Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels
21-6-1917.
From Vice Admiral Sims to British Admiralty.1
“For Secretary Navy, Washington f<rom> Vice Admiral Sims (begins)I trust I have made the critical nature of the Military situation entirely clear (stop) I consider it my duty to report that if we cannot offer more immediate actual assistance even to the extent of sending the majority of the vessels patrolling our own coast lines which cannot materially affect the Allied cause which future history will show to have been necessary (stop) My recommendations concerning the convoy system were not based upon American vessels but upon all Allied shipping for it is upon the preservation of the remainder of this shipping that our success against the enemy is entirely dependent(stop) It is assumed here that the comparative immunity of American Shipping from Submarine attack is due to German hopes that such a policy will strengthen the peace propaganda in America (stop)2 This is apparently clearly indicated by the German Press (stop) Actual and extended experience has shown that arming Merchantmen does not protect from attack but simply forces the submarine to attack without warning thus obliging her to use up her torpedoes and shorten her cruise(stop)3 Armed Merchantmen are being sunk daily off this port(stop) The success of the convoys so far brough in shows that the system will defeat the submarine campaign if applied generally and in time (stop) The system is merely a plan that obliges the submarine to fight anti-submarine craft in order to attack Merchantmen (stop) The present campaign is not succeeding (stop) The necessity is again presented of sending all destroyers, tugs, yachts, and other craft which can reach the critical area by themselves or towed part way by reserve battleships or any Naval Vessels (stop) If the situation is not made clear I hope the Department will indicate the further information required (stop) Time is a vital element in any measures taken (ends).”
Source Note: Cy, DNA, RG 45, Entry 517B. In the top right hand corner are identifying numbers: “825”.
Footnote 1: Sims often sent cables to Washington through the British Admiralty because he believed that American codes were easily compromised.
Footnote 2: Kaiser Wilhelm II refused to declare war on the United States and early in May Admiral Henning von Holtzendorff, Chief of the German Admiralty Staff, instructed U-boat commanders to avoid sinking American ships. Still, Crisis at Sea: 31.
Footnote 3: See: Daniels to Sims, 20 June 1917.
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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, 6/21/1917
- 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
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 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
- 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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