PART III - General Co-operation May 1917 to May 1919

Summary

INTRODUCTION

This part revolves around Rear-Admiral Sims, as indeed did Anglo-American naval relations in general throughout 1917–18. Despatched originally simply to channel information on Allied naval plans and requirements back to the Navy Department, Sims became by stages a fully-fledged and essentially independent theatre commander. The first six American destroyers for service in European waters left for Queenstown on 24 April 1917 and Sims was given over all responsibility for them. By increments the force under his command grew until by Armistice Day his writ ran to 45 bases and he commanded 375 naval vessels, 5000 officers and 75000 men. Naval air forces in Europe alone comprised 570 aircraft, 50 kite balloons and three airships manned and maintained by 1300 officers and 15000 men on 27 stations. Sims never received a set of orders outlining his authority and responsibilities but ultimately he was designated Force Commander, US Naval Forces in European Waters. He never felt secure – Franklin Roosevelt and Admiral Mayo both aspired to supplant him or at least to become his overlord; fortunately for Sims, Daniels and Benson, though both thought him far too subservient to the British, retained enough faith in his ability and utility to veto such designs. After the war, Sims told the story of his London-based command, though as Frederic Paxson remarked: ‘His powers and mission were somewhat less impressive than he described them in The Victory at Sea but they were real.’ Sims gradually established his autonomy but the Navy Department retained control over the key strategic decisions (such as devoting the greater part of its limited destroyer force to the protection of US troopships rather than, as Sims wished, to cargo vessels supplying Britain). The high command in Washington did not consult him over other flag appointments within his bailiwick and Sims experienced friction with some of them (notably Rear-Admiral Wilson at Brest). He was often unable to exercise effective authority over them, partly because they related more properly to local Allied commands and partly because they were determined to enjoy their prerogatives as flag officers. Only at Queenstown did Sims have his way, persuading the Navy Department that appointing a flag officer there would disturb the smooth but delicately poised integrated command structure headed by the British Admiral Bayly, whose Chief of Staff was Captain Joel Pringle, US Navy.