Our Navy in the War
L >> Lawrence Perry >> Our Navy in the WarNote: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
file which includes the original illustrations.
See 18676-h.htm or 18676-h.zip:
(http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/8/6/7/18676/18676-h/18676-h.htm)
or
(http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/8/6/7/18676/18676-h.zip)
America In The War
OUR NAVY IN THE WAR
by
LAWRENCE PERRY
Illustrated
New York
Charles Scribner's Sons
1919
Copyright, 1918, by
Charles Scribner's Sons
Published October, 1918
[Illustration: _From a photograph by C.R. Eagle._
ATLANTIC FLEET STEAMING IN LINE OF BEARING.]
THIS BOOK
IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED TO THE
HON. JOSEPHUS DANIELS
A NEWSPAPER MAN WHO BROUGHT TO HIS TASK AS SECRETARY OF THE NAVY THOSE
GREAT QUALITIES OF MIND AND CHARACTER WHICH FITTED HIM TO MEET WITH SUCH
SIGNAL SUCCESS THE IMMENSE PROBLEMS WHICH THE WAR IMPOSED UPON HIS
OFFICE. TO HIS FAR-SEEING VISION, HIS BREADTH OF VIEW, HIS FREEDOM FROM
ALL BIAS, HIS JUDGMENT OF MEN AND OF AFFAIRS, AND TO THE STERN COURAGE
OF HIS CONVICTIONS ARE DUE TO-DAY THE MAINTENANCE OF THOSE HIGH
TRADITIONS OF THE UNITED STATES NAVY OF WHICH AMERICANS HAVE EVER BEEN
PROUD.
CONTENTS
FOREWORD
CHAPTER I
First Experience of Our Navy with the German U-Boat--Arrival of Captain
Hans Rose and the U-53 at Newport--Experiences of the German Sailors in
an American Port--Destruction of Merchantman by U-53 off Nantucket--Our
Destroyers to the Rescue--Scenes in Newport--German Rejoicing--The Navy
Prepares for War
CHAPTER II
Our Navy Arms American Merchant Vessels--Death of our First Bluejacket
on Service in the War Zone--Vice-Admiral Sims--We Take Over Patrol of
Waters of Western Hemisphere--The Naval Advisory Board of
Inventions--Work of this Body--Our Battleships the Largest in the
World--Widespread Operations
CHAPTER III
First Hostile Contact Between the Navy and the Germans--Armed Guards on
Merchant Vessels--"Campana" First to Sail--Daniels Refuses Offer of
Money Awards to Men Who Sink Submarines--"Mongolia" Shows Germany How
the Yankee Sailorman Bites--Fight of the "Silvershell"--Heroism of
Gunners on Merchant Ships--Sinking of the "Antilles"--Experiences of
Voyagers
CHAPTER IV
Destroyers on Guard--Preparations of Flotilla to Cross the
Ocean--Meeting the "Adriatic"---Flotilla Arrives in Queenstown--
Reception by British Commander and Populace--"We are Ready
Now, Sir"--Arrival of the Famous Captain Evans on the American
Flag-Ship--Our Navy a Warm-Weather Navy--Loss of the "Vacuum"
CHAPTER V
British and American Destroyers Operating Hand in Hand--Arrival of Naval
Collier "Jupiter"--Successful Trip of Transports Bearing United States
Soldiers Convoyed by Naval Vessels--Attack on Transports Warded Off by
Destroyers--Secretary Baker Thanks Secretary Daniels--Visit to our
Destroyer Base--Attitude of Officers Toward Men--Genesis of the
Submarine--The Confederate Submarine "Hunley"
CHAPTER VI
On a German Submarine--Fight with a Destroyer--Periscope Hit--Record of
the Submarine in this War--Dawning Failure of the Undersea Boat--Figures
Issued by the British Admiralty--Proof of Decline--Our Navy's Part in
this Achievement
CHAPTER VII
How the Submarine is being Fought--Destroyers the Great Menace--But
Nets, Too, Have Played Their Part--Many Other Devices--German Officers
Tell of Experience on a Submarine Caught in a Net--Chasers Play Their
Part--The Depth-Bomb--Trawler Tricks--A Camouflaged Schooner Which
Turned Out To Be a Tartar--Airplanes--German Submarine Men in Playful
Mood
CHAPTER VIII
Perils and Triumphs of Submarine-Hunting--The Loss of our First
War-Ship, The Converted Gunboat "Alcedo"--Bravery of Crew--"Cassin"
Struck by Torpedo, But Remains in the Fight--Loss of the "Jacob
Jones"--Sinking of the "San Diego"--Destroyers "Nicholson" and "Fanning"
Capture a Submarine, Which Sinks--Crew of Germans Brought Into Port--The
Policy of Silence in Regard to Submarine-Sinkings
CHAPTER IX
Our Battleship Fleet--Great Workshop of War--Preparations for Foreign
Service--On a Battleship During a Submarine Attack--The Wireless That
Went Wrong--The Torpedo That Missed--Attack on Submarine Bases of
Doubtful Expediency--When the German Fleet Comes Out--Establishment of
Station in the Azores
CHAPTER X
