that the Navy Department is of the opinion that a raid by a German battle cruiser against supply lines, particularly troop convoys, is a possibility and that even the potential chance of a raid should be guarded against. Benson specifies plans to station Battleship Division 6—Utah (BB-31), Nevada (BB-36), and Oklahoma (BB-37)—at Queenstown, Ireland, or Brest, France, and hold Battleship Division Five—Arizona (BB-39), Mississippi (BB-41), New Mexico (BB-40), and Pennsylvania (BB-38)—to cover the western Atlantic or proceed where necessary. The Navy Department also asked the State Department to request the Japanese government to detail a division of battle cruisers to join the Atlantic Fleet at Hampton Roads and conduct search operations.[xii]

__________________

[i] Stringer, Distinguished Service, 25.

[ii] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 80; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 35.

[iii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 14.

[iv] Navy Department, Annual Report 1918, 158; Jones, Battleship Operations, 61–62.

[v] Memorandum from W. S. Sims to William S. Benson, on general report, 4 August 1918, Reel 5, ME-11, NDL.

[vi] Naval Railway Batteries, 8.

[vii] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 27 July 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL.

[viii] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 80; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 35.

[ix] Memorandum from W. S. Sims to William S. Benson, on general report, 4 August 1918, Reel 5, ME-11, NDL.

[x] Navy Department, Northern Barrage, 111, chart opposite 121.

[xi] Still, Crisis at Sea, 469.

[xii] Senate Subcommittee on Naval Affairs, Naval Investigation Hearings, vol. I, 66th Cong., 2d sess., 1921: 172–73; cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 30 July 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL.

[131]

31 July A naval air detachment is established at Dunwoody Institute, Minnesota, to conduct a ground school similar to programs at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Washington.[i] 

31 July The schooner barge C. F. Sargent (ID-3027) springs a leak, grounds, and sinks on Hen and Chicken Shoals, Delaware.[ii] 

31 July–1 August Under the command of British Army Major General Frederick C. Poole, Allied commander-in-chief designate, North Russia, an Allied expeditionary force including two officers and 25 enlisted men from the protected cruiser Olympia (C-6) seize and occupy the Russian port city of Archangel in opposition to Bolshevik forces.[iii] 

3 August The German submarine U-156 sinks the schooner Muriel with scuttling charges, 45 miles west by north of Seal Island, Nova Scotia, and 15 miles away, also sinks the American schooners Sydney B. Atwood and Annie Perry with scuttling charges. The sub also sinks the fishing trawler Rob Roy with scuttling charges, 35 miles from the island.[iv] 

3 August In that afternoon, the troop transport Leviathan (ID-1326) sails from New York Harbor with 10,893 soldiers aboard, arriving in Brest, France, on 11 August.[v] 

3 August The Navy Department directs that no additional foreign medals or decorations be accepted until further notice. Concurrently and apparently without knowledge of the department’s direction, King George V presents Vice Admiral W. S. Sims with the Grand Cross of the Order of St. Michael and St. George. Sims asks Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson if he should return the decoration, but Benson authorizes Sims to retain it.[vi] 

3 August Allied forces, including Captain Bion B. Bierer, three officers, and 51 men of the protected cruiser Olympia (C-6), occupy Archangel, Russia.[vii] 

3 August The cargo ship Lake Portage is torpedoed and sunk by an enemy submarine, 4.5 miles south of Audierne, France, killing three and injuring six.[viii] 

3 August Sailors from the protected cruiser Olympia (C-6) travel by a White Russian train toward Vologda armed in opposition against Bolshevik forces.[ix] 

3 August An enemy submarine torpedoes and sinks U.S. steamer Berwind at the entrance to the English Channel, killing four.[x] 

4 August The tanker O. B. Jennings is shelled and sunk 100 miles off Virginia by the German submarine U-140. Two are killed and one crewmember is taken prisoner. This is the second largest merchant ship sunk by a U-boat off the U.S. coast during World War I. The armored cruiser San Diego (CA-6) is the largest overall and only warship.[xi]

_________________

[i] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 80.

[ii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 3.

[iii] Tolley, “Our Russian War,” 63–65.

[iv] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 14.

[v] History of the U.S.S. Leviathan, 85–86.

[vi] Cablegram from USS Melville to ALEUROPE, 3 August 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 4 August 1918; cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 16 August 1918, Reel 5, ME-11, NDL.

[vii] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, 4 August 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, 13 August 1918, Reel 5, ME-11, NDL; Beers, “Naval Forces in Northern Russia,” 13. 

[viii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 14.

[ix] Tolley, “Our Russian War,” 59.

[x] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 14.

[xi] Navy Department, German Submarine Activities, 73–77; Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 14.

[132]

4 August The submarine chaser SC-187 sinks after a collision with the Norwegian steamship Capto off the coast of Virginia, 11 miles northeast of the Cape Charles Light Vessel.[i] 

5 August The destroyer tender Bridgeport (AD-10) and seagoing tug Favorite (ID-1385) arrive in Brest, France.[ii] 

5 August The schooner Stanley M. Seaman is seized and scuttled by the German submarine U-140 off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.[iii] 

5 August A flying boat piloted by Ensign Ashton W. Hawkins with Lieutenant (j.g.) George F. Lawrence as second pilot, takes off from Naval Air Station Killingholme, England, in rain and poor visibility at 10:30 p.m. to patrol a course intercepting a reported German Zeppelin raid. The aircraft, after flying on patrol above the clouds without sighting the enemy, landed through heavy weather at South Shields, England, at 5:30 a.m. almost out of fuel. This was the first U.S. night patrol out of Killingholme and possibly the first such mission by naval aviators in the war.[iv] 

6 August Diamond Shoal Lightship No. 71 is seized and scuttled off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, by the German submarine U-140. This is the first and only American lightship sunk by enemy action.[v] 

6 August The cargo ship Merak is shelled and sunk by the German submarine U-140 off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.[vi] 

6 August American sailors from the protected cruiser Olympia (C-6) engage Bolshevik forces while aboard a Russian train heading to Vologda. The Allied force suffers one dead and 11 wounded.[vii] 

6–9 August A Mediterranean mining conference at Malta with Rear Admiral Joseph Strauss heading the American delegation meets to discuss matters regarding the Otranto Material Barrage and other future mining operations. Parties agree to finish the net-and-mine Otranto barrage, with the Americans supplementing it with deep mines to make the barrage effective down to 85 meters. They also agree to lay two additional mine barrages, one from Cape Santa Maria di Leuca and Othonoi Island or some point farther north between Santa Maria di Leuca and Cape Otranto across to Othonoi Island, and the second between Euboea Island and Cape Kanapitsa in the Aegean.[viii] 

7 August The 22-piece band of the protected cruiser Olympia (C-6) leaves for Archangel, Russia.[ix] 

7 August The title of land for what will become Naval Mine Depot, Yorktown, Virginia (later Naval Weapons Station Yorktown), is taken by a proclamation by President Woodrow Wilson. Construction commences in September but the depot will not be completed during the war.[x]

_________________

[i] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 6.

[ii] Wilson, American Navy in France, 70, 95.

[iii] Navy Department, German Submarine Activities, 77; Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 14.

[iv] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 80; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 36.

[v] Navy Department, German Submarine Activities, 77; Larzelere, Coast Guard, 168–69; Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 14.

[vi] Navy Department, German Submarine Activities, 77; Larzelere, Coast Guard, 168; Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 14.

[vii] Tolley, “Our Russian War,” 65.

[viii] Halpern, Naval War in the Mediterranean, 511–12; cablegram from Joseph Strauss to W. S. Sims, 9 August 1917; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 22 August 1918, Reel 5, ME-11, NDL.

[ix] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 13 August 1918, Reel 5, ME-11, NDL.

[x] Nay Department, Ordnance Activities, 257.

[133]

8 August The American destroyers Tucker (DD-57), Drayton (DD-23), Winslow (DD-53), Porter (DD-59), Warrington (DD-30), and Fanning (DD-37) rescue the surviving crew of the sunken French armored cruiser Dupetit Thouars, torpedoed by German submarine U-62 the day before.[i] 

8 August Enlistments and enrollments in the Navy and the Naval Reserve Force are suspended except in the cases of men who were bona fide applicants prior to this date.[ii] 

8 August The cargo ship Westward Ho (ID-3098) is torpedoed 350 miles off the French coast but remains afloat. The converted armed yachts May (SP-164) and Noma (SP-131), and French minesweeping sloop Cassiopee, come to her aid. The yachts attempt to tow her, but are unable to make progress. A volunteer crew from May boards her and manages to build up steam, start the main engines, and pump out the vessel. Under her own power but with tow lines attached, the ship managed to reach port in France.[iii] 

9 August The destroyer Tucker (DD-57), while leading a column of ten destroyers off France, sights a submarine periscope on her port bow 800 yards away and gives chase. As the submarine dives, the destroyer drops a number of depth charges, which forces the submarine to the surface. Opening fire with her deck gun, Tucker scores two hits and the submarine dove again. After additional depth charges, Tucker observes oil on the surface and assumes the submarine is destroyed. The American commander at Brest concludes that Tucker sank a U-boat and allows the destroyer to paint a white star on her forward funnel to celebrate the victory. The Admiralty can find no indication that a submarine was in the vicinity, however, and Vice Admiral W. S. Sims strips Tucker of the victory in October.[iv] 

9 August Mine Squadron One lays 1,598 MK VI mines in the North Sea Mine Barrage.[v] 

10 August The German submarine U-117 sinks nine fishing vessels off the waters of Rhode Island and Massachusetts. The vessels are Aleda May, William H. Starbuck, Progress, Reliance, Earl and Nettie, Cruiser, Old Time, Mary E. Sennett, and Katie L. Palmer.[vi] 

10 August Ensign Donald M. Hicks and 25 crewmen from the protected cruiser Olympia (C-6) join with a mixed Allied force and move up the Dvina River from Archangel, Russia, toward Kotlas aboard small river steamers and barges before marching to Tegora.[vii] 

10 August The American Naval Planning Section, London, issues Memorandum No. 45, outlining a proposed organization of a plans division for the Navy Department, and Memorandum No. 46, providing the Navy Department’s plans for protecting convoys against German battle cruisers raiding from the North Sea or the Mediterranean.[viii] 

11 August The first naval 14-inch railroad battery is completely assembled at St. Nazaire, France.[ix] 

12 August An order is issued for all merchant ships to conduct gunnery practice while underway to increase the efficacy of the gun crews.[x]

_______________

[i] Memorandum from W. S. Sims to William S. Benson, on general report, 5 September 1918, Reel 5, ME-11, NDL; DANFS, entry for Fanning I (Destroyer No. 37), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/f/fanning-i.html; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 113–14.

[ii] Navy Department, Annual Report 1919, 381.

[iii] Wilson, American Navy in France, 152–54; Husband, Coast of France, 77–80; Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 14.

[iv] Husband, Coast of France, 89–90; memorandum from W. S. Sims to William S. Benson, on general report, 24 August 1918, Reel 5, ME-11, NDL.

[v] Navy Department, Northern Barrage, chart opposite 121.

[vi] Navy Department, German Submarine Activities, 82–91; Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 14–15.

[vii] Tolley, “Our Russian War,” 65.

[viii] Navy Department, Naval Planning, 311–28.

[ix] Navy Department, Naval Railway Batteries, 8; Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 191.

[x] Besch, “Navy Second to None,” 340.

[134]

12 August The Norwegian steamship Sommerstad is sunk by the German submarine U-117, 30 miles southeast of Fire Island, New York.[i] 

12 August The battleships Nevada (BB-36) and Oklahoma (BB-37), from the Atlantic Fleet’s Battleship Division Six, depart Hampton Roads, Virginia, for Berehaven, Ireland.[ii] 

13 August Ensign Julian F. Carson, patrolling out of Dunkirk, France, sights and attacks a surfaced U-boat despite receiving damaging fire from submarine. The French government credits Carson with sinking the submarine and awards him Croix de Guerre.[iii] 

13 August The tanker Frederick R. Kellogg is torpedoed and damaged by the German submarine U-117, ten miles off Barnegat Light, New Jersey, killing seven. The tanker is later salvaged.[iv] 

14 August The schooner Dorothy B. Barrett is stopped and sunk by gunfire from the German submarine U-117 off southern New Jersey.[v] 

14 August Naval Railroad Battery No. 1 receives her crew, with Lieutenant James A. Martin commanding.[vi] 

14 August The transport Henderson (AP-1), while cruising off the U.S. East Coast, spots and rams an enemy submarine, believed to be U-139, in the early morning hours.[vii] 

15 August Independent offensive operations of the Northern Bombing Group begin when Ensign Leslie R. Taber of Air Squadron One pilots a Caproni bomber on a night raid, dropping 1,250 pounds of bombs on the submarine repair docks at Ostend, Belgium.[viii] 

15 August Ensign Donald M. Hicks and the men from the protected cruiser Olympia (C-6), together with an assorted Allied force, arrive at Tegora, Russia, and engage a force of 250 Bolsheviks. In the ensuing five-hour ground fight, Seaman George Dewey Persche is wounded, and one British officer, four Frenchmen, and one Polish fighter are killed. For his leadership, Hicks receives the Navy Cross.[ix] 

15 August The schooner Madrugada is sunk by the German submarine U-117, 35 miles off Norfolk, Virginia.[x] 

15 August The cargo ship West Bridge (ID-2888) is torpedoed by the German submarine U-90 off the French coast and towed to port. One officer and three men are killed.[xi] 

15 August Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels issues General Order No. 418, whereby all officers are to be addressed by the title of their rank, removing any distinction in address between line and staff officers.[xii] 

15 August The German submarine U-90 torpedoes and sinks the cargo ship Montanan in the Atlantic, killing five.[xiii] 

________________

[i] Navy Department, German Submarine Activities, 91–92.

[ii] Jones, Battleship Operations, 100; Still, Crisis at Sea, 376, 413.

[iii] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 81.

[iv] Navy Department, German Submarine Activities, 92–93; Byrne, Deck School Log, 85–87; Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 15.

[v] Navy Department, German Submarine Activities, 93–94; Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 15.

[vi] Navy Department, Railroad Batteries, 58.

[vii] Gleaves, Transport Service, 164–66, 170.

[viii] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 81; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 36; Still, Crisis at Sea, 472; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 21 August 1918, Reel 5, ME-11, NDL.

[ix] Tolley, “Our Russian War,” 65; Stringer, Distinguished Service, 81.

[x] Navy Department, German Submarine Activities, 94–95; Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 15.

[xi] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 1; Wilson, American Navy in France, 154–56.

[xii] Navy Department, Annual Report 1918, 84.

[xiii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 15.

[135]

15 August The steamer Cubore is torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-107 in the Bay of Biscay, 250 miles northwest of Cape Finisterre, Spain, killing nine.[i] 

15 August The destroyer Downes (DD-45), while escorting a convoy, observes the British airship SS Z.51 descending from the sky, in need of assistance. After touching down on the water, the destroyer secures the SS Z.51 and rescues her entire crew, before towing it into Holyhead, Ireland.[ii] 

16 August The British tanker Mirlo is torpedoed and sunk half a mile from Whimble Shoal Buoy, Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, by the German submarine U-117. USCG Chicamacomico Station’s six-man surfboat crew, led by Keeper John A. Midgett, braves the burning tanker’s cargo of gasoline to rescue 42 men. For their valor, they receive decorations from the British and American governments. It is considered one of the greatest rescues of World War I and in the history of the U.S. Coast Guard.[iii] 

16 August Naval Railroad Battery No. 2 leaves St. Nazaire, France, and stops at Montoire yards with Battery No. 1.[iv] 

16 August A bursting charge for a 6-inch, 50-caliber armor-piercing shell explodes in the loading press at the naval ammunition depot, St. Julien’s Creek, Virginia, killing two and injuring one.[v] 

16 August U.S. Naval Forces Operating in European Waters release the confidential Force Instructions No. 25, on the subject of “doctrine and general instructions,” based on the command’s collective experiences in the war zone.[vi] 

17 August While on a tour of overseas facilities, Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt visits Naval Air Station Paimboeuf, France, and is taken up as a passenger in the AT-1 blimp.[vii] 

17 August Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt makes an official visit to Naval Railroad Batteries No. 1 and 2.[viii] 

17 August The German submarine U-90 torpedoes and sinks the tanker Joseph Cudahy, about 700 miles from Verdon-sur-Mer, France, killing one and injuring four.[ix] 

17 August The first personnel begin to move into the new Navy Department Main Building in Washington, D.C. Occupation of the 940,000 square-foot building is completed in early October 1918.[x] 

18 August Naval Railroad Battery No. 1 leaves the Montoire, France, rail yard for Helles-Mouchy.[xi] 

19 August Naval Air Station Halifax, Nova Scotia, is placed in commission with Lieutenant Richard E. Byrd commanding.[xii] 

______________

[i] Ibid.

[ii] Memorandum from W. S. Sims to William S. Benson, on general report, 5 September 1918, Reel 5, ME-11, NDL.

[iii] Navy Department, German Submarine Activities, 128–29; Larzelere, Coast Guard, 151–54; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 337–38.

[iv] Navy Department, Naval Railroad Batteries, 59.

[v] Navy Department, Annual Report 1918, 499.

[vi] U.S. Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, U.S.S. Melville, Flagship, “Force Instructions No. 25—SUBJECT: Doctrine and General Instructions,” 16 August 1918, Reel 5, ME-11, NDL.

[vii] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 81.

[viii] Navy Department, Naval Railroad Batteries, 59.

[ix] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 15.

[x] Navy Department, Annual Report 1918, 116; Navy Department, Yards and Docks, 492.

[xi] Navy Department, Naval Railway Batteries, 59.

[xii] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 81; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 36.

[136]

19 August The Italian Navy cables its agreement to Vice Admiral W. S. Sims with regard to the American deep mining proposals discussed at the Malta conference of 6–9 August.[i] 

19 August Naval Railroad Battery No. 2 leaves the Montoire, France, rail yard for Helles-Mouchy.[ii] 

19 August Mine Squadron One lays 3,200 MK VI mines in the North Sea Mine Barrage.[iii] 

20 August The ex-Canadian trawler-turned-German surface raider Triumph, with a prize crew from the German submarine U-156 aboard, captures and scuttles the schooners A. Piatt Andrew and Francis J. O’Hara in the western Atlantic, 52 miles southeast of Cape Canso, Nova Scotia.[iv], 

21 August A detachment of 30 submarine chasers arrives at Queenstown, Ireland, under the command of Captain Arthur J. Hepburn.[v] 

21 August A flight of bombers and fighters from Naval Air Station Porto Corsini, Italy, is intercepted by Austro-Hungarian aircraft over the Austro-Hungarian naval base at Pola. Ensign George H. Ludlow is hit and forced down off the harbor entrance. Ensign Charles H. Hammann evades pursuers, lands alongside Ludlow, takes him aboard, and flies back to base. For his heroism, Hammann receives the Medal of Honor, becoming the first naval aviator so honored.[vi] 

21 August The trawler Montauk (SP-392) is driven ashore in a gale and sinks off Cumberland Island, Georgia, killing seven men.[vii] 

21 August The cargo ship Lake Edon is torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine in Bristol Channel, about six miles southeast of Trevose Head and about four miles north by east of Newquay, killing 16.[viii] 

21 August Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson requests that Vice Admiral W. S. Sims detach an officer from U.S. Naval Base No. 17 or 18 familiar with mine operations for temporary duty in the Bureau of Ordnance. He is to assist in procuring mine and base equipment to equip a mine base at Bizerte, Tunisia, for the Otranto Material Barrage.[ix] 

21 August The ex-Canadian trawler-turned-German surface raider Triumph captures and scuttles the schooner Sylvania in the western Atlantic, 90 miles southeast of Cape Canso, Nova Scotia.[x] 

22 August Naval aviator Lieutenant Artemus L. Gates, while serving at a seaplane base at Dunkirk, France, receives word that a British Handley-Page aircraft is down in the sea north of Ostend, Belgium with both crewmembers observed clinging to the wings and within range of German guns. Gates, without waiting for orders, takes off in an unarmed, three-seat seaplane, and locates the downed British aircraft. Landing under fire, the American rescues both men and returns safely to base. For his heroism Gates receives the Distinguished Service Medal. Gates later serves from 7 December 1941 to 30 June 1945 as Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Air.[xi]

________________

[i] Telegram from Naval Attaché, Rome to W. S. Sims, 19 August 1918, Reel 5, ME-11, NDL.

