Our Navy At War - free ebook by Josephus Daniels

OUR NAVY AT WAR

BY JOSEPHUS DANIELS SECRETARY OF THE NAVY 1913 to 1921 Illustrated with Reproductions of Original and Official Photographs Pictorial Bureau Washington, D. C. 1922...

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Our Navy at War CHAPTER I WHEN THE WAR CALL CAME

NEWS FLASHED TO SHIPS AND STATIONS FIVE MINUTES AFTER PRESIDENT SIGNED DECLARATION—ENTIRE NAVY MOBILIZED AT ONCE—FLEET, ON WAR BASIS SINCE BREAK WITH GERMANY, WAS AT YORKTOWN—"IN BEST STATE OF PREPAREDNESS IT HAD EVER BEEN," ADMIRAL MAYO SAID—OFFICERS AND MEN EAGER FOR ACTION. Five minutes after President Wilson signed the war resolution passed by Congress April 6, 1917, the Navy's radio operators were flashing this message to every ship and station: Sixteen Alnav. The President has signed act o

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CHAPTER II "TO BE STRONG UPON THE SEAS"

PRESIDENT IN 1914 LAID DOWN POLICY WHICH GUIDED THE NAVY IN YEARS OF PREPARATION—ON VERGE OF WAR IN 1916—FLEET PREPARED TO MOBILIZE—"DEUTSCHLAND" AND U-53 WARNED US TO EXPECT SUBMARINES—CONGRESS AUTHORIZED BUILDING OF 157 WARSHIPS—MERCHANT SHIPS LISTED, MUNITIONS ACCUMULATED, COUNTRY'S INDUSTRIES SURVEYED. "We shall take leave to be strong upon the seas," declared President Wilson in his annual message to Congress in December, 1914, and this was the guiding policy in the years of preparation tha

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CHAPTER IIITHE BREAK WITH GERMANY

SURPRISE AND TERROR PLANNED IN STARTING U-BOAT WAR—BERNSTORFF WITHHELD NOTE UNTIL JUST BEFORE SUBMARINES STRUCK—AMERICA'S ENTRANCE COULD NOT AFFECT "TREND OF THE WAR," HOLTZENDORFF INSISTED—FLEET PUT ON WAR BASIS—PLANS MADE TO COOPERATE WITH ALLIES—"GET AND KEEP THE BEST MEN," PRESIDENT TOLD SECRETARIES OF WAR AND NAVY. Germany struck practically without warning in inaugurating ruthless U-boat warfare. Surprise of Allies and neutrals, giving no time for negotiations, was one thing upon which its

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CHAPTER IVTHE DAY OF DECISION

MOST IMPORTANT CABINET MEETING OF WILSON ADMINISTRATION HELD MARCH 20, 1917, WHEN IT WAS DECIDED TO CALL CONGRESS IN SPECIAL SESSION TO DECLARE WAR—"I WANT TO DO RIGHT, WHETHER IT IS POPULAR OR NOT," SAID THE PRESIDENT—FLEET ORDERED NORTH—NAVY AND MARINE CORPS INCREASED TO EMERGENCY STRENGTH. Tuesday, March 20, 1917, is not fixed in the war chronologies, so far as I can find. But it should be, for that was the Day of Decision. That was the occasion of the most important Cabinet meeting of the Wi

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CHAPTER VSENDING SIMS TO EUROPE

COÖPERATION WITH ALLIES THE KEYNOTE OF OUR POLICY—ADMIRAL WILSON FIRST CHOSEN—SIMS' MISSION AND INSTRUCTIONS—SAILED AS "S. W. DAVIDSON," PRIVATE CITIZEN—BRITISH HAD NO PLANS THAT PROMISED SUCCESS, LORD JELLICOE TOLD HIM—CARSON PRAISED AMERICA'S "SPEEDY ACTION." The most important thing, perhaps, that I discussed with the President when he visited the Navy Department March 24th was sending to London an officer of high rank who would put us in more intimate touch with the British Admiralty. The te

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CHAPTER VINAVAL ALLIES IN HISTORIC CONFERENCE

FOUR DAYS AFTER WAR WAS DECLARED, BRITISH, FRENCH AND AMERICAN ADMIRALS MET AT FORTRESS MONROE TO MAP OUT PLANS FOR IMMEDIATE COÖPERATION—CONFERENCE AT WASHINGTON, APRIL 11TH, FIXED THE POLICY OF UNITED NAVAL EFFORT—FREQUENT AND FULL INTERCHANGE OF OPINION WITH ALLIES. Four days after war was declared, admirals of the United States, Great Britain and France were in conference at Fortress Monroe. Immediately upon the action of Congress, without awaiting the arrival of Admiral Sims, then on the oc

