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Naval History and Heritage Command

Naval History and Heritage Command

Rear Admiral Leigh C. Palmer, Chief of the Bureau of Navigation, to Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters

Chronological Copy.                          File No. <31-7-15>

Cablegram Received  July <25, 1918.> 0322[6?]  REC

Origin Opnav Washington                      Ser. No. 9026

        S-1    26 July

     Clear

Simsadus.

9026. Bureau policy is to supply one commissioned Officer formerly Warrant Officer or enlisted man regular Navy to duty as Division Commander each Division of 6 Submarine Chasers on distant service.1 Each Division Commander commands boat to which attached. Bureau is ordering to Plymouth 12 such officers of considerable experience and training and desires that you utilize them to best advantage connection Submarine Chasers Operations in Europe including Corfu incorporating them into service afloat when opportunity presents without prejudicing any present deserving Commanding Officer of Subchasers.

     Keep Bureau advised of assignment of officials on Submarine Chasers. 12025. 9026.

Admiral Palmer.         

Source Note: Cy, DNA, RG 45, Entry 517B. The date is handwritten but is confirmed by the time/date stamp at the end of the text.

Footnote 1: Early in his tenure, Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels instituted a program to commission deserving enlisted men as officers. Josephus Daniels, The Wilson Era: Years of Peace--1910-1917 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1944), 274-75. The policy mentioned here was merely a continuation and extension of this program.