Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels
Cable Dispatch.
SENT: June 19, 1917. TO: Secretary of the Navy.
THROUGH: Admiralty. FROM: Queenstown.
782. Efficiency of force and safety of ships and personnel requires immediately a reserve of experienced officers and men, particularly officers and petty officers.
Officers and men must be replaced immediately which are incapacitated by sea or other sickness or inaptitude or inexperience.
Have redistributed officers to give minimum of five on each ship taking majority of watch officers from parent ships stop British experience shows that each ship should have six stop.
Have relieved executive of one ship and engineer of another for inaptitude and inexperience stop1 Others should be relieved for chronic seasickness and inexperience stop Already one merchant ship sunk probably due to inaptitude of watch officer on escorting destroyer.2
No further reliefs or possibilities of exchange.
This service demands experience stop Officers now going from strenuous bridge duty to exacting engine room and other duty.
Request reserves previously requested be sent immediately by mail steamer.
If above conditions result in loss of vessels or lives we will have no possible defense.3
SIMS.
Source Note: Cy, DNA, RG45, Entry 517.
Footnote 1: Sims wrote to RAdm. Leigh C. Palmer, Chief of the Bureau of Navigation, on 11 June that he was considering relieving the engineer of Tripp, Lt. Howard A. Flanigan, saying that, although Flanigan was “well-intentioned,” his lack of experience was leading to repeated engine breakdowns on the ship. Although he did not mention any officer by name, Sims complained that he had been forced to remove a few officers from their ships already. See: Sims to Palmer, 11 June 1917.
Footnote 2: The incident Sims is referring to here is unclear.
Footnote 3: Sims repeatedly complained to Daniels about the shortage of experienced officers, as well as the terrible strain duty in submarine-infested waters created, the danger to an entire ship of even a single mishap, and the importance of relieving inadequate officers without hesitation. The Navy Department had other priorities besides Sims’ command, and the rapid expansion of the service in the summer of 1917 meant that manning the fleet with large numbers of reservists was unavoidable. See: Daniels to Sims, 24 June 1917. Sims remained dissatisfied with the numbers and experience of the officers under him until the end of the war. See: Sims to Daniels, 30 May 1917; Sims to Daniels, 1 June 1917. Still, Crisis at Sea, 192-196.
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- List of Documents
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/19/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/1/1917
- Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels to Captain William B. Fletcher, Force Commander, Special Patrol Squadron, 6/1/1917
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More Documents (137)
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/1/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/1/1917
- British Admiralty to Commodore Guy R. Gaunt, British Naval Attaché in Washington, 6/1/1917
- Admiral William S. Benson, Chief of Naval Operations, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/2/1917
- Captain John R. Edie to Lieutenant Commander William R. Sayles, United States Naval Attaché in Paris, 6/2/1917
- Captain Edwin A. Anderson to Captain Henry B. Wilson, President, Board of Inspection and Survey, 6/2/1917
- Foreign Secretary Arthur J. Balfour to Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Lord Robert Cecil, 6/3/1917
- Diary of Commander Joseph K. Taussig, Commander, Destroyer Division Eight, 6/4/1917
- Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels to Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Based in European Waters, 6/4/1917
- Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Lord Robert Cecil to British Ambassador to the United States Sir Cecil A. Spring Rice, 6/4/1917
- Commander William R. Sayles, United States Naval Attaché at Paris, to Rear Admiral Roger T. Welles, Office of Naval Intelligence, 6/4/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/5/1917
- Vice Admiral Sir Montague E. Browning, Commander-in-Chief, North America and West Indies to First Sea Lord Admiral Sir John R. Jellicoe, 6/5/1917
- Rear Admiral Albert Gleaves, Commander, Convoy Operations in the Atlantic, to Destroyer Force, Atlantic Fleet, 6/5/1917
- Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels to Vice Admiral William S. Sims, 6/5/1917
- Captain Richard H. Jackson, American Naval Representative to Paris to Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, 6/5/1917
- Captain William B. Fletcher, Force Commander, Special Patrol Squadron to Commanding Officers, 6/6/1917
- Admiral William S. Benson, Chief of Naval Operations, to Vice Admiral William S. Sims, COmmander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters 6/6/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Captain William V. Pratt, Chief of Staff to Admiral William S. Benson, Chief of Naval Operations 6/6/1917
- Commodore Guy R. Gaunt, British Naval Attaché in Washington to British Admiralty, 6/6/1917
- Diary of Commander Joseph K. Taussig, Commander, Destroyer Division Eight, 6/6/1917
- Lieutenant Ronan C. Grady, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, to Admiral William S. Benson, Chief of Naval Operations, 6/6/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/7/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Captain William V. Pratt, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations 6/7/1917
- Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels to Secretary of War Newton D. Baker, 6/7/1917
- Rear Admiral Sir Dudley R.S. de Chair to Vice Admiral Henry F. Oliver, Secretary of the Admiralty, 6/7/1917
- Captain William V. Pratt, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations to Admiral William S. Benson, Chief of Naval Operations, 6/7/1917
- Rear Admiral Albert Gleaves, Commander, United States Convoy Operations in the Atlantic, Operations Order Number One, 6/7/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/8/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/8/1917
- Rear Admiral Albert Gleaves, Commander, Convoy Operations in the Atlantic, to Destroyer Force, 6/9/1917
- Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels to Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, 6/9/1917
- Diary of Commander Joseph K. Taussig, Commander, Destroyer Division Eight, 6/10/1917
- Diary of Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/10/1917
- Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels to Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, 6/10/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/11/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/11/1917
- Admiral William S. Benson, Chief of Naval Operations to Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters,, 6/11/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/11/1917
- Captain William V. Pratt, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, to Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, 6/11/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Rear Admiral Leigh C. Palmer, Chief, Bureau of Navigation, 6/11/1917
- Rear Admiral Ralph Earle, Chief of Bureau of Ordnance to Admiral William S. Benson, Chief of Naval Operations, 6/12/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/12/1917
- Executive Order of President Woodrow Wilson, 6/12/1917
- Rear Admiral William F. Fullam, Commander, Patrol Force, Pacific Fleet, to Captain Robert E. Coontz, Commandant, Navy Yard, Puget Sound, 6/13/1917
- United States Ambassador to Great Britain Walter Hines Page to Secretary of State Robert M. Lansing, 6/13/1917
- Captain William D. MacDougall, United States Naval Attaché at London, to Vice Admiral Henry F. Oliver, Secretary of the Admiralty, 6/13/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/13/1917
- Admiral William S. Benson, Chief of Naval Operations, to Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, 6/13/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Anne Hitchcock Sims, 6/13/1917
- Admiral Ferdinand Jean Jacques de Bon, Chief of the French Naval Staff, to Commander Bernard A. de Blanpré, French Naval Attaché in Washington, D.C., 6/13/1917
- Diary of Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/13/1917
- Admiral William S. Benson, Chief of Naval Operations, to Rear Admiral Albert Gleaves Commander, Destroyer Force, Atlantic Fleet, 6/13/1917
- Vice Admiral Sir Lewis Bayly, Commander, Southern Ireland, to Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, 6/13/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/14/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/14/1917
- Diary of Commander Joseph K. Taussig, Commander, Destroyer Division Eight, 6/14/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/14/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/15/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/15/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/15/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/16/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/16/1917
- Vice Admiral Henry F. Oliver, Secretary of the Admiralty, to Vice Admiral Sir Montague E. Browning, Commander-in-Chief, North America and West Indies Station, 6/16/1917
- Commodore Guy R. Gaunt, British Naval Attaché at Washington, to First Sea Lord Admiral Sir John R. Jellicoe, 6/16/1917
- Admiral Henry T. Mayo, Commander-in-Chief, Atlantic Fleet, to Atlantic Fleet, 6/16/1917
- Captain Arthur de K. L. May, Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff, to Commodore Lionel de Vere Wells, 6/16/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Anne Hitchcock Sims, 6/16/1917
- Diary of Commander Joseph K. Taussig, Commander, Destroyer Division Eight 6/17/1917
- Chief Gunner Bernard P. Donnelly to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/17/1917
- Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels to Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, 6/17/1917
- Captain Arthur de K. L. May, Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff, to Commodore Lionel de Vere Wells, Director, Routing and Convoying Operations from the United States, 6/17/1917
- Secretary of State Robert Lansing to Robert E. Jeffery, United States Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Uruguay, 6/18/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters to Queenstown Destroyer Force, 6/18/1917
- Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels to Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, 6/19/1917
- Admiral Ferdinand Jean Jacques de Bon, Chief of the French Naval Staff to Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, 6/19/1917
- Commander Joseph K. Taussig, Commander, Destroyer Division Eight, to Commanding Officers, Queenstown Destroyer Force, 6/20/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/20/1917
- Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels to Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, 6/20/1917
- Admiral William S. Benson, Chief of Naval Operations, to Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, 6/20/1917
- Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels to Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, 6/20/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/20/1917