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CHAPTER VII"WE ARE READY NOW, SIR"

DESTROYERS, AFTER 3,000-MILE VOYAGE, PREPARED FOR IMMEDIATE SERVICE—FIRST OF AMERICAN FORCES SENT TO EUROPE—DEADLIEST FOE OF U-BOATS, THEY SAILED VAST AREAS, PROTECTING TROOPS AND CARGOES—256 ATTACKS ON SUBMARINES—"FANNING" SANK U-58 AND CAPTURED CREW—NO RANK IN SACRIFICE OR HONORS. "Fit out for long and distant service!" was the order the Eighth Destroyer Division received from the flagship of the Atlantic Fleet the night of April 14, 1917. It was then 9:30 p. m., and they were directed to sail

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CHAPTER VIIIRACE BETWEEN WILSON AND HINDENBURG

BIGGEST TRANSPORTATION JOB IN HISTORY—TWO MILLION TROOPS CARRIED 3,000 MILES OVERSEAS—FIRST CONVOYS ATTACKED BY U-BOATS NO AMERICAN TROOP-SHIP SUNK, NOT ONE SOLDIER ABOARD LOST THROUGH ENEMY ACTION, ON THE WAY TO FRANCE—NAVAL TRANSPORTS TOOK 911,000 TO EUROPE, BROUGHT HOME 1,700,000—U. S. NAVY PROVIDED FOUR-FIFTHS OF ESCORTS. What was the greatest thing America did in the World War?" That is a question I have often been asked, and it is easily answered. It was the raising and training of an army

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CHAPTER IXTHE FLEET THE KAISER BUILT FOR US

EX-GERMAN VESSELS CARRIED 557,000 AMERICAN TROOPS TO EUROPE—ENGINES AND MACHINERY WRECKED BY THEIR CREWS, GERMANS BELIEVED THEY COULD NEVER BE USED—NAVY REPAIRED LINERS, AND HAD ALL RUNNING IN TRANSPORT SERVICE IN A FEW MONTHS—TRIUMPH OF AMERICAN GENIUS AND ENGINEERING SKILL—REMARKABLE RECORD MADE BY "LEVIATHAN." More than half a million of the troops that defeated the Germans were transported across the Atlantic in German vessels. I sometimes wonder if the Kaiser ever dreamed, when his liners c

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CHAPTER XGUARDING THE COAST OF FRANCE

BREST THE CENTER OF GREAT SYSTEM UNDER COMMAND OF WILSON—PATROL SQUADRON SENT OVER IN JUNE, 1917—ARMED YACHTS AND DESTROYERS ENABLED TROOPS TO REACH PORTS SAFELY—"STEWART" PLOWED THROUGH BLAZING AMMUNITION TO RESCUE SURVIVORS OF "FLORENCE H."—WRESTLE WITH DEPTH-BOMB. On the anniversary of the fall of the Bastille, the French national holiday, July 14, 1917, our naval forces began work with the French, whose vessels under DeGrasse had, 136 years before, given such signal aid to America in its str

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CHAPTER XIGIBRALTAR AND THE CONVOY

AMERICAN VESSELS ESCORTED NINETY PER CENT OF SHIPPING BETWEEN ENGLAND AND MEDITERRANEAN—GREAT WORK ACCOMPLISHED BY SHIPS UNDER COMMAND OF ADMIRAL NIBLACK—U. S. NAVAL FORCES MADE POSSIBLE OPERATION OF CONVOY SYSTEM, ONE OF THE MOST EFFECTIVE MEASURES OF THE WAR. Gibraltar was the gateway through which passed one-fourth of all the shipping of the Allies. When the convoy system was applied to the Mediterranean, July, 1917, it became the principal convoy port of the world. United States naval vessel

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CHAPTER XIISHUTTING UP THE HORNETS IN THEIR NESTS

MINE BARRAGE ACROSS NORTH SEA A TERROR TO U-BOATS—GERMANS PLANNED BIG DRIVE, BUT SUBMARINE CREWS REFUSED TO GO TO SEA—MORALE SHATTERED, KAISER'S NAVY WAS WRECKED BY MUTINY—PROPOSED BY U. S. NAVY IN APRIL, 1917, EIGHTY PER CENT OF BARRAGE WAS LAID BY AMERICANS. Germany planned a great naval offensive in the fall of 1918—that is, the German authorities did, the High Command. Why was it never carried out? Why were the U-boats recalled? Why did the Kaiser's High Seas Fleet surrender without striking

