In the summer of
1917 Secretary Daniels announced that the Atlantic Fleet--our Grand
Fleet--had been reorganized into two divisions, officially known as
"forces." Battleship Force One had as commander Vice-Admiral Albert W.
Grant, and Battleship Force Two was commanded by Vice-Admiral DeWitt
Coffman. Admiral Henry T. Mayo remained as commander-in-chief.
"There are," said Secretary Daniels in announcing the new
arrangement--July 18, 1917--"as many battleships in commission as we
ever had before; in fact, every battleship we have is in commission. The
whole purpose of the new organization is to keep our battleship fleet in
as perfect condition as possible, to put it in the highest state of
efficiency and readiness for action."
Eventually an appreciable number of our best fighters were sent to the
Grand Fleet--which, however, is by no means to be understood as implying
that our own coasts are unprotected. Not at all. The Navy Department has
a view-point which embraces all possible angles, and nothing in the way
of precaution has been overlooked. At the same time it has been the
theory of Secretary Daniels that the way to beat the submarine and the
German Navy in general was to go to the base of things, "to the neck of
the bottle," and this as much as anything--more, in sooth--accounts for
the hundreds of war-ships of various sorts that now fly our flag in the
war zone.
The orders dividing the fleet into two "forces" and despatching a
representation of our greatest fighters to the North Sea was preceded by
a period of preparation the like of which this country--perhaps the
world--never saw.
Pages:
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139