[ii] Navy Department, Naval Railway Batteries, 59.

[iii] Navy Department, Northern Barrage, 113, chart opposite 121.

[iv] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 15.

[v] Still, Crisis at Sea, 454; memorandum from W. S. Sims to William S. Benson, on general report, 5 September 1918, Reel 5, ME-11, NDL.

[vi] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 81; Cooney, Chronology of the U.S. Navy, 231; Navy Department, Record of Medals of Honor Issued, 45; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 36.

[vii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 3.

[viii] Ibid., 15.

[ix] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 21 August 1918, Reel 5, ME-11, NDL.

[x] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 15.

[xi] Stringer, Distinguished Service, 25–26.

[137]

22 August The American Naval Planning Section, London, issues Memorandum No. 48, examining the likelihood of a German raid and its influence on the naval situation on the east coast of England by the High Seas Fleet.[i] 

23 August Battleship Division Nine’s Oklahoma (BB-37) and Nevada (BB-36) arrive at Bantry Bay, Ireland. Designated the Bantry Bay Squadron, the ships are positioned to counter any attempt by German battle cruisers to break out and attack Allied convoys.[ii] 

23 August Captain William H. G. Bullard, temporarily promoted to Rear Admiral, arrives in Malta to assist with coordination of American naval forces in the Mediterranean.[iii] 

24 August Naval Railroad Battery No. 2 arrives at Battery No. 1 at Helles Mouchy, France.[iv] 

25 August The schooner J. J. Flaherty is scuttled by the German submarine U-156 in the western Atlantic.[v] 

26 August The U.S. Navy Base Hospital at La Perriere, France, begins operations and receives its first patients.[vi] 

26 August Vice Admiral W. S. Sims recommends to the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations that the Davis gun be given a thorough trial in the United States before being adopted and installed on seaplanes in the war zone.[vii] 

26 August The German submarine U-117 scuttles the steam trawler Rush, 135 miles southeast of Cape Canso, Nova Scotia.[viii] 

27 August Naval Air Station Hampton Roads, Virginia, is placed in commission with Lieutenant Commander P. N. L. Bellinger commanding.[ix] 

27 August The submarine chaser SC-209 is sunk with gunfire by the cargo ship Felix Taussig (ID-2282) south of Long Island, New York, after being mistaken for an enemy. Two officers and 16 men are killed.[x] 

27–31 August Mine Squadron One lays 5,400 MK VI mines in the North Sea Mine Barrage.[xi] 

30 August The battleship Utah (BB-31) departs Hampton Roads, Virginia, for Ireland.[xii] 

30 August The German submarine UB-123 torpedoes and sinks the cargo ship Onega in Bristol Channel, killing 26.[xiii] 

30 August In preparation for a conference between the First Sea Lord and Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt, the American Naval Planning Section, London, issues Memorandum No. 49 concerning the submarine situation in general, antisubmarine measures, and the utility of American shipyards in assisting British construction of antisubmarine vessels to free British shipyards for the construction of merchant ships.[xiv]

_______________

[i] Navy Department, Naval Planning, 331–44.

[ii] Jones, Battleship Operations, 100; Still, Crisis at Sea, 376; memorandum from W. S. Sims to William S. Benson, on general report, 5 September 1918, Reel 5, ME-11, NDL.

[iii] Still, Crisis at Sea, 480.

[iv] Navy Department, Naval Railway Batteries, 60.

[v] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 16.

[vi] Wilson, American Navy in France, 127.

[vii] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 26 August 1918, Reel 5, ME-11, NDL.

[viii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 16.

[ix] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 81.

[x] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 3.

[xi] Navy Department, Northern Barrage, chart opposite 121.

[xii] Still, Crisis at Sea, 413.

[xiii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 16.

[xiv] Navy Department, Naval Planning, 345–51.

[138]

31 August Naval Air Station North Sydney, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, is established with Lieutenant Robert Donahue, USCG, commanding.[i] 

31 August The troop transport Leviathan (ID-1326), while carrying 10,541 troops, makes her eighth trip overseas and is joined by the transports Great Northern (ID-4569) and Northern Pacific. All three arrive safely in Brest, France, on 7 September.[ii] 

31 August Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson cables Vice Admiral W. S. Sims that the State Department has been directed to inform all European governments that the U.S. government does not desire any decorations being conferred upon American officers of the Army or Navy.[iii] 

1 September Commander, U.S. Naval Aviation Forces, Foreign Service, is assigned to the staff of the Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, as the Aide for Aviation. Unit commands are set up for France, England, Ireland, Italy, and the Northern Bombing Group to control and direct the operations of stations and units in their respective areas.[iv] 

2 September Naval Railway Battery No. 1 fires eight rounds at the Nuisement French proving ground.[v] 

2 September Naval aviator pilots Lieutenant R. B. Reed and Boatswain V. Varini, and observer Quartermaster 2nd Class A. L. Jones, conduct a successful search for the disabled Italian submarine No. 63, which  results in the boat being towed back to Venice by an Italian destroyer.[vi] 

3 September The first naval air operations from bases in Ireland begin from Naval Air Station Lough Foyle with patrols over the North Channel entrance to the Irish Sea.[vii] 

3 September Rear Admiral Joseph Strauss recommends to Vice Admiral W. S. Sims that Corfu act as the base for the Mediterranean mining operations.[viii] 

3 September The cargo ship Lake Owens is torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine in the Bristol Channel, three miles off Trevose Head, killing five and injuring eight.[ix] 

4 September The German submarine U-57 torpedoes and sinks the steamer Dora off the French coast, injuring one.[x] 

5 September Office of Commander, Submarine Force Atlantic Fleet and supervisor of all submarines in commission is discontinued, with the duties of the office hereafter performed in the Office of Naval Operations by the newly established Director of Submarines.[xi] 

5 September The troop transport Mount Vernon (ID-4508), formerly the German passenger liner and auxiliary cruiser SMS Kronprincessin Cecilie, is struck by a torpedo fired from the German submarine U-82, killing 36. Damage control efforts save the transport, which returns to Brest, France, on 6 September. Senior Engineer Lieutenant Commander P. A. Guttormsen is awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for his efforts to save the ship, and 23 Navy Crosses are awarded to men aboard the Mount Vernon for their heroism after the torpedo attack.[xii]

_________________

[i] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 81; Larzelere, Coast Guard, 149–50.

[ii] History of the U.S.S. Leviathan, 87–90.

[iii] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 31 August 1918, Reel 5, ME-11, NDL.

[iv] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 81; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 36; U.S. Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, Circular Letter No. 84, “Establishment of U.S. Naval Aviation Section—Staff of Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Operating in European Waters,” 26 August 1918, Reel 5, ME-11, NDL.

[v] Navy Department, Naval Railway Batteries, 61–62.

[vi] Memorandum from W. S. Sims to William S. Benson, on general report, 27 September 1918, Reel 6, ME-11, NDL.

[vii] Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 36.

[viii] Cablegram from Joseph Strauss to W. S. Sims, 3 September 1918, Reel 5, ME-11, NDL.

[ix] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 16.

[x] Ibid.

[xi] Cablegram from OPNAV to W. S. Sims, 5 September 1918, Reel 5, ME-11, NDL.

[xii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 1; Navy Department, Annual Report 1918, 207–10; Gleaves, Transport Service, 143–53, 170; Wilson, American Navy in France, 162–65; Feuer, Navy in World War I, 69–72.

[139]

6 September One of submarine chaser SC-226’s depth charges explodes, wrecking both engines off Land’s End, near Plymouth, England, requiring a tow to base.[i] 

6 September U.S. Naval Railway Battery No. 2 opens fire on German positions at Tergnier, France, a German railroad center. Although this is the first for any of the naval railroad batteries, because the enemy appears to be evacuating, only one shot is fired.[ii] 

6 September Battleships of the Atlantic Fleet are assigned for escort duty with troopships and fast merchant convoys. Battleships South Carolina (BB-26), New Hampshire (BB-25), and Kansas (BB-21) are the first to escort a convoy across the Atlantic.[iii] 

7 September Mine Squadron One lays 4,880 MK VI mines in the North Sea Mine Barrage.[iv] 

9 September The Bureau of Navigation authorizes a school for training of hydrophone operators.[v] 

9 September The destroyers Paulding (DD-22), Jenkins (DD-42), and McCall (DD-28) together with several British ships are escorting a convoy when one of the merchantmen, the British passenger steamship Missanabie, takes hits from two torpedoes and sinks. Escorts split up recovering survivors, guarding the convoy, and hunting the assailant.[vi] 

9 September The position of Director of Submarines is established in the Office of Chief of Naval Operations, with its headquarters located at the submarine base at New London, Conn.[vii] 

10 September The battleship Utah (BB-31) arrives at Bantry Bay, Ireland, joining Nevada (BB-36) and Oklahoma (BB-37).[viii] 

10 September Vice Admiral W. S. Sims transmits to Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson a possible joint plan developed by the American Naval Planning Section and Admiralty’s Plans Division which would govern all vessels and convoys at sea regarding warning of an enemy battle cruiser raid. Benson cables Sims on 21 September that the new proposed plan has been approved and substituted in place of the present plan.[ix] 

12 September Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt and accompanying officials sail from Brest, France, aboard the troopship Leviathan (ID-1326) bound for New York.[x] 

12–14 September Naval Railway Batteries Nos. 3, 4, and 5, entrain and leave the St. Nazaire, France, respectively on consecutive days.[xi]

_______________

[i] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 4; memorandum from W. S. Sims to William S. Benson, on general report, 19 September 1918, Reel 6, ME-11, NDL.

[ii] Navy Department, Naval Railway Batteries, 12; Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 193.

[iii] Gleaves, Transport Service, 155; Jones, Battleship Operations, 117.

[iv] Navy Department, Northern Barrage, 117, chart opposite 121.

[v] Navy Department, Engineering, 59.

[vi] DANFS, entry for Paulding (Destroyer No. 22), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/p/paulding.html; DANFS, entry for Jenkins I (Destroyer No. 42), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/j/jenkins-i.html; DANFS, entry for McCall I (Destroyer No. 28), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/m/mccall-i.html.

[vii] Henry P. Beers, “The Development of the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Part III” Military Affairs vol. 11, no. 2 (Summer 1947), 90.

[viii] Jones, Battleship Operations, 102; DANFS, entry for Utah I (Battleship No. 31), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/u/utah.html.

[ix] Senate Subcommittee on Naval Affairs, Naval Investigation Hearings, vol. I, 66th Cong., 2d sess., 1921: 181–83.

[x] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 14 September 1918, Reel 5, ME-11, NDL.

[xi] Navy Department, Naval Railway Batteries, 13.

[140]

13–14 September At the fifth Allied Naval Council meeting in Paris, Vice Admiral W. S. Sims argues for increased mine barrages in the Adriatic. The council approves practically all recommendations from the Malta conference, notably agreeing that Otranto and Othonoi Island mine-net barrages would be completed, with the Americans providing and laying the necessary naval mines.[i] 

14 September Naval Railway Battery No. 2 at Fontenoy-Ambleny, France, fires ten shells at an ammunition dump in Bény-Loisy.[ii] 

14 September The last of the protected cruiser Olympia (C-6)’s landing force and band returns from Archangel, Russia, after 14 weeks ashore.[iii] 

15 September Naval Railway Battery No. 2 at Fontenoy-Ambleny, France, fires 12 rounds at an ammunition dump in Bény-Loisy.[iv] 

15 September Contractors finish construction of three 7,000-ton fuel oil tanks at Brest, France, increasing the storage there to 28,000 tons, four times the capacity of the French depot. The tanks had been disassembled in the United States at Norfolk, Virginia, before shipment.[v] 

15 September The first shipment of building materials, tools, equipment, supplies, and personnel to erect and operate three naval repair shops arrive in Brest, France. Work begins the same day on construction of a repair shop there with the raising of the first columns for a steel storehouse.[vi] 

15 September During the Battle of Saint-Mihiel, Hospital Apprentice 1st Class David E. Hayden, attached to the 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, disregards his own safety and despite continuous enemy fire reaches a young Marine who had been hit by machine gun fire. Hayden dresses the Marine’s wounds under fire, and then carries him through an open field back to safety. For his bravery, Hayden receives the Medal of Honor.[vii] 

15 September Naval Railway Battery No. 2 fires 12 rounds at the Bény-Loisy, France, ammunition dump.[viii] 

16 September Vice Admiral W. S. Sims recommends that the Navy supply armor-piercing gas shells to the battleships of Divisions Six and Nine at the earliest practicable date, as “It is believed that Germans have armor-piercing gas shell for Naval use, [and] they have equipped their naval vessels with them and it is important that we should be able to meet them on at least equal terms.”[ix] 

16 September The cargo ship Buena Ventura (ID-1335) is torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-46 off the northwest coast of Spain. Three officers and 16 enlisted men are killed.[x] 

16–17 September Seneca, a U.S. Coast Guard cutter acquired by the Navy, is proceeding from England to Gibraltar with a convoy when the British steamship Wellington is torpedoed. The Seneca drops depth charges and fires upon the surfaced submarine to protect the stricken steamer. The cutter later rescues the crew and several Seneca crewmen volunteer to help bring the damaged vessel into port. Unfortunately the repairs to the vessel prove unable to sustain her and Wellington founders. Eleven of Seneca’s volunteers and five men from Wellington die from exposure after the sinking. One Distinguished Service Medal and ten Navy Crosses are awarded posthumously to the deceased and nine Navy Crosses go to the Seneca crewmen who escaped the sinking.[xi]

________________

[i] Navy Department, Northern Barrage, 136–37; Halpern, Naval War in the Mediterranean, 519–21; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 15 September 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 16 September 1918, Reel 5, ME-11, NDL.

[ii] Ibid., 65.

[iii] Cooling, Olympia, 196.

[iv] Navy Department, Naval Railway Batteries, 14, 65.

[v] Navy Department, Yards and Docks, 363.

[vi] Wilson, American Navy in France, 72–74.

[vii] Navy Department, Record of Medals of Honor Issued, 49; “Pharmacist’s Mate Third Class David Ehraim Hayden, USN (Deceased),” United States Marine Corps History Division, http://www.mcu.usmc.mil/historydivision/Pages/Who's%20Who/G-I/Hayden_DE.aspx.  

[viii] Navy Department, Naval Railway Batteries, 65.

[ix] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 16 September 1918, Reel 5, ME-11, NDL.

[x] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 1.

[xi] Navy Department, Annual Report 1918, 126; Larzelere, Coast Guard, 25–33; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 333–36.

[141]

17 September After meeting with Rear Admiral Charles Plunkett, Vice Admiral W. S. Sims wires Washington and recommends building five additional mounts for 14-inch, 50-caliber railway batteries together with necessary rail equipment and ship to St. Nazaire, France, as soon as practicable.[i] 

17 September A conference is held in London between representatives of Vice Admiral W. S. Sims and of the British Admiralty concerning the joint naval air effort of Great Britain and the United States in 1919. The attendees craft basic principles to govern naval air operations, notably “that the principal augmentation of air effort should be in bombing squadrons, the missions of which shall be the destruction of enemy naval bases, especially enemy submarine bases” and that “it did not appear profitable to build or equip aircraft mother ships for bombing purposes.”[ii] 

18 September The scout patrol vessel No. 210 (SP-907) catches fire and burns to the water line at the entrance at Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island, injuring four men.[iii] 

19 September Mine Squadron One lays 5,520 MK VI mines in less than four hours, a new record for the minelaying force in a single operation.[iv] 

20 September The destroyer Taylor (DD-94) arrives in Brest, France.[v] 

20 September The German submarine U-155 scuttles the steam trawler Kingfisher in the western Atlantic.[vi] 

23 September In Berne, Switzerland, American and German delegations meet to discuss the maintenance, treatment, and exchange of prisoners of war, with Captain H. H. Hough and Commander Raymond Stone in attendance for the Navy.[vii] 

23 September President Woodrow Wilson directs Rear Admiral Henry B. Wilson to assume the rank and hoist the flag of vice admiral.[viii] 

23 September The American Naval Planning Section, London, releases Memorandum No. 53, which covers plans for the establishment of a mine base, recommended for Bizerte, Tunisia, for the Navy to operate from while constructing mine barrages in the Otranto Strait and Aegean Sea. In Memorandum No. 54, released the same day, the planning section offers suggestions for increasing the probability of Allied torpedo hits.[ix] 

23 September Construction begins on a Navy nitrate plant on Cornwallis Neck, Charles County, Maryland, just below the proving grounds at Indian Head, Maryland. Work is abandoned on the project on 8 November in anticipation of the war’s end.[x]

_______________

[i] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 17 September 1918, Reel 5, ME-11, NDL.

[ii] Memorandum of Conference Relating to Joint Naval Air Operations, 17 September 1918; Minutes of a Conference held at Admiralty, London, S.W., on 17th September 1918 to decide British and American Naval Air Policy for 1919, 17 September 1918, Reel 5, ME-11, NDL.

[iii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 4.

[iv] Navy Department, Northern Barrage, chart opposite 121.

[v] Wilson, American Navy in France, 30.

[vi] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 16.

[vii] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 27 June 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to COMFRAN, Brest, 29 June 1918; cablegram from OPNAV to W. S. Sims, 5 July 1918, Reel 4, ME-11, NDL; cablegram from Department of State to American Embassy, London, 17 August 1918; cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 19 August 1918, Reel 5, ME-11, NDL.

[viii] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 23 September 1918, Reel 6, ME-11, NDL.

[ix] Navy Department, Naval Planning, 384–89.

[x] Navy Department, Annual Report 1919, 503.

