Guarding against raiders and German activities in the Pacific, our operations extended from our west coast to Hawaii, Guam and the Philippines, and our vessels in the Orient coöperated with the Japanese and other Allied naval forces from Manila to Vladivostok. The destroyers sent from Cavite, which voyaged twelve thousand miles through the Straits, the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, met at Gibraltar the forces from the other side of the world.
Eight hundred and thirty-four vessels and two hundred thousand men of the United States Navy were either serving in European waters or engaged in transporting troops and supplies to Europe, before hostilities ended. This was more than twice as many ships and nearly three times as many officers and men as were in naval service before the war.
Four hundred vessels were assigned to the Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, 373 being present at the time of the armistice—70 destroyers, 5 gunboats, 5 Coast Guard cutters, 120 submarine chasers, 27 yachts, 12 submarines, 13 mine sweepers, 10 mine planters, 8 battleships, 3 cruisers, 16 tugs, 4 cross-channel transports, 55 vessels carrying coal for the army, 18 tenders and repair ships, and 7 vessels of miscellaneous types. In addition three Russian destroyers were manned by United States naval personnel. Eighty-one thousand officers and men of the Navy were in service in Europe. Thirty thousand Marines were sent overseas for service with the Army and 1,600 for naval duty ashore.
But that by no means covers all the service performed for the Allies and our own forces in Europe. The entire Cruiser and Transport Force, with its 83 vessels, 3,000 officers and 41,000 men; and the Naval Overseas Transportation Service, with 378 vessels in operation, manned by 4,692 officers and 29,175 men, were in trans-Atlantic service, carrying troops and supplies. Practically all the 384 merchant ships which had naval armed guards and navy guns were carrying food, materials and other articles to allied armies and peoples. Thirty thousand of the naval personnel were, at one time or another, engaged in this service. Thus, a total of 834 vessels and more than 200,000 officers and men of the Navy and Marine Corps were engaged either in European service or in trans-Atlantic service to and from Europe.
Our forces in Europe operated in forty-seven different localities, extending from the Arctic Ocean all the way around to the Adriatic Sea. The extent of our operations is seen from this list of the principal naval bases, and the United States naval vessels on duty at each of them on November 11, 1918:
Naval aviation activities were almost as extensive as those of our ships, extending from England, Ireland and Northern France to eastern Italy. There were thirty aviation bases, the Northern Bombing Group considered as one base:
Ireland—Queenstown (2 stations, seaplane, and assembly and repair); Whiddy Island, Wexford, Lough Foyle, Berehaven.
England—Killingholme, Eastleigh.
France—Dunkirk, Northern Bombing Group; Treguier, L' Aber Vrach, Fromentine, St. Trojan, Arcachon, Pauillac, La Trinite, La Pallice, Moutchic, Paimboeuf, Rochefort, Gujan, Brest, Guipivas, Le Croisic, and Ile Tudy.