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 Daniel's Report
Naval scientists learned much as a result of this war, but contrary to
popular theory the events of the four and a half years strengthened
belief in the battleship as the deciding element in sea power. The
submarine was frightful, and did a vast amount of harm, but not so much
as one might think. Against surface fighters it was not remarkably
effective; indeed the war proved that the submarine's only good chance
against a battleship or cruiser was to lurk along some lane which the
big surface craft was known to be following, and strike her quickly in
the dark. Within effective torpedo range a periscope, day or night, is
visible to keen-eyed watchers, and all told not a dozen British and
American sea fighters, of whatever class, were sunk as a result of
submarine attack.
In the battle of Heligoland Bight early in the war, as a matter of fact,
a squadron of British battleships passed right through a nest of
submarines and were not harmed. The most spectacular submarine success,
the sinking of the three fine cruisers, _Aboukir_ and _Cressy_ and
_Hawke_, was the result of an attack delivered upon unsuspecting craft,
which were lying at anchor, or at all events under deliberate headway.
The American Navy, as already pointed out, lost the _Jacob Jones_, a
destroyer, the coast cutter _Tampa_, and the _Alcedo_, together with one
or two smaller craft, but that is all.
It will surprise many when the statement is made that, of all the
Atlantic convoys, east or west bound, in the four years of the war,
aggregating a gross tonnage of some eighty-odd millions, only 654,288
tons were lost through submarine attack, considerably less than 1 per
cent of the total tonnage crossing the war zone during the war--0.83 per
cent, to be exact. Here are some specific figures:
Atlantic convoys between July 26, 1917, and October 15, 1918, a total of
1,027 convoys, comprising 14,968 ships east and west bound, were carried
with a loss of 118 ships--0.79 of 1 per cent.
For all seas, 85,772 vessels, 433 lost--0.51 per cent.
It really boils down to the fact that the greatest feat of the submarine
was in its success in _slowing up oversea freight traffic and in keeping
neutral freighters in port_. In this respect the submarine most
certainly was dangerously pernicious. But as a positive agency, as said,
the undersea craft was not a decisive factor in the war.
All of which, most naturally, is a graphic commentary upon the
inadequacy of the submarine as a check to the manifestations of sea
power. In truth, there is a vast deal of popular misconception about the
submarine, a name which is really a misnomer. The French are more
precise in their term, a submersible; for, as a matter of fact, the
submarine, or submersible, is in essence a surface craft which is able
to descend beneath the water, proceeding thus for a limited time.
The amount of time which a submersible may run beneath the waves depends
upon her speed. The best of the German undersea boats, it has been
estimated, could not remain under more than three hours at high speed.
They then had to come up, as the navy saying has it, for "more juice."
To be more explicit, a submersible has a mechanical process, a
combination motor and dynamo between the engine, which drives the boat
when it is on the surface, and the thrust block through which the shaft
runs to the propeller. This motor-dynamo, serving as a motor, drives the
boat when she is beneath the water. When the electric power is exhausted
the boat comes to the surface, the motor is disconnected from the shaft
and is run as a dynamo generating power. Twelve hours are required in
which to produce the amount of electricity required for use when the
vessel next submerges. Thus, a great proportion of the time the
submarine is a surface craft.
Again, there are important defects in the lead battery system, which was
generally used in the war. First of all, they are very heavy, and
secondly the sulphuric acid in the containers is liable to escape--in
fact, does escape--when the boat rolls heavily. Sulphuric acid mingling
with salt water in the bilges produces a chlorine gas, which, as every
one knows, is most deadly. Not only this: the acid eats out the steel
plates of a hull.
There is talk of using dry batteries, but these are heavy, too, and
there are evils arising from their use which have made the lead
batteries, objectionable though they may be, preferable in a great
majority of cases. The British have a type of submersible propelled on
the surface by steam.
The Peace Conference at this writing is talking of the advisability of
eliminating the submarine as a weapon of war. Whether by the time this
is read such action will have been taken, the fact remains that before
the submarine could hope to approach in formidability the surface
fighter, she will have to experience a development which at the present
time has not been attained. The vital need seems to be a single
propulsive agency for progress on the surface and when submerged.
