He returned to sea in November 1913, reporting first aboard the battleship , then as fleet engineer and aide to the commander in chief of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet, and finally as navigator of the battleship . During this period he took charge of the Mexican railway system during the Atlantic Fleet's occupation of Veracruz. He reported to the Navy Department in 1915 as assistant director of gunnery exercises and engineering competitions. In 1917 he was a member of the Board of Appraisal of merchant and private vessels in New York.