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.
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