All the details were then perfected—this required several days—and on October 29th I received and approved the completed plans. The President, who for months had been impatient of delay, gave his approval as soon as they were laid before him. This was at a cabinet meeting on October 30th. The same day a cable was sent to the Admiralty that we had taken steps to fit out mine-planters; that shipment of mines would begin the first of January, and officers would be sent in a few days to arrange details.
So after months of opposition, doubt and indecision, the two navies united in the construction of this most stupendous job of the kind ever conceived or undertaken. It was well done and the result demonstrated its effectiveness. Admiral Sims himself, after its completion and success, said that "no such project has ever been carried out more successfully" and that "as an achievement it stands as one of the wonders of the war."
I am not giving these details in any spirit of criticism of the British Admiralty or our representative in London, but to do justice to the vision, initiative and resource of the American Navy. It was, indeed, a bold and gigantic experiment, calling for many millions of money and the strenuous and dangerous work of many men. That it was so successfully done reflects credit alike on Britons and Americans, and both share in the honor of its accomplishment.
Manufacturing 100,000 mines was a big order, but that was only the beginning. They had to be shipped 3,500 miles overseas, which necessitated a fleet of mine-carriers. Twenty-three cargo vessels were converted, and assigned to this duty. To fill the mines with explosives a mine-loading plant of 22 buildings was erected at St. Julien's Creek, Va., capable of receiving, loading and shipping 1,000 mines a day. Advanced bases, for inspection and assembly of the mines, were established in February, 1918, on the east coast of Scotland, at Inverness and Invergordon, with Captain O. G. Murfin in charge.
For the work of mine-laying, a Mine Squadron was created, under command of Captain Reginald R. Belknap. This consisted of the flagship San Francisco (Captain H. V. Butler), and her consort, the Baltimore (Captain A. W. Marshall), "crack cruisers of the vintage of 1890," as Captain Belknap called them; and eight former merchant vessels converted into naval mine planters. Four of these were Southern Pacific or Morgan liners, carrying freight between New York and Galveston, renamed the Roanoke (Captain C. D. Stearns), Canonicus (Captain T. L. Johnson), Housatonic (Captain J. W. Greenslade), and Canandaigua (Commander W. H. Reynolds). Two were the Old Dominion passenger liners Jefferson and Hamilton, running between New York and Norfolk, renamed Quinnebaug (Commander D. Pratt Mannix), and Saranac (Captain Sinclair Gannon). The remaining two were the fast Boston and New York passenger steamers, Massachusetts and Bunker Hill, of the Eastern Steamship Corporation, renamed Shawmut (Captain W. T. Cluverius), and Aroostook (Captain J. Harvey Tomb). They were accompanied abroad by several seagoing tugs, the Sonoma, Ontario, Patapsco and Patuxent.
Admiral Strauss, who was in general command of mining operations, went to England in March, inspected the bases, and conferred with the British authorities as to the general arrangements. His flagship was the Black Hawk (Captain R. C. Bulmer), which was also the repair vessel of the mine force. The British began mine laying in March, but one of their vessels, the Gailardia, was sunk; and operations were suspended for a time until the safety of the mines could be assured.
The Baltimore, the first of our vessels sent over, arrived in the Clyde in March. Submarines were very active in Irish waters, and the Admiralty decided to lay a deep mine-field off the north coast of Ireland, in the North Channel. As all British mine-layers were employed elsewhere, the Admiralty requested the use of the Baltimore. This was readily granted and the Baltimore engaged in this from April 13th until the latter part of May, joining our squadron in Scotland June 2nd. The Roanoke, sent over to assist her, was instead ordered to our base at Invergordon.
Sailing from Newport, May 12th, the San Francisco and other vessels arrived at Inverness, May 26th, all ready to begin operations. Twelve days later the squadron started on its first mine-planting "excursion." On these expeditions, which lasted usually from 40 to 80 hours, the squadron was regarded as a part of the British Grand Fleet. Screening it against submarines, and hostile mines casually placed, was an escort of eight to twelve British destroyers, which formed around the squadron upon its leaving the base and kept with it until its return. To guard against attack from enemy cruisers, while away from the coast, the squadron was accompanied by a supporting force, consisting of a battleship or battle-cruiser squadron and a light-cruiser squadron of the Grand Fleet, sometimes by all three, according to the estimated probabilities of attack. On the second mining excursion the support was the Sixth Battle Squadron, the American battleships, commanded by Admiral Rodman. Captain Belknap gave a vivid picture of the dangerous character of mine-laying when he said:
One may imagine with what feelings we saw our own great ships file out of Scapa Flow, form line on our quarter, and slowly disappear in the haze, as they swept off to the southeastward. It will be readily understood that the way had to be made smooth for the mine planters. As long as it was so, all would go well; but a single well placed torpedo or mine, or a few enemy shells, would certainly finish one vessel, and probably destroy all ten of them. Each mine planter carried from 24 to 120 tons of high explosive, a total of nearly 800 tons in the squadron, many times more than the amount that devastated Halifax. With this on board, the squadron was hardly a welcome visitor anywhere.
Operations as a whole were conducted in conjunction with a British mine-laying squadron of four vessels, under command of Rear Admiral Clinton-Baker. American and British squadrons often went out at the same time, under protection of the same heavy vessels, but except on two occasions they worked separately, in different parts of the barrage area. Thus there were altogether fourteen mine planters at work at the same time.