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CHAPTER XIIIPRESIDENT WILSON AS A STRATEGIST

SPEAKING TO OFFICERS OF THE FLEET AT YORKTOWN, HE ADVOCATED NEW AND BOLD METHODS—"WHY NOT SHUT UP THE HORNETS IN THEIR NESTS?"—"LEAVE OUT OF YOUR VOCABULARY THE WORD 'PRUDENT'; DO THE THING THAT IS AUDACIOUS TO THE UTMOST POINT OF RISK AND DARING." The world knows President Wilson as a scholar, teacher and historian; as executive and statesman. But it does not know him, as we did, as a master of military strategy. His grasp of the whole situation, his clear conception of Army and Navy policies a

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CHAPTER XIVCOMRADES OF THE MIST

U. S. BATTLESHIPS WITH BRITISH GRAND FLEET—DREADNAUGHTS UNDER RODMAN FORMED SIXTH BATTLE SQUADRON—ASSIGNED POST OF HONOR—ATTACKED SIX TIMES BY SUBMARINES—U-BOAT RAMMED THE "NEW YORK," CAUGHT IN ITS PROPELLER— THREE BATTLESHIPS, UNDER RODGERS, AT BANTRY BAY—SURRENDER OF GERMAN FLEET. There was a thrill through all the Grand Fleet, a storm of cheers sweeping from Admiral Beatty's flagship down to the last destroyer that December morning when the United States dreadnaughts, under Admiral Hugh Rodma

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CHAPTER XV"CINDERELLAS OF THE FLEET"

SUBMARINE CHASERS BORE BRILLIANT PART IN ATTACK ON DURAZZO—SANK ONE SUBMARINE, DAMAGED ANOTHER, AND "THOROUGHLY ENJOYED THEMSELVES"—QUEER CODES FOOLED THE GERMANS—OVER FOUR HUNDRED "CHASERS" BUILT—STAUNCH LITTLE WOODEN CRAFT DID WONDERFULLY GOOD WORK IN EUROPE AND AMERICA. Cinderella was not the guest first invited, but when she arrived she became the belle of the ball. The little submarine chasers, originally designed to protect entrance to harbors, to patrol coasts and keep close to shore, won

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CHAPTER XVI"DO NOT SURRENDER"—"NEVER!"

SHIP SHELLED, MEN WOUNDED, NAVY GUNNERS ON "J. L. LUCKENBACH" FOUGHT SUBMARINE FOUR HOURS—ARMED GUARDS SAILING WAR ZONE BEFORE WAR WAS DECLARED—HAD 227 ENCOUNTERS WITH SUBMARINES—FIRST IN SERVICE, THEY WERE FIRST IN SACRIFICE—"HAND IT TO 'EM, JOE!" Navy gunners, manning Navy guns on American merchant ships, were sailing the war zone before the United States declared war. First to get into action, these armed guards had more than two hundred encounters with submarines, many of them long-fought gu

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CHAPTER XVIIWHEN THE U-BOATS CAME TO AMERICA

WAR OFF OUR COASTS FROM MAY TO SEPTEMBER, 1918—GERMANS SENT SUBMARINES TO INTERRUPT TROOP AND SUPPLY TRANSPORTATION, BUT TRANSPORTS WERE SO WELL GUARDED THAT NOT ONE WAS ATTACKED OR EVEN DELAYED—MANY SCHOONERS AND SOME STEAMERS SUNK, BARGES AND LIGHTSHIP SHELLED, BUT GERMANS FAILED IN THEIR MAIN OBJECT. Europe was not the only "war zone." There was war off our own coasts from May to September, 1918, and the Navy had to protect transports and shipping, to escort convoys and hunt submarines on thi

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CHAPTER XVIIIMARINES STOPPED DRIVE ON PARIS

THROWN INTO THE BREACH WITH OTHER AMERICANS IN CHATEAU-THIERRY SECTOR, THEY HALTED GERMANS FIGHTING DESPERATELY FOR DAYS, MARINES CLEARED BELLEAU WOOD—CAPTURE OF BLANC MONT RIDGE, THE KEY TO RHEIMS—CROSSED THE MEUSE UNDER HEAVY FIRE THE MORNING OF THE ARMISTICE—IN GERMANY IN ARMY OF OCCUPATION. Enter the Marines! It was the evening of Memorial Day, May 30, 1918, that they were ordered to the most critical point in the battle lines. Paris was threatened more sorely than it had been since the Batt