- Commander Joseph K. Taussig, Commander, Destroyer Division Eight, to Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, 6/20/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/20/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/20/1917
- Commander John V. Babcock to Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, 6/21/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/21/1917
- Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels to Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, 6/22/1917
- Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels to Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, 6/22/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/22/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters to British Admiralty, 6/22/1917
- Lieutenant Robert R. M. Emmet, United States Navy, to Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, 6/22/1917
- Harrington Emerson, President, Emerson Institute, to Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, 6/23/1917
- Captain William B. Fletcher, Force Commander, Special Patrol Squadron, to Commanding Officers, 6/23/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/23/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/23/1917
- Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels to Secretary of State Robert Lansing, 6/23/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/23/1917
- Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels to Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces in European Waters, 6/23/1917
- Lieutenant Commander R. Drace White, Commander, Seattle, to Rear Admiral Albert Gleaves, Commander, Convoy Operations in the Atlantic, 6/24/1917
- Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels to Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, 6/24/1917
- Diary of Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/25/1917
- Captain Richard H. Jackson, American Naval Representative to the Ministry of Marine, to Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, 6/25/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Anne Hitchcock Sims, 6/25/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters to United States Ambassador to Great Britain Walter Hines Page, 6/25/1917
- United States Ambassador to Great Britain Walter Hines Page to Secretary of State Robert Lansing, 6/26/1917
- Lieutenant Commander Marcel Bertaux, Commisariat de la Marine-Lorient, to Commander Bernard A. de Blanpré, French Naval Attaché at Washington, 6/26/1917
- Lieutenant Commander George F. Neal to Vice Admiral Sir Lewis Bayly, R.N., Commander, Southern Ireland., 6/26/1917
- Commodore Guy R. Gaunt, British Naval Attaché in Washington, D.C., to British Admiralty, 6/26/1917
- United States Ambassador to Great Britain Walter Hines Page to First Secretary of the American Embassy in London Franklin M. Gunther, 6/27/1917
- Rear Admiral Albert Gleaves, Commander, Convoy Operations in the Atlantic, Notes on Conversations with Officers, 6/27/1917
- Diary of Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/27/1917
- Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/26/1917
- Report of Commander Richard T. Down, 6/27/1917
- War Diary, U.S.S. HANCOCK, 6/28/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, U.S. Forces Operating in European Waters, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/28/1917
- Commodore Guy R. Gaunt, British Naval Attaché in Washington, D.C., to First Sea Lord Admiral Sir John R. Jellicoe, 6/28/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters to British Admiralty, 6/28/1917
- Admiral William S. Benson, Chief of Naval Operations, to Commandants on the Atlantic Coats and Chiefs of Navy Bureaus, 6/27/1918
- Vice Admiral Henry F. Oliver, Secretary of the Admiralty, to Vice Admiral Sir Montague E. Browning, Commander-in-Chief, North America and West Indies., 6/28/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Department of the Navy, 6/28/1917
- Instructions Concerning Troopship Convoys, 6/29/1917
- Rear Admiral Albert Gleaves, Commander, Convoy Operations in the Atlantic, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/29/1917
- First Sea Lord Admiral Sir John R. Jellicoe to Commodore Guy R. Gaunt, British Naval Attaché at Washington, 6/29/1917
- First Sea Lord Admiral Sir John R. Jellicoe to Commodore Guy R. Gaunt, British Naval Attaché at Washington, 6/29/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Rear Admiral Albert Gleaves, Commander, Convoy Operations in the Atlantic, 6/29/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels 6/29/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels 6/29/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels 6/29/1917
- United States Ambassador to the Great Britain Walter Hines Page to Secretary of State Robert Lansing, 6/29/1917
- Captain William D. MacDougall, United States Naval Attaché at London, to the Office of Naval Intelligence 6/29/1917
- Sir Richard F. Crawford, British Commercial Attaché at Washington, to President Woodrow Wilson, 6/29/1917
- Procedures for Patrolling the East Coast of South America agreed to by the British and American Naval Commanders in the Theater, 6/29/1917
- Foreign Secretary Sir Arthur J. Balfour to British Ambassador to the United States Sir Cecil Spring Rice, 6/30/1917
- Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels to Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters 6/30/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels 6/30/1917
- Executive Order of President Woodrow Wilson, 6/30/1917
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