[142]

24 September Lieutenant (j.g.) David S. Ingalls shoots down his fifth enemy aircraft while test flying a Sopwith Camel. He becomes the Navy’s first ace, and the only one in World War I.[i] 

25 September Chief Machinist’s Mate Francis E. Ormsbee rescues two men from a plane crashed in Pensacola Bay, Florida. He extracts the gunner and holds him above water until help arrives and makes repeated dives into the wreckage to try and rescue pilot. He later receives the Medal of Honor.[ii] 

25 September Nurse Edna E. Place, Nurse Corps, dies of influenza at the Philadelphia Navy Hospital, Pennsylvania, after contracting it from one of her patients. On 11 November 1920, the Navy posthumously awards her the Navy Cross.[iii] 

26 September President Woodrow Wilson issues Executive Order 2967, prohibiting all companies or other persons owning, controlling, or operating telegraph and telephone lines or submarine cables from transmitting messages to points without the United States or to points on or near the Mexican border through which messages may be dispatched for the purpose of evading censorship, and from delivering messages received from such points, except those permitted under rules or regulations established by the Secretary of War for telegraph and telephone lines, and by the Secretary of the Navy for submarine cables.[iv] 

26 September USCGC Tampa is torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-53 in Bristol Channel with all hands lost—10 officers, 4 warrant officers, 101 enlisted men, 1 British officer, 10 British ratings, and 5 civilians.[v] 

26 September American and British planning divisions issue Memorandum No. 51, covering proposals for dealing with convoys during a German battle cruiser raid in the North Atlantic.[vi] 

26 September The Baldwin Locomotive Works delivers the first two complete operational caterpillar-mounted 7-inch, 45-caliber naval guns, 100 days after signing the contract. The mounts are shipped to Washington, D.C., from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, en route to the Naval Proving Ground at Indian Head, Maryland, for road tests and proof firing. By 15 October, five or six of the mounts are ready for shipment to France, but the war ends before the guns leave the United States.[vii] 

26 September Rear Admiral Newton A. McCully, serving at Rochefort, France, in charge of the U.S. Naval District and in command of Squadron 5, Patrol Force, Atlantic Fleet, receives orders to proceed to Murmansk to assume the position as Commander, U.S. Naval Forces, Northern Russia.[viii] 

27 September Ensign Edwin S. Pou and Quartermaster 2nd Class F. H. Tittle, each piloting a seaplane from Naval Air Station Ile Tudy, France, on convoy patrol near Pont Penmarch sight a possible submarine and drop bombs, which set off violent underwater turbulence. The submarine is assessed as “probably damaged.”[ix] 

27 September Mine Squadron One lays 5,456 MK VI mines in the North Sea Mine Barrage.[x]

_______________

[i] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 81; Cooney, Chronology of the U.S. Navy, 231; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 36.

[ii] Navy Department, Medals of Honor, 86; Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 81; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 36.

[iii] Stringer, Distinguished Service, 116.

[iv] Executive Order 2967, 26 September 1918, Reel 6, ME-11, NDL.

[v] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 2; Larzelere, Coast Guard, 46–50; Still, Crisis at Sea, 399; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 332–33; memorandum from W. S. Sims to William S. Benson, on general report, 10 October 1918, Reel 6, ME-11, NDL.

[vi] Navy Department, Naval Planning, 357–70.

[vii] Navy Department, Naval Ordnance, 208–10.

[viii] Beers, “Naval Forces in Northern Russia,” 18–19.

[ix] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 81; memorandum from W. S. Sims to Josephus Daniels, on weekly operation report—week ending 12 October 1918, Reel 6, ME-11, NDL.

[x] Navy Department, Northern Barrage, 118, chart opposite 121.

[143]

27 September Vice Admiral W. S. Sims cables Office of the Chief of Naval Operations that the “shortage of qualified seaplane pilots [is] acute. Request as many as possible be sent as soon as possible.”[i] 

28 September Captain O. G. Murfin, who established and commanded the mine bases in Scotland, leaves London for Bizerte, Tunisia, to establish a mine base for the assembly of MK VI mines for use in the Otranto Material Barrage. An armistice with the Ottoman Empire on 31 October and Allied occupation of the Dardanelles and Bosporus eliminate the need for the barrage in the Aegean.[ii] 

28 September Naval Railway Battery No. 1 at Soissons fires 47 rounds at the railway west of Laon, France.[iii] 

28 September Vice Admiral W. S. Sims approves Bizerte, Tunisia, as the location for a base for American minelaying operations in the Mediterranean.[iv] 

28 September Nurse Marie L. Hidell, Nurse Corps, dies of influenza at the Philadelphia Navy Hospital, Pennsylvania, after contracting it from one of her patients. On 11 November 1920, the Navy posthumously awards her the Navy Cross.[v] 

28 September Forty nurses of U.S. Navy Base Hospital No. 4, organized at Providence, Rhode Island, are sent to Queenstown, Ireland, during the influenza pandemic of 1918–1919.[vi] 

29 September The battleship Minnesota (BB-22) strikes a mine laid by the German submarine U-117 off the Delaware coast, putting the warship out of action for five months.[vii] 

29 September The troop transport Leviathan (ID-1326) sails from Hoboken, New Jersey, with 9,366 soldiers and arrived in Brest, France, on 7 October. During the voyage, 96 soldiers and 3 Sailors die from influenza.[viii] 

30 September Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson asks Vice Admiral W. S. Sims to report on the possible effect of aerial bombs on submarines, together with the percentage of English bombs which failed to explode, because “our bombs do not appear effective.”[ix] 

30 September The troopship Ticonderoga (ID-1958), formerly the German steamer Camilla Rickners, is shelled and sunk by the German submarine U-152 in a running gun battle, killing 214 passengers, 10 ship’s officers, 103 enlisted men, 2 Army officers, and 99 soldiers. Two of the 24 survivors are taken prisoner by the U-boat; Lieutenant Commander James J. Madison and Ensign George Woodward. Madison, the Ticonderoga’s commander, receives the Medal of Honor for his heroism, while eight other crewmen received the Navy Cross for their actions.[x] 

30 September Naval Railway Battery No. 1 at Soissons fires 35 rounds at the railway west of Laon, France.[xi]

_______________

[i] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 27 September 1918, Reel 6, ME-11, NDL.

[ii] Navy Department, Northern Barrage, 138–39.

[iii] Navy Department, Naval Railway Batteries, 14, 68.

[iv] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 28 September 1918, Reel 6, ME-11, NDL.

[v] Stringer, Distinguished Service, 81.

[vi] Navy Department, Annual Report 1919, 2067.

[vii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 2; Jones, Battleship Operations, 116; Navy Department, German Submarine Activities, 124.

[viii] History of the U.S.S. Leviathan, 91–93.

[ix] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 30 September 1918, Reel 6, ME-11, NDL.

[x] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 2; Clephane, Naval Overseas Transportation, 173–75; Gleaves, Transport Service, 195–201; Feuer, Navy in World War I, 73–90.

[xi] Navy Department, Naval Railway Batteries, 14, 68.

[144]

30 September In response to reports of American warships in France painting marks on their funnels indicating they have sunk a submarine, Vice Admiral W. S. Sims clarifies that the destroyer Fanning (DD-37) and armed yachts Christabel (SP-162) and Lydonia (SP-700) are officially credited with the destruction of a submarine, and to ensure “that all awards and distinctions be uniform throughout the entire force under this command, it is desired that such questions be subject to the Force Commander’s approval after all of the evidence in the case has been submitted to him.”[i] 

1 October Airship AT-13 on convoy patrol out of Paimboeuf, France, approaches a suspicious object that opens fire. Unable to return fire because her gun is out of action and after alerting escorting ships to the presence of a submarine, the airship gives up the chase and resumes convoy coverage.[ii] 

1 October The submarine chaser SC-60 sinks after a collision with the American tanker Fred M. Weller, 5 miles south of Ambrose Channel lightship off New York and 2 miles north of Shrewsbury Rock gas buoy. Two crewmembers of SC-60 are killed.[iii] 

1 October As of this date, the Navy launched 1 gunboat, 93 destroyers, 29 submarines, 26 minesweepers, 4 fabricated patrol vessels, and 2 seagoing tugs since 1 January 1918.[iv] 

1 October As of this date, no fewer than 1,127 American vessels sail in dazzle paint, a scheme of varying shapes, patterns, and shades as a camouflage against submarine attack. A division under the Bureau of Construction and Repair prepares the designs and the Emergency Fleet Corporation arranges the vessels’ painting.[v] 

2 October During the Battle of Durazzo, Albania, 11 submarine chasers under command of Captain Charles P. Nelson screen the joint British, French, and Italian force that bombards the Austrian naval base. This is the only U.S. Navy fleet action in World War I. Submarine chaser SC-129, under command of Ensign Maclear Jacoby, spots the Austro-Hungarian submarines U-29 and U-31 and proceeds to drop depth charges damaging both. SC-129 is credited after the battle with one sinking. For his actions, Ensign Jacoby receives the Distinguished Service Medal.[vi] 

2 October Vice Admiral W. S. Sims cables the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations that “the health condition on arriving transports during last week was serious. Over 200 deaths from influenza-pneumonia and about three thousand sick reported.”[vii] 

2 October The Bureau of Ordnance successfully proves the first 6-inch, 53-caliber gun.[viii] 

2–3 October Naval Railway Battery No. 1 at Soissons, France, fires 49 rounds at the Laon railway crossroads.[ix] 

3 October About 2:30 a.m., the transport Great Northern (ID-4569) is cruising east-bound toward France loaded with troops and awaiting rendezvous with a destroyer escort when the British freighter Brinkburn collides with her. Despite Brinkburn’s bow breaking off in the side of Great Northern, the transport arrives at Brest on 5 October. Seven soldiers died in the collision aboard Great Northern and one man was killed on Brinkburn.[x]

_________________

[i] Memorandum from W. S. Sims to Henry B. Wilson, 30 September 1918, Reel 6, ME-11, NDL.

[ii] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 88.

[iii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 6.

[iv] Navy Department, Annual Report 1918, 35.

[v] Ibid., 36–37.

[vi] Ray Millholland, The Splinter Fleet of the Otranto Barrage (New York: Bobbs-Merrill Co., Pubs., 1936), 302–307; William W. Nutting, The Cinderellas of the Fleet (Jersey City, NJ: Standard Motor Construction Co., 1920), 109–15; Feuer, Navy in World War I, 113–14; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 162–64; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 8 October 1918, Reel 6, ME-11, NDL.

[vii] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 2 October 1918, Reel 6, ME-11, NDL.

[viii] Navy Department, Annual Report 1919, 496.

[ix] Navy Department, Naval Railway Batteries, 14, 69.

[x] Gleaves, Transport Service, 173–76; D.K. Romig, The United States Ship Great Northern: History of A Troop Transport (New York: Eagle Press, 1919), 61–66; Still, Crisis at Sea, 500–503.

[145]

3 October The destroyer Stringham (DD-83) arrives in Brest, France.[i] 

4 October The first of the Curtiss NC flying boats, NC-1, makes its first flight at Naval Air Station Rockaway Beach, New York, with Commander Holden C. Richardson and Lieutenant David H. McCulloch as pilots.[ii] 

4 October The cargo ship Herman Frasch (ID-1617) of the Naval Overseas Transportation Service sinks after a collision with oiler George G. Henry (ID-1560), killing 7 officers and 18 crewmen.[iii] 

4 October The steamer San Saba strikes a mine laid by the German submarine U-117 off Barnegat Township, New Jersey, and sinks, killing 30.[iv] 

4 October Mine Squadron One lays 5,450 MK VI mines in the North Sea Mine Barrage.[v] 

4 October The Bureau of Yards and Docks begins assembly of the first of eight erection towers for use in assembling eight 820-foot-tall steel towers for the Lafayette Radio Station, Croix D’Hins, Gironde, France. These are the highest radio towers the Navy Department had yet constructed. The first four main towers are erected by the week of 16 December. The station transmits its first message on 21 August 1920.[vi] 

5 October The tug Penobscot (SP-982) catches fire off Villa Franca, Italy, killing one man. The tug is later salvaged.[vii] 

5 October The armed yacht Mary Alice (SP-397) sinks after colliding with the American submarine O-13 (SS-74) in Long Island Sound, off Bridgeport, Connecticut.[viii] 

6–7 October Lieutenant Edouard V. M. Izac escapes from a German prisoner of war camp with other prisoners and reaches neutral Switzerland on 13 October. After returning to London, he shares detailed intelligence with Vice Admiral W. S. Sims about German U-boat operations from his time aboard U-90, He later receives the Medal of Honor for his actions, and at the time of death in 1990, he was the last living World War I Medal of Honor recipient.[ix] 

7 October The cargo ship West Gate (ID-3216) sinks after colliding with the cargo ship American (ID-2292) southeast of Nova Scotia, killing seven.[x] 

7 October In a heavy gale, the destroyer Downes (DD-45) suffers badly. Heavy seas breaking on her stern damage the depth charge racks and dislodge a number of the weapons, risking detonation. Boatswain’s Mate Karl V. Kyrklund with Gunner’s Mate 1st Class John P. Conway, Gunner’s Mate 3rd Class  Frederick J. McDonald, Gunner’s Mate 2nd Class  Charlie C. Poole, and Boatswain’s Mate 1st Class Stephen S. Trask, undertake the hazardous task of securing the depth charges as seas are breaking four to five feet high over the deck. Despite injuries, the men secure the weapons and Downes rides out the storm. For their heroism, Kyrklund receives the Distinguished Service Medal, and Conway, McDonald, Poole, and Trask, each receive the Navy Cross.[xi]

_________________

[i] Wilson, American Navy in France, 30.

[ii] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 88.

[iii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 6.

[iv] Navy Department, German Submarine Activities, 124–25; Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 18.

[v] Navy Department, Northern Barrage, 118, chart opposite 121.

[vi] Navy Department, Yards and Docks, 375; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 251–52.

[vii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 4.

[viii] Ibid., 6.

[ix] Navy Department, Record of Medals of Honor Issued, 56–57; Navy Department, Annual Report 1918, 201–202; Gleaves, Transport Service, 226–37.

[x] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 6.

[xi] Stringer, Distinguished Service, 28, 58, 104, 116, 138.

[146]

8 October The repair ship Peter H. Crowell (ID-2987) arrives at U.S. Naval Base Lorient, France.[i] 

8 October Vice Admiral Wilson cables Vice Admiral W. S. Sims that “Prime ministers of Great Britain, France, and Italy have prepared certain terms of armistice with the Central Powers. Referred to meeting military representatives Versailles with whom were associated representatives American, British, French, Italian navies. Meeting held this morning and military and naval details drawn up and signed by all but General [Tasker H.] Bliss and Captain [Richard H.] Jackson. General Bliss has cabled President asking power to sign for the United States. Following message gives terms agreed upon by naval members . . . Provided President approves General Bliss’ request authority to sign I request authority to sign.” In a second message that day, Wilson writes to Sims that “all enemy surface shipping including monitors, river craft, etc. to withdraw to naval bases specified by the Allies and remain there during Armistice. Submarine warfare ceases immediately upon the signature of Armistice.”[ii] 

8 October The Navy Department and Shipping Control Committee concur that whenever a situation occurs on an American vessel where crew conditions are such that the safety of lives or property is in danger, the Navy will take over the vessel immediately and place her under the operation of the Naval Overseas Transportation Service.[iii] 

9 October The submarine chaser SC-219 is refueling alongside the tanker Chestnut Hill (ID-2526) en route from Bermuda to the Azores when there is a gasoline explosion in the chaser’s radio room, setting the ship ablaze. Chief Gunner’s Mate Oscar Schmidt Jr. of Chestnut Hill sees a member of SC-219 with his legs partially blown off by the explosion and jumps overboard, swims to the submarine chaser, and carries the injured man from the bow to the stern where another submarine chaser crewman helps Schmidt lift the injured man aboard. The chief then attempts to rescue another badly burned man trapped amidships. Although unable to reach him, the injured man falls overboard and drifts to the stern where Schmidt helps him aboard. Four men of SC-219 are killed, two officers and six other men are injured, and the ship sinks less than two hours later. For his actions, Schmidt is awarded the Medal of Honor.[iv] 

9 October The transports Henderson (AP-1) and Koningen der Nederlanden (ID-2708) sail for the United States.[v] 

9 October The destroyer Shaw (DD-68) is rammed by the British troopship HMS Aquitania about 40 miles southwest of Portland, England, killing two officers and ten men. Commander W. A. Glassford, commander of Shaw, receives the Distinguished Service Medal for saving the destroyer, and 24 Navy Crosses are awarded to crew members for their damage control efforts.[vi] 

9–10 October In a test of the capacity of the St. Julien's Creek, Virginia, mine loading plant, workers pour TNT continuously for 24 hours from 7:57 a.m. on the 9th to the 10th. A total of 1,493 mines, averaging just over one mine per minute, are filled with TNT.[vii]

_________________

[i] Wilson, American Navy in France, 127.

[ii] Cablegrams from Henry B. Wilson to W. S. Sims, 8 October 1918, Reel 6, ME-11, NDL.

[iii] Letter from William S. Benson to P.A.S. Franklin, 8 October 1918, Reel 6, ME-11, NDL.

[iv] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 5; “Chief Gunner’s Mate, USN, (1896–1973),” NHHC, http://www.history.navy.mil/our-collections/photography/us-people/s/schmidt-oscar-jr.html;  Navy Department, Record of Medals of Honor Issued, 98.

[v] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 9 October 1918, Reel 6, ME-11, NDL.

[vi] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 6; Stringer, Distinguished Service, 26; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 68–69.

[vii] Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 118n1.

[147]

9–12 October Naval Railway Battery No. 1 fires 154 rounds at the Laon, France, railroad crossroads.[i] 

10 October The Admiralty and U.S. Navy Department agree to Plan BCR, a joint plan to protect troop convoys destined for France from German raiders.[ii] 

10 October Captain Hutch I. Cone, Aide for Aviation for U.S. Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, survives the sinking of the Dublin Mail Boat Leinster, but suffers a compound fracture of his right leg below the knee and severe injuries to his left ankle.[iii] 

10 October The first “Eagle” boat is completed and successfully completes a trial on Lake Huron.[iv] 

11–13 October Naval Railway Battery No. 2 at Flavy-le-Martel, France, fires 38 rounds at Mortiers.[v] 

12 October The Sixth Battle Squadron, Second Battle Cruiser Squadron, and Third Light Cruiser Squadron sortie from Scapa Flow after a report of three large enemy vessels are at large on the North Sea. The report of German raiders proves false.[vi] 

12 October The American transport Amphion (ID-1888) is damaged by gunfire from the German submarine U-155 but escapes further damage with only two wounded.[vii] 

13 October Mine Squadron One lays 4,750 MK VI mines in the North Sea Mine Barrage.[viii] 

14 October Battleship Division Six, accompanied by the destroyers Conyngham (DD-58), Terry (DD-25), Stevens (DD-86), Downes (DD-45), Sampson (DD-63), Allen (DD-66), and Beale (DD-40), departs Berehaven, Ireland, to rendezvous with troop convoys in defense against German raiders. The operation, the only sortie by Battleship Division Six to protect troop convoys, concludes on 16 October. The battleship New York (BB-34) strikes a submerged object while entering Pentland Firth en route to Scapa Flow, Scotland, possibly becoming the only American battleship with the Grand Fleet to inflict damage on a German U-boat. The Admiralty believes the ship collided with an adrift sunken barge.[ix] 

14 October Vice Admiral W. S. Sims selects Bizerte, Tunisia, as the base for Mediterranean mining operations as agreed upon at the fifth meeting of the Allied Naval Council and orders Captain O. G. Murfin there to establish the new base.[x] 

15 October The troop transport America (ID-3006) sinks at a dock at Hoboken, New Jersey, killing six. She is later salvaged.[xi] 

15 October The destroyer Bell (DD-95) arrives in Brest, France.[xii] 

16 October A seaplane on patrol from Naval Air Station Wexford, Ireland, with Lieutenant John F. McNamara as first pilot, Ensign J. R. Biggs as second pilot, and Ensign George W. Shaw as observer, drops bombs on a submarine, which then surfaces at irregular intervals and eventually disappears. A search of area reveals large quantities of oil and some debris. The submarine is assessed as “probably seriously damaged.”[xiii]

_________________

[i] Navy Department, Naval Railway Batteries, 14, 71–72.

[ii] Jones, Battleship Operations, 104.

