Until about the first of June, 1918, when the original lot of destroyer captains was detached and ordered to the United States to fit out new vessels, no American destroyers sent from France had ever missed contact with a convoy; no destroyer dispatched with a mission had ever returned to port before the completion of her duty, and furthermore, during this period, after the torpedoing of the Finland, on October 28, 1917, no vessel en route from America to France or from France to America, when escorted by American vessels based on France, had ever been torpedoed or successfully attacked on the high seas.
The Jarvis (Lieutenant Commander R. C. Parker), and the Drayton (Lieutenant Commander G. N. Barker), two of the 740-ton oil-burning destroyers, joined the force on February 15, 1918; then on March 4th, the Wadsworth (Lieutenant Commander C. E. Smith). The following destroyers that had also previously operated out of Queenstown were sent to Brest in June:
Sigourney, (Commander W. N. Vernou); Wainwright, (Commander R. A. Dawes); Fanning, (Lieutenant Commander F. Cogswell); Tucker, (Lieutenant Commander W. H. Lassing); Winslow, (Lieutenant Commander F. W. Rockwell); Porter, (Lieutenant Commander A. A. Corwin); O'Brien, (Commander M. K. Metcalf); Cummings, (Lieutenant Commander O. Bartlett); Benham, (Lieutenant Commander F. J. Fletcher); Cushing, (Commander W. D. Puleston); Burrows, (Lieutenant Commander A. Steckel); Ericsson, (Lieutenant Commander R. R; Stewart); and on July 23, the McDougal, (Lieutenant Commander V. K. Coman).
The Navy Department had decided that all additional destroyers built would be sent to Brest and to Gibraltar, and Admiral Wilson's forces were augmented from time to time by these new destroyers:
Little, (Captain J. K. Taussig); Conner, (Captain A. G. Howe); Taylor, (Commander C. T. Hutchins); Stringham, (Commander N. E. Nichols); Bell, (Lieutenant Commander D. L. Howard); Murray, (Lieutenant Commander R. G. Walling); Fairfax, (Lieutenant Commander G. C. Barnes).
For more than a year American mine sweepers pursued their dangerous but tedious task, sweeping up mines and keeping clear the channels leading to ports. Mainly converted fishing boats, the constant duty along the coast was not easy for them. The Rehoboth foundered off Ushant in a heavy sea October 4, 1917. Steaming in a fog near Concarneau, January 12, 1918, the Bauman struck one of the numerous rocks that make navigation in that region so dangerous. Though she was badly damaged, Ensign P. J. Ford, her executive officer, and several of her crew remained aboard, hoping to save her, and the Anderton started to tow her to Lorient, but she sank before reaching port. Soon afterwards, on January 25, the Guinevere, attempting to get to Lorient in a dense fog, ran on the rocks.
The mine force was not infrequently called upon to reinforce coastal convoys or go to the aid of vessels grounded or in distress. When the U-boats began attacking coastal convoys near Penmarch in January, 1918, the sweepers were sent out to patrol those waters at night. Lying in darkness, they spent long hours listening through the "C" tubes for any sound of a "sub." They were often hurried out to sweep mines discovered at various points. In a heavy sea, the Hinton, Cahill and James swept up a mine field near Belle Ile in record time, the James cutting four mines in fifteen minutes. These are only a few instances of the fine work they continually performed.
Heroes? There were plenty of them in our forces in France, as there were everywhere else in the Navy—men who feared no danger and, when necessity arose, risked their lives without a thought of self. Hear the story of the Florence H. The rescue of her survivors when that munition ship blew up off Quiberon Bay, April 17, 1918, is one of the war's most thrilling events.
The night was dark and cloudy, the sea smooth. Steaming along quietly, the convoy was nearing port. At 10:45 someone was seen signaling with a searchlight from the bridge of the Florence H. An instant later the vessel burst into flames, which soon enveloped the ship, and rose a hundred feet into the air. In ten minutes the vessel split open amidships and five minutes later went down, blazing like a torch. Smoke and flames prevented those on the ships around from seeing what had occurred aboard the steamship. Survivors reported later that there was a tremendous explosion in No. 2 hatch which lifted the deck and blew out the ship's starboard side. Her chief engineer, John B. Watson, said: "She just burned up and melted in about twenty minutes."
The whole thing occurred so suddenly that a naval commander, as he saw the flash, remarked: "Not a living soul will get off that ship."