South Bend news-times., 1921-05-18

partisanship will one day write a
story which will glow with the sac
rifice and service OF the 500. 600 men
who served in the American navy I'm
1917-1s
Keeps Stream Fresh and Pure
Not one time in the eight years did
I permit my sense OF the injustice Of
much criticism 20 cause me 20 lose
sight OF the truth that. in a govern
ment like ours. criticism is neces-
sary 20 keep the current fresh and
pure. From the sincere criticism and
even from captious critics. I learn
ed more than I can set down.
would in those days often ask myself
the question: WAS / right2' or rs
the criticism just ?" or How can a
better police strengthen the navy?'
For the first time. now that am
back on the job OF telling public Of
| fcials how much better an editor can
run the government than an official
write 10 express my obligation 10
my honest critics. They often help
an open-minded man more than his
| friends
Let me tell you a few OF the big
things the navy did in the world
war. some Of which you may not
realize.
Even in peace times the navy's
operations extend for a considerable
/ portion Of the globe, with fleets in
the Atlantic. the Pacific and the far
east.
During the war our ships oper-
ated from Archangel and the white
sea, in northern Russia, TO the Ad-
riatic and the Mediterranean: in the
North sea, in English and Irish wa
\ ters. all along the coast Of France,
/ Spain and Portugal, in Italian wa
/ ters, in the Azores; patrolled our
own coasts and the western Allan
/ tic the Gulf Of Mexico and the
Caribbean sea, the South American
l coast. guarded the Panama canal.
and maintained n vast fleet OF troop
ships, cargo transports and convoy
/ ing vessels carrying troops, muni-
/ tions and supplies from America 10
/ Europe.
Guarding against possible raiders
and German activities in the Pacific
\ our operations extended from our
own west coast to Hawaii. Guam and
the Philippines, and the few vessels
| left in the orient cooperated with
the Japanese and other allied naval
forces from Manila 10 Vladivostok.
Activities BeIted i'm the World.
When we were pressing into ser
vice in the "war zone" all available
nti-submarine craft, a fOtilla Of
our small destroyers stationed at
Cavite made the voyage from the
Philippines through the straits. the
Indian ocean. the Red sea, through
the Suez canal and the Mediter-
ranean to Gibraltar, where they did
yeOman service in convoy duty from
that center Of ocean traffic. Thus,
during the war the navy's activities
literally belted the globe.
Before hostilities ended we had in
service in European waters 373
vessels. including 20 destroyers. ;
gunboats, 5 coast guard cutters, 100
submarine chasers. 27 armed yachts,
= submarines, 13 mine sweepers. 10
mine planters, s battleships, crui-
sers. 16 tugs. 4 channel trans
ports, SO vessels, carrying coal for
the army. is tenders and repair
ships, and vessels OF miscellaneous
types. In addition, there were 30
other vessels assigned to the Euro
pean force then undergoing repairs
or being prepared 10 60 into COM
mission. So that the total number
assigned 10 the European forces
was over 400.
tSig Force Engaged.
over 10000 officers and men OF
the navy were in service in Europe.
Thirty thousand marines we're sent
| overseas for service with the army
and 1,600 for naval duty ashore
That makes "A total Of over 112, 900
officers and men Of the navy and
marine corps that were in service I'm
Europe.
But that by no means covers all
the service we performed for the
allies and our own forces in Europe
The entire cruiser and transport
force, with it's IS vessels manned by
5000 officers and 41.OOO men; and
the naval overseas transportation
service, with 37S vessels In opera
tion manned by 1852 officers and
29.175 men, were in transatlantic
service. carrying troops and sup
plies to our armies and our allies.
Practically all the merchant ships
and others which carried naval
armed guards and navy guns were
carrying food materials and other
articles TO allied countries. The navy
armed 3S4 merchant and cargo
ships. and 10000 Of the navy per-
sonnel were. at one time or another.
engaged in this service.
100000 Officers and Men.
Thus a total of S34 vessels and ap-
proximately 22O.0 600 officers and
men Of the United States navy and
marine corps were engaged either
in actual European service or in
transatlantic service TO and from
Europe. That is almost three times
as many as were in the entire navy
and marine corps before the war.
But that was not nearly all we
were preparing 10 do. and would
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