[iii] Memorandum from W. S. Sims to Josephus Daniels, on weekly operation report—week ending 12 October 1918, Reel 6, ME-11, NDL.

[iv] Navy Department, Annual Report 1918, 34.

[v] Navy Department, Naval Railway Batteries, 14, 71–73.

[vi] Jones, Battleship Operations, 66.

[vii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 11.

[viii] Navy Department, Northern Barrage, 119, chart opposite 121.

[ix] Jones, Battleship Operations, 66–67, 104–105; Still, Crisis at Sea, 77, 424–25; memorandum from W. S. Sims to William S. Benson, on general report, 13 November 1918, Reel 6, ME-11, NDL.

[x] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 14 October 1918, Reel 6, ME-11, NDL.

[xi] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 3.

[xii] Wilson, American Navy in France, 30.

[xiii] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 88.

[148]

16 October A 7-inch, 45-caliber tractor-mounted gun is proof tested at the new naval proving facility at Machodoc Creek, Virginia. It is the first weapon tested there.[i] 

16 October The tanker Caloria is torpedoed by an enemy submarine off northern Scotland, 3.25 miles north-northeast from Strathie Point and is salvaged.[ii] 

17 October A pilotless N-9 training plane, converted to an automatic flying machine, is successfully launched at Copiague, Long Island, New York, and flown on pre-set course, but it failed to land at the chosen range of 14,500 yards.[iii] 

17 October The cargo ship Lucia (ID-3090) is torpedoed in the western Atlantic by the German submarine U-155, killing two men. This is the last American merchantman torpedoed and sunk in World War I.[iv] 

17 October The transport Northern Pacific sails for Brest, France, with Colonel Edward M. House, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson, and other American military and diplomatic officials aboard.[v] 

18 October Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels approves the design of a Bureau of Ordnance flag, authorized to be flown over bureau industrial plants and stations and over such private industrial plants as are devoting at least 50 percent of their capacity to Navy ordnance work.[vi] 

18 October With the possibility of the ports of Zeebrugge and Bruggs, Belgium, being retaken from the Germans, the Northern Bombing Group recommends transfer to Italy for bombing against the Austrian naval base of Pola.[vii] 

19 October The patrol boat Simplicity (SP-96) sinks after colliding with barge No. 78 alongside the Army dock at Fort Wadsworth, New York. The boat is declared a total loss.[viii] 

19 October The German submarine U-62 shells the American cargo ship J. L. Luckenbach in a running gun duel for four hours. Despite being holed and taking on water, the freighter remains afloat as the destroyer Nicholson (DD-52) races to protect her and manages to drive off U-62. Nicholson escorts the damaged cargo ship to port in Le Havre, France, arriving on 20 October.[ix] 

19 October While escorting a 32-ship convoy in the Lough Foyle sector off Northern France, naval aviator Ensign George S. Montgomery sights and successfully attacks an enemy submarine stalking the convoy. His bombs hit within 30 feet of the periscope and bring heavy turbulence and oil to the surface. The attack is assessed as “probably damaging” the submarine and saving the convoy.[x]

__________________

[i] Kenneth G. McCollum, Dahlgren (Dahlgren, VA: Naval Surface Weapons Center, 1977), 5.

[ii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 16.

[iii] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 88; Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 37.

[iv] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 16.

[v] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 15 October 1918, Reel 6, ME-11, NDL.

[vi] Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 245-1. (This is the actual page number in the book).

[vii] Memorandum from W. Evans and H. E. Yarnell to William S. Benson, 18 October 1918, Reel 6, ME-11, NDL.

[viii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 6.

[ix] Husband, Coast of France, 92–93; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 175–77.

[x] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 88.

[149]

20 October The destroyer Murray (DD-97) arrives in Brest, France.[i] 

20 October The destroyers Paulding (DD-22) and Balch (DD-50) collide on convoy duty and suffer serious damage that results in lengthy repairs.[ii] 

21 October The Naval Overseas Transportation Service cargo ship Lake Borgne strikes a rock and sinks near Mathieu Point, France.[iii] 

21 October The motor boat Cero (SP-1189) is totally destroyed by fire in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island.[iv] 

22 October Ensign Edwin S. Pou with Quartermaster 2nd Class H. F. Duffy as observer, take off in an HS-1 from Naval Air Station Ile Tudy, France, to investigate the area in which an attack had been made earlier in day. They sight an adrift sea mine, which they destroy by bombing.[v] 

23 October Naval Railway Batteries No. 3, 4, and 5 each fire one round at Longuyon, France. Battery No. 3 is located at Thierville, and Batteries No. 4 and 5 are west of Verdun.[vi] 

24 October Rear Admiral Newton A. McCully Jr. and his staff, together with 36 men, arrive at Murmansk aboard the French armored cruiser Gueydon. That afternoon, McCully breaks his flag aboard the protected cruiser Olympia (C-6) as Commander U.S. Naval Forces, Northern Russia.[vii] 

24 October The American Naval Planning Section, London, issues Memorandum No. 59, that  compares all proposed naval armistice terms made by the Paris conference, the Admiralty, and Vice Admiral W. S. Sims to the Navy Department.[viii] 

26 October The thirteenth and final minelaying operation for the North Sea Mine Barrage is completed with the laying of 3,760 MK VI mines. By 11 November, 56,611 American MK VI naval mines had been laid in the barrage.[ix] 

26 October The protected cruiser Olympia (C-6) weighs anchor at Murmansk, Russia, for Archangel where she arrives on 29 October.[x] 

26 October An airplane piloted by Ensign W. S. Sprague with H. A. Ropke as observer sights an oil wake four miles southwest of Penmarch Point, France, and drop two bombs on it. Four minutes later, an aircraft piloted by Ensign Elbert Dent drops two bombs on the same spot followed by a third plane piloted by Ensign Harold J. Rowen. The French credit Sprague with sinking the submarine.[xi] 

26 October The Third District training camp opens at Bay Bridge, Brooklyn, New York.[xii] 

26 October All enemy submarines now at sea are ordered to proceed to an area 60-miles-square east of the Firth of Forth, Scotland.[xiii]

__________________

[i] Wilson, American Navy in France, 30.

[ii] DANFS, entry for Paulding (Destroyer No. 22), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/p/paulding.html; DANFS, entry for Balch I (Destroyer No. 50), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/b/balch-i.html.

[iii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 3.

[iv] Ibid., 5.

[v] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 88.

[vi] Navy Department, Naval Railway Batteries, 15, 76.

[vii] Cooling, Olympia, 197; Tolley, “Our Russian War,” 67; memorandum from W. S. Sims to William S. Benson, on general report, 13 November 1918, Reel 6, ME-11, NDL.

[viii] Navy Department, Naval Planning, 416–25.

[ix] Navy Department, Northern Barrage, 120, 123; Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 125.

[x] Cooling, Olympia, 197.

[xi] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 88.

[xii] Besch, “Navy Second to None,” 242.

[xiii] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 26 October 1918, Reel 6, ME-11, NDL.

[150]

27 October The Cuban steamship Chaparra is sunk by a sea mine laid by the German submarine U-117, 70 miles southeast of Barnegat, New Jersey.[i] 

27 October The troop transport Leviathan (ID-1326) sails from New York on her tenth and final trip to the war zone, carrying 8,123 soldiers. The ship arrives in Liverpool, England, on 3 November.[ii] 

28 October The armed yacht Tarantula (SP-124) collides with the Dutch steamship Frisia about eight miles southwest of the Fire Island Light Vessel, New York.[iii] 

28 October The Office of the Chief of Naval Operations cables President Woodrow Wilson’s views in regard to the naval armistice to Vice Admiral W. S. Sims. It includes the:

  • cessation of hostilities by enemy submarines,
  • the enemy is to lay no mines outside his territorial waters during the armistice,
  • the continuation of the Allied blockade,
  • evacuation of enemy naval forces from the coasts and ports of occupied countries,
  • no damage is to be done or removal of provisions or munitions from evacuated coasts or ports,
  • the withdrawal of all enemy surface craft of all classes to enemy waters or bases,
  • internment of enemy submarines at neutral ports,
  • concentration of all enemy naval aircraft at enemy bases, and
  • to execute all of the above in the shortest possible time.[iv] 

28 October–4 November Conferences held in London by the Allied Naval Council discuss clearing the seas of naval mines after the war. The parties recommend that the British oversee gathering and distribution of information from Allied, Associate, and Central Powers about mine clearance operations.[v] 

29 October Naval Railway Batteries No. 3, 4, and 5 at Thierville, France, each fire ten shells at Mangiennes.[vi] 

30 October The destroyer Fairfax (DD-93) arrives in Brest, France.[vii] 

30 October Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt cables Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson, requesting a conference with General John J. Pershing as soon as possible “in regards to sending over additional 14-inch guns and mounts and seven-inch guns of Marine Corps.”[viii] 

30–31 October Naval Railway Battery No. 3 at Thierville, France, fires 12 rounds at an aviation field at Longuyon, Naval Railway Battery No. 4 at Charny fires 12 shots at a tunnel at Montmédy, and Naval Railway Battery No. 5 at Thierville fires 12 rounds at a target south of Longuyon.[ix]   

30 October–2 November Naval Railway Battery No. 2 at Charny, France, fires 55 rounds at Montmédy.[x]

___________________

[i] Navy Department, German Submarine Activities, 125, 134.

[ii] History of the U.S.S. Leviathan, 94–95.

[iii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 6.

[iv] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 28 October 1918, Reel 6, ME-11, NDL.

[v] Navy Department, Northern Barrage, 139–40.

[vi] Navy Department, Naval Railway Batteries, 15, 79–80.

[vii] Wilson, American Navy in France, 30.

[viii] Cablegram from Franklin D. Roosevelt to William S. Benson via W. S. Sims, 30 October 1918, Reel 6, ME-11, NDL.

[ix] Navy Department, Naval Railway Batteries, 15, 80–81.

[x] Ibid., 14, 80–82.

[151]

31 October Vice Admiral W. S. Sims reports to the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations that the Atlantic appears “at present free of enemy submarines” aside from one apparent auxiliary cruiser.[i] 

31 October The Office of the Chief of Naval Operations organizes the Destroyer Force in Home Waters under the command of Rear Admiral A. H. Robertson, with divisions located at New York and Norfolk, Virginia.[ii] 

31 October The Provisional Yugoslav Government reports taking possession of the entire Austrian fleet and arsenal at Pola. In response, the French, British, Italian, and U.S. governments invite the Yugoslavs to sail the former Austro-Hungarian ships to Corfu under a white flag to place them at the disposal of the Chief Commander of the Allied Naval Forces.[iii] 

1 November The former French station at Treguier, France, is commissioned as a naval air station under command of Lieutenant A. M. Baldwin.[iv] 

1 November Vice Admiral W. S. Sims authorizes transfer of the Dunkirk, France, seaplane station supporting the Northern Bombing Group to Zeebrugge, Belgium.[v] 

1 November The submarine tender Chicago (CA-14), oiler Arethusa (AO-7), Army tugs Gypsum Prince (SP-1176), Givalia, Ionian, Printer, Richmond, and Tacony, tugs Arctic (SP-1158), Conestoga (SP-1128), Dreadnaught (ID-1951/YT-34), Goliath (SP-1494), and Undaunted (ID-1950/AT-58), along with 19 French and 14 American submarine chasers sail from Bermuda for the Azores.[vi] 

1 November Along the Beltline Bridge, Norfolk, Virginia, the schooner Hjeltenaes catches fire and burns. The tug Mohawk (YT-17) in the Norfolk Navy Yard steams over to assist. One of her crew, Boatswain’s Mate 2nd Class John O. Siegel boards the stricken schooner and rescues two men from the crew’s quarters. Returning to the inferno, a steam pipe bursts and traps Siegel who subsequently collapses from the smoke. He is rescued by shipmates and recovers the next day. For his bravery, he receives the Medal of Honor.[vii] 

1–2 November Naval Railway Battery No. 3 at Thierville, France, fires 26 rounds at Longuyon, Battery No. 4 at Charny fires 43 shots at a garage—a freight yard composed of parallel tracks about ten in number and about 1,000 meters long—in Montmédy, and Battery No. 5 at Thierville fires 69 shells at Longuyon.[viii] 

2 November In regard to the changed political and military conditions in the Mediterranean, the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations asks Vice Admiral W. S. Sims for his opinions on abandoning and suspending mine operations in the Adriatic Sea. Sims concurs in discontinuing preparations for the deep mining of the Otranto Material Barrage, abandoning the Aegean project, and suspending the Adriatic mining plans on 4 November.[ix] 

3 November Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels orders Rear Admiral William H. G. Bullard to proceed to the Adriatic Sea as Commander U.S. Naval Forces in the Eastern Mediterranean.[x]

_________________

[i] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 31 October 1918, Reel 6, ME-11, NDL.

[ii] Memorandum from Chief of Naval Operations to Commander in Chief, Atlantic Fleet, Commander Cruiser Force, and Commandants of First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Naval Districts, on organization of destroyer force in home waters, 31 October 1918, Reel 6, ME-11, NDL.

[iii] Cablegram from Naval Attaché, Rome to Office of Naval Intelligence, 2 November 1918, Reel 6, ME-11, NDL. 

[iv] Van Wyen, Naval Aviation, 88; memorandum from W.A. Edwards for W. S. Sims to Josephus Daniels, on weekly operations report—week ending 8 November 1918, 8 November 1918, Reel 6, ME-11, NDL. 

[v] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 1 November 1918, Reel 6, ME-11, NDL.

[vi] Cablegram from OPNAV to W. S. Sims, 4 November 1918, Reel 6, ME-11, NDL. 

[vii] Navy Department, Record of Medals of Honor Issued, 101–102.

[viii] Navy Department, Naval Railway Batteries, 15, 81–82.

[ix] Cablegram from OPNAV to W. S. Sims, 2 November 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 4 November 1918, Reel 6, ME-11, NDL. 

[x] Cablegram from OPNAV to W. S. Sims, 3 November 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to William S. Benson, 4 November 1918, Reel 6, ME-11, NDL.

[152]

3–4 November Naval Railway Battery No. 4 at Charny, France, fires 12 shells at Louppy, 13 at a garage—a freight yard composed of parallel tracks about ten in number and about 1,000 meters long—in Remoiville, and 6 at the lower garage at Montmédy on 4 November.[i] 

4 November Naval Railway Battery No. 3 at Charny, France, fires 27 shells at Louppy, 17 at a garage at Remoiville, and 12 at a lower garage—a freight yard composed of parallel tracks about ten in number and about 1,000 meters long—at Montmédy.[ii] 

4 November The Navy Department authorizes the maintenance of the Northern Bombing Group in its present location as a support of the seaplane base at Zeebrugge, Belgium, and places it under the operational command of French Marshall Ferdinand Foch, if he is agreeable.[iii] 

4 November The German government orders its submarines to refrain from attacking merchant shipping and only to attack men-of-war.[iv] 

4 November The American Naval Planning Section, London, issues Memorandums Nos. 61, 62, and 65. The former is prepared by the direction of Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson, considering a plan for the demobilization of U.S. naval forces operating in European waters; the second details steps to be taken to execute the armistice terms with Austria-Hungary; and the latter discusses U.S. Navy interests in the armistice terms. The planning section recommends that no German or Austrian submarines be destroyed, nor any German or Austrian naval vessel be used to increase the naval armament of any other power.[v] 

5 November The Allied Naval Council convenes in Paris “to consider the manner in which the naval terms of the armistice [Armistice of Villa Giusti between Italian and Austro-Hungarian forces] should be carried out.” The council agrees to appoint a committee of four naval officers (American, British, French, and Italian), to meet in Venice and take all necessary steps to execute the naval clauses of the Villa Giusti armistice against the Austro-Hungarian Navy.[vi] 

5 November Naval Railway Battery No. 3 at Charny, France, fires 11 shells at the lower garage—a freight yard composed of parallel tracks about ten in number and about 1,000 meters long—and 39 shells at the upper garage at Montmédy.[vii] 

6 November The Naval Overseas Transportation Service cargo ship Lake Damita strikes an obstruction, grounds, and sinks in Anse de Bertheaume on north shore of entrance to harbor of Brest, France.[viii] 

6 November The motor boat Jolly Roger (SP-1031) is dropped from crane and breaks in two off Tompkinsville, New York, suffering damage beyond repair.[ix] 

6 November Rear Admiral William H. G. Bullard is designated as the U.S. Navy representative for the Italian-led effort overseeing administration of the terms of the armistice with Austria-Hungary. His orders are issued the following day:

  • to obtain information as to Austro-Hungarian ships and mines required by clauses one and four of the Armistice,
  • take charge of submarines referred to in clause two, and
  • designate the ships to be surrendered under clause three, specifically the battleships Prinz Eugen, Tegetthoff, and Radetzky, scout cruisers Helgoland, Novara, and Saida, and the nine most modern destroyers.[x]

________________

[i] Navy Department, Naval Railway Batteries, 15, 82–83.

[ii] Ibid., 15, 83.

[iii] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to Naval Communication Office, Paris, 4 November 1918, Reel 6, ME-11, NDL. 

[iv] Cablegram from Naval Attaché, Copenhagen to Office of Naval Intelligence, 4 November 1918, Reel 6, ME-11, NDL. 

[v] Navy Department, Naval Planning, 439–52, 457–60.

[vi] A.C. Davidonis, “The American Naval Mission in the Adriatic, 1918–1921,” Navy Department, Office of Records Administration, 1943, 1–17.

[vii] Navy Department, Naval Railway Batteries, 15, 84.

[viii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 3.

[ix] Ibid.

[x] Cablegram from Naval Communication Office, Paris to W. S. Sims, 6 November 1918; cablegram from OPNAV to William H.G. Bullard, 7 November 1918, Reel 6, ME-11, NDL. 

[153]

6 November Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels orders the abandonment of the Aegean mining project and suspension of the Adriatic mining program.[i] 

6 November The Office of the Chief of Naval Operations orders the collier Saturn (AG-4) to take aboard the Vladivostok Radio Expedition in Russia and proceed to Pearl Harbor to load additional radio equipment.  She will then sail for Vladivostok by way of Guam and report to the Commander-in-Chief, Asiatic Fleet, to unload the radio equipment and other cargo at his direction before returning to Pearl Harbor via Manila and Guam.[ii] 

6 November The American Naval Planning Section, London, issues Memorandum No. 66, suggesting steps for the execution of the armistice terms with Germany.[iii] 

7 November The Sixth Battle Squadron heads to sea for last time during the war to conduct gunnery practice.[iv] 

7 November Vice Admiral W. S. Sims, on the authority of Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson, orders Rear Admiral William H. G. Bullard to the Adriatic as the American naval delegate to act in concert with British, French, and Italian naval representatives to enforce the Villa Giusti armistice.[v] 

7 November On the destroyer Conyngham (DD-58), Blacksmith’s Mate 1st Class Joseph Greis and Gunner’s Mate 2nd Class Tyler Hamblen secure potentially volatile depth charges during a storm. They each receive the Navy Cross.[vi] 

7 November During a heavy gale off Ireland, depth charges on the fantail of the destroyer Sampson (DD-63) break loose, menacing the ship with the possibility of an explosion. Lieutenant Robert W. Cary, the Sampson’s executive officer, Chief Gunner’s Mate William Chasen, and Seaman Alfred L. Miller, secure the depth charges despite rough seas that threaten to wash the men overboard. For their heroism, each receives the Navy Cross.[vii] 

7–9 November Naval Railway Battery No. 3 at Charny, France, fires 50 shells at a bridge at Montmédy on the 7th, six shells at the lower garage—a freight yard composed of parallel tracks about ten in number and about 1,000 meters long—at Montmédy on the 8th, and 25 shells again  at the lower garage on the 9th.[viii] 

8 November Vice Admiral W. S. Sims orders a discontinuance of all work in connection with the establishment of a mine base at Bizerte, Tunisia.[ix] 

8 November The second Eagle boat is commissioned.[x]

_______________

[i] Cablegram from OPNAV to W. S. Sims, 6 November 1918, Reel 6, ME-11, NDL. 