An interesting table showing the success of the convoy system is
herewith presented:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
| Convoy Atlantic convoys |No. of |No. of mer-|Losses in| P.C. |
| Homeward |convoys|chant ships| convoy | |
|-----------------------------|-------|-----------|---------|--------|
| North Atlantic | 306 | 5,416 | 40 | 0.74 |
| Gibraltar | 133 | 1,979 | 30 | 1.5 |
| West African ports | 105 | 944 | 6 | 0.64 |
| Rio de Janeiro | 22 | 307 | 1 | 0.32 |
| | ----- | --------- | ------- | ------ |
| Total | 566 | 8,646 | 77 | 0.89 |
| | | | | |
| Outward | | | | |
| Various sailings from | | | | |
| British ports | 508 | 7,110 | 45 | 0.63 |
| | | | | |
| Other convoys | | | | |
| Scandinavian (old system) | ... | 6,475 | 75 | 1.15 |
| Scandinavian (new system) | ... | 3,923 | 16 | 0.41 |
| French coal trade | ... | 37,221 | 53 | 0.14 |
| Local Mediterranean | ... | 10,275 | 127 | 1.24 |
| East Coast | ... | 12,122 | 40 | 0.33 |
| | ----- | --------- | ------- | ------ |
| Grand total | ... | 85,772 | 433 | 0.51 |
|====================================================================|
| STATEMENT OF SHIPS IN ORGANIZED ATLANTIC CONVOYS |
| July 26, 1917-October 5, 1918 |
| SHIPS |
|--------------------------------------------------------------------|
| | Homeward | Outward | Total |
| | bound | bound | |
|-----------------------------|-----------|-----------|--------------|
| Convoys | 539 | 488 | 1,027 |
| Ships convoyed | 8,194 | 6,774 | 14,968 |
| Casualties | 74 | 44 | 118 |
| Per cent of casualties | 0.9 | 0.65 | 0.79 |
|====================================================================|
| TONNAGES |
|--------------------------------------------------------------------|
| | (GROSS DEADWEIGHT) |
| |--------------------------------------|
| | Homeward | Outward | Total |
| | bound | bound | |
|-----------------------------|-----------|-----------|--------------|
| Convoyed | 59,062,200| 47,491,950| 106,554,150 |
| Lost | 510,600| 378,100| 888,700 |
| Per cent of losses | 0.86| 0.8| 0.83 |
| |--------------------------------------|
| | (GROSS TONNAGE) |
| |--------------------------------------|
| Convoyed | 43,196,740| 33,860,491| 77,057,231 |
| Lost | 364,842| 289,446| 654,288 |
| Per cent of losses | 0.84| 0.85| 0.85 |
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Fifteen cargo ships with a deadweight tonnage of 103,692, were lost
during 1918 by the Naval Overseas Transportation Service. The removal of
the ban of secrecy, vital during the war as a protection to vessels and
their crews, discloses that 6 ships, aggregating 42,627 tons, were
destroyed by enemy activity, 5 vessels, representing a tonnage of 44,071
tons, were sunk in collisions, and 4 vessels, totalling 16,994 tons,
were destroyed by fire and explosion. Seventy-two ships were originally
assigned to this service late in 1917, and when the armistice was
signed, November 11, 1918, the cargo fleet numbered 453 vessels,
including 106 ships ready to be taken over.
Crews of naval cargo ships faced many perils, including the menace of an
unseen foe, the danger of collision, and the liability to death by
accidents from inflammable cargoes.
Not only were these crews confronted with the normal perils of the sea,
says the report, but they faced destruction from torpedo, collision, and
other unforeseen accidents that might cause fire in inflammable cargoes.
It took brave men to steam week in and week out through submarine and
mine infested waters at eight knots an hour in a ship loaded with
several thousand tons of depth charges, TNT, or poison gas, not knowing
what minute the entire vessel was going to be blown to matchwood.
It is on record that a convoy of fifty ships from New York was
disintegrated by a violent storm in mid-Atlantic, and that only two of
the number reached France under convoy. "Every ship for herself," the
forty-eight others by luck, pluck, and constant vigil, all finally
dropped their anchors in the protected harbors of their destination.
The value of a cargo ship is realized when it is known that under
existing war conditions each ship cost to operate $100 every hour. Good,
bad, and indifferent ships, old or new, fast or slow, were transformed
into serviceable craft. The personnel of the Naval Overseas
Transportation Service at the time of the armistice included 5,000
officers and 45,000 enlisted men.
The world has been so deeply occupied with figures and facts relating to
the havoc by the German submarine that little thought has been centred
upon the work of the Allied submersibles. Yet in the way of accounting
for war-ships one may fancy that they rivalled the Teutonic craft.
Details may be given of the part which British submarines played during
the war. This service destroyed 2 battleships, 2 armed cruisers, 2 light
cruisers, 7 destroyers, 5 gunboats, 20 submarines, and 5 armed auxiliary
vessels. In addition 3 battleships and 1 light cruiser were torpedoed,
but reached port badly damaged. One Zeppelin also got back to port badly
damaged after having been attacked by a submarine.
Other enemy craft destroyed by British submarines were 14 transports, 6
ammunition and supply ships, 2 store ships, 53 steamships, and 197
sailing ships. In no case was a merchant ship sunk at sight. Care was
taken to see that the crews of all vessels got safely away.
In addition to carrying out their attacks on enemy war-craft, the
submarines played an important part in convoy work. In the third year of
the war one of the British submarine commanders carried out 24 cruises,
totalling 22,000 miles, which probably constitutes a record for any
submarine. In the first and second years of the war 7 British submarine
commanders carried out a total of 120 cruises, extending for 350 days,
all of which were actually spent in the enemy theatre.
Our submarines, too, acquitted themselves nobly on the other side, and
when the story of the navy's activities is finally presented by Mr.
Daniels, we shall have in our possession details not now to be printed.
We may, however, say that battles, submarine against submarine, have not
been unknown in the war zone; the fact that in addition to moving ahead
or astern the submarine has also the power of dodging up and down
complicated these fights in many interesting ways.
There has been, too, a great deal of misapprehension concerning the
relative showing of the United States and Great Britain in conveying our
soldiers to the theatre of war. At one time in the war, it is true, the
British were carrying considerably more than half of our soldiers, but
in the latter stages our transport service made gigantic strides, so
that now the total of percentages is such as to enlist our pride.
According to figures issued from the office of Admiral Gleaves, in
charge of oversea transport for our navy, of the 2,079,880 American
troops transported overseas, 46-1/2 per cent were carried in _American
ships, manned by Americans_; 48-1/2 per cent in British vessels, and the
small balance in French and Italian craft. Of the total strength of the
naval escort guarding these convoys the _United States furnished 82-3/4
per cent_, Great Britain 14-1/2 per cent, and France 2-1/8 per cent.
Figures giving some idea of the records attained by convoys carrying our
soldiers may now be presented, and they are immensely interesting. In
the three months of July, August, and September of 1918, 7 American
soldiers with equipment arrived every minute of the day and night in
England or France. The banner month was July, when 317,000 American
soldiers were safely landed. In September, 311,219 American troops,
4,000 American sailors, and 5,000 Canadians were successfully
transported across the Atlantic. The largest single convoy of this month
carried to France 31,108, and to England 28,873. Of the troops
transported in this month American vessels carried 121,547; British
vessels 175,721, and French 13,951.