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CHAPTER XIXTHE ANSWER TO THE 75-MILE GUN

GERMAN LONG-DISTANCE FREAK STOPPED BOMBARDING PARIS WHEN NAVAL RAILWAY BATTERIES ARRIVED—MANNED BY NAVY CREWS, HUGE 14-INCH GUNS OPERATED WITH FRENCH AND AMERICAN ARMIES—ADMIRAL PLUNKETT IN COMMAND—MOST POWERFUL ARTILLERY USED BY ALLIES ON THE WESTERN FRONT. "Paris bombarded!" was the news that shocked the world on March 23, 1918. Two days before the Germans had begun their great drive for the Channel ports. Their armies to the north were breaking through the Allied defenses, taking one position

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CHAPTER XXTHE NAVY THAT FLIES

NAVAL AVIATION WATCHED OVER SHIPS AND SEARCHED THE SEAS—FIRST OF U. S. ARMED FORCES TO LAND IN FRANCE—FOUGHT ENEMY AIRCRAFT FROM HELIGOLAND TO POLA—ATTACKED U-BOAT BASES IN BELGIUM—NAVAL AVIATORS, IN TRAINING AND SERVICE, FLEW FIFTEEN MILLION MILES. The first of the armed forces of the United States to land in France were naval aviators—seven officers and 123 men, under command of Lieutenant Kenneth W. Whiting. One group, sailing on the Neptune , arrived June 5, 1917, at Pauillac, the port from

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CHAPTER XXITHE FERRY TO FRANCE

"N. O. T. S.," THE WORLD'S LARGEST CARGO FLEET—OPERATING 450 STEAMERS, NAVY HAULED MILLIONS OF TONS OF MUNITIONS, FOOD, FUEL AND SUPPLIES TO FORCES ABROAD—ONLY EIGHT SUNK BY U-BOATS OR MINES—"TICONDEROGA" TORPEDOED—DISAPPEARANCE OF "CYCLOPS" MYSTERY OF THE WAR. "N. O. T. S." You may not recognize those initials, but every sailor on the Atlantic was familiar enough with them in 1918, for they stood for the largest cargo fleet on earth, under a single management—the Naval Overseas Transportation S

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CHAPTER XXIIRADIO GIRDLED THE GLOBE

IF GERMANS HAD CUT EVERY CABLE, WE COULD STILL HAVE TALKED TO EUROPE—FROM ONE ROOM IN NAVY DEPARTMENT FLASHED DESPATCHES TO ENGLAND, FRANCE AND ITALY—CAUGHT GERMAN AS WELL AS ALLIED WIRELESS—QUEER "NEWS" FROM BERLIN—U. S. NAVY BUILT IN FRANCE RADIO STATION WHOSE MESSAGES ARE HEARD AROUND THE WORLD. If the Germans had cut every cable—and their U-boats did cut some of them—we would still have been able to keep in touch with Pershing and the Army in France, with Sims in London, Rodman and Strauss i

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CHAPTER XXIIIA SURPRISE FOR COUNT VON LUXBURG

"HERR DOCTOR BRECHT," SPEAKER AT HIS BANQUET IN BUENOS AIRES, WAS U. S. NAVAL AGENT—NAVAL INTELLIGENCE FRUSTRATED PLOTS OF GERMANS—FRENCH EXECUTED TWO WOMEN SPIES CAUGHT NEAR ST. NAZAIRE, GIVING GERMANS INFORMATION REGARDING AMERICAN TROOPS. Everyone recalls the Count von Luxburg, German Minister to Argentina, and his famous "spurlos versenkt" dispatch advising his Government that Argentine steamers, if not spared by the U-boats, be sunk without leaving a trace. But there is one incident in conn

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CHAPTER XXIVAMERICAN ADMIRAL SAVED KOLCHAK

HEAD OF RUSSIAN FLEET RELEASED FROM PRISON AFTER GLENNON'S ADDRESS TO MUTINOUS SAILORS—AFTER MISSION TO WASHINGTON, BECAME HEAD OF OMSK GOVERNMENT—KILLED BY BOLSHEVIKI—UNITED STATES VESSELS IN NORTHERN AND WESTERN RUSSIA—KNIGHT AT VLADIVOSTOK—MC CULLY AT MURMANSK AND ARCHANGEL. When revolution swept Russia in 1917, the sailors of the Baltic Fleet mutinied, assassinated their commander-in-chief, and murdered a hundred officers. The Black Sea Fleet for the time remained loyal, but in June revolted

