REAR ADMIRAL SIMS TELLS OF EXCEPTIONAL WORK DONE BY COLLEGE MEN IN NAVY DURING WAR

Rear Admiral William S. Sims, graduating from the Naval Academy in 1880, became Rear Admiral in 1917 and Admiral in 1918 when he was put in command of American naval operations in European waters. He reverted to the rank of rearadmiral upon relinquishing this command. He has been decorated by Great Britain, France, Japan, Belgium, and Italy.

Thousands of young men from practically every one of our colleges volunteered for service in the Army or Navy during the Great War. Many of them were sent for service under my command in European waters, and I must admit that I was at first in doubt as to whether they would prove really useful in a profession involving not only such a variety of technical knowledge, but particularly actual experience to acquire the practical skill necessary to perform their naval duties under new conditions.

I very soon found that, notwithstanding my forty years' experience in training young men in the naval service, I had been greatly mistaken regarding the capacity of these fine young chaps to literally absorb the necessary knowledge and acquire the training essential to effective service. Some of them had been given a short course of instruction at the U. S. Naval Academy at Annapolis and were commissioned ensigns, but many had no previous training.

I sent many of them to serve on the destroyers that were based on Queens town, three on each vessel, and gave instructions that it was up to the captains of the destroyers to train them and assign them to such duties as in their opinion they might be able to carry out satisfactorily. To my great surprise, I found that, after three or four months' intensive training in actual service at sea, these experienced destroyer commanders considered these youngsters, so efficient that in many cases they entrusted them with the handling of the destroyers during their four hours' watch as officer of the deck while escorting convoys in the submarine gone.

This destroyer service was performed on fully manned vessels ably commanded and officered by experienced men ready at all times to advise and assist the new hands; but, remarkable as was the achievement of these recruits, it was at least equalled by that of the college bred men who manned and successfully handled the little fleet of over one hundred sub-chasers that were sent "over there" to fight the elusive submarine. In my book, The Victory at Sea, a Chapter entitled American College Boys and Subchasers, opens with the following statement:

Quotes Paragraph from Book

"Who would have thought that a little wooden vessel, displacing only sixty tons, measuring only 110 feet in length, and manned by officers and crew very few of whom had ever made an ocean voyage, could have crossed more than three thousand miles of wintry sea, even with the help of the efficient naval officers and men who, after training them, convoyed and guided them across, and could have done such excellent work in hunting submarines. We built nearly four hundred of these little vessels in 18 months, and we sent 170 to such widely scattered places as Plymouth, Queenstown, Brest, Gibraltar, and Corfu. Several enemy submarines now lie at the bottom of the sea as trophies of their offensive power; and on the day that hostilities ceased, the Allies generally recognized that this tiny vessel, with the 'listening devices' which made it so efficient, represented one of the most satisfactory direct answers' to the submarine which had been developed by the war. Had it not been that the war ended before enough destroyers could be spared from convoy duty to assist, with their greater speed and offensive power, hunting groups of these tiny craft, it is certain that they would soon have become a still more important factor in destroying submarines and in interfering with their operations."

Began with no Training

The crews of these little vessels began their arduous service with absolutely no training in ordinary seamanship, not to mention the detailed tactics required for the peculiar warfare in which they were to be employed. The entire fleet did not contain more than one percent of graduates of Annapolis or five percent of experienced sailors. Practically all, officers and men, were civilians, a few more amateur yachtsmen, but the bulk of them were American college undergraduates. "Boys of Yale, Harvard, Princeton-indeed practically every college and university in the land-had dropped their books, left the comfort of their fraternity houses, and abandoned their athletic fields, eager for the great adventure against the Hun". That they at first knew nothing of navigation and naval technique was of less importance than that "their minds were alert, their hearts filled with an intense enthusiasm for the cause, their souls clean, and their bodies ready for the most exhausting tasks. So much was I in pressed by the demonstration of the ability of these young men and their ready initiative in responding to training that whenever I get to talking of the American college boys and other civilians in the navy, I find myself indulging in what may seem extravagant praise. I have even been inclined to suggest that it would be well, in the training of naval officers in future, to combine a college education with a shorter intensive technical course at the Naval Academy. For these college men have what technical academies do not usually succeed in giving a general education and a general training, which develops the power of initiative, independent thought, an ability quickly to grasp intricate situations, and to master, in a short time, almost any practical problem. At least this proved to be the case with the subchasers."