Great Atlantic Ferry Company, Incorporated, But Unlimited--Feat of the
Navy in Repairing the Steamships Belonging to German Lines Which Were
Interned at Beginning of War in 1914--Welding and Patching--Triumph of
Our Navy With the "Vaterland"--Her Condition--Knots Added to Her
Speed--Damage to Motive Power and How It Was Remedied--Famous German
Liners Brought Under Our Flag
CHAPTER XI
Camouflage--American System of Low Visibility and the British Dazzle
System--Americans Worked Out Principles of Color in Light and Color in
Pigment--British Sought Merely to Confuse the Eye--British System
Applied to Some of Our Transports
CHAPTER XII
The Naval Flying Corps--What The Navy Department Has Accomplished And Is
Accomplishing in the Way of Air-Fighting--Experience of a Naval Ensign
Adrift in the English Channel--Seaplanes and Flying Boats--Schools of
Instruction--Instances of Heroism
CHAPTER XIII
Organization Of The Naval Reserve Classes--Taking Over of Yachts For
Naval Service--Work Among The Reserves Stationed at Various Naval
Centres--Walter Camp's Achievement
CHAPTER XIV
The United States Marine Corps--First Military Branch Of The National
Service To Be Sanctioned By Congress--Leaving For The War--Service Of
The Marines in Various Parts of the Globe--Details of Expansion of
Corps--Their Present Service All Over The World
CHAPTER XV
Scope Of The Navy's Work In Various Particulars--Food--Fuel--Naval
Consulting Board--Projectile Factory--Expenditures--Increase Of
Personnel
CHAPTER XVI
The beginning of the end--Reports in London that submarines were
withdrawing to their bases to head a battle movement on the part of the
German Fleet--How the plan was foiled--The surrender of the German Fleet
to the combined British and American Squadrons--Departure of the
American Squadron--What might have happened had the German vessels come
out to fight
CHAPTER XVII
Lessons of the War--The Submarine Not Really a Submarine--French Term
for Undersea Fighter--The Success of the Convoy Against
Submersibles--U-Boats Not Successful Against Surface Fighters--Their
Shortcomings--What the Submarine Needs to be a Vital Factor in Sea
Power--Their Showing Against Convoyed Craft--Record of Our Navy in
Convoying and Protecting Convoys
Secretary Daniels's Report
ILLUSTRATIONS
Atlantic Fleet steaming in line of bearing
Portraits of Josephus Daniels, Secretary of the Navy, Rear-Admiral Leigh
C. Palmer, Vice-Admiral William S. Sims, Admiral Henry T. Mayo,
Rear-Admiral Albert Gleaves, Admiral William S. Benson
Position of ships in a convoy
A U.S. submarine at full speed on the surface of the water
A submarine-chaser
A torpedo-destroyer
Repairing a damaged cylinder of a German ship for federal service
Scene at an aviation station somewhere in America, showing fifteen
seaplanes on beach departing and arriving
Captain's inspection at Naval Training Station, Newport, R.I.
American Marines who took part in the Marne offensive on parade in
Paris, July 4, 1918
OUR NAVY IN THE WAR
FOREWORD
Gently rolling and heaving on the surge of a summer sea lay a mighty
fleet of war-vessels. There were the capital ships of the Atlantic
Fleet, grim dreadnoughts with their superimposed turrets, their
bristling broadsides, their basket-masts--veritable islands of steel.
There were colliers, hospital-ships, destroyers, patrol-vessels--in all,
a tremendous demonstration of our sea power. Launches were dashing
hither and thither across the restless blue waters, signal-flags were
flashing from mast and stay and the wind, catching the sepia reek from
many a funnel, whipped it across a league of sea.
On the deck of the largest battleship were gathered the officers of the
fleet not only, but nearly every officer on active duty in home waters.
All eyes were turned shoreward and presently as a sharp succession of
shots rang out a sleek, narrow craft with gracefully turned bow came out
from the horizon and advanced swiftly toward the flag-ship. It was the
President's yacht, the _Mayflower_, with the President of the United
States on board. As the yacht swung to a launch was dropped overside,
the gangway lowered and Woodrow Wilson stepped down to the little craft,
bobbing on the waves. There was no salute, no pomp, no official
circumstance, nor anything in the way of ceremony. The President did not
want that.