All in all, in patrol, in convoy duty, in actual combat, our navy in the
war accomplished with utter precision a stupendous task, a task of
multifarious phases--all performed in that clean-cut, vigorous,
courageous, painstaking, large-minded way which we, throughout ail the
years, have been proud to regard as typical of the American Navy.
SECRETARY DANIELS'S REPORT OF THE ACTIVITIES OF THE NAVY IN THE WAR[1]
[Footnote 1: Josephus Daniels, Secretary of the Navy, issued an official
report on December 8, 1918, in which he presented the following full
account of the work of the navy during the war.]
The operations of our navy during the world war have covered the widest
scope in its history. Our naval forces have operated in European waters
from the Mediterranean to the White Sea. At Corfu, Gibraltar, along the
French Bay of Biscay ports, at the English Channel ports, on the Irish
Coast, in the North Sea, at Murmansk and Archangel our naval forces have
been stationed and have done creditable work. Their performance will
probably form the most interesting and exciting portion of the naval
history of this war, and it is the duty which has been most eagerly
sought by all of the personnel, but owing to the character of the
operations which our navy has been called upon to take part in it has
not been possible for all of our naval forces, much as they desired it,
to engage in operations at the front, and a large part of our work has
been conducted quietly, but none the less effectively, in other areas.
This service, while not so brilliant, has still been necessary, and
without it our forces at the front could not have carried on the
successful campaign that they did.
Naval men have served on nearly 2,000 craft that plied the waters, on
submarines, and in aviation, where men of vision and courage prevent
surprise attacks and fight with new-found weapons. On the land, marines
and sailors have helped to hold strategic points, regiments of marines
have shared with the army their part of the hard-won victory, and a
wonderfully trained gun crew of sailors has manned the monster 14-inch
guns which marked a new departure in land warfare.
In diplomacy, in investigation at home and in all parts of the world by
naval officers and civilian agents, in protecting plants and labor from
spies and enemies, in promoting new industrial organizations and
enlarging older ones to meet war needs, in stimulating production of
needed naval craft--these are some of the outstanding operations which
mark the heroic year of accomplishment.
FIGHTING CRAFT
The employment of the fighting craft of the navy may be summed up as
follows:
1. Escorting troop and cargo convoys and other special vessels.
2. Carrying out offensive and defensive measures against enemy
submarines in the Western Atlantic.
3. Assignment to duty and the despatch abroad of naval vessels for
operations in the war zone in conjunction with the naval forces of our
allies.
4. Assignment to duty and operation of naval vessels to increase the
force in home waters. Despatch abroad of miscellaneous craft for the
army.
5. Protection of these craft en route.
6. Protection of vessels engaged in coastwise trade.
7. Salvaging and assisting vessels in distress, whether from maritime
causes or from the operations of the enemy.
8. Protection of oil supplies from the Gulf.
In order to carry out successfully and speedily all these duties large
increases in personnel, in ships of all classes and in the
instrumentalities needed for their production and service were demanded.
Briefly, then, it may be stated that on the day war was declared the
enlistment and enrollment of the navy numbered 65,777 men. On the day
Germany signed the armistice it had increased to 497,030 men and women,
for it became necessary to enroll capable and patriotic women as yeomen
to meet the sudden expansion and enlarged duties imposed by war
conditions. This expansion has been progressive. In 1912 there were
3,094 officers and 47,515 enlisted men; by July 1, 1916, the number had
grown to 4,293 officers and 54,234 enlisted men, and again in that year
to 68,700 in all. In granting the increase Congress authorized the
President in his discretion to augment that force to 87,800. Immediately
on the outbreak of the war the navy was recruited to that strength, but
it was found that under the provisions of our laws there were not
sufficient officers in the upper grades of the navy to do the war work.
At the same time the lessons of the war showed it was impossible to have
the combatant ships of the navy ready for instant war service unless the
ships had their full personnel on board and that personnel was highly
trained.
In addition to this permanent strength recourse was had to the
development of the existing reserves and to the creation of a new force.
NAVAL VOLUNTEERS
Up to 1913 the only organization that made any pretense of training men
for the navy was the Naval Militia, and that was under State control,
with practically no Federal supervision. As the militia seemed to offer
the only means of producing a trained reserve, steps were at once taken
to put it on a sound basis, and on February 16, 1914, a real Naval
Militia under Federal control was created, provision being made for its
organization and training in peace, as well as its utilization in war.
As with all organized militia, the Naval Militia, even with the law of
1914, could not, under the Constitution, be called into service as such
except for limited duties, such as to repel invasion. It could not be
used outside the territorial limits of the United States. It is evident,
then, that with such restrictions militia could hardly meet the
requirements of the navy in a foreign war, and to overcome this
difficulty the "National Naval Volunteers" were created in August, 1916.
Under this act members of Naval Militia organizations were authorized to
volunteer for "any emergency," of which emergency the President was to
be the judge. Other laws included the same measure, provided for a
reserve force, for the automatic increase of officer personnel in each
corps to correspond with increases in enlisted men, and for the Naval
Flying Corps, special engineering officers, and the Naval Dental and
Dental Reserve Corps. It also provided for taking over the lighthouse
and other departmental divisions by the navy in time of war. Briefly,
then, on July 1, 1917, three months after the declaration of war, the
number of officers had increased to 8,038--4,694 regulars, 3,344
reserves--and the number of enlisted men to 171,133--128,666 regulars,
32,379 reserves, 10,088 National Naval Volunteers. The increase since
that time is as follows:
April 1, 1918 Officers Men
Regular Navy
Permanent 5,441 198,224
Temporary 2,519 .......