Boats Crossed Under Own Power

All of the 110-footers which these young men commanded crossed the ocean under their own power and many of them in the face of the fierce January and February gales. Such matters as the handling of their 3-inch guns and the listening devices were quickly learned. Those most proficient in these duties were men who had specialized in mathematics and general science; but to their spirit and energy, and their intense desire to defeat the enemy are chiefly due their remarkable success in learning their various duties so quickly and go thoroughly.

If space permitted it would be of interest to tell the story of the operations of these peppery little chasers; some of their exploits were highly dramatic. To cite but a couple of these: The destroyer Parker, in command of Commander Wilson Brown, with a group of three subchasers, located by means of their listening devices, a submarine away out at sea west of Brest and traced her so successfully that the Parker was able to drop a barrage of sixteen depth bombs around her, injuring her so severely that she was obliged to return to port. This was the famous U-53 which sunk our destroyer, the Jacob Jones, and was so successful in attacking merchant vessels, though she was not at this time in command of Hans Rose, whose efficiency made her famous.

Destruction of Submarine

Upon another occasion these subchaser units commanded by Ensign A. D. Adams, U. S. N. R. F., "Picked up" the sound of a of sub off Land's End, successfully followed her and dropped a barrage of depth charges that seriously damaged her. By means of the listening devices they heard her unfortunate crew endeavoring to make repairs. Occasionally she would get her engines going, steam along a short distance, then stop, when continued hammering indicated further efforts at repairs. Additional depth charges were dropped, resulting in further damage to the doomed sub, which was now resting on the bottom and able to drag herself along only a few yards at a time. The listeners could follow these events as clearly as though they could seen, for every effort that involved a noise of any kind was registered on the ear pieces of the delicate listening instruments. All one night and part of the next day the poor Germans struggled manfully to make the repairs upon which their lives depended, while the chasers kept watch prepared to use their guns in case she succeeded in reaching the surface-they had used all their depth charges and had sent one chaser in for more. Finally, there was silence for some hours, followed by a very sharp ringing sound recognized as the crack of a revolver. This was succeeded by other sinister sounds in rapid succession, twenty-five in all, which indicated all too clearly that the doomed crew had abandoned hope of getting their vessel under way and hand resorted to suicide rather than suffer a slow agonizing death by suffocation.

Service in Adriatic Sea

In the Adriatic Sea, Captain C. P. Nelson, in command of two squadrons of thirty-six chasers, performed excellent service in strengthening the Otranto barrage at the entrance to that sea, and in operations in support of certain cruiser actions. In one of the latter, a dozen chasers gave splendid support to a combined British and Italian squadron of cruiser in the bombardment of Durazzo. During this action, the chasers not only effectively shielded the cruisers from submarine attack, but destroyed at least two submarines.

The impression their conduct made upon the Allies was well expressed in the congratulatory messages sent to me in London. Commodore Kelly, who commanded the British cruisers in this action telegraphed the details of the attack and added the following reference to the twelve chasters:

"Their Conduct Beyond Praise"

"Their conduct was beyond praise. They all returned safely without casualties. They thoroughly enjoyed themselves."

From the Italian Admiralty came this message:

Italian Naval General Staff expresses highest appreciation of useful and efficient work performed by United States chasers in protecting major vessels during action against Durazzo; also vivid admiration of their brilliant and clever operations which resulted in sinking two enemy submarines."

These records made by our college boys have demonstrated in the most striking manner the great value of educated men in time of national crisis; and we of the navy now know that in the event of another war involving naval expansion we have in these youths a mine of the very best possible war material