Page:Victory at Sea - William Sowden Sims and Burton J. Hendrick.djvu/282

264 prise was a strong factor in overcoming the submarine menace, though the success of the convoy system had already brought the end in sight, and had thus. made it practicable to assign, without danger of defeat, the tonnage necessary to lay the barrage and maintain and augment it as long as might be necessary. The Germans saw the barrage not only as it was in the autumn of 1918, but as it would be a few months or a year hence. We had started a steady stream of mines from hundreds of factories in the United States to our Scottish bases; these establishments were constantly increasing production, and there was practically no limit to their possible output. We had developed a mine-laying organization which was admittedly better than any that had been hitherto known; and this branch of the service we could now enlarge indefinitely. In time we could have planted this area so densely with explosives that it would have been madness for any submarines even to attempt a passage. To be sure, the Pentland Firth, between the Orkneys and Scotland, was always open, and could not be mined on account of its swift tides, but besides being a dangerous passage at best it was constantly patrolled to make it still more dangerous.

The loyal devotion to duty and the skilful seamanship which our officers displayed in this great enterprise were not only thoroughly in keeping with the highest traditions of the navy, but really established new standards to guide and inspire those who will follow us. These gallant officers who actually laid the mines are entitled to the nation's gratitude, and I take great pleasure in commending the work of Captain H. V. Butler, commanding the flagship San Francisco; Captain J. Harvey Tomb, commanding the Aroostook; Captain A. W. Marshall, commanding the Baltimore; Commander W. H. Reynolds, commanding the Canandaigua; Captain T. L. Johnson, commanding the Canonicus; Captain J. W. Greenslade, commanding the Housatonic; Commander D. Pratt Mannix, commanding the Quinnebaug; Captain C. D. Stearns, commanding the Roanoke; Captain Sinclair Gannon, commanding the Saranac; and Captain W. T. Cluverius, commanding the Shawmut.

This splendid squadron, of which the flagship was the San Francisco, was organized by Captain R. R. Belknap and,