Reserves 10,625 85,475
Total 18,585 283,699
November 9, 1918
Permanent 5,656 206,684
Temporary 4,833 .......
Reserves 21,985 290,346
Total 32,474 497,030
THE NAVY THAT FLIES
The expansion of aviation in the navy has been of gratifying proportions
and effectiveness. On July 1, 1917, naval aviation was still in its
infancy. At that time there were only 45 naval aviators. There were
officers of the navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard who had been given
special training in and were attached to aviation. There were
approximately 200 student officers under training, and about 1,250
enlisted men attached to the Aviation Service. These enlisted men were
assigned to the three naval air stations in this country then in
commission. Pensacola, Fla., had about 1,000 men, Bay Shore, Long
Island, N.Y., had about 100, and Squantum, Mass., which was abandoned in
the fall of 1917, had about 150 men. On July 1, 1918, there were 823
naval aviators, approximately 2,052 student officers, and 400 ground
officers attached to naval aviation. In addition, there were more than
7,300 trained mechanics, and more than 5,400 mechanics in training. The
total enlisted and commissioned personnel at this time was about 30,000.
THE SHIPS
On the day war was declared 197 ships were in commission. To-day there
are 2,003. In addition to furnishing all these ships with trained
officers and men, the duty of supplying crews and officers of the
growing merchant marine was undertaken by the navy. There has not been a
day when the demand for men for these ships has not been supplied--how
fit they were all the world attests--and after manning the merchant
ships there has not been a time when provision was not made for the
constantly increasing number of ships taken over by the navy.
During the year the energy available for new construction was
concentrated mainly upon vessels to deal with the submarine menace.
Three hundred and fifty-five of the 110-foot wooden submarine chasers
were completed during the year. Fifty of these were taken over by France
and 50 more for France were ordered during the year and have been
completed since July 1, 1918. Forty-two more were ordered about the end
of the fiscal year, delivery to begin in November and be completed in
January.
Extraordinary measures were taken with reference to destroyers. By the
summer of 1917 destroyer orders had been placed which not only absorbed
all available capacity for more than a year, but required a material
expansion of existing facilities. There were under construction, or on
order, in round figures, 100 of the thirty-five-knot type.
During the year, including orders placed at navy yards, the following
have been contracted for: Four battleships, 1 battle cruiser, 2 fuel
ships, 1 transport, 1 gunboat, 1 ammunition ship, 223 destroyers, 58
submarines, 112 fabricated patrol vessels (including 12 for the Italian
Government), 92 submarine chasers (including 50 for the French
Government), 51 mine-sweepers, 25 seagoing tugs and 46 harbor tugs,
besides a large number of lighters, barges, and other auxiliary harbor
craft. In addition to this, contracts have been placed for 12 large fuel
ships in conjunction with the Emergency Fleet Corporation.
Ships launched during the year and up to October 1, 1918, include 1
gunboat, 93 destroyers, 29 submarines, 26 mine-sweepers, 4 fabricated
patrol vessels, and 2 seagoing tugs. It is noteworthy that in the first
nine months of 1918 there were launched no less than 83 destroyers of
98,281 tons aggregate normal displacement, as compared with 62
destroyers of 58,285 tons during the entire nine years next preceding
January 1, 1918.
There have been added to the navy during the fiscal year and including
the three months up to October 1, 1918, 2 battleships, 36 destroyers, 28
submarines, 355 submarine chasers, 13 mine-sweepers and 2 seagoing tugs.
There have also been added to the operating naval forces by purchase,
charter, etc., many hundred vessels of commercial type, including all
classes from former German transatlantic liners to harbor tugboats and
motorboats for auxiliary purposes.
Last year the construction of capital ships and large vessels generally
had been to some extent suspended. Work continued upon vessels which had
already made material progress toward completion, but was practically
suspended upon those which had just been begun, or whose keels had not
yet been laid. The act of July 1, 1918, required work to be actually
begun upon the remaining vessels of the three-year programme within a
year. This has all been planned and no difficulty in complying with the
requirements of the act and pushing rapidly the construction of the
vessels in question is anticipated. Advantage has been taken of the
delay to introduce into the designs of the vessels which had not been
laid down numerous improvements based upon war experience.
WORK OVERSEAS
War was declared on April 6, 1917. On the 4th of May a division of
destroyers was in European waters. By January 1, 1918, there were 113
United States naval ships across, and in October, 1918, the total had
reached 338 ships of all classes. At the present time there are 5,000
officers and 70,000 enlisted men of the navy serving in Europe, this
total being greater than the full strength of the navy when the United
States entered the war. The destroyers upon their first arrival were
based on Queenstown, which has been the base of the operations of these
best fighters of the submarines during the war. Every facility possible
was provided for the comfort and recreation of the officers and men
engaged in this most rigorous service.
During July and August, 1918, 3,444,012 tons of shipping were escorted
to and from France by American escort vessels; of the above amount
1,577,735 tons were escorted in and 1,864,677 tons were escorted out of
French ports. Of the tonnage escorted into French ports during this time
only 16,988 tons, or .009 per cent, were lost through enemy action, and
of the tonnage escorted out from French ports only 27,858, or .013 per
cent, were lost through the same cause. During the same period, July and
August of this year, 259,604 American troops were escorted to France by
United States escort vessels without the loss of a single man through
enemy action. The particulars in the above paragraph refer to United
States naval forces operating in the war zone from French ports.
During the same time--July and August--destroyers based on British ports
supplied 75 per cent of the escorts for 318 ships, totalling 2,752,908
tons, and including the escort of vessels carrying 137,283 United States
troops. The destroyers on this duty were at sea an average of 67 per
cent of the time, and were under way for a period of about 16,000 hours,
steaming approximately an aggregate of 260,000 miles. There were no
losses due to enemy action.
