The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1920-04-11


act. For the same reason I could not
efficiently control the operations of all
our forces from Queenstown or Brest,
or Gibraltar; the staff controlling the
whole had necessarily to be located in
London, and the tactical commands at
! these other bases must be exercised
by subordinates.
The British placed all their sources
of information and their communica-
lions at our disposal They literally
opened their doors and made us part of
their organization. / sat daily in con-
sultation with British naval chiefs, and
our officers had access to all essen
tial British information just as freely
as did the British naval officers them
| selves. On the day of my arrival Adj
miral Jellicoe issued orders that the
Americans should be shown anything
, which they wished to see. With all
this information, the most complete
and detailed in the world, constantly
placed at our disposal, and a spirit of
confidence and friendship always pre-
vailing which had no parallel in his
tory, it would have defeated the whole
purpose of our participation in the
war had the American high command
taken up its headquarters anywhere
except in London.
Historic Appeal in London Admiralty.
Moreover there was an atmosphere
in the London Admiralty which made
la strong appeal to any one who is in
terested in naval history. Everything
about the place is reminiscent of great
naval achievements. The room in
which our councils met was the same
old Admiralty Board room that has
been used for centuries. In accord
ance with the spirit of British con-
servatism, this room is almost ex-
actly the same now, even in it's fur
nishings, as it was in Nelson's time.
The same old wood carvings hang over
the same old fireplace; the table which
is used is the Identical one at which
Nelson must have sat many times, and
the very silver inkstand which Nelson
used was used by his successors in
this war. The portrait of this great
naval chieftain looked down upon us
during our deliberations. About the
fireplace is painted a huge compass,
and about the center of this swings
an arrow. This was a part of the Ad-
miralty equipment of a hundred years
ago, though it has no usefulness now
except a sentimental one. In old days
! this arrow was geared to a weather
vane on the roof of the Admiralty
and it constantly showed to the chiefs
assembled in the council room the di-
rection of the wind-a matter of great
Importance in the days of sailing
ships.
Method of Control.
All general orders and plans con-
corning the naval operations of Brit
| ish and American forces came from
the Admiralty, and here officers of
my staff were constantly at work. The
commanders-in-ch at the various
bases commanded the combined British
and American ships based on those
/ ports only in the sense that they car
ried out the general instructions and
/ policies which were formulated in Lon
don. These orders, so far as they af-
} fected American forces, could be is
J sued to the commanders in-chief only
after American headquarters in Lon
don had vised them. Thus the Amer
J lean staff held the ultimate command
| over all the American forces which
We're based in British waters. The
same was true of those at Brest, Gil
| braltar. and other stations. The com
manders- in chief executed them, and
were responsible for the manner in
which the forces were used in combat
/ ing the enemy.
The operations of which I was the
comma nder extended over an immense
1
/ forces represented only part of the
ultimate American naval strength in
European waters and not the most inn
/ portant part: before the war ended
Brest, as 1 shall show, developed into
a greater naval base than any of those
which we maintained in the British
! Isles. Conveys We're not only coming
across the Atlantic, but they were con-
stantly arriving from the Mediterran-
/ can and from the South Seas, and il
was the duty of headquarters in Lon
/ don, and not the duty of local com
manders, to route these precious ar
| gosies.
| Not infrequently, as previously de-
scribed, it was necessary 70 change
destinations, or to slow down conveys.
or 10 make any number of decisions
/ based on new information; naturally
only the center of intelligence. the
Admiralty office could serve as a
clearing house for such operations.
| The point is that it was necessary for
me to exercise the chief command of
American forces through subordinates.
My position in this respect was pre-