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CHAPTER XXVTHE HALF-WAY HOUSE

AZORES VITAL IN NAVAL OPERATIONS—"ORION" CELEBRATED FOURTH OF JULY BY DRIVING OFF U-BOAT THAT WAS SHELLING PONTA DELGADA—HUNDREDS OF AMERICAN SHIPS STOPPED THERE ON THE WAY ACROSS—DUNN IN COMMAND OF BASE—MARINES MANNED GUNS, MAINTAINED AERIAL PATROL—SUBMARINES KEPT OFF SUBMARINES. The Fourth of July, 1917, was ushered in by the booming of American guns, not in the United States, but in the far-away Azores. Bright and early, at 4:45 a. m. (not long after midnight in this country), a German submar

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CHAPTER XXVITO VICTORY ON A SEA OF OIL

ABILITY TO SECURE OIL AND TRANSPORT IT TO EUROPE WAS ESSENTIAL TO SUCCESS—OUR NAVY PATROLLED CARIBBEAN AND GULF COASTS—TRANSPORTED MATERIAL AND FURNISHED PERSONNEL TO LAY PIPE LINE ACROSS SCOTLAND—AMERICA FURNISHED EIGHTY PER CENT OF OIL FOR ALLIED FORCES. "The Allies floated to victory on a sea of oil," was the epigrammatic way in which Lord Curzon expressed the truth that oil was essential for success in the World War. This was true particularly of the Navy's part in the war, for most of the n

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CHAPTER XXVIIEDISON—AND 100,000 MORE

FLOOD OF SUGGESTIONS AND INVENTIONS OFFERED, MOST OF THEM TO DOWN THE U-BOATS—"FIND THE SUBMARINE" WAS THE PROBLEM—BEST DETECTION DEVICES DEVELOPED IN AMERICA—NEW WEAPONS OF WAR—THE NAVAL CONSULTING BOARD AND ITS GREAT WORK—SOME AMUSING SUGGESTIONS. One hundred thousand suggestions and inventions were offered the Navy for winning the war. Four-fifths of them were designed to down the submarine. They poured in upon the Department in floods, evidence that American genius was mobilized along with m

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CHAPTER XXVIIIBUILDING A THOUSAND SHIPS

SIX HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS FOR DESTROYERS—"WARD" LAUNCHED 17-1/2 DAYS AFTER KEEL WAS LAID—"REID" COMPLETED IN 45 DAYS—GREAT DESTROYER PLANT BUILT AT SQUANTUM—PATRIOTS IN OVERALLS—WHY WERE NOT MORE DESTROYERS BUILT BEFORE THE WAR?—NEW NAVY WILL SURPASS ALL OTHERS—REDUCTION OF ARMAMENT. "Destroyer Ward launched seventeen and a half days after laying of keel," was the message from Mare Island Navy Yard that announced a new world's record in ship construction. In pre-war days from twenty months to

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CHAPTER XXIXMAKING SAILORS OUT OF LANDSMEN

HALF A MILLION RECRUITED AND TRAINED IN EIGHTEEN MONTHS—"ONE OF THE MOST STRIKING ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF THE WAR," SIR ERIC GEDDES DECLARED—NAVY'S EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM PAVED THE WAY—EVERY OFFICER A TEACHER—NAVAL ACADEMY GREATLY ENLARGED—NO SHIP KEPT WAITING FOR OFFICERS OR MEN. Half a million men and thirty thousand officers were enlisted and trained by the United States Navy in eighteen months. No navy in the world ever had as large a personnel, or ever attempted to raise and train as large a sea-for

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CHAPTER XXXTHREE HUNDRED THOUSAND STRONG

VAST OPERATIONS COULD HARDLY HAVE BEEN CARRIED ON WITHOUT NAVAL RESERVES AND NATIONAL NAVAL VOLUNTEERS—MANNED HUNDREDS OF VESSELS PLYING TO FRANCE—SERVED ON TRANSPORTS, DESTROYERS, SUB-CHASERS AND EVERY KIND OF CRAFT—NAVAL AVIATION COMPOSED MAINLY OF RESERVISTS—THIRTY THOUSAND MADE OFFICERS. "We are coming, Uncle Samuel, three hundred thousand strong!" That was the spirit if not the song of the reservists who besieged the recruiting stations and flocked into the Navy at the call of war. They cam

