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Naval History and Heritage Command

Naval History and Heritage Command

Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations

DISPATCH TO BE SENT.

Date February 26, 1918.

To Opnav

Prepared by CS.1   Approved       Code      No

HIGHLY SECRET

<4446.> Your 3251.2 owing to limited boat capacity of U. S. S. SEATTLE I strongly recommend that she do not enter the submarine danger zone.In case she were torpedoed there would undoubtedly be a great loss of life. The members of the commission would in my opinion, be much safer on board one of the transports than on board a man-of-war.3

SIMS.              

Source Note: Cy, DNA, RG 45, Entry 517B.

Footnote 1: Capt. Nathan C. Twining, Sims’ Chief of Staff.

Footnote 3: The “commission” was an inspection tour led by Secretary of War Newton D. Baker. It departed on 27 February. Daniel R. Beaver, Newton D. Baker and the American War Effort, 1917-1919 (Lincoln, University of Nebraska Press, 1966), 129-30. For the angry reply to Sims by Chief of Naval Operations William S. Benson, see: Benson to Sims, 27 February 1918.

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