The history of the convoy operations in which our naval forces have
taken part, due to which we have been able so successfully to transport
such a large number of our military forces abroad, and so many supplies
for the army, is a chapter in itself. It is probably our major operation
in this war, and will in the future stand as a monument to both the army
and the navy as the greatest and most difficult troop transporting
effort which has ever been conducted across seas.
(The Secretary says the convoy system was "suggested by President
Wilson." He continues:)
This entire force, under command of Rear-Admiral Albert Gleaves, whose
ability and resource have been tested and established in this great
service in co-operation with the destroyer flotilla operating abroad,
has developed an anti-submarine convoy and escort system the results of
which have surpassed even the most sanguine expectations.
TROOPS CARRIED OVERSEAS
American and British ships have carried over 2,000,000 American troops
overseas. The United States did not possess enough ships to carry over
our troops as rapidly as they were ready to sail or as quickly as they
were needed in France. Great Britain furnished, under contract with the
War Department, many ships and safely transported many American troops,
the numbers having increased greatly in the spring and summer. A few
troops were carried over by other allied ships. The actual number
transported in British ships was more than a million.
Up to November 1, 1918, of the total number of United States troops in
Europe, 924,578 made passage in United States naval convoys under escort
of United States cruisers and destroyers. Since November 1, 1917, there
have been 289 sailings of naval transports from American ports. In these
operations of the cruiser and transport force of the Atlantic fleet not
one eastbound American transport has been torpedoed or damaged by the
enemy and only three were sunk on the return voyage.
Our destroyers and patrol vessels, in addition to convoy duty, have
waged an unceasing offensive warfare against the submarines. In spite of
all this, our naval losses have been gratifyingly small. Only three
American troopships--the _Antilles_, the _President Lincoln_, and the
_Covington_--were sunk on the return voyage. Only three fighting ships
have been lost as a result of enemy action--the patrol ship _Alcedo_, a
converted yacht, sunk off the coast of France November 5, 1917; the
torpedoboat destroyer _Jacob Jones_, sunk off the British coast December
6, 1917, and the cruiser _San Diego_, sunk near Fire Island, off the New
York coast, on July 19, 1918, by striking a mine supposedly set adrift
by a German submarine. The transport _Finland_ and the destroyer
_Cassin_, which were torpedoed, reached port and were soon repaired and
placed back in service. The transport _Mount Vernon_, struck by a
torpedo on September 5 last, proceeded to port under its own steam and
was repaired. The most serious loss of life due to enemy activity was
the loss of the Coast Guard cutter _Tampa_, with all on board, in
Bristol Channel, England, on the night of September 26, 1918. The
_Tampa_, which was doing escort duty, had gone ahead of the convoy.
Vessels following heard an explosion, but when they reached the vicinity
there were only bits of floating wreckage to show where the ship had
gone down. Not one of the 111 officers and men of her crew was rescued,
and, though it is believed she was sunk by a torpedo from an enemy
submarine, the exact manner in which the vessel met its fate may never
be known.
OTHER POINTS SUMMARIZED
Secretary Daniels records many other achievements of ships and
personnel, including those of the naval overseas transportation service.
Of the latter he says in substance:
In ten months the transportation service grew from 10 ships to a fleet
of 321 cargo-carrying ships, aggregating a deadweight tonnage of
2,800,000, and numerically equalling the combined Cunard,
Hamburg-American, and North German Lloyd lines at the outbreak of the
war. Of this number 227 ships were mainly in operation.
From the Emergency Fleet Corporation the navy has taken over for
operation 94 new vessels, aggregating 700,000 deadweight tons. On March
21, 1918, by order of the President 101 Dutch merchant vessels were
taken over by the Navy Department pending their allocation to the
various vital trades of this country, and 26 of these vessels are now a
part of the naval overseas fleet. This vast fleet of cargo vessels has
been officered and manned through enrollment of the seagoing personnel
of the American merchant marine, officers and men of the United States
Navy, and the assignment after training of graduates of technical
schools and training schools, developed by the navy since the United
States entered the war.
There are required for the operation of this fleet at the present time
5,000 officers and 29,000 enlisted men, and adequate arrangements for
future needs of personnel have been provided. The navy has risen to the
exacting demands imposed upon it by the war, and it will certainly be a
source of pride to the American people to know that within ten months of
the time that this new force was created, in spite of the many obstacles
in the way of its accomplishment, an American naval vessel, manned by an
American naval crew, left an American port on the average of every five
hours, carrying subsistence and equipment so vital to the American
Expeditionary Force.
One of the agencies adopted during the war for more efficient naval
administration is the organization and development of naval districts.
Secretary Daniels, in other passages of the foregoing report, declares
that the record made abroad by the United States Navy, in co-operation
with the navies of Great Britain, France, Italy, and Japan, is without
precedent in allied warfare. He pays a high tribute to the efficiency of
Admiral Sims, Commander-in-Chief of American naval forces in European
waters; of Rear-Admiral Rodman, in command of the American battleships
with the British fleet; of Vice-Admiral Wilson, in France; Rear-Admiral
Niblack, in the Mediterranean; of Rear-Admiral Dunn, in the Azores; of
Rear-Admiral Strauss, in charge of mining operations, and other officers
in charge of various special activities.
The report tells of notable achievements in ordnance, especially the
work of the 14-inch naval guns on railway mounts on the western front,
which hurled shells far behind the German lines, these mounts being
designed and completed in four months. The land battery of these naval
guns was manned exclusively by bluejackets under command of Rear-Admiral
C. P. Plunkett. The work of the Bureau of Ordnance is praised, and
Admiral Earle, the Chief of the bureau, is declared "one of the ablest
and fittest officers."