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CHAPTER XXXIWOMEN IN THE NAVY

MORE THAN ELEVEN THOUSAND REGULARLY ENLISTED—THEY CONSTITUTE THE ONLY WOMEN ENTITLED TO MEMBERSHIP IN THE AMERICAN LEGION—NO LACK OF WOMAN'S NURSING—GIRLS WORKED IN TORPEDO FACTORY AND MUNITION PLANTS—THE INSPIRING LEADERSHIP OF MRS. ANNA HOWARD SHAW, HEAD OF WOMAN'S COUNCIL OF NATIONAL DEFENSE. The Navy was long regarded as an institution for men only. It was the only place where there was no opening for women. To be sure no sailor would have felt comfortable going to sea in a ship which had no

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CHAPTER XXXIICOAST GUARD WON DISTINCTION

ESCORTING CONVOYS BETWEEN GIBRALTAR AND ENGLAND, CUTTERS MADE NOTABLE RECORD—"TAMPA" SUNK, WITH ALL HER GALLANT OFFICERS AND MEN—"SENECA" SAVED SURVIVORS OF "COWSLIP" AND "QUEEN"—COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY AND LIGHTHOUSE SERVICE DID FINE WORK. The Coast Guard automatically came under control of the Navy when war was declared. Its vessels, its trained officers and men proved a valuable addition to our forces, and rendered notable service in various areas and in many lines of activity, at home and

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CHAPTER XXXIIIWINNING THE FIRST BATTLE OF THE WAR

THE WAR AGAINST DISEASE FOUGHT AND WON BY MEDICAL DEPARTMENT—GENERAL ORDER NO. 99—SAFETY ZONES ESTABLISHED—HOSPITALS OVERSEAS—SKY PILOT LEADERSHIP—COÖPERATION OF VOLUNTEER WELFARE ORGANIZATIONS—NAVAL OFFENDERS HELPED TO FIND THEMSELVES. The death rate in the Navy by disease in 1917-18 was the lowest in the history of wars. Sickness, until the influenza epidemic, was less than in peace time. The loss of days by immoral disease decreased below the rate prevailing before the war. Preventive medicin

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CHAPTER XXXIVFIGHTING THE PROFITEERS

MANY MILLIONS SAVED BY REFUSING TO PAY EXORBITANT PRICES—"NAVY ORDER" PREVENTED EXTORTION—OVER THREE BILLION DOLLARS EXPENDED WITH NEVER A HINT OF GRAFT OR EXTRAVAGANCE—COMPETITION ADHERED TO IN WAR—FEEDING AND CLOTHING 500,000 MEN A BIG TASK, ACCOMPLISHED WITH SIGNAL SUCCESS—SAVING IN HUGE SHORE CONSTRUCTION. The Navy spent over three billion dollars for war purpose without a suggestion of extravagance or graft. To be exact, Congress appropriated $3,692,354,324.71. Of the amount $334,360,000 we

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CHAPTER XXXV"SIRS, ALL IS WELL WITH THE FLEET"

TWO THOUSAND VESSELS IN SERVICE—200,000 MEN OVERSEAS OR TRANSPORTING TROOPS AND SUPPLIES ACROSS ATLANTIC—373 SHIPS, 81,000 OFFICERS AND MEN IN EUROPEAN FORCES—VISITS OF ROOSEVELT, BENSON, MAYO AND CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE—PERSHING'S TRIBUTE. With more than two thousand vessels in service and 533,000 officers and men, the largest personnel ever possessed by any Navy, our naval operations in the World War literally belted the globe. Operating with the Allies from the Arctic to the Adriatic, from Co

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CHAPTER XXXVIAFTER THE ARMISTICE

NAVAL DIPLOMACY PREVENTED CLASH IN FORMER AUSTRIAN TERRITORY AND STABILIZED CONDITIONS IN DISTURBED AREAS—ANDREWS IN THE ADRIATIC—BRISTOL AT CONSTANTINOPLE—MC CULLY'S CONFIDENTIAL MISSION TO RUSSIA—MISSIONS OF ROOSEVELT AND BENSON—SHIPS AND MEN SERVED AS ALMONERS TO THE STARVING. Men in the fighting line were full of solemn thanksgiving the day the armistice was signed. At home we built bonfires and rejoiced. In Paris the celebration was a jubilee. It meant home to the Americans, with eyes turne

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