s in manning the big naval guns which did more than any one thing
to cut the German lines of communication through the gap by Sedan
between Longuyon and Montmedy. It is not too much to say that it was the
work of these guns, in the hands of the men and officers recruited
largely from the two naval divisions who left the University in the
spring of 1917, that formed one of the great arguments which led to the
Armistice of November 11. These two divisions of about seventy men each
were organized in the fall of 1916, and with the entry of the United
States in the war were immediately mustered into service with Professors
J.R. Hayden of the Department of Political Science and Orange J. McNiel
of the Engineering College as the commanding officers. For some time
they were held in Ann Arbor, where they were quartered in the Gymnasium,
later going to the Great Lakes Training Station for further preparation.

Within a short time they were assigned to the various rifle ranges which
were being established up and down the Atlantic coast by Major Harllee
of the Marine Corps and given intensive training in gunnery. So well did
they show up in this specialized task, for intensive training in
marksmanship was one of the Navy's great needs, that little squads of
the men were sent everywhere to install and open up new ranges.
Meanwhile the need of big guns on the French front was becoming more and
more apparent and one officer, Captain, and later Admiral, Plunkett
bethought him of a number of great 14-inch navy guns which were not in
use. He conceived the idea of mounting these on railway carriages and
making great mobile batteries of them. At first he was laughed at; it
was impossible to make heavy enough trucks to carry such a weight; and
then, where were the expert men to man them? He replied that he knew
where he could get the men and called in experts to design the
carriages. The result was that in just fifty days the first gun was
successfully fired from the railway mounting at the proving ground at
Sandy Hook, by the Michigan Naval Volunteers. When the guns were
shipped to France all the Michigan men available were sent with them and
formed the effective nucleus of every crew. They wore the marine uniform
with naval insignia and were under naval discipline throughout; they
went "fore" and "aft" on the great trains which accompanied each gun,
pointed their pieces to "port" and "starboard" and were rated according
to navy ranking.