An account is given of the mine barrage in the North Sea, one of the
outstanding anti-submarine offensive projects of the year, thus closing
the North Sea, and for which 100,000 mines were manufactured and 85,000
shipped abroad. A special mine-loading plant, with a capacity of more
than 1,000 mines a day, was established by the Navy Department.
A star shell was developed which, when fired in the vicinity of an enemy
fleet, would light it up, make ships visible, and render them easy
targets without disclosing the position of our own ships at night.
The Bureau of Ordnance, under the direction of Rear-Admiral Earle, is
stated to have met and conquered the critical shortage of high
explosives which threatened to prolong the time of preparation necessary
for America to smash the German military forces; this was done by the
invention of TNX, a high explosive, to take the place of TNT, the change
being sufficient to increase the available supply of explosives in this
country to some 30,000,000 pounds.
In the future, it is stated, American dreadnoughts and battle cruisers
will be armed with 16-inch guns, making these the heaviest armed vessels
in the world.
Depth-charges are stated to be the most effective antisubmarine weapons.
American vessels were adequately armed with this new weapon.
A new type was developed and a new gun, known as the "Y" gun, was
designed and built especially for firing depth-charges.
THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE MARINE CORPS
BY JOSEPHUS DANIELS
SECRETARY OF THE NAVY
The United States Marine Corps, the efficient fighting, building, and
landing force of the navy, has won imperishable glory in the fulfilment
of its latest duties upon the battlefields of France, where the marines,
fighting for the time under General Pershing as a part of the victorious
American Army, have written a story of valor and sacrifice that will
live in the brightest annals of the war. With heroism that nothing could
daunt, the Marine Corps played a vital role in stemming the German rush
on Paris, and in later days aided in the beginning of the great
offensive, the freeing of Rheims, and participated in the hard fighting
in Champagne, which had as its object the throwing back of the Prussian
armies in the vicinity of Cambrai and St. Quentin.
With only 8,000 men engaged in the fiercest battles, the Marine Corps
casualties numbered 69 officers and 1,531 enlisted men dead and 78
officers and 2,435 enlisted men wounded seriously enough to be
officially reported by cablegram, to which number should be added not a
few whose wounds did not incapacitate them for further fighting.
However, with a casualty list that numbers nearly half the original
8,000 men who entered battle, the official reports account for only 57
United States marines who have been captured by the enemy. This includes
those who were wounded far in advance of their lines and who fell into
the hands of Germans while unable to resist.
Memorial Day shall henceforth have a greater, deeper significance for
America, for it was on that day, May 30, 1918, that our country really
received its first call to battle--the battle in which American troops
had the honor of stopping the German drive on Paris, throwing back the
Prussian hordes in attack after attack, and beginning the retreat which
lasted until imperial Germany was beaten to its knees and its emissaries
appealing for an armistice under the flag of truce. And to the United
States marines, fighting side by side with equally brave and equally
courageous men in the American Army, to that faithful sea and land force
of the navy, fell the honor of taking over the lines where the blow of
the Prussian would strike the hardest, the line that was nearest Paris
and where, should a breach occur, all would be lost.
The world knows to-day that the United States marines held that line;
that they blocked the advance that was rolling on toward Paris at a rate
of six or seven miles a day; that they met the attack in American
fashion and with American heroism; that marines and soldiers of the
American Army threw back the crack guard divisions of Germany, broke
their advance, and then, attacking, drove them back in the beginning of
a retreat that was not to end until the "cease firing" signal sounded
for the end of the world's greatest war.
ADVANCING TO BATTLE
Having reached their destination early on the morning of June 2, they
disembarked, stiff and tired after a journey of more than seventy-two
miles, but as they formed their lines and marched onward in the
direction of the line they were to hold they were determined and
cheerful. That evening the first field message from the 4th Brigade to
Major-General Omar Bundy, commanding the 2d Division, went forward:
Second Battalion, 6th Marines, in line from Le Thiolet through
Clarembauts Woods to Triangle to Lucy. Instructed to hold line. First
Battalion, 6th Marines, going into line from Lucy through Hill 142.
Third Battalion in support at La Voie du Chatel, which is also the post
command of the 6th Marines. Sixth Machine Gun Battalion distributed at
line.
Meanwhile the 5th Regiment was moving into line, machine guns were
advancing, and the artillery taking its position. That night the men and
officers of the marines slept in the open, many of them in a field that
was green with unharvested wheat, awaiting the time when they should be
summoned to battle. The next day at 5 o'clock, the afternoon of June 2,
began the battle of Château-Thierry, with the Americans holding the line
against the most vicious wedge of the German advance.
BATTLE OF CHATEÂU-THIERRY
The advance of the Germans was across a wheat field driving at Hill 165
and advancing in smooth columns. The United States marines, trained to
keen observation upon the rifle range, nearly every one of them wearing
a marksman's medal or, better, that of the sharpshooter or expert
rifleman, did not wait for those gray-clad hordes to advance nearer.
Calmly they set their sights and aimed with the same precision that they
had shown upon the rifle ranges at Paris Island, Mare Island, and
Quantico. Incessantly their rifles cracked, and with their fire came the
support of the artillery. The machine-gun fire, incessant also, began to
make its inroads upon the advancing forces. Closer and closer the
shrapnel burst to its targets. Caught in a seething wave of machine-gun
fire, of scattering shrapnel, of accurate rifle fire, the Germans found
themselves in a position in which further advance could only mean
absolute suicide. The lines hesitated. They stopped. They broke for
cover, while the marines raked the woods and ravines in which they had
taken refuge with machine-gun and rifle to prevent their making another
attempt to advance by infiltrating through.
Above, a French airplane was checking up on the artillery fire.
Surprised by the fact that men should deliberately set their sights,
adjust their range, and then fire deliberately at an advancing foe, each
man picking his target, instead of firing merely in the direction of the
enemy, the aviator signalled below: "Bravo!" In the rear that word was
echoed again and again. The German drive on Paris had been stopped.