What he did want was to meet the officers of our navy and give them a
heart-to-heart talk. He did just that. At the time it was early summer
in 1917. In the preceding April a declaration that Germany had been
waging war upon the United States had been made in Congress; war
resolutions had been passed and signed by the President. This on April
6. On April 7 the Navy Department had put into effect plans that had
already been formulated. Much had been done when the President boarded
the flag-ship of the Atlantic Fleet that early summer afternoon. Some of
our destroyers were already at work in foreign waters, but the bulk of
our fighting force was at home, preparing for conflict. And it was this
time that the President chose to meet those upon whom the nation relied
to check the submarine and to protect our shores against the evil
devices of the enemy.
"He went," wrote a narrator of this historic function, "directly to the
business in hand. And the business in hand was telling the officers of
the navy of the United States that the submarine had to be beaten and
that they had to do it. He talked--well, it must still remain a secret,
but if you have ever heard a football coach talk to his team between the
halves; if you ever heard a captain tell his men what he expected of
them as they stripped for action; if you ever knew what the fighting
spirit of Woodrow Wilson really is when it is on fire--then you can
visualize the whole scene. He wanted not merely as good a record from
our navy as other navies had, he wanted a better record. He wanted
action, not merely from the gold-braided admirals, but from the ensigns,
too; and he wanted every mind turned to the solution of the submarine
question, and regardless of rank and distinction he wanted all to work
and fight for the common object--victory.
"Somebody suggested to the President later that the speech be published.
He declined. Most of it wasn't said to be published. It was a direct
talk from the Commander-in-chief of the navy to his men. It was
inspiration itself. The officers cheered and went away across the seas.
And there they have been in action ever since, giving an account of
themselves that has already won the admiration of their allies and the
involuntary respect of their foes."
It was under such auspices as these that the United States Navy went
forth to war. No one ever doubted the spirit of our fighters of the sea.
Through all the years, from the time when John Paul Jones bearded enemy
ships in their own waters, when _Old Ironsides_ belched forth her
well-directed broadsides in many a victorious encounter; when Decatur
showed the pirates of Tripoli that they had a new power with which to
deal; when Farragut damned the torpedoes in Mobile Bay, and Dewey did
likewise in Manila Bay; when Sampson and Schley triumphed at Santiago,
and Hobson accepted the seemingly fatal chance under the guns of Morro
Castle--through all the years, I say, and through all that they have
brought in the way of armed strife, the nation never for one moment has
ever doubted the United States Navy.
And neither did Woodrow Wilson doubt. He knew his men. But he wanted to
look them all in the eye and tell them that he knew their mettle, knew
what they could do, and held no thought of their failure. Every fighting
man fights the better for an incident of this sort.
Week by week since that time there has come to us from out the grim
North Sea, from the Mediterranean and the broad Atlantic abundant
testimony, many a story of individual and collective heroism, of ships
that have waged gallant fights, of Americans who have lived gallantly,
who have died gloriously--and above all there has come to us the
gratifying record of reduced submarine losses, as to which there is
abundant testimony--notably from the great maritime and naval power of
the world--Great Britain--that our navy has played a vital part in the
diminution of the undersea terror.
Less than a year after President Wilson boarded the flag-ship of the
Atlantic Fleet our navy had more than 150 naval vessels--battleships,
cruisers, submarines and tenders, gunboats, coast-guard cutters,
converted yachts, tugs, and numerous vessels of other types for special
purposes--in European waters. Serving on these vessels were nearly
40,000 men, more than half the strength of our navy before we entered
the war--and this number did not include the personnel of troop-ships,
supply-vessels, armed guards for merchantmen, signal-men, wireless
operators and the like, who go into the war zone on recurrent trips.
Submarines have been fought and sunk or captured--how many, a wise naval
policy bids absolute silence. Our antisubmarine activities now cover in
war areas alone over 1,000,000 square miles of sea. In a six-months
period one detachment of destroyers steamed over 1,000,000 of miles in
the war zone, attacked 81 submarines, escorted 717 single vessels,
participated in 86 convoys, and spent one hundred and fifty days at sea.
There have been mistakes, of course; there have been delays which have
tried the patience not only of the country, but of the Navy Department.
But they were inevitable under the high pressure of affairs as they
suddenly set in when we went to war. But in looking back over the year
and a half of conflict, considering the hundreds of thousands of
soldiers that our navy has conducted in safety across the infested
Atlantic, and the feats which our fighters have performed in action, in
stormy seas, in rescue work and in the long, weary grind of daily
routine, no American has cause for aught but pride in the work our navy
has done.