[ii] Radiogram from OPNAV to USS Saturn, 6 November 1918, Reel 6, ME-11, NDL. 

[iii] Navy Department, Naval Planning, 461–65.

[iv] Jones, Battleship Operations, 68.

[v] Davidonis, “The American Naval Mission in the Adriatic,” 17.

[vi] Stringer, Distinguished Service, 75, 77.

[vii] Ibid., 54–55, 106–107.

[viii] Navy Department, Naval Railway Batteries, 15, 85–86.

[ix] Navy Department, Northern Barrage, 139; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 8 November 1918, Reel 6, ME-11, NDL. 

[x] Navy Department, Annual Report 1918, 34.

[154]

 

8 November The Bureau of Ordnance takes over the Recording and Computing Machines Co. plant in Dayton, Ohio, established to manufacture instructions for the British Vickers system of broadside director control. The bureau takes this action to increase the rate of deliveries and economy of manufacture.[i] 

9 November The cargo ship Saetia (ID-2317) of the Naval Overseas Transportation Service strikes a mine laid by the German submarine U-117 and sinks off Ocean City, Maryland, ten miles southeast from Fenwick Island lightship.[ii] 

9 November Vice Admiral W. S. Sims recommends to the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations that it cease further shipments of seaplanes to Europe until further notice.[iii] 

9 November Naval Railway Batteries Nos. 4 and 5 at Thierville, France, fire 20 rounds at Mangiennes and 15 at Longuyon, respectively.[iv] 

9 November The armed yacht Scorpion (PY-3) is permitted by the Turkish government to raise her flag. Turkish officials also begin to return the yacht’s military equipment, which they had previously removed.[v] 

10 November Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson cables Vice Admiral W. S. Sims recommending an immediate cessation of any shipment of additional naval aviation personnel abroad except for special personnel needed for demobilization purposes. He also recommends cessation of enlisting officers and enlisted personnel for naval aviation, shipping aviation material abroad aside for demobilization purposes, production of aviation material in the United States as soon as practicable, all aviation construction abroad, and all expansion of aviation stations at home as far as practicable.[vi] 

10 November Vice Admiral W. S. Sims designates Rear Admiral Samuel S. Robison as the U.S. Navy representative on a commission for executing the naval conditions of the Armistice with Germany.[vii] 

11 November The Armistice, agreed upon and signed shortly after 5:00 a.m., takes effect at 11:00 a.m. Paris time. The last shot of the U.S. Navy in World War I is fired by Naval Railroad Battery No. 4 at Thierville, France. The battery fires five shells at Longuyon that morning, the last at 10:57:30, landing just before the Armistice takes effect at 11:00:00. Battery No. 5 at Thierville also fires five shells at Longuyon that morning. At the cessation of hostilities, the Navy’s regular and reserve enrolled strength is 497,030 men and women, 32,474 officers, and 2,003 ships in commission.[viii] 

11 November Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels issues a statement to all civilian and uniformed member of the U.S. Navy: “The signing of the Armistice makes this the greatest day for our country since the signing of The Declaration of Independence. For the World there has been no day so momentous for liberty. I send greetings and congratulations to all in the Naval Establishment at home and abroad. The test of war found the Navy ready fit with every man on his toes. Every day all the men in the service have given fresh proof of devotion, loyalty, and efficiency. In America and in all other countries the people have applauded Naval initiative and Naval resourcefulness. As we rejoice in the victory for every principle that caused us to enter the war let us be thankful that when the American people needed a Navy we were rapidly creating all others that could be employed. With warm appreciation for the perfect team work and splendid cooperation, Josephus Daniels, Secretary of the Navy.”[ix]

_________________

[i] Navy Department, Annual Report 1919, 532.

[ii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 2; Navy Department, German Submarine Activities, 125, 133.

[iii] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 9 November 1918, Reel 6, ME-11, NDL. 

[iv] Navy Department, Naval Railway Batteries, 15, 86.

[v] Henry P. Beers, “U.S. Naval Detachment in Turkish Waters, 1919–1924,” Navy Department, Office of Records Administration, 1943, 2.

[vi] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 10 November 1918, Reel 6, ME-11, NDL. 

[vii] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to Henry B. Wilson, 10 November 1918, Reel 6, ME-11, NDL. 

[viii] Navy Department, Naval Railway Batteries, 14, 21, 86–87; Navy Department, Annual Report 1918, 66, 72.

[ix] Radiogram from Josephus Daniels to ALNAV, 11 November 1918, Reel 6, ME-11, NDL. 

[155]

11 November Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson and Vice Admiral W. S. Sims agree to cease convoy sailings. Merchant vessels are permitted to communicate by radio with shore stations at the discretion of the commanding officers, they are permitted to handle regular commercial traffic with U.S. shore stations beginning on 15 November, and all wartime radio instructions for merchant vessels is suspended in the Atlantic west of the 40th meridian until further notice.[i] 

11 November The cargo ship Ophir (ID-2800) of the Naval Overseas Transportation Service catches fire from internal explosion and burns in Gibraltar harbor, killing two. The ship is later salvaged.[ii] 

11 November Three American submarine chasers under the command of Lieutenant Commander Frank Loftin anchor in the harbor of Cattaro, Montenegro.[iii] 

11 November The collier Brutus (AC-15) is directed to proceed to Seattle, Washington, and take on board medical personnel and supplies as designated by the U.S. Public Health Service and proceed to Juneau, Alaska, for the relief of villages afflicted by influenza as designated by health officials.[iv] 

11 November The Office of the Chief of Naval Operations removes all restrictions regarding vessels displaying navigation lights in U.S. Atlantic coastal waters.[v] 

12 November Patrol boat Seven (SP-727) is condemned to be burned.[vi] 

12 November Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels cables Katō Tomosaburō, the Japanese Minister of the Navy, that “From the day that illustrious American Commodore Perry visited Japan, the most cordial relations have existed between the American and Japanese Navies. We rejoice together in the great victory achieved. It permanently cements our friendship.”[vii] 

12 November Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels wires Vice Admiral W. S. Sims that the armed yachts Aphrodite (SP-135), Corsair (SP-159), Cythera (SP-575), Noma (SP-131), Rambler (SP-211), Sultana (SP-134), Vedette (SP-163), Harvard (SP-209), and Piqua (SP-130) are free of their leases and should be returned to the United States if practicable.[viii] 

12 November Vice Admiral W. S. Sims requests that the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations order no more officers or men for permanent duty with aviation forces abroad and to cancel all outstanding requests for enlisted personnel except for land wire telegraphers and hospital corpsmen.[ix]

_________________

[i] Cablegrams from OPNAV to W. S. Sims, 11 November 1918Reel 6, ME-11, NDL. 

[ii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 5.

[iii] Davidonis, “The American Naval Mission in the Adriatic,” 33.

[iv] Radiogram from NAVSTA Mare Island to Commander, Division Two Pacific, Commandants, Twelfth and Thirteenth Naval Districts, 11 November 1918, Reel 6, ME-11, NDL. 

[v] Radiogram from OPNAV to Commandants, First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Naval Districts, 11 November 1918, Reel 6, ME-11, NDL. 

[vi] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 5.

[vii] Cablegram from Josephus Daniels to Katō Tomosaburō, 12 November 1918, Reel 6, ME-11, NDL. 

[viii] Cablegram from Josephus Daniels to W. S. Sims, 12 November 1918, Reel 6, ME-11, NDL.

[ix] Cablegrams from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 12 November 1918, Reel 6, ME-11, NDL.

[156]

13 November The protected cruiser Olympia (C-6) sails from Murmansk, Russia, arriving at Invergorden, Scotland, on 18 November.[i] 

13 November At an emergency meeting of the Allied Naval Council, among other matters the members conclude that the Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Fleet shall take all necessary measures for the surrender of the German submarines and the internment of specified German warships, and that Scapa Flow, Scotland, would be the most suitable place for the internment of the specified warships, that all German submarines will proceed to British ports to be specified, and that disposal of the German submarines and surface ships will be discussed and decided at a later time.[ii] 

13 November Rear Admiral William H. G. Bullard arrives in Pola, Croatia, but finds Italian naval and military forces in full control of the city.[iii] 

14 November The Allied fleet anchors off Constantinople, Ottoman Empire.[iv] 

14 November Vice Admiral W. S. Sims requests that the Navy Department policy of dispatching destroyers for duty abroad be discontinued. Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson concurs the next day.[v] 

14 November To prevent the introduction of disease into the United States and similar outbreaks on troops transports, the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery recommends that U.S. Army authorities establish evacuation camps with disinfection facilities and requiring two weeks of detained observation for troops slated to return home. The bureau also recommends preventing overcrowding on troop ships during the winter season, when making the northern passage, and on ships without medical officers or adequate sick bay equipment.[vi] 

14 November The American Naval Planning Section, London, issues Memorandum No. 69, recommending steps to be taken by the Navy for the demobilization of the U.S. Army in Europe.[vii] 

15 November Most naval shore radio stations open for ship-to-shore commercial traffic by the Naval Communication Office, with exception for ships in the Atlantic west of the 40th meridian.[viii] 

15 November The patrol boat Elizabeth (SP-1092) wrecks at the mouth of the Brazos River near Freeport, Texas, killing two.[ix] 

15 November Vice Admiral W. S. Sims issues Demobilization Circular Letter No. 1 together with Demobilization Plan, Memorandums No. 1 and 2 to all bases, detachments, and units of U.S. Naval Forces Operating in European Waters.[x] 

15 November Naval Base Hospital No. 4, Queenstown, Ireland, is established. The hospital provided beds for 200 patients with provisions for up to 500 men, and quarters for 30 nurses in addition to barracks for Hospital Corps men.[xi]

_________________

[i] Cooling, Olympia, 198.

[ii] Allied Naval Council, Emergency Meeting 13 November 1918, “Measures for the execution of the naval terms of Armistice with Germany—Conclusions,” 16 November 1918, Reel 6, ME-11, NDL.

[iii] Davidonis, “The American Naval Mission in the Adriatic,” 21.

[iv] Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 272.

[v] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to William S. Benson, 14 November 1918; cablegram from William S. Benson to OPNAV, 15 November 1918, Reel 6, ME-11, NDL.

[vi] Cablegram from OPNAV to William S. Benson, 14 November 1918, Reel 6, ME-11, NDL.

[vii] Navy Department, Naval Planning, 477–79.

[viii] Navy Department, Annual Report 1919, 97.

[ix] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 3.

[x] U.S. Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, Demobilization Circular Letter no. 1, 15 November 1918; Demobilization Plan—Memorandums No. 1 and 2, Reel 6, ME-11, NDL.

[xi] Navy Department, Yards and Docks, 126.

[157]

16 November The Navy Department announces that upon written request of the owner, it will authorize the removal of the Naval Armed Guard, battery, equipment, and personnel attached to any vessel with the exception of the radiomen and radio equipment, which will be left on board.[i] 

16 November Rear Admiral William H. G. Bullard and his Allied counterparts organize themselves into the Naval Committee for the Adriatic in a meeting in Venice.[ii] 

17 November Naval Air Station Hampton Roads, Virginia, reports that an H-16 flying boat, equipped with a radio direction finder using a British six-stage amplifier, receives signals from the Arlington, Virginia, radio station at a distance of 150 miles.[iii] 

18 November The battleship Nevada (BB-36) sails from Bantry Bay, Ireland, and joined Battleship Division Nine at Scapa Flow, Scotland.[iv] 

18 November Under orders from Rear Admiral William H. G. Bullard, Lieutenant Commander Edward E. Hazlett and 200 sailors proceed from Corfu to Spalato [Split], Croatia, to take possession for the U.S. Navy of the Austrian pre-dreadnoughts Radetzky and Zrinyi, together with torpedo boats 12 and 52.[v] 

20 November King George V visits the battleship New York (BB-34) and thanks the crews of all the American battleships for their service in the Grand Fleet and wishes them a safe voyage home.[vi] 

20 November Lieutenant Commander Edward E. Hazlett takes receipt from Yugoslav authorities of the Austrian pre-dreadnoughts Radetzky and Zrinyi, together with torpedo boats 12 and 52. Hazlett mans the vessels with skeleton crews of American sailors, and raises the American colors aboard all four ships.[vii] 

21 November The Sixth Battle Squadron (Battleship Division Nine) witnesses the surrender of the Imperial German Navy’s High Seas Fleet off the Firth of Forth, Scotland. The Grand Fleet escorts the High Seas Fleet to Scapa Flow the next day.[viii] 

21 November The Bureau of Navigation issues an order authorizing the release of 20 percent of the total number of naval reservists plus duration-of-war men, except in certain ratings in which there were shortages.[ix] 

21–22 November All five Naval Railway Batteries move from the front to Haussimont, France, destined for Paris, St. Nazaire, and eventually home.[x] 

22 November Lieutenant Victor Vernon and S. T. Williams drop a 400-pound dummy torpedo from an F-5L at the Naval Aircraft Factory in the initial test of a torpedo launching gear, which had begun development the preceding July.[xi] 

22 November Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels orders demobilization to take effect “as fast as the exigencies of the service permit and accomplishment is hereby directed.” He further orders all Mediterranean mining operations to cease; all shipments of naval material to Italy and Corfu to cease except what is necessary for demobilization; all naval aviation shipment from the United States and ordnance material to cease; demobilization of the Northern Bombing Group squadrons; demobilization of the naval base at Gibraltar except for repair facilities, salvage units, tugs, and flagship; sale of 66 submarine chasers at Plymouth and Queenstown, Ireland; demobilization of the North Sea Mine Barrage bases aside from maintenance of minesweeping capabilities; demobilization of the bases at Queenstown and Plymouth; and demobilization and return of all naval personnel and equipment in France aside from minesweepers and destroyers until their services are no longer required, and the vessels and personnel needed for the Army demobilization.[xii] 

______________

[i] Circular letter from Chief of Naval Operations to all commandants, all navy yards, all bureaus, on policy announcement—removal of armed guards, 16 November 1918, Reel 6, ME-11, NDL.

[ii] Davidonis, “The American Naval Mission in the Adriatic,” 22.

[iii] Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 37.

[iv] Jones, Battleship Operations, 106.

[v] Davidonis, “The American Naval Mission in the Adriatic,” 71.

[vi] Ibid., 71–72.

[vii] Davidonis, “The American Naval Mission in the Adriatic,” 71; DANFS, entry for entry for Zrinyi (Pre-dreadnought Battleship), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/z/zrinyi.html; Hilary Ronald Chambers Jr., United States Submarine Chasers in the Mediterranean, Adriatic and the Attack on Durazzo (New York: Kickerbocker Press, 1920), 86.

[viii] Jones, Battleship Operations, 72–73; Still, Crisis at Sea, 512–13.

[ix] Navy Department, Annual Report 1919, 77–78.

[x] Navy Department, Naval Railway Batteries, 89.

[xi] Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 37.

[xii] Cablegram from Josephus Daniels to W. S. Sims and William S. Benson, 22 November 1918, Reel 6, ME-11, NDL.

[158]

22 November General demobilization of Naval Aviation Forces, Foreign Service, is authorized to take effect immediately.[i] 

24 November The last troop convoy to sail from the United States for England arrives at Liverpool, England.[ii] 

25 November Vice Admiral W. S. Sims issues Demobilization Memorandum No. 3 detailing the particulars of Secretary Josephus Daniel’s orders of 22 November.[iii] 

26 November The Office of the Chief of Naval Operations orders the removal of all submarine defensive nets at the Second, Third, and Fifth Naval Districts and at Naval Station Guantanamo, Cuba.[iv] 

26 November The patrol boat Bonita (SP-540) collides with the moored schooner Russell while she moored astern of the Coast Guard Station 23 in Boston Harbor, Massachusetts.[v] 

26 November Rear Admiral William H. G. Bullard cables the Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson that Italian forces in Fiume [Rijeka], Croatia, were using American occupation forces to advance Italian political motives, with Americans accompanying Italian troops to give the appearance of interallied occupation.[vi]

26–29 November The Naval Committee for the Adriatic convenes in Rome. The Allied admirals agree to divide the eastern Adriatic littoral into four occupation zones to be held in the name of the Allies until the Versailles peace conference determined their future sovereignty and postwar boundaries. The American zone consists of central Dalmatia [Croatia] together with numerous small islands off its coast. Spalato [Split] is designated the center of the American occupation zone. The committee also agrees to allot the U.S. Navy two battleships and two torpedo boats from the Austro-Hungarian naval forces then in Yugoslavian possession.[vii]

27 November President Woodrow Wilson notifies Vice Admiral W. S. Sims of his promotion to full admiral in the Navy. The promotion is due to the retirement of Admiral Austin M. Knight, commander, U.S. Asiatic Fleet, thereby opening up one of the Congressionally-authorized three four-star billets, to Sims. On 4 December, Sims accepts the appointment and executes the oath of office.[viii]

27 November Vice Admiral W. S. Sims wires Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson noting how “it would be of great value technically” to acquire several German submarines “for an extended period for thorough examination such as could hardly be made in these waters.” Sims adds that the U.S. submarine force at Portland, England, could furnish crews to man the submarines and sail them to the United States.[ix]

__________________

[i] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to Henry B. Wilson, 22 November 1918, Reel 6, ME-11, NDL.

[ii] Memorandum from W. S. Sims for Josephus Daniels, on weekly report, 30 November 1918, Reel 7, ME-11, NDL.

[iii] U.S. Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, Demobilization Memorandum No. 3, 25 November 1918, Reel 6, ME-11, NDL.

[iv] Radiogram from OPNAV to Commandants, Second, Third, and Fifth Naval Districts and Commander, Naval Station, Guantanamo, 26 November 1918, Reel 6, ME-11, NDL.

[v] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 6.

[vi] Davidonis, “The American Naval Mission in the Adriatic,” 43–44.

[vii] Ibid., 23–25.

[viii] Senate Subcommittee on Naval Affairs, Naval Investigation Hearings, vol. II, 66th Cong., 2d sess., 1921: 3157; memorandum from Harris Lanning to W. S. Sims, about transmittal of President's letter dated November 27, 1918, December 4, 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to Bureau of Navigation, December 4, 1918, RG 45, Entry 520: Subject File, 1911-1927, Subject TD - Admiral Sims Personal File-Digest of Dispatches, Correspondence September-November 1917, 644, NARA.

[ix] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to William S. Benson, 27 November 1918, Reel 6, ME-11, NDL.

