vessels designated for armament and that the guards consisted of from
sixteen to thirty-two men under command of commissioned or chief petty
officers of the navy. When the work of finding guns for vessels was
begun the navy had few pieces that were available. While there were many
fine gunners in the naval force, there were not a sufficient number of
them to enable the quick arming of merchantmen without handicapping the
war-ships.

So every battleship in the navy was converted into a school of fire to
train men for the duty, and the naval ordnance plants entered upon the
work of turning out guns qualified for service on merchant craft. There
were guns in stock, as a matter of fact, but the number was insufficient
for the purpose in hand because, before the submarine developed a new
sort of sea warfare, it was not the policy of the nations to arm
merchant vessels other than those used as naval auxiliaries. But, as
already said, so expeditiously were affairs carried on that some six
months after the decision to equip our freighters and passenger-liners
with means of protection we had the sailors and the guns necessary to
meet all demands.

The following telegraphic correspondence, between two St. Louis business
men and the Secretary of the Navy, gives a very fair idea of the spirit
in which the citizens of this country accepted the decision of the
government to arm our merchant marine:

"St. Louis, Mo., April 11, 1917.

"_Hon. Josephus Daniels, Secretary of the Navy, Washington, D.C._

"We will pay $500 to the captain and crew of the first American merchant