In connection with our far-flung naval policy the establishment of a
naval base on the Azores Islands was announced last spring. The
arrangement was made with the full consent of Portugal, and the design
was the protection of the Atlantic trade routes to southern Europe. Guns
have already been landed on the island, and fortifications are now in
process of construction. The station, besides being used as a naval base
for American submarines, destroyers, and other small craft, will serve
as an important homing-station for our airplanes, a number of which have
already been assembled there.
The establishment of this station greatly simplifies the task of
protecting the great trade routes, not only to southern Europe and the
Mediterranean, but also returning traffic to South American and southern
Gulf ports in the United States.
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
In an address delivered not long ago, Admiral Gleaves,
commander-in-chief of the United States Cruiser and Transport Force,
referred to "The Great Atlantic Ferry Company, Incorporated, but
Unlimited." He referred to our transport fleet, of course, a fleet
which, under naval supervision and naval operation, has safely
transported more than a million of our soldiers to France.
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