[159]

27 November Official censorship ceases of mail for U.S. Navy personnel in the United States and Great Britain, at land and at sea.[i] 

28 November The naval base at Bizerte, Tunisia, is abandoned after removal of all personnel and equipment.[ii] 

29 November The Bureau of Navigation issues an order authorizing the release of 10 percent of men enlisted for the first time between 6 April 1917 and 1 January 1918.[iii] 

30 November The Navy Department announces that U.S. naval losses for World War I include 44 ships lost and 10,521 Navy and Marine Corps casualties.[iv] 

1 December Battleship Division Nine departs the Grand Fleet to return to the United States.[v] 

1 December Minelayers of the U.S. Mine Force sail from Scotland to return to the United States.[vi] 

1 December Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson directs Vice Admiral W. S. Sims to demobilize U.S. Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, writing “[In] my opinion terms of armistice have been complied with to such extent that complete plans for demobilization of forces [in] European waters should be energetically pushed except as otherwise directed by department.” Sims concurs with the views and agrees to push demobilization as rapidly as possible.[vii] 

1 December Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels orders that no American crews be placed aboard German submarines, nor any be sailed to the United States, until the peace conference determines their disposition.[viii] 

2 December Efforts to develop aircraft to operate from ships are renewed by the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations request that the Bureau of Construction and Repair provide aircraft of the simplest form, lightly loaded, and with the slowest flying speed possible.[ix] 

2 December President Woodrow Wilson authorizes the resumption of voluntary enlistments for the Navy.[x] 

4 December President Woodrow Wilson sails from New York aboard the troop transport George Washington (ID-3018) escorted by the battleship Pennsylvania (BB-38) for the Paris Peace Conference.[xi] 

4 December Five German submarines are turned over at Harwich, England, for inspection by American authorities.[xii] 

7 December The Office of the Chief of Naval Operations orders the discontinuance of all military patrols at all domestic naval districts.[xiii]

________________

[i] Cablegram from OPNAV to ALNAV, 27 November 1918, Reel 6, ME-11, NDL.

[ii] Memorandum from W. S. Sims to William S. Benson, on general report, 8 December 1918, Reel 7, ME-11, NDL.

[iii] Navy Department, Annual Report 1919, 78.

[iv] Cooney, Chronology of the U.S. Navy, 232.

[v] Jones, Battleship Operations, 73–74.

[vi] Navy Department, “The Northern Barrage” (Taking up the Mines) (Washington, DC: GPO, 1920), 9.

[vii] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 1 December 1918; cablegram from W. S. Sims to William S. Benson, 3 December 1918, Reel 7, ME-11, NDL.

[viii] Cablegram from Josephus Daniels to William S. Benson, 1 December 1918, Reel 7, ME-11, NDL.

[ix] Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 37.

[x] Navy Department, Annual Report 1919, 81.

[xi] Cablegram from OPNAV to William S. Benson, 4 December 1918, Reel 7, ME-11, NDL; DANFS, entry for George Washington II (Id. No. 3018), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/g/george-washington-ii.html.

[xii] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to USS Utah, 4 December 1918, Reel 7, ME-11, NDL.

[xiii] Telegram from OPNAV to Commandants of First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, Twelfth, Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Naval Districts, 7 December 1918, Reel 7, ME-11, NDL.

[160]

10 December All restrictions regarding vessels displaying their navigation lights along the U.S. coasts are removed.[i] 

10 December The Naval Overseas Transportation Service as of this date comprises 490 vessels of 5,800,000 tons aggregate, the largest fleet of cargo carriers then known in world history. Of the 490 vessels, 378 ships totaling approximately two million tons were in active operation.[ii] 

11 December The cargo ship Lake Bloomington of the Naval Overseas Transportation Service grounds and sinks east of Point de la Combre, France, at the mouth of the Gironde River.[iii] 

13 December President Woodrow Wilson arrives at Brest, France.[iv] 

13 December The Armistice is extended for a period of one month to 17 January 1919.[v] 

13 December In regard to previous orders authorizing the release of personnel, orders are issued including all ratings except Hospital Corps men and radio electricians.[vi] 

14 December At a conference between French government and U.S. Navy representatives, the parties agree that the Navy should continue erection of the Layfette Radio Station.[vii] 

15 December The Bureau of Ordnance establishes a machinery section with the task of arranging for the distribution of Navy-owned machinery furnished on a cost-plus basis to ordnance manufacturers.[viii] 

16 December In shell-filling house No. 3 at the naval ammunition depot at Fort Mifflin, Pennsylvania, an accidental explosion occurs while filling 3-inch common shells. Quarterman Charles F. Dooley and Ordnanceman 1st Class A. J. Cavanaugh are killed, S. B. Anderson loses his left leg, and Gunner’s Mate H. K. William is severely wounded, while two other men suffer slight wounds.[ix] 

16 December Captain Robert L. Russell, head of the Board of Appraisal, is designated the senior member of a board to determine the methods of disposing of certain vessels belonging to the United States in the service of the U.S. Navy.[x] 

16 December The armed yacht Nahma (SP-771) arrives in Constantinople, Ottoman Empire, with a relief crew for the armed yacht Scorpion (PY-3). Two days later, Commander Elmer W. Tod relieves Lieutenant Herbert S. Babbitt in command of Scorpion.[xi] 

17 December The last draft of men from the Naval Railway Batteries left St. Nazaire for Brest, France.[xii] 

19 December The Naval Communication Office reopens the trans-Pacific radio circuit to Japan and the Philippines.[xiii] 

22 December Submarine chasers SC-77, SC-78, SC-79, SC-80, SC-81, SC-90, SC-92, SC-93, SC-94, SC-95, SC-96, SC-124, SC-125, SC-127, SC-130, SC-131, SC-147, SC-151, SC-179, SC-216, SC-225, SC-227, SC-244, SC-255, SC-256, SC-324, SC-327, SC-337, SC-338, and SC-349 sail from Corfu to Malta.[xiv]

________________

[i] Radiogram from OPNAV to ALNAV, 10 December 1918, Reel 7, ME-11, NDL.

[ii] Beers, “Office of Naval Operations, Part II,” 3–33.

[iii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 3.

[iv] Jones, Battleship Operations, 106–107.

[v] Copy of convention signed at Treves, France, 13 December 1918 reproduced by General Headquarters American Expeditionary Forces, 17 December 1918, Reel 7, ME-11, NDL.

[vi] Navy Department, Annual Report 1919, 78.

[vii] Cablegram form W. S. Sims to William S. Benson, 14 December 1918, Reel 7, ME-11, NDL.

[viii] Navy Department, Annual Report 1919, 515.

[ix] Ibid., 537–38.

[x] Beers, “Office of Naval Operations, Part III,” 92.

[xi] Beers, “Naval Detachment in Turkish Waters,” 2.

[xii] Navy Department, Naval Railway Batteries, 90.

[xiii] Navy Department, Annual Report 1919, 97.

[xiv] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 28 December 1918, Reel 13, ME-11, NDL.

[161]

22 December Lowestoft, England, fishing smacks Red Fern and Red Rose are towed out to the North Sea Mine Barrage by the tugs Patapsco (AT-10) and Patuxent (AT-11) to assist with the removal of the barrage.[i] 

26 December Battleship Division Nine arrives in New York for a formal naval review by Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, Assistant Secretary Franklin D. Roosevelt, and other dignitaries.[ii] 

27 December Vice Admiral W. S. Sims reports to Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson that all destroyers in Europe have orders to proceed to the United States except six based at Brest, France, and four at Gibraltar.[iii] 

27 December The patrol boat Teaser (SP-933) sinks at Hampton Roads, Virginia, after an engine backfire, which starts a fire.[iv] 

28 December Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt sails for London under orders of Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels to conclude all business arrangements arising from U.S. naval activities in Europe and to determine plans for the disposal of naval material abroad or for shipment home to the United States.[v] 

28 December The Naval Overseas Transportation Service cargo ship Lake Weston (ID-2926) strands on rocks about one mile west of Nash Point in the Bristol Channel, England, and is salvaged.[vi] 

28 December The troop transport Tenadores grounds during fog on the north shore of Ile d’Yeu about ten miles from Brest, France, and is declared a total loss.[vii] 

30 December The barge Katherine W. Cullen (SP-3223) sinks while under tow, 15 miles southeast from the Boston Light Vessel, Massachusetts.[viii] 

31 December Naval Air Station Porto Corsini, Italy, is disestablished as the first of those planned for American naval air stations in Europe.[ix] 

31 December The destroyer Wadsworth (DD-60)the first American destroyer to arrive in European waters in May 1917—sails from Brest, France, for the United States by way of Lisbon and the Azores.[x] 

31 December The State Department informs the Navy that diplomatic relations between the United States and the Ottoman Empire will not be renewed at present, and that the department concurs that a station ship should be maintained and a naval officer sent to Constantinople, Ottoman Empire.[xi]

________________

[i] Navy Department, Taking up the Mines, 11–12.

[ii] Navy Department, Annual Report 1919, 14.

[iii] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to William S. Benson, 27 December 1918, Reel 7, ME-11, NDL.

[iv] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 5.

[v] Cablegram from OPNAV for William S. Benson, 16 December 1918, Reel 7, ME-11, NDL.

[vi] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 3.

[vii] Ibid.

[viii] Ibid.

[ix] Navy Department, Annual Report 1919, 44; cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 4 January 1919, Reel 13, ME-11, NDL.

[x] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to SENAFLOAT, Ponta Delgada, 29 December 1918, Reel 7, ME-11, NDL.

[xi] Cablegram from OPNAV to William S. Benson, 31 December 1918, Reel 13, ME-11, NDL.

[162]

1919

1 January Naval Air Stations Dunkirk and Moutchic in France are disestablished.[i] 

2 January Naval Air Station Bolsena, Italy, is disestablished.[ii] 

4 January Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels concurs with Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson to order Rear Admiral Mark L. Bristol to Constantinople.[iii] 

5 January Naval Air Station La Pallice, France, is disestablished.[iv] 

5 January Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson directs that Rear Admiral Mark L. Bristol hoist his flag aboard the protected cruiser Olympia (C-6) and sail to the Adriatic Sea to assume the duties as Commander U.S. Naval Forces Eastern Mediterranean.[v] 

6 January Naval Air Station Killingholme, England, is disestablished.[vi] 

6 January The submarine chasers SC-95, SC-324, and SC-338 arrive at Split, Croatia, to assist the Red Cross with food relief in the Adriatic.[vii] 

6 January Release is authorized for 20 percent of the Naval Reserve Force, 20 percent of the duration-of-war men, 10 percent of men first enlisted between 6 April 1917 and 1 January 1918, and 5 percent of Hospital Corps men.[viii] 

7 January Naval Air Station Aracachon, France, is disestablished.[ix] 

7 January President Woodrow Wilson issues Executive Order 3021, authorizing the Secretary of the Navy to sell all auxiliary vessels purchased or commandeered for the war and all materials and equipment pertaining and belonging to the auxiliary vessels, boats, and ships that cannot be advantageously used, repaired, or fitted out.[x] 

8 January U.S. Fleet is formed by the merger of Battleship Force One, Battleship Force Two, Cruiser Force, Destroyer Force, Mine Force, and fleet train.[xi] 

9 January Since 23 November 1918, Vice Admiral W. S. Sims reports to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels that a total of 132 ships, 59 submarine chasers, 2,742 officers, and 39,408 enlisted men have been demobilized and sent home.[xii] 

9 January The armed yacht Nahma (SP-771) is detached from Gibraltar and assigned as the flagship for Rear Admiral Mark L. Bristol.[xiii] 

12 January The minesweeper P. K. Bauman (SP-377) strikes a rock off the French coast and sinks.[xiv] 

13 January Naval Air Station Guipavas, France, is disestablished.[xv]

__________________

[i] Navy Department, Annual Report 1919, 44.

[ii] Ibid.

[iii] Cablegram from Josephus Daniels to William S. Benson, 4 January 1919, Reel 13, ME-11, NDL.

[iv] Navy Department, Annual Report 1919, 44.

[v] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 5 January 1919, Reel 13, ME-11, NDL.

[vi] Navy Department, Annual Report 1919, 44.

[vii] Cablegram from William H.G. Bullard to W. S. Sims, 6 January 1919, Reel 13, ME-11, NDL.

[viii] Navy Department, Annual Report 1919, 78.

[ix] Ibid., 44.

[x] Executive Order 3021, 7 January 1919, Reel 7, ME-11, NDL.

[xi] Navy Department, Annual Report 1919, 17.

[xii] Memorandum from W. S. Sims to William S. Benson, on general report regarding “demobilization” and organization of forces in European waters, 9 January 1918, Reel 7, ME-11, NDL.

[xiii] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to SENAFLOAT, Salonica, 9 January 1919, Reel 13, ME-11, NDL.

[xiv] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 2; Wilson, American Navy in France, 125; cablegram from Thomas P. Magruder to W. S. Sims, 13 January 1918, Reel 19, ME-11, NDL.

[xv] Navy Department, Annual Report 1919, 44.

163]

15 January Naval Air Station Gujan, France, is disestablished.[i] 

15 January Vice Admiral W. S. Sims assigns Rear Admiral Mark L. Bristol the title of Senior U.S. Naval Officer to the Ottoman Empire.[ii] 

16 January The cargo ship Lake Erie of the Naval Overseas Transportation Service collides with the British steamship Hazel Branch and sinks off Lavernock, five miles from Cardiff, Wales. She is later salvaged.[iii] 

19 January Naval Air Stations St. Trojan and Treguier, France, are disestablished.[iv] 

22 January Naval Air Station L’Abervrach, France, is disestablished.[v] 

22 January Rear Admiral Albert P. Niblack assumes command of U.S. Naval Forces Eastern Mediterranean from Rear Admiral William H. G. Bullard.[vi] 

25 January Naval Air Station Ile Tudy, France, is disestablished.[vii] 

25 January Rear Admiral Mark L. Bristol arrives in Constantinople, Ottoman Empire, and assumes command as Senior U.S. Naval Officer to the Ottoman Empire.[viii] 

25 January President Woodrow Wilson issues Executive Order 3027, revoking all executive orders issued for the establishment of Defensive Sea Areas.[ix] 

26 January Naval Air Station Paimboeuf, France, is disestablished.[x] 

26 January A laboratory cottage at the Navy star shell plant at Baldwin, Long Island, New York, burns, killing two men and injuring six others.[xi] 

27 January The tender Leonidas (AD-7) and 27 submarine chasers arrive at La Spezia, Italy.[xii] 

28 January Naval Air Stations Le Croisic and Fromentine, France, are disestablished.[xiii] 

28 January Rear Admiral Mark L. Bristol breaks his flag on the armed yacht Scorpion (PY-3) at Constantinople, Ottoman Empire.[xiv] 

29 January Naval Air Station Whiddy Island, Ireland, is disestablished.[xv] 

29 January The Naval Overseas Transportation Service cargo ship Piave (ID-3799) grounds and sinks off the English coast near Eastleigh, about 200 yards east of Gull lightship in the Dover Strait.[xvi] 

30 January The tender Leonidas (AD-7) and 27 submarine chasers arrive at Villefranche-sur-Mer, France.[xvii]

________________

[i] Ibid.

[ii] Cablegram from W. S. Sims to OPNAV, 15 January 1919, Reel 13, ME-11, NDL.

[iii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 6.

[iv] Navy Department, Annual Report 1919, 44.

[v] Ibid.

[vi] Cablegram from Albert P. Niblack to William S. Benson, 22 January 1919, Reel 13, ME-11, NDL.

[vii] Navy Department, Annual Report 1919, 44.

[viii] Cablegram from Mark L. Bristol to W. S. Sims, 28 January 1919, Reel 13, ME-11, NDL.

[ix] Executive Order 3027, 25 January 1919, Reel 7, ME-11, NDL.

[x] Navy Department, Annual Report 1919, 44.

[xi] Ibid., 538.

[xii] Cablegram from Charles P. Nelson to W. S. Sims, 27 January 1919, Reel 13, ME-11, NDL.

[xiii] Navy Department, Annual Report 1919, 44.

[xiv] Cablegram from Mark L. Bristol to W. S. Sims, 28 January 1919, Reel 13, ME-11, NDL.

[xv] Navy Department, Annual Report 1919, 44.

[xvi] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 4.

[xvii] Cablegram from Charles P. Nelson to W. S. Sims, 30 January 1919, Reel 13, ME-11, NDL.

[164]

31 January A new shipbuilding dock is completed at the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Washington, enabling simultaneous construction of two destroyers.[i] 

4 February Congress passes legislation authorizing creation of the Navy Cross and Navy Distinguished Service Medal.[ii] 

5 February Naval Air Station La Trinite, France, is disestablished.[iii] 

7 February Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels authorizes the removal of guns from all troop transports except Von Steuben (ID-3017), DeKalb (ID-3010), and Henderson (AP-1).[iv] 

7 February Rear Admiral Mark L. Bristol requests designation to coordinate the work of all agencies of the U.S. Government in the Ottoman Empire to maintain proper relations between the U.S. government, Allied Commission, and Turkish Government.[v] 

7 February The Office of the Chief of Naval Operations cables Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson, reporting that Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels approves the transfer of six German submarines—U-53, U-124, U-140, U-164, UB-149, and UC-105—to the United States.[vi] 

10 February The Northern Bombing Group air station in France is disestablished.[vii] 

13 February The tender Leonidas (AD-7) and 27 submarine chasers arrive at Gibraltar from Marseilles, France.[viii] 

15 February Naval Air Stations Wexford, Ireland; and Pauillac and Brest, France; are disestablished.[ix] 

17 February The Office of the Chief of Naval Operations reports that all minesweeping operations on the U.S. and Canadian Atlantic coasts are complete and the areas are considered clear of mines.[x] 

18 February Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson requests Vice Admiral W. S. Sims take the necessary steps to take over the six German submarines approved on 7 February by Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels for transfer to the United States.[xi] 

20 February Vice Admiral W. S. Sims reports to Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson that the German submarine U-53 sank and was raised but requires considerable expenditure in time and money to place into service, that U-140 is in Germany, and the remaining four submarines have already been sold. The Office of the Chief of Naval Operations suggests to Sims the following day that, in place of U-53, substitute U-90 and obtain one each of five other classes, with priority in order being: cruiser class, standard U-boat, ocean mine layer, UB-class, and U-class.[xii]

________________

[i] Navy Department, Annual Report 1919, 73.

[ii] An Act to Provide for the Award of Medals of Honor, Distinguished Service Medals, and Navy Crosses, and for Other Purposes, Public Law 65-253, U.S. Statutes at Large 40 (1919): 1056–57.

[iii] Navy Department, Report of the Secretary of Navy 1919, 44.

[iv] Memorandum from Josephus Daniels to Commander Cruiser and Transport Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet, on removal of guns from troop transports, 7 February 1919, Reel 7, ME-11, NDL.

[v] Cablegram from Mark L. Bristol to W. S. Sims, 7 February 1919, Reel 13, ME-11, NDL.

[vi] Cablegram from OPNAV to William S. Benson, 7 February 1919, Reel 7, ME-11, NDL.

[vii] Navy Department, Annual Report 1919, 44.

[viii] Cablegram from Wolfe to W. S. Sims, 13 February 1919, Reel 13, ME-11, NDL.

[ix] Navy Department, Annual Report 1919, 44.

[x] Radiogram from OPNAV to ALNAV, 17 February 1919, Reel 7, ME-11, NDL.

[xi] Cablegram from William S. Benson to W. S. Sims, 18 February 1919, Reel 7, ME-11, NDL.

[xii] Cablegram from William S. Benson to OPNAV, 20 February 1919; cablegram from OPNAV to W. S. Sims, 21 February 1919, Reel 7, ME-11, NDL.

