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Captain Charles P.R. Coode, R.N., Director, Operations Division (Foreign), to Vice Admiral Sir Somerset A. Gough-Calthorpe, R.N., Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet

TELEGRAM.           No. 375.      

From Admiralty.                                   DATE 25.7.18.

To Br. C. in C. Mediterranean.                   Sent 0116.

W.

          On completion of Northern barrage it is hoped that U.S. will be able to send several minelayers and large numbers of mines to Mediterranean. Meeting was held at Admiralty 23rd.1 July to draw up proposals for employment of those U.S. Minelayers and mines. Admiral Sims2 is sending out a representative from England to attend Malta conference on Mediterranean minelaying schemes.3 Please report as soon as possible date conference will meet. Date should allow time for Admiral Sims representative to reach Malta before meeting.4 Papers showing proposals made and conclusions reached by Allied meeting at Admiralty will be sent to you.5

D.O.D. (F)    

Source Note: Cy, DNA, RG 45, Entry 517B. Below the close is a distribution list: “First Sea Lord [Adm. Sir Rosslyn E. Wemyss]./Dy. First Sea Lord [RAdm. George P.W. Hope]./Force Commander [VAdm. William S. Sims]./D.O.D. (F) [Capt. Charles P.R. Coode]/Captain [Thomas E.] Crease [Private Secretary to the First Lord of the Admiralty and Secretary to the Allied Naval Council].”

Footnote 1: This was an emergency meeting of the Allied Naval Council. For more on this meeting and the American stance toward this minelaying project, see, Halpern, Naval War in the Mediterranean: 508-9.

Footnote 2: VAdm. William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters.

Footnote 3: Sims sent RAdm. Joseph Strauss, who commanded the American forces laying the North Sea mine barrage. Rosslyn Wemyss to Calthorpe, 3 August 1918, Royal Navy in the Mediterranean: 526.

Footnote 4: The Allied Conference on Mediterranean Minelaying was held at Malta on 6-9 August 1918. Strauss did attend.

Footnote 5: The decisions made by the Allied Naval Council are summarized in Halpern, Naval War in the Mediterranean: 509.