There has been more than a sixfold increase in naval man power and about
a fourfold increase in the number of ships in service. When present
plans have been carried out--and all projects are proceeding
swiftly--the United States will probably rank second to Britain among
naval Powers of the world. Training facilities have increased on a
stupendous scale; we have now various specialized schools for seamen and
officers; our industrial yards have grown beyond dreams and the
production of ordnance and munitions proceeds on a vast scale, while in
other directions things have been accomplished by the Navy Department
which will not be known until the war is over and the records are open
for all to read.
But in the meantime history has been making and facts have been marked
which give every American pride. Praise from the source of all things
maritime is praise indeed, and what greater commendation--better than
anything that might be spoken or written--could be desired than the
action of Admiral Sir David Beatty, commander-in-chief of the Grand
Fleet, who, receiving a report not so many months ago that the German
High Seas Fleet was out, awarded the post of honor in the consolidated
fleet of British and American war-vessels which went forth to meet the
Germans to a division of American battleships. This chivalrous
compliment on the part of the British commander was no doubt designed as
a signal act of courtesy, but more, it was born of the confidence of a
man who has seen our navy, who had had the most complete opportunities
for studying it and, as a consequence, knew what it could do.
There is nothing of chauvinism in the statement that, so far as the
submarine is concerned, our navy has played a most helpful part in
diminishing its ravages, that our fighting ships have aided very
materially in the marked reduction in sinkings of merchantmen as
compared to the number destroyed in the corresponding period before we
entered the war, and in the no less notable increase in the number of
submarines captured or sunk. These facts have not only been made clear
by official Navy Department statements, but have been attested to by
many British and French Admiralty and Government authorities and naval
commanders.
"You doubtless know," wrote Admiral Sims to the Secretary of the Navy
some time ago, "that all of the Allies here with whom I am associated
are very much impressed by the efforts now being made by the United
States Navy Department to oppose the submarine and protect merchant
shipping. I am very glad to report that our forces are more than coming
up to expectations."
Admiral Sims was modest. Let us quote the message sent by Admiral Sir
Lewis Bayly, commander-in-chief of the British naval forces on the Irish
coast, on the anniversary of the arrival of our first destroyer flotilla
at Queenstown:
"On the anniversary of the arrival of the first United States men-of-war
at Queenstown I wish to express my deep gratitude to the United States
officers and ratings for the skill, energy, and unfailing good nature
which they all have consistently shown and which qualities have so
materially assisted in the war by enabling ships of the Allied Powers to
cross the ocean in comparative freedom. To command you is an honor, to
work with you is a pleasure, to know you is to know the best traits of
the Anglo-Saxon race."
And to Secretary Daniels, Sir Eric Geddes, first lord of the British
Admiralty, wrote in part:
"As you know, we all of us here have great admiration for your officers
and men and for the splendid help they are giving in European waters.
Further, we find Admiral Sims invaluable in counsel and in
co-operation."
American naval aid has been of the greatest help to the British Fleet,
wrote Archibald Hurd, the naval expert, in the _Daily Telegraph_,
London.
"When the war is over," he said, "the nation will form some conception
of the extent of the debt which we owe the American Navy for the manner
in which it has co-operated, not only in connection with the convoy
system, but in fighting the submarines. If the naval position is
improving to-day, as it is, it is due to the fact that the British and
American fleets are working in closest accord, supported by an immense
body of skilled workers on both sides of the Atlantic, who are turning
out destroyers and other crafts for dealing with the submarines as well
as mines and bombs. The Germans can have a battle whenever they want it.
The strength of the Grand Fleet has been well maintained. Some of the
finest battleships of the United States Navy are now associated with it.
They are not only splendid fighting-ships, but they are well officered
and manned."
Here is what Lord Reading, the British Ambassador to the United States
said in the course of an address at the Yale 1918 Commencement:
"Let me say to you on behalf of the British people what a debt of
gratitude we owe to your navy for its co-operation with us. There is no
finer spectacle to be seen at present than that complete and cordial
co-operation which is existing between your fleet and ours. They work as
one. I always think to myself and hope that the co-operation of our
fleets, of our navies, is the harbinger of what is to come in the future
when the war is over, of that which will still continue then.
Magnificent is their work, and I glory always in the thought that an
American admiral has taken charge of the British Fleet and the British
policy, and that when the plans are formed for an attack that American
admiral is given the place of honor in our fleet, because we feel that
it is his due at this moment."