[165]

22 February The protected cruiser Olympia (C-6) reaches Split, Croatia, selected as the naval base for the zone patrolled and protected by American forces under the terms of the Austrian armistice.[i] 

22 February Naval Air Station Lough Foyle, Ireland, is disestablished.[ii] 

23 February The refrigerated cargo ship Sixaola (ID-2777) of the Naval Overseas Transportation Service catches fire and partially sinks at a pier at Hoboken, New Jersey, killing two. She is later towed to a shipyard.[iii] 

26 February President Woodrow Wilson issues Executive Order 3044, returning personnel and vessels from the War Department and Navy Department to service with the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey and Department of Commerce.[iv] 

28 February In a report to Vice Admiral W. S. Sims, Rear Admiral Newton A. McCully Jr. recommends the dispatch of naval reinforcements to Northern Russia in regard to the precarious military situation in the Archangel region and the insufficient forces along the Archangel-Vologda railway and the Murman railway.[v] 

1 March Mine Force Base 17 at Invergordon, Scotland, completely demobilizes and is turned over to the British government.[vi] 

5 March The transport George Washington (ID-3018), escorted by the armored cruiser Montana (ACR-13), sails from New York City with President Woodrow Wilson aboard bound for Brest, France.[vii] 

7 March Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels directs that work on battle cruisers be formally suspended pending a fact-finding trip to Europe with personnel from the Bureau of Construction and Repair.[viii] 

13 March Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson issues a preliminary program for postwar naval airplane development. Specialized types desired are fighters, torpedo carriers, and bombers for fleet use; single-engine, twin-engine, and long-distance patrol and bomber planes for station use; and a combination land and seaplane for Marine Corps use.[ix] 

14 March The steamer Yselhaven strikes a mine off the coast of Scotland, 20 miles off Coquet Island and sinks, killing ten.[x] 

19 March Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels orders the establishment of a Naval Overseas Transportation Service Demobilization Board in New York to supervise the activities of the Naval District survey boards preparing vessels for demobilization.[xi] 

20 March The tugs Patapsco (AT-10) and Patuxent (AT-11) sail from Overseas Mine Base 18 to the North Sea Mine Barrage for experiments with minesweeping gear, testing its effectiveness and utility.[xii]

_________________

[i] Cooling, Olympia, 200.

[ii] Navy Department, Annual Report 1919, 44.

[iii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 5.

[iv] Executive Order 3044, 26 February 1919, Reel 7, ME-11, NDL.

[v] Beers, “Naval Forces in Northern Russia,” 26–27.

[vi] Navy Department, Taking up the Mines, 17.

[vii] Cablegram from OPNAV to Naval Communication Office, Paris, 5 March 1919, Reel 7, ME-11, NDL.

[viii] Navy Department, Annual Report 1919, 547.

[ix] Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 38.

[x] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 18.

[xi] Beers, “Office of Naval Operations, Part III,” 94.

[xii] Navy Department, Taking up the Mines, 17.

[166]

22–24 March The tugs Patapsco (AT-10) and Patuxent (AT-11) conduct experimental minesweeping operations in Area “B” of the North Sea Mine Barrage. A total of 21 MK VI mines are exploded and 17 more definitely known to have been cut adrift.[i] 

24 March Production begins at the ordnance bureau plant in Baldwin, Long Island, New York, to produce high-velocity, long-range star and illumination shells.[ii] 

26 March Rear Admiral Philip Andrews assumes command of U.S. Naval Forces Eastern Mediterranean from Rear Admiral Albert P. Niblack.[iii] 

28 March The steamer Costdikj, owned by the U.S. Shipping Board, strikes a mine in the North Sea off the coast of The Netherlands and is salvaged.[iv] 

31 March Rear Admiral Harry S. Knapp relieves Vice Admiral W. S. Sims as Commander U.S. Naval Forces Operating in European Waters. Sims sails aboard the British troopship HMS Mauretania from Brest, France, for New York that same day.[v] 

8 April Rear Admiral W. S. Sims arrives in New York.[vi] 

8 April The transports Galveston and Chester arrive in Murmansk, Russia, with 310 men of the 167th U.S. Army Engineers and 40 British replacement troops. Both ships will sail for England on the 13th.[vii] 

9–10 April After discussions at the Paris Peace Conference, the U.S. government agrees to cancel its 1919 Navy bill in exchange for British support for the Monroe Doctrine and the League of Nations.[viii] 

10 April The closure of naval air stations in Europe is completed with the demobilization of the Assembly and Repair Base at Eastleigh, England.[ix] 

19 April The ex-German passenger vessel Kaiserin Augusta Victoria arrives in New York, the first of nine German passenger vessels transferred to the U.S. government after the Armistice for conversion and operation as troopships.[x] 

20 April The first 12 minesweepers arrive from Boston at Inverness Firth, Scotland.[xi] 

24 April Two motor launches, one 34-foot boat from the converted armed yacht Yankton and one 30-footer from the protected cruiser Galveston (CL-19), under the command of Lieutenant D. C. Woodward, with 17 enlisted volunteers land at Murmansk, Russia, where they will proceed south by rail.[xii] 

27 April Two minesweepers, Warren J. Courtney (SP-375) and Otis W. Douglas (SP-313), spring leaks in stormy weather and sink with no casualties.[xiii] 

28 April The tug Gypsum Queen (SP-430) strikes a rock, blows up, and sinks while rounding Armen Light, France, killing two officers and 14 men.[xiv]

_________________

[i] Ibid., 16–18.

[ii] Navy Department, Annual Report 1919, 531.

[iii] Davidonis, “The American Naval Mission in the Adriatic,” 57.

[iv] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 18.

[v] Cablegram from Harry S. Knapp to OPNAV, 31 March 1919; cablegram from OPNAV for Commandant, Third Naval District, 3 April 1919, Reel 7, ME-11, NDL.

[vi] Cablegram from OPNAV for Commandant, Third Naval District, 3 April 1919; cablegram from OPNAV to William S. Benson, 9 April 1919, Reel 7, ME-11, NDL.

[vii] Beers, “Naval Forces in Northern Russia,” 27–28.

[viii] Harold and Margaret Sprout, Toward a New Order of Sea Power: American Naval Policy and the World Scene, 1918–1922 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1940), 67–68; Stephen Roskill, Naval Policy Between the Wars I: The Period of Anglo-American Antagonism, 1919–1929 (New York: Walker and Co., 1968), 91.

[ix] Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 39.

[x] Navy Department, Annual Report 1919, 23.

[xi] Navy Department, Taking up the Mines, 20.

[xii] Tolley, “Our Russian War,” 70.

[xiii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 4.

[xiv] Ibid.

[167]

29 April In the first operation to remove the North Sea Mine Barrage, 12 minesweepers and six submarine chasers sail to the barrage to conduct minesweeping experiments on its MK VI mines.[i] 

2 May Minesweepers and submarine chasers complete their first operation and proceed to Kirkwall, Scotland, after destroying 221 MK VI mines, 25 percent of the mines laid in the swept area.[ii] 

2 May The submarine chaser SC-58 burns after a gasoline explosion at Charleston, South Carolina. The commanding officer is slightly burned, but the vessel is a total loss.[iii] 

4 May Work recommences on construction of the Lafayette Radio Station after an agreement is reached between the French government and U.S. Navy Department to complete the station for the French.[iv] 

5 May The submarine chaser SC-343 suffers an explosion, is set afire, and sinks while moored inside the breakwater in the British dockyard at Ireland, Bermuda, killing one and injuring five.[v] 

8 May The second minesweeping operation begins in the North Sea Mine Barrage.[vi] 

8 May Seaplane Division One, comprised of three NC flying boats, takes off from Naval Air Station Rockaway Beach, New York, at 10:00 a.m. for Halifax, Nova Scotia, on the first leg of a projected transatlantic flight.[vii] 

11 May The battleship Arizona (BB-39) and destroyers Dyer (DD-84), Gregory (DD-82), Luce (DD-99), and Manley (DD-74) arrive at Smyrna, Ottoman Empire, pursuant to occupation of the harbor city by Greek forces on 15 May. Arizona deploys an embassy guard of 20 men who remain ashore until 28 May.[viii] 

12 May An explosion damages the minesweeping gear on the tug Patuxent (AT-11). The ship’s commanding office orders all hands forward to safety and joined the chief boatswain’s mate in clearing a mine seen fouled in the sweep gear. Without warning the mine explodes, severing the thumb of the commanding officer, but causing no further casualties.[ix] 

13 May The protected cruiser Des Moines (C-15) arrives in Murmansk, Russia. Rear Admiral Newton A. McMully Jr. breaks his flag in her and takes the ship to Archangel.[x] 

14 May The minesweeper Bobolink (AM-20) is damaged by a mine explosion while removing part of the North Sea Mine Barrage. The commander, Lieutenant Frank Bruce, is killed in the blast when he attempted to remove a mine caught in the sweeping gear. The ship suffers serious damage, with the aft hull driven in two to three feet in places, the rudder and rudder post shorn away, the propeller distorted and shaft bent, engine thrown out of line, and considerable other equipment damaged.[xi]

__________________

[i] Navy Department, Taking up the Mines, 22.

[ii] Ibid., 23.

[iii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 5.

[iv] Navy Department, Yards and Docks, 376.

[v] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 5.

[vi] Navy Department, Taking up the Mines, 26, 64.

[vii] Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 39; Navy Department, Annual Report 1919, 29, 216.

[viii] Beers, “Naval Detachment in Turkish Waters,” 7.

[ix] Navy Department, Taking up the Mines, 27.

[x] Tolley, “Our Russian War,” 71.

[xi] Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 130; Navy Department, Taking up the Mines, 28.

[168]

16 May Around 6:00 p.m., three NC flying boats take off from Trepassey Bay, Newfoundland, for the overwater flight to the Azores.[i] 

17 May After more than 15 hours of flight time, the NC flying boats near the Azores, with NC-4 landing at Horta, Azores, at 1:23 p.m. GMT. The other boats, unfortunately, become lost in thick fog and land at sea to determine their positions, sustaining damage in both cases. NC-3 drifts backward toward the Azores and arrives at Ponta Delgada at 6:30 p.m. on 19 May. NC-1 sustains additional damage in heavy seas and is taken under tow by the Greek steamer Ionia, but the tow line parts. The destroyer Gridley (DD-92) attempts to tow NC-1 but the aircraft breaks up and sinks. Her crew, however, arrive at Horta onboard Gridley at 12:30 p.m. on 18 May.[ii] 

20 May The cargo ship Lake Placid (ID-1788) strikes a mine 20 miles off Vinga Light, near Gothenburgh, Sweden, and sinks.[iii] 

20 May An explosion in the mixing machine room No. 3 of the star shell building at the naval ordnance plant at Baldwin, Long Island, New York, results in the deaths of three men and severe burns to two others.[iv] 

21 May Three Ford Motor Company–built Eagle boats arrive in Murmansk, Russia, completing a 6,000 mile voyage, which originated at New York Harbor on 11 April.[v] 

22 May The gunboat Sacramento (PG-19) and Eagle boats No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3 arrive at Murmansk, Russia, from Inverness, Scotland.[vi] 

26 May Both launches (of the 24 April entry) under command of Lieutenant D. C. Woodward are placed on handcars and moved over light rail to Lake Onega, Russia.[vii]
 

27 May At 8:01 p.m., the NC-4 lands in the harbor of Lisbon, Portugal, completing the first crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by air. She later flies to Plymouth, England, on 31 May.[viii] 

27 May Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels convenes a special meeting of the General Board, the senior officers afloat, and the bureau chiefs to settle the battle cruiser design issue. The conference decides to retain the battle cruisers, but with extra armor added to the main belt, turrets, and conning tower. [ix] 

29 May The second minesweeping operation is concluded, accounting for 1,672 mines, or 43 percent of those known to be in place. Overall the operation destroys 1,750 MK VI mines.[x] 

29 May Two launches [motor boats] under command of Lieutenant D. C. Woodward arrive at Lake Onega, Russia, by rail and are placed in the water, loaded with stores, and proceed on to Medvejya Gora. Woodward christens the boats Atlanta and Georgia. Within days, both boats operate off Fedotova, assisting White Russian forces by laying down fire from two 37mm guns and four Lewis guns.[xi] 

2 June The last minesweeping trawlers taken over by American crews arrive at Kirkwall, Scotland, for fitting out for duty clearing the North Sea Mine Barrage.[xii]

__________________

[i] Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 39; Navy Department, Annual Report 1919, 30.

[ii] Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 39

[iii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 18.

[iv] Navy Department, Annual Report 1919, 538.

[v] Ibid., 63–64.

[vi] Beers, “Naval Forces in Northern Russia,” 28.

[vii] Tolley, “Our Russian War,” 70.

[viii] Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 39–40; Navy Department, Annual Report 1919, 27–28, 216–18.

[ix] Charles Badger to Josephus Daniels, 27 May 1919, RG19, E105: 22-CC1-6-2, NARA; Bureau of Construction and Repair to Josephus Daniels, 19 June 1919, RG80, E19, piece 28645-64, NARA.

[x] Navy Department, Taking up the Mines, 30, 64.

[xi] Tolley, “Our Russian War,” 70.

[xii] Navy Department, Taking up the Mines, 32.

[169]

2 June Operating the launch [motor boat] christened Atlanta, Lieutenant D. C. Woodward engages a Red Russian steamer off the entrance to Schunga. Atlanta is unable to catch the enemy although they exchange gunfire.[i] 

5 June Commandants and commanding officers are directed to reduce by 10 percent the enlisted personnel under their command.[ii] 

5 June The gunboat Sacramento (PG-19) arrives in Archangel, Russia, from Murmansk.[iii] 

6 June Minesweepers and submarine chasers sail from Kirkwall, Scotland, to the North Sea Mine Barrage for the third sweeping operation, intended to clear a group of 5,520 mines.[iv] 

11 June Eagle boat No. 2 reaches Archangel, Russia, joining Eagle boats No. 1 and No. 3 which arrived days prior.[v] 

14 June Patrol boat No. 7 (SP-31) sinks while in tow of the submarine chaser SC-241 and tied up to the patrol boat Yo Ho (SP-463) between Scituate, Massachusetts, and Minot’s Ledge about 15 miles southeast of the Boston Light Vessel. She is later raised and sold.[vi] 

14 June Rear Admiral Newton D. McCully Jr. writes to Rear Admiral Harry S. Knapp, reporting that the forces under his command were more than sufficient for the purpose of observation and communication in Northern Russia. He notes this force might be decreased but not withdrawn entirely.[vii] 

16 June The Bureau of Ordnance commissions Naval Torpedo Station Alexandria, Virginia, as a torpedo assembly plant and storage and issuing depot.[viii] 

21 June Interned Imperial German naval forces at Scapa Flow, Scotland, are scuttled by their crews.[ix] 

24 June The General Board of the U.S. Navy recommends that battle cruisers be built as a distinct type, but that the designs are changed to provide materially greater protection against gunfire and underwater attack.[x] 

28 June Representatives of the Allied and Associated powers sign the treaty of peace with Germany at Versailles, France.[xi] 

30 June The Bureau of Ordnance’s optical shop at Rochester, New York, closes. By November 1918, the shop reached a production rate of 1,600 pairs of binoculars per week.[xii] 

30 June Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson returns to the United States from Europe to resume his duties in Washington, D.C.[xiii] 

1 July Work concludes on the third North Sea Mine Barrage minesweeping operation after 26 1/2 days at sea and the destruction of 2,329 MK VI mines.[xiv]

___________________

[i] Tolley, “Our Russian War,” 70.

[ii] Navy Department, Annual Report 1919, 78.

[iii] Beers, “Naval Forces in Northern Russia,” 28.

[iv] Navy Department, Taking up the Mines, 33, 64.

[v] Beers, “Naval Forces in Northern Russia,” 28.

[vi] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 4.

[vii] Beers, “Naval Forces in Northern Russia,” 48.

[viii] Navy Department, Annual Report 1919, 529.

[ix] Navy Department, Taking up the Mines, 36.

[x] Navy Department, Annual Report 1919, 548.

[xi] Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 272.

[xii] Navy Department, Annual Report 1919, 512.

[xiii] Henry P. Beers, “The Development of the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Part IV” Military Affairs vol. 11, no. 4 (Winter 1947), 229.

[xiv] Navy Department, Taking up the Mines, 37.

[170]

1 July The Office of Naval Records and Library and the Historical Section of the Chief of Naval Operations are consolidated in the Office of Naval Intelligence.[i] 

7 July The fourth minesweeping operation of the North Sea Mine Barrage begins.[ii] 

9 July Lieutenant D. C. Woodward and the American enlisted men under his command turn over their two boats to British forces manning the Allied force front lines in Russia and return to the armed yacht Yankton. Lieutenant Woodward receives the Navy Cross for his actions in defending the Allied lines of communication in the Murman Railway.[iii] 

9–10 July During the fourth minesweeping operation of the North Sea Mine Barrage, the minesweeper Pelican (AM-27) exploded six mines beneath her or close by, which severely damaged the ship, rupturing her forward bulkheads and causing her to rapidly fill with water. Two other minesweepers, Auk (AM-38) and Eider (AM-17), secure themselves to Pelican to pump out the stricken vessel while a fourth minesweeper, Teal (AM-23), takes them all into tow. All through the night and into the next day the men on board the vessels fight to keep Pelican afloat and manage to reach Tresness Bay, Scotland, where Pelican’s holes are plugged before she is towed to Scapa Flow for temporary repairs.[iv] 

11 July Congress passes the Naval Appropriation Act for Fiscal Year 1920, authorizing among other changes the voluntary transfer to the regular Navy of men who would otherwise be eligible for release, appropriated funds for the investigation of fuel oil and gasoline for naval requirements, provides for the conversion of the collier Jupiter (AC-3) into an aircraft carrier, for conversion of two merchant ships into seaplane tenders, and for construction of one rigid dirigible and purchase of another.[v] 

12 July The British trawler Richard Bulkley sinks seven minutes after the explosion of a mine fouled in her sweeping kite. Her captain, Commander Frank R. King, and six enlisted men are killed. King surrenders his lifebelt to one of the crew and subsequently goes down with his ship.[vi] 

15 July Four additional minesweepers arrive in Kirkwall, Scotland, bringing the total force of minesweepers to 32, but two are permanently disabled and three others are either in or preparing to enter dry dock.[vii] 

17 July The fourth minesweeping operation of the North Sea Mine Barrage concludes with 2,455 MK VI mines destroyed. The force, however, suffers the loss of one vessel sunk, one permanently damaged, three severely damaged, and seven seamen dead.[viii] 

22 July The fifth minesweeping operation of the North Sea Mine Barrage begins.[ix] 

23 July Rear Admiral Newton D. McCully Jr. reports to Vice Admiral W. S. Sims that White Russian troops on the front lines from Onega to Chekuevo have mutinied and joined the Bolshevik forces. In response, the British monitors HMS M23 and HMS M26 are rushed to Onega, and the protected cruiser Des Moines (C-15) and two Eagle boats go to Archangel. Two days later, the whole Onega front is in a state of mutiny.[x]

________________

[i] Beers, “Office of Naval Operations, Part III,” 91.

[ii] Ibid., 40.

[iii] Tolley, “Our Russian War,” 71; Stringer, Distinguished Service, 147.

[iv] Navy Department, Taking up the Mines, 41–42.

[v] Naval Appropriations Act for 1920, Public Law 66-8, U.S. Statutes at Large 41 (1919): 131–57.

[vi] Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 130; Navy Department, Taking up the Mines, 42; Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 2.

[vii] Navy Department, Taking up the Mines, 44.

[viii] Ibid., 43, 64.

[ix] Ibid., 48.

[x] Tolley, “Our Russian War,” 71.

