and yet more ships--means should be taken of driving the submarine from
the seas.

We held the attitude that the nation which had given to the world a
weapon so formidable as the undersea fighter had within it the ability
to devise a means of combating it successfully. And, as a matter of
fact, long before we went into the conflict the Navy Department had not
ignored consideration of ways and means in this respect. As a
consequence, when the British and French War Commissions arrived in this
country they found our naval officers bristling with ideas, some of them
apparently so feasible that the British naval representatives were both
pleased and astonished.

We do not know all that passed between the Americans and the British
with regard to the submarine, but this we do know: that the British went
back to England with a greater respect for our powers of constructive
thought than they had when they reached this country. Among some of the
early suggestions was the sowing of contact mines in waters through
which the submarines would be obliged to pass in leaving and entering
their bases. Then there was the scheme of protecting vessels in groups,
and other excellent ideas which were soon put into effect.

Immediately after the signing of the war resolution by President Wilson
the Navy Department proceeded to put various plans into execution. At
9.30 o'clock one warm April night commanders of various destroyers in
service along the coast received orders to proceed at daylight to the
home navy-yards and fit out with all despatch for distant service. None
of the officers knew what was ahead, not definitely, that is; but all
knew that the future held action of vital sort and with all steam the
venomous gray destroyers were soon darting up and down the coast toward