“So when we get back to the homeland,
As we will some day, we trust,
There isn’t one if called upon,
Who wouldn’t repeat or bust.
“The destroyers are gone to the west’ard,
The battleships, too, are home,
But this poor old yacht has been forgot
And is left here to finish ALONE!!”
On the day after this rather subdued Christmas, the Corsair was informed of her destination, which was Queenstown, Ireland, and her mission was to relieve the U.S.S. Melville as the flagship of Admiral Sims, Commanding the U.S. Naval Forces in European Waters. The Melville, the last word in naval construction as a repair and supply ship, had been nominally the flagship during the service of the destroyer flotillas at Queenstown, although the official headquarters and residence of Admiral Sims were in London. During this time the Melville had quartered Captain J. R. P. Pringle, the American chief of staff and his organization which coöperated with the British Admiral Sir Lewis Bayly in maintaining and directing the destroyer force.
The elaborate and smoothly running machine of operation, supply, equipment, and personnel had come to a halt with the armistice. The destroyers had fled homeward. The barracks and dépôts for material at Passage, a little way up the river, had been almost emptied, and the great naval aviation base on the other side of Queenstown Harbor was like a deserted city. All that remained was what Admiral Bayly called the job of “cleaning up the mess.” For this the American chief of staff was required to linger on the scene, but it was decided to send the Melville home and the Corsair was elected to take the place, or, as her men said, “it was wished on her.”