IN BELLEAU WOOD
For the next few days the fighting took on the character of pushing
forth outposts and determining the strength of the enemy. Now, the
fighting had changed. The Germans, mystified that they should have run
against a stone wall of defense just when they believed that their
advance would be easiest, had halted, amazed; then prepared to defend
the positions they had won with all the stubbornness possible. In the
black recesses of Belleau Wood the Germans had established nest after
nest of machine guns. There in the jungle of matted underbrush, of
vines, of heavy foliage, they had placed themselves in positions they
believed impregnable. And this meant that unless they could be routed,
unless they could be thrown back, the breaking of the attack of June 2
would mean nothing. There would come another drive and another. The
battle of Château-Thierry was therefore not won and could not be won
until Belleau Wood had been cleared of the enemy.
It was June 6 that the attack of the American troops began against that
wood and its adjacent surroundings, with the wood itself and the towns
of Torcy and Bouresches forming the objectives. At 5 o'clock the attack
came, and there began the tremendous sacrifices which the Marine Corps
gladly suffered that the German fighters might be thrown back.
FOUGHT IN AMERICAN FASHION
The marines fought strictly according to American methods--a rush, a
halt, a rush again, in four-wave formation, the rear waves taking over
the work of those who had fallen before them, passing over the bodies of
their dead comrades and plunging ahead, until they, too, should be torn
to bits. But behind those waves were more waves, and the attack went on.
"Men fell like flies," the expression is that of an officer writing from
the field. Companies that had entered the battle 250 strong dwindled to
50 and 60, with a Sergeant in command; but the attack did not falter. At
9.45 o'clock that night Bouresches was taken by Lieutenant James F.
Robertson and twenty-odd men of his platoon; these soon were joined by
two reinforcing platoons. Then came the enemy counter-attacks, but the
marines held.
In Belleau Wood the fighting had been literally from tree to tree,
stronghold to stronghold; and it was a fight which must last for weeks
before its accomplishment in victory. Belleau Wood was a jungle, its
every rocky formation containing a German machine-gun nest, almost
impossible to reach by artillery or grenade fire. There was only one way
to wipe out these nests--by the bayonet. And by this method were they
wiped out, for United States marines, bare-chested, shouting their
battle-cry of "E-e-e-e-e y-a-a-h-h-h yip!" charged straight into the
murderous fire from those guns, and won!
Out of the number that charged, in more than one instance, only one
would reach the stronghold. There, with his bayonet as his only weapon,
he would either kill or capture the defenders of the nest, and then
swinging the gun about in its position, turn it against the remaining
German positions in the forest. Such was the character of the fighting
in Belleau Wood; fighting which continued until July 6, when after a
short relief the invincible Americans finally were taken back to the
rest billet for recuperation.
HELD THE LINE FOR DAYS
In all the history of the Marine Corps there is no such battle as that
one in Belleau Wood. Fighting day and night without relief, without
sleep, often without water, and for days without hot rations, the
marines met and defeated the best divisions that Germany could throw
into the line.
The heroism and doggedness of that battle are unparalleled. Time after
time officers seeing their lines cut to pieces, seeing their men so
dog-tired that they even fell asleep under shellfire, hearing their
wounded calling for the water they were unable to supply, seeing men
fight on after they had been wounded and until they dropped unconscious;
time after time officers seeing these things, believing that the very
limit of human endurance had been reached, would send back messages to
their post command that their men were exhausted. But in answer to this
would come the word that the line must hold, and, if possible, those
lines must attack. And the lines obeyed. Without water, without food,
without rest, they went forward--and forward every time to victory.
Companies had been so torn and lacerated by losses that they were hardly
platoons, but they held their lines and advanced them. In more than one
case companies lost every officer, leaving a Sergeant and sometimes a
Corporal to command, and the advance continued.
After thirteen days in this inferno of fire a captured German officer
told with his dying breath of a fresh division of Germans that was about
to be thrown into the battle to attempt to wrest from the marines that
part of the wood they had gained. The marines, who for days had been
fighting only on their sheer nerve, who had been worn out from nights of
sleeplessness, from lack of rations, from terrific shell and machine-gun
fire, straightened their lines and prepared for the attack. It came--as
the dying German officer had predicted.
At 2 o'clock on the morning of June 13 it was launched by the Germans
along the whole front. Without regard for men, the enemy hurled his
forces against Bouresches and the Bois de Belleau, and sought to win
back what had been taken from Germany by the Americans. The orders were
that these positions must be taken at all costs; that the utmost losses
in men must be endured that the Bois de Belleau and Bouresches might
fall again into German hands. But the depleted lines of the marines
held; the men who had fought on their nerve alone for days once more
showed the mettle of which they were made. With their backs to the trees
and boulders of the Bois de Belleau, with their sole shelter the
scattered ruins of Bouresches, the thinning lines of the marines
repelled the attack and crashed back the new division which had sought
to wrest the position from them.
And so it went. Day after day, night after night, while time after time
messages like the following travelled to the post command:
Losses heavy. Difficult to get runners through. Some have never
returned. Morale excellent, but troops about all in. Men exhausted.
Exhausted, but holding on. And they continued to hold on in spite of
every difficulty. Advancing their lines slowly day by day, the marines
finally prepared their positions to such an extent that the last rush
for the possession of the wood could be made. Then, on June 24,
following a tremendous barrage, the struggle began.
The barrage literally tore the woods to pieces, but even its immensity
could not wipe out all the nests that remained, the emplacements that
were behind almost every clump of bushes, every jagged, rough group of
boulders. But those that remained were wiped out by the American method
of the rush and the bayonet, and in the days that followed every foot of
Belleau Wood was cleared of the enemy and held by the frayed lines of
the Americans.