[171]

29 July The steamer Englewood, owned by the U.S. Shipping Board, strikes a mine off the east coast of England, but makes Port Gravesend and is salvaged.[i] 

30 July The submarine G-2 (SS-27) accidentally sinks near New London, Connecticut, killing three.[ii] 

30 July Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels detaches Rear Admiral Newton D. McCully Jr. from command in Northern Russia and directs him to proceed to London, England, arriving there on 21 August.[iii] 

31 July The protected cruiser Des Moines (C-15) lands a party of 50 sailors under the command of Lieutenant Douglas C. Woodward at Archangel, Russia, to assist in keeping order as a shore patrol at Solombola.[iv] 

5 August The American military headquarters in Archangel, Russia, closes.[v] 

6 August The fifth minesweeping operation of the North Sea Mine Barrage concludes with 5,518 MK VI mines destroyed. To date, the overall minesweeping effort has removed 55 percent of the mines planted in the barrage. This operation suffers the death of one Sailor blown overboard and lost from the minesweeper Curlew (AM-8).[vi] 

9 August Construction of the rigid airship ZR-1, the future Shenandoah and the Navy’s first rigid airship, is authorized by Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels. She will be constructed at the Naval Aircraft Factory and assembled at Lakehurst, New Jersey.[vii] 

9 August The submarine chaser SC-184 is rammed and badly damaged by a Merchants and Miners Steamship Company steamer in the Fifth Naval District, Norfolk, Virginia.[viii] 

11 August The Planning Division in the Office of Chief of Naval Operations is established to deliberate upon changes of policy and prepare plans consistent with approved department policies.[ix] 

12 August A commission, signed by President Woodrow Wilson, is issued to Rear Admiral Mark L. Bristol giving him the title of United States High Commissioner to Turkey, making the flag officer America’s senior diplomat there.[x] 

13 August The sixth minesweeping operation of the North Sea Mine Barrage begins.[xi] 

21 August Pearl Harbor Dry Dock, Hawaii, is reopened, more than six years after it collapsed on 17 February 1913.[xii] 

1 September Sweeping of mines in the eastern half of the North Sea Mine Barrage is practically complete.[xiii]

___________________

[i] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 18.

[ii] Ibid., 4.

[iii] Beers, “Naval Forces in Northern Russia,” 48.

[iv] Ibid., 51.

[v] Beers, “Naval Forces in Northern Russia,” 51.

[vi] Navy Department, Taking up the Mines, 49, 53, 65.

[vii] Grossnick, Naval Aviation, 42.

[viii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 6.

[ix] Beers, “Office of Naval Operations, Part III,” 98.

[x] Beers, “Naval Detachment in Turkish Waters,” 6.

[xi] Navy Department, Taking up the Mines, 53–54.

[xii] Navy Department, Annual Report 1919, 72–73.

[xiii] Navy Department, Taking up the Mines, 56.

[172]

4 September The submarine chaser SC-38 is damaged by a mine explosion during minesweeping operations in the North Sea but is salvaged.[i] 

10 September Austria signs a treaty of peace with the Allies and Associated powers at St. Germain, France.[ii] 

10 September The patrol boat Katherine K (SP-220) wrecks near Key West, Florida.[iii] 

10 September The patrol boat Mary Pope (SP-291) wrecks.[iv] 

10 September The sixth minesweeping operation of the North Sea Mine Barrage concludes with 10,397 MK VI mines destroyed.[v] 

14 September The protected cruiser Des Moines (C-15) sails from Archangel, ending American intervention in Russia.[vi] 

16 September The steamer West Arvada strikes a mine and sinks 16 miles off of Terschelling Light, Holland, killing one.[vii] 

17 September U.S. Navy Overseas Mine Base 18 at Inverness, Scotland, is demobilized and turned over to the senior British naval officer.[viii] 

17–19 September The seventh and final minesweeping operation of the North Sea Mine Barrage destroys 1,761 MK VI mines. The U.S. Navy had laid 56,611 MK VI mines in the barrage, of which 52,219 survived premature explosions. Of these, 21,295 mines are accounted for in the seven minesweeping operations, representing 42.7 percent of those mines which survived laying.[ix] 

23 September A small guard of crewmen from the protected cruiser Olympia (C-6) and destroyer Cowell (DD-167) land at Trau, Dalmatia, at the request of Italian authorities to maintain peace between Serbian and Italian forces along the armistice line.[x] 

25 September The submarine chaser SC-95 strikes a mine during minesweeping operations in the North Sea and is salvaged.[xi] 

25 September Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson retires from the U.S. Navy.[xii] 

30 September The Navy concludes clearing American MK VI mines from mined area of the North Sea Mine Barrage.[xiii] 

30 September The U.S. Naval Port Office in Bordeaux, France, closes.[xiv]

________________

[i] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 2.

[ii] Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 272.

[iii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 4.

[iv] Ibid.

[v] Navy Department, Taking up the Mines, 57, 65–66.

[vi] Tolley, “Our Russian War,” 71.

[vii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 16.

[viii] Navy Department, Taking up the Mines, 68–69.

[ix] Ibid., 66–67.

[x] Navy Department, Annual Report 1919, 57–58; Daniels, Our Navy at War, 369.

[xi] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 2.

[xii] Beers, “Office of Naval Operations, Part IV,” 229.

[xiii] Navy Department, Navy Ordnance, 130.

[xiv] Beers, “Naval Port Officers in the Bordeaux Region,” 55.

[173]

1 October As of this date, Navy ships have returned 1,686,944 American troops from service overseas. An additional 258,423 travelled home on other ships, both American and foreign-owned. All but 12,211 of these troops returned home since 11 November 1918.[i] 

22 October The tug Tecumseh (YT-24) sinks at the Washington Navy Yard, D.C., wharf injuring three men. She is later raised and salvaged.[ii] 

1 November The submarine chaser SC-256 sinks following a gasoline explosion.[iii] 

1 November Admiral Robert E. Coontz succeeds Admiral William S. Benson as the second Chief of Naval Operations.[iv] 

13 November The steamer Council Bluffs strikes a mine and sinks off Holyhead Island, England.[v] 

19–20 November Vessels of the Navy’s minesweeping detachment arrive off Tompkinsville, New York, after having completed their work in the North Sea Mine Barrage.[vi] 

24 November Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels reviews the North Sea Mine Force from onboard the destroyer Meredith (DD-165). That evening, at midnight, the flag of Rear Admiral Joseph Strauss, commander of the Mine Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet, later to be the North Sea Mine Force, is hauled down and the following day, at noon, the force is disbanded.[vii] 

1 December With the exception of painting, principle construction work is completed on the Lafayette Radio Station, Croix d’Hins, France.[viii] 

1 December The cargo ship Kerwood (ID-1489) strikes a mine and sinks off Waddenzee, The Netherlands.[ix] 

5 December The cargo ship Liberty Glo strikes a mine ten miles west by north of Terschelling, The Netherlands, and is salvaged.[x] 

9 December A conference of Allied ambassadors decides the fate of interned German and Austrian naval units, with the vessels to be distributed among the Allies according to a tonnage ratio. The conference establishes an Interallied Committee for the Destruction of Enemy Warships which reaches agreement to allot to France the former Austrian pre-dreadnoughts SMS Radetzky and SMS Zyrini, and to Italy the torpedo boats 12 and 52, all under U.S. Navy possession. The French subsequently reach an agreement with the Italians to swap the two pre-dreadnoughts for the former Austrian dreadnought SMS Prinz Eugen.[xi]

_______________

[i] Navy Department, Annual Report 1919, 20.

[ii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 4.

[iii] Ibid., 5.

[iv] Beers, “Office of Naval Operations, Part IV,” 229.

[v] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 18.

[vi] Navy Department, Taking up the Mines, 73.

[vii] Ibid., 74.

[viii] Navy Department, Yards and Docks, 376.

[ix] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 18.

[x] Ibid.

[xi] Davidonis, “The American Naval Mission in the Adriatic,” 92–93.

[174]

1920

7 January Rear Admiral W. S. Sims sends Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels a letter about “Certain Naval Lessons of the Great War,” criticizing the Navy Department’s actions and calling into question its competency in support of Sims and the Allied war effort during World War I. The letter will spark a larger naval investigation in March.[i] 

14 January Painting and all other work is completed on the Lafayette Radio Station, Croix d’Hins, France.[ii] 

16 January The U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Naval Affairs opens hearings on Senate Resolution 285, authorizing the subcommittee, under Senate Resolution 62, to investigate the awarding of medals in the naval service. During the hearings, Rear Admiral W. S. Sims testifies with this disagreement on the part of Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniel’s award selections and, in a follow-up on 10 February, further refutes statements made by Daniels. The testimony by Sims will result in a wider series of hearings to commence investigating the entire conduct of the Navy Department in World War I.[iii] 

9 March The submarine chaser SC-282 sinks in the Pacific.[iv] 

9 March The United States Senate Subcommittee on Naval Affairs opens hearings to investigate and report on matters referenced by Rear Admiral W. S. Sims criticizing the actions of the Navy Department during World War I.[v] 

24 March The submarine H-1 (SS-28) sinks off Margarita Island, Lower California, Mexico, during a salvage operation.[vi] 

3 July Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Robert E. Coontz establishes the Naval Transportation Service while concurrently abolishing the Naval Overseas Transportation Service.[vii] 

17 July Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels publishes General Order No. 541, approving

  • standard nomenclature for the classification of all naval vessels and small craft to indicate type and class to which assigned
  • to distinguish between those ships available for general fleet action and those suitable only for subsidiary service
  • to provide identification numbers to be employed in official correspondence and for other purposes.[viii]

21 August The first message transmitted from the Lafayette Radio Station, Croix d’Hins, France, during a 30-day testing period is sent. This date is considered the formal completion of the station.[ix] 

1 September The submarine S-5 (SS-110) sinks about 40 miles off the entrance to Delaware Bay.[x]

________________

[i] Senate Subcommittee on Naval Affairs, Naval Investigation Hearings, vol. I, 66th Cong., 2d sess., 1921: 1–9.

[ii] Navy Department, Yards and Docks, 376.

[iii] Senate Subcommittee on Naval Affairs, Awarding of Medals in the Naval Service: Hearings on S. Res. 285, 66th Cong., 2d sess., 1920: 245–361, 621–42, 658–82.

[iv] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 4.

[v] Senate Subcommittee on Naval Affairs, Naval Investigation Hearings, vol. I, 66th Cong., 2d sess., 1921: 1.

[vi] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 4.

[vii] Beers, “Office of Naval Operations, Part III,” 95.

[viii] Navy Department, Ships’ Data U.S. Naval Vessels, July 1, 1920 (Washington, DC: GPO, 1920), 7.

[ix] Stanford C. Hooper, “The Lafayette Radio Station and its Relation to the United States Naval Communication Service and the World War,” Journal of the American Society of Naval Engineers 33, no. 3 (August 1921), 428.

[x] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 4.

[175]

20 September Tests are completed and the performance of the Lafayette Radio Station, Croix d’Hins, France, is deemed satisfactory with final adjustments to be made.[i] 

7 November The protected cruiser Olympia (C-6) and two destroyers tow the Austro-Hungarian pre-dreadnoughts Radetzky and Zrinyi outside the harbor at Split, Croatia, in the direction of Papaja, Italy, and formally turn possession of the ships over to the Italian Navy.[ii] 

15 November The U.S. Navy informally turns over the Lafayette Radio Station, Croix d’Hins, France, to the French government.[iii] 

18 December The formal transfer of ownership and operation of the Lafayette Radio Station, Croix d’Hins, France, is held with official ceremonies between the American and French governments. Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels sends a congratulatory message from the Annapolis Radio Station, Maryland, to the Lafayette station, stating “Cordial felicitations are extended to the Republic of France through the medium of the Annapolis Radio Station on the occasion of the inauguration of the Lafayette Super High Power Radio Station. It is our firm conviction that as a result of the mutual co-operation and endeavors of the representatives of the French and American peoples engaged in the work incidental to the establishment of the great Lafayette Radio Station a notable advance has been made in the scientific progress of the world which will result in enduring benefit to France and to all mankind.”[iv]

________________

[i] Hooper, “Lafayette Radio Station,” 428.

[ii] Davidonis, “The American Naval Mission in the Adriatic,” 95; DANFS, entry for Zrinyi (Pre-dreadnought Battleship), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/z/zrinyi.html.

[iii] Hooper, “Lafayette Radio Station,” 428.

[iv] Ibid., 429.

[176]

1921

21 February The General Board of the U.S. Navy discusses converting one or more of the Navy’s under-construction battle cruisers into an aircraft carrier. Although the board decides to preserve the battle cruisers, a number of newspapers, politicians, and aviation advocates urge the Navy to cancel the big-gun ships and use their hulls and power plants for carrier construction.[i] 

28 April Rear Admiral Philip Andrews hauls down his flag on the destroyer Sturtevant (DD-240) outside the harbor at Split, Croatia, and disestablishes the U.S. naval detachment in the Adriatic, formally recognized as U.S. Naval Forces Eastern Mediterranean.[ii] 

1 July The steamer Mopang strikes a mine and sinks in the Black Sea at the entrance to the Gulf of Bougas, Bulgaria. This is the last American vessel lost as a result of World War I.[iii] 

8 July Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes cables the British, Japanese, French, and Italian ambassadors, requesting they inquire with their governments about participating “in a conference on limitation of armament . . . to be held in Washington at a mutually convenient time.”[iv] 

11 July Congress passes a revised Naval Appropriation Bill which includes the arms limitation resolution of Senator William E. Borah (R-Idaho).[v] 

11 July President Warren G. Harding issues invitations for an international conference on naval arms limitations in Washington, D.C.[vi] 

27 July Secretary of the Navy Edwin Denby asks the General Board of the U.S. Navy to develop arms limitation proposals for the upcoming Washington Conference.[vii] 

1 September The Bureau of Aeronautics begins operations under the command of Rear Admiral William A. Moffett.[viii] 

29 September The destroyer Reuben James (DD-245) stands out from Split, Croatia, closing the U.S. naval base there and concluding American World War I naval operations in the Adriatic theater.[ix] 

14 October After being told that their plan did not save sufficient money, the General Board of the U.S. Navy recommends scrapping two battleships and two battle cruisers currently under construction.[x] 

2 November After vetoing another Navy Department plan, the U.S. delegation to the Washington Conference adopts a plan “on the principle of ‘stop now,’” which entailed the scrapping all six battle cruisers under construction.[xi]

_____________________

[i] “Characteristics of Airplane Carriers,” General Board Hearing, February 21, 1921, Proceedings and Hearings of the General Board, Roll 12.

[ii] Davidonis, “The American Naval Mission in the Adriatic,” 57, 97–98.

[iii] Navy Department, Ship Casualties, 18.

[iv] Thomas H. Buckley, The United States and the Washington Conference, 1921–1922 (Knoxville, TN: University of Tennessee Press, 1970), 32.

[v] Buckley, Washington Conference, 17–19.

[vi] Charles Melhorn, Two-Block Fox (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1974), 72.

[vii] Secretary of the Navy Edwin Denby to General Board, 27 July 1921, Folder 5, Box 99, RG8, Naval Historical Collection (NHC), U.S. Naval War College, Newport, RI.

[viii] Beers, “Office of Naval Operations, Part IV,” 231.

[ix] Davidonis, “The American Naval Mission in the Adriatic,” 98.

[x] General Board, “Memorandum for the Secretary,” October 14, 1921, Box 99, RG 8, NHC.

[xi] William V. Pratt, “A limitation and reduction of armaments on the principle of ‘stop now,’” 26 October 1921, Box 21, William Veazie Pratt Papers, NHC; William Reynolds Braisted, The United States Navy in the Pacific, 1909–1922 (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1971), 589–91.

[177]

9 November The protected cruiser Olympia (C-6) ties up at the Washington Navy Yard, D.C., at 3:01 p.m. and approximately an hour later the casket of the Unknown American soldier killed in France is carried off the ship, destined for interment at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery on 11 November.[i] 

11 November Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes welcomes delegates of eight nations—Belgium, China, Great Britain, France, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, and Portugal—to Washington for the First International Conference on Limitations of Naval Armaments.[ii] 

12 November The Washington Naval Conference opens in Continental Hall, owned by the Daughters of the American Revolution. Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes surprises the assembled delegates by detailing the American proposals, notably a ten-year “holiday” on new capital ship construction; scrapping of certain older ships, proposed ships, or others under construction; limitations on the size of new capital ships; and proportional ratios of capital ships among the powers.[iii]

_________________

[i] Cooling, Olympia, 213–15.

[ii] Buckley, Washington Conference, 68–69.

[iii] Sprouts, Toward a New Order, 145–53.

[178]

1922

6 February The First International Conference on Limitations of Naval Armaments concludes with the establishment of the Five-Power Treaty between the United States, Great Britain, Japan, France, and Italy. This establishes a ratio of capital ships of 5:5:3:1.75:1.75, respectively, and represents one of the first arms reduction treaties in modern history. The signatories agree to scrap existing capital ships; halt construction on future capital ships for a period of ten years; limit the tonnage and construction of capital ships, aircraft carriers, and other secondary ships to maintain the 5:5:3:1.75:1.75 ratio; and prohibit the United States, Japan, and Great Britain from constructing new fortifications or naval bases in the Pacific. Two additional treaties also result from the conference, the Four-Power Treaty and Nine-Power Treaty. The former, signed by the United States, Great Britain, France, and Japan, agreed to maintain the status quo in the Pacific, while the latter between the United States, Belgium, Great Britain, China, France, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, and Portugal affirmed the sovereignty and territorial integrity of China in accordance with the Open Door Policy.[i] 

6 September A group of American sailors land at Smyrna, Ottoman Empire, to protect American lives and property.[ii] 

24–30 September During the burning of Smyrna from 13–22 September in the closing acts of the Greco-Turkish War, a flotilla of American destroyers—Edsall (DD-219), Litchfield (DD-336), Simpson (DD-221), and Lawrence (DD-250)—and merchantmen evacuate approximately 250,000 Greeks and Armenians from the Ottoman Empire.[iii]    

2 October Destroyer Division 40, composed of the destroyers Bainbridge (DD-246), Fox (DD-234), Gilmer (DD-233), Hatfield (DD-231), Hopkins (DD-249), and Kane (DD-235), and Destroyer Division 41, composed of the destroyers Barry (DD-248), Goff (DD-247), King (DD-242), McFarland (DD-237), Overton (DD-239), and Sturtevant (DD-240), sail from Hampton Roads, Virginia, for Constantinople, Turkey. The destroyers arrive on 22 October.[iv] 

16 December Cruising in the Sea of Marmara, the Ottoman Empire, the destroyer Bainbridge (DD-246), commanded by Lieutenant Commander Walter Atlee Edwards, finds the French transport Vinh Long, loaded with explosives, afire and with smoke pouring out of her after hatch. Despite the risk, Edwards orders the Bainbridge in close and despite small explosions the destroyer rams the transport locking the vessels together to provide a means for the crew and passengers to clamber aboard. Bainbridge returns to Constantinople having rescued 482 of 495 persons aboard the transport. For his actions, Edwards receives the Medal of Honor, the French Legion of Honor, and the British Distinguished Service Order.[v]

__________________

[i] Buckley, Washington Conference, 75–172; Sprouts, Toward a New Order, 298–313.

[ii] Beers, “Naval Detachment in Turkish Waters,” 9.

[iii] Robert Shenk, America’s Black Sea Fleet: The U.S. Navy Amidst War and Revolution, 19191923 (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2012), 209–47.

[iv] Beers, “Naval Detachment in Turkish Waters,” 10.

[v] Shenk, Black Sea Fleet, 263–64; Navy Department, Medals of Honor, 33.

[179]

[END] 

Published: Wed Jun 10 15:13:48 EDT 2020