ce, resource, and courage
which they have exhibited. They came on the scene at the opportune
moment. Our men had been in the mill for many weary months. Possibly the
American people, so far removed from the main theatre of the war, can
hardly appreciate what it meant when these American officers and men
crossed the Atlantic. They have been splendid, simply splendid. I have
seen a number of the destroyers and conversed with a large number of
officers. I also have had many reports and am not speaking of the aid
the United States has rendered without full knowledge.

"Not only are the vessels well constructed and the officers and men
thoroughly competent, but the organization is admirable. It was no
slight matter for so many ships to come 3,000 miles across the Atlantic
to fight in European waters. The decision raised several complicated
problems in connection with supplies, but those problems have been
surmounted with success. There has never been anything like it before in
the history of naval warfare, and the development of the steam-engine
has rendered such co-operation more difficult than ever before, because
the modern man-of-war is dependent on a constant stream of supplies of
fuel, stores, food, and other things, and is need of frequent repairs."

In addition to doing signally effective work in hunting down the
submarine, and in protecting ocean commerce, our war-ships have relieved
England and France of the necessity of looking out for raiders and
submarines in South Atlantic waters: we have sent to the Grand Fleet,
among other craft, a squadron of dreadnoughts and superdreadnoughts
whose aggregate gun-power will tell whenever the German sea-fighters
decide to risk battle in the North Sea; war-ships are convoying
transports laden with thousands of men--more than a million and a half
fighting men will be on French and English soil before these words are
read--escorting ocean liners and convoying merchant vessels, while in
divers other ways the navy of this country is playing its dominant part
in the fight against German ruthlessness.

When the Emergency Fleet Corporation announced its programme of building
ships the Navy Department at once began its preparations for providing
armed guards for these vessels as soon as they were commissioned for
transatlantic service. Thousands of men were placed in training for this
purpose and detailed instructions were prepared and issued to the
Shipping Board and to all ship-bu