It was, therefore, with the feeling of work well done that the depleted
lines of the marines were relieved in July, that they might be filled
with replacements and made ready for a grand offensive in the vicinity
of Soissons, July 18. And In recognition of their sacrifice and bravery
this praise was forthcoming from the French:
Army Headquarters, June 30, 1918.
In view of the brilliant conduct of the Fourth Brigade of the Second
United States Division, which in a spirited fight took Bouresches and
the important strong point of Bois de Belleau, stubbornly defended by a
large enemy force, the General commanding the Sixth Army orders that
henceforth, in all official papers, the Bois de Belleau shall be named
"Bois de la Brigade de Marine."
Division General Degoutte,
_Commanding Sixth Army_.
On July 18 the marines were again called into action in the vicinity of
Soissons, near Tigny and Vierzy. In the face of a murderous fire from
concentrated machine guns, which contested every foot of their advance,
the United States marines moved forward until the severity of their
casualties necessitated that they dig in and hold the positions they had
gained. Here, again, their valor called forth official praise.
Then came the battle for the St. Mihiel salient. On the night of
September 11 the 2d Division took over a line running from Remenauville
to Limey, and on the night of September 14 and the morning of September
15 attacked, with two days' objectives ahead of them. Overcoming the
enemy resistance, they romped through to the Rupt de Mad, a small river,
crossed it on stone bridges, occupied Thiaucourt, the first day's
objective, scaled the heights just beyond it, pushed on to a line
running from the Zammes-Joulney Ridges to the Binvaux Forest, and there
rested, with the second day's objectives occupied by 2.50 o'clock of the
first day. The casualties of the division were about 1,000, of which 134
were killed. Of these, about half were marines. The captures in which
the marines participated were 80 German officers, 3,200 men, ninety-odd
cannon, and vast stores.
But even further honors were to befall the fighting, landing, and
building force, of which the navy is justly proud. In the early part of
October it became necessary for the Allies to capture the bald, jagged
ridge twenty miles due east of Rheims, known as Blanc Mont Ridge. Here
the armies of Germany and the Allies had clashed more than once, and
attempt after attempt had been made to wrest it from German hands. It
was a keystone of the German defense, the fall of which would have a
far-reaching effect upon the enemy armies. To the glory of the United
States marines, let it be said that they were again a part of that
splendid 2d Division which swept forward in the attack which freed Blanc
Mont Ridge from German hands, pushed its way down the slopes, and
occupied the level around just beyond, thus assuring a victory, the full
import of which can best be judged by the order of General Lejeune,
following the battle:
France, Oct. 11, 1918.
Officers And Men Of The 2d Division:
It is beyond my power of expression to describe fitly my admiration for
your heroism. You attacked magnificently and you seized Blanc Mont
Ridge, the keystone of the arch constituting the enemy's main position.
You advanced beyond the ridge, breaking the enemy's lines, and you held
the ground gained with a tenacity which is unsurpassed in the annals of
war.
As a direct result of your victory, the German armies east and west of
Rheims are in full retreat, and by drawing on yourselves several German
divisions from other parts of the front you greatly assisted the
victorious advance of the allied armies between Cambrai and St. Quentin.
Your heroism and the heroism of our comrades who died on the battlefield
will live in history forever, and will be emulated by the young men of
our country for generations to come.
To be able to say when this war is finished, "I belonged to the 2d
Division; I fought with it at the battle of Blanc Mont Ridge," will be
the highest honor that can come to any man.
John A. Lejeune.
Major-General, United States Marine Corps, Commanding.
Thus it is that the United States marines have fulfilled the glorious
traditions of their corps in this their latest duty as the "soldiers who
go to sea." Their sharpshooting--and in one regiment 93 per cent of the
men wear the medal of a marksman, a sharpshooter, or an expert
rifle-man--has amazed soldiers of European armies, accustomed merely to
shooting in the general direction of the enemy. Under the fiercest fire
they have calmly adjusted their sights, aimed for their man, and killed
him, and in bayonet attacks their advance on machine-gun nests has been
irresistible.
In the official citation lists more than one American marine is credited
with taking an enemy machine-gun single-handed, bayoneting its crew, and
then turning the gun against the foe. In one battle alone, that of
Belleau Wood, the citation lists bear the names of fully 500 United
States marines who so distinguished themselves in battle as to call
forth the official commendation of their superior officers.
More than faithful in every emergency, accepting hardships with
admirable morale, proud of the honor of taking their place as shock
troops for the American legions, they have fulfilled every glorious
tradition of their corps, and they have given to the world a list of
heroes whose names will go down to all history.
_To Secretary Daniels's narrative may be added a brief account of the
terms in which the French official journal cited the 4th American
Brigade under Brigadier-General Harbord on December 8._
The brigade comprised the 5th Regiment of marines, under Colonel (now
Brigadier-General) Wendel C. Veille; the 6th marines, under Colonel (now
Brigadier-General) Albertus A. Catlin, and the 6th Machine Gun
Battalion, under Major Edward B. Cole. The citation says the brigade, in
full battle array, was thrown on a front which the enemy was attacking
violently and at once proved itself a unit of the finest quality. It
crushed the enemy attack on an important point of the position, and then
undertook a series of offensive operations:
"During these operations, thanks to the brilliant courage, vigor, dash,
and tenacity of its men, who refused to be disheartened by fatigue or
losses; thanks to the activity and energy of the officers, and thanks to
the personal action of Brigadier-General Harbord, the efforts of the
brigade were crowned with success, realizing after twelve days of
incessant struggle an important advance over the most difficult of
terrain and the capture of two support points of the highest importance,
Bouresches village and the fortified wood of Belleau."