In June of 1917, June 4, it was announced in Washington that an American
squadron had arrived in South American waters in accordance with the
plan of relieving British and French cruisers of patrol duty in waters
of the western hemisphere, merely one more instance of the scope of the
plans which the Navy Department had formulated when we entered the war.
On June 25 came word that the first American convoy (transports with
American troops), under direction of Rear-Admiral Albert M. Gleaves,
commander of our convoy system, had arrived safely at a port in France.
On July 3 the last units of ships with supplies and horses reached its
destination. The expedition was divided into contingents, each
contingent including troop-ships and an escort of sea-fighters. An ocean
rendezvous with American destroyers operating in European waters was
arranged, and carried out in minutest detail.
The convoy did not cross the seas without incident. In the newspapers of
July 4 the country was electrified by a statement issued by the Creel
bureau of a rather thrilling combat between war-ships attached to the
convoy and German submarines, in which the U-boat was badly worsted.
Details were given, and all in all the whole affair as presented was
calculated to give the utmost unction to American pride. Next day,
however, came a despatch from the American flotilla base in British
waters which set forth that the story of the attack as published in the
United States was inaccurate.
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