And finally, there is the testimony of Admiral Sir Rosslyn Wemyss, first
sea lord of the British, concerning our effective aid, testimony, by the
way, which enlightens us to some extent upon British and American
methods of co-operation.
"On the broad lines of strategic policy," he said, "complete unanimity
exists. Admiral Benson and Admiral Mayo have both visited us and studied
our naval plans. No officers could have exhibited keener appreciation of
the naval situation. I find it difficult to express the gratitude of the
British service to these officers and to Admiral Sims for the support
they have given us. I am not exaggerating, or camouflaging, to borrow a
word of the moment. Our relations could not be more cordial. The
day-to-day procedure is of the simplest. Every morning I hold conference
with the principal officers of the naval staff, and Admiral Sims is
present as the representative of the United States Fleet, joining freely
in the discussion of the various subjects which arise. I need not add
that I keenly appreciate his help. At sea the same spirit of cordial
co-operation exists--extremely cordial. I should like to say we have,
fortunately, a common language and common traditions, which have done
much to assist us in working together.
"The American officers and men are first-rate. It is impossible to pay
too high a tribute to the manner in which they settled down to this job
of submarine hunting, and to the intelligence, resource, and courage
which they have exhibited. They came on the scene at the opportune
moment. Our men had been in the mill for many weary months. Possibly the
American people, so far removed from the main theatre of the war, can
hardly appreciate what it meant when these American officers and men
crossed the Atlantic. They have been splendid, simply splendid. I have
seen a number of the destroyers and conversed with a large number of
officers. I also have had many reports and am not speaking of the aid
the United States has rendered without full knowledge.
"Not only are the vessels well constructed and the officers and men
thoroughly competent, but the organization is admirable. It was no
slight matter for so many ships to come 3,000 miles across the Atlantic
to fight in European waters. The decision raised several complicated
problems in connection with supplies, but those problems have been
surmounted with success. There has never been anything like it before in
the history of naval warfare, and the development of the steam-engine
has rendered such co-operation more difficult than ever before, because
the modern man-of-war is dependent on a constant stream of supplies of
fuel, stores, food, and other things, and is need of frequent repairs."
In addition to doing signally effective work in hunting down the
submarine, and in protecting ocean commerce, our war-ships have relieved
England and France of the necessity of looking out for raiders and
submarines in South Atlantic waters: we have sent to the Grand Fleet,
among other craft, a squadron of dreadnoughts and superdreadnoughts
whose aggregate gun-power will tell whenever the German sea-fighters
decide to risk battle in the North Sea; war-ships are convoying
transports laden with thousands of men--more than a million and a half
fighting men will be on French and English soil before these words are
read--escorting ocean liners and convoying merchant vessels, while in
divers other ways the navy of this country is playing its dominant part
in the fight against German ruthlessness.
When the Emergency Fleet Corporation announced its programme of building
ships the Navy Department at once began its preparations for providing
armed guards for these vessels as soon as they were commissioned for
transatlantic service. Thousands of men were placed in training for this
purpose and detailed instructions were prepared and issued to the
Shipping Board and to all ship-building companies to enable them to
prepare their vessels while building with gun-emplacements, armed-guard
quarters, and the like, so that when the vessels were completed there
would be as little delay as possible in furnishing them. In all details
relating to the protection of these merchant vessels the navy has played
a most vital part and not least of the laurels accruing to this
department of the government war service for work in the present
struggle have been those won by naval gun crews on cargo-laden ships.
The administrative work in connecting many vessels of this class is a
not inconsiderable of itself. The romance of the armed merchantmen
affords material for many a vivid page, and when in its proper place in
this volume it is set forth somewhat in detail the reader will grasp--if
he has not already done so through perusal of the daily press--the fact
that all the glory of naval service in this war has not resided within
the turrets of the dreadnought nor on the deck of destroyer or
patrol-vessel.
The navy organized and has operated the large transport service required
to take our soldiers overseas. At this writing not a single transport
has been lost on the way to France, and but three have been sunk
returning. Transports bound for France have been attacked by submarines
time and again, and, in fact, our first transport convoy was
unsuccessfully assailed, as has been the case with other convoys
throughout the past twelve months. In the case of the _Tuscania_, sunk
by a torpedo while eastbound with American soldiers, that vessel was
under British convoy, a fact which implies no discredit upon the British
Navy, since it is beyond the powers of human ingenuity so to protect the
ocean lanes as to warrant assurance that a vessel, however well
convoyed, shall be totally immune from the lurking submarine. Again, it
should be remembered, that the British have taken about sixty per cent
of our expeditionary forces across the ocean.