But the naval administration at Washington had faith in that idea, and urged it again and again, until it was adopted, and the vast barrage was laid across the North Sea.
CHAPTER VI
NAVAL ALLIES IN HISTORIC CONFERENCE
FOUR DAYS AFTER WAR WAS DECLARED, BRITISH, FRENCH AND AMERICAN ADMIRALS MET AT FORTRESS MONROE TO MAP OUT PLANS FOR IMMEDIATE COÖPERATION—CONFERENCE AT WASHINGTON, APRIL 11TH, FIXED THE POLICY OF UNITED NAVAL EFFORT—FREQUENT AND FULL INTERCHANGE OF OPINION WITH ALLIES.
Four days after war was declared, admirals of the United States, Great Britain and France were in conference at Fortress Monroe. Immediately upon the action of Congress, without awaiting the arrival of Admiral Sims, then on the ocean bound for London, arrangements were made to confer with the commanders-in-chief of the British and French forces on this side of the Atlantic, who were familiar with conditions overseas as well as on this coast. When they arrived Admiral Benson asked: "Where can our Navy render the best immediate service?"
Then these sea fighters sat down to an all-day session to find the best answer to Benson's question. The Allied admirals, who had been in the war from the beginning, told what had been attempted, what achieved, and the ways wherein they hoped America could come to the rescue.
Hampton Roads was the site of a historic conference, between Abraham Lincoln and Alexander H. Stephens and others in 1865, when there was hope that the War between the States might be brought to an end. That conference failed, but this of April 10, 1917, was a pronounced success; for it was followed the next day by the conference at the Navy Department in Washington, which laid the foundations for the perfect coöperation in the war with Allied governments, the first agreement the United States Navy ever made with foreign naval officials to wage war together. At the time even the fact that it was held was secret, and its conclusions were sent abroad only in code. For secrecy was necessary in regard to this as well as other plans and operations.
Since 1914 both the British and French navies had maintained their ships in the Western Atlantic from Halifax to Southern waters. Vice Admiral Browning and Rear Admiral Grasset, in command of the British and French forces, respectively, were at Bermuda when war was declared and came at once to Hampton Roads. Admiral Benson, Chief of Naval Operations, accompanied by Admiral Mayo, Commander-in-Chief of the fleet, went from Washington on the President's yacht, the Sylph, and were joined by Admiral Wilson, in command of the United States Patrol Force. In sight of the spot where the Monitor and the Merrimac met in their epoch-making fight over half a century before, these admirals exchanged views regarding the naval conduct of the war. Admiral Browning had been in command of a squadron in the North Sea, and acquainted the American officers with conditions abroad, and they in turn advised the visiting admirals of conditions here.
At the conclusion of this meeting, all these admirals came to Washington for a conference with the Secretary of the Navy. They sailed on the Sylph, and the unprecedented spectacle was witnessed of that little ship flying the flags of staff officers of three nations. It was symbolic of the unity which marked their joint operations during the war.