equipped for such service than we were when Captain Hans Rose came here
in his submarine, and it is divulging no secret information to say that
this and further invasions of our home waters will be dealt with bravely
and rigorously without the necessity of subtracting from the number of
war-vessels that are engaged with Allied fighters in maintaining
commerce upon the waters of Europe.

But this is getting a bit further ahead than I intended to go at this
juncture. The primary point is that with the visit of Captain Hans Rose
in his undersea boat, with her depredations off our coast, the Navy
Department, saying nothing to outsiders, came to accept the idea of war
as something more than a possible contingency.

Debates in Congress were characterized by an increasing pointedness, and
stories of sea murders increased rather than diminished. And not
infrequently there were Americans on board those ships. At length came
the sinking of American merchantmen and the final decision by our
government to place armed guards on all merchant vessels carrying our
flag. It was then that the Navy Department was called upon to take the
first open steps against the German sea menace--steps rife with grim
possibilities, since it operated to bring our seamen gunners into actual
conflict with the German naval forces. There could be little doubt,
therefore, that war would follow in inevitable course.




CHAPTER II

Our Navy Arms American Merchant Vessels--Death of our First Bluejacket