A History of the Transport Service: Adventures and Experiences of United States Transports and Cruisers in the World War (Classic Reprint)
(Excerpt from A History of the Transport Service: Adventur...)
Excerpt from A History of the Transport Service: Adventures and Experiences of United States Transports and Cruisers in the World War
IN April, 1917, at the time of the war declaration of the United States, the Allied cause was in serious danger. Apparently Germany had victory Within her grasp. Both on land and at sea William Hohenzollern was at the zenith of his power. France was on the. Verge of col lapse. Great Britain, dazed by the submarine blow struck at her trade and shipping, found her sea suprem acy challenged and the great British Navy unable to pro teet fully the commerce essential to England's existence.
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James Lawrence, Captain, United States Navy: Commander Of The "chesapeake"
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This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.
This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.
As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Albert Gleaves was a decorated admiral in the United States Navy, also notable as a naval historian.
Background
Gleaves was born on January 1, 1858, in Nashville, Tennessee, the only son and youngest of five children of Henry Albert and Eliza (Tannehill) Gleaves. His father was a bookseller and his mother a daughter of the editor of the Nashville Herald. He was descended from English and Dutch families of Virginia and Pennsylvania, including several Revolutionary officers.
Education
Gleaves entered the Naval Academy at fifteen and graduated in 1877.
Career
Gleaves' first eight years of duty were spent in five of the navy's last sailing ships. He had acquired a love of books from his father, and during long cruises in the South Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Far East he started his lifelong practice of extensive reading, the basis of his literary ability. He was in the new cruiser Boston from 1889 to 1892, mostly in the Pacific. He later served in the monitor Monadnock in the Pacific and in the battleship Texas in the Atlantic. In 1897 he had his first command, the torpedo boat Cushing. When Theodore Roosevelt, then Assistant Secretary of the Navy, made a trip in this ship, the two men began a lifelong friendship. Gleaves was in the Cushing during the Spanish-American War but saw little action. He was later navigator of the battleships Indiana and Alabama. He commanded the Dolphin and Mayflower, 1901-1904, both of which Roosevelt used as presidential yachts. While surveying with the Dolphin in 1902, Gleaves, an expert hydrographer, discovered the deepest recorded place in the Atlantic, 27, 984 feet, about ninety miles northwest of Puerto Rico. Between 1908 and 1911 he commanded the cruiser St. Louis in the Pacific and the new dreadnought North Dakota. Between his sea duties Gleaves served in ordnance assignments at the Naval Proving Grounds, Annapolis, Maryland, and at the Washington Navy Yard. From 1904 to 1908 he had a notable tour of duty as commander of the Naval Torpedo Station, Newport, Rhode Island, where he initiated torpedo manufacture by the navy. He was commandant of the New York Navy Yard, 1912-1914. Commissioned rear admiral in 1915 while commanding the Utah, Gleaves took command of the Destroyer Force, Atlantic Fleet. He foresaw the task of these ships in the coming war and prepared them for it. With American entry into World War I, Gleaves became responsible for organizing convoy operations in the Atlantic. In this capacity he personally commanded the convoy which guarded the crossing of the first American Expeditionary Force in June 1917. This involved the creation of the Transport Force itself around seventeen interned German liners, among them the Leviathan, the largest ship afloat. Though these ships were in bad condition, with machinery wrecked, in five months Gleaves had them repaired, equipped, and manned. Altogether his force carried nearly half of the American troops sent to France and all those who returned, without losing a single life at sea. The notably efficient work of this command made Gleaves one of the best known navy leaders of the war. In 1919 he went to the Far East as commander-in-chief, Asiatic Station, with the rank of admiral. While there he warned of future Japanese aggression. After retirement in 1922 he lectured and wrote articles defining the navy's purpose and the need for a merchant marine and disputed the claims that the airplane had made the battleship obsolete. He died of pneumonia, due to complications of age, at Haverford, Pennsylvania on January 6, 1937, and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
(This 381-page hardcover was published in 1925 by Putnam.)
Personality
Gleaves was devoted to his profession and ambitious in it. He was a strict disciplinarian, demanding of subordinates his own high standards. Their work under him habitually set records. In his wartime relations with army personnel he displayed tact and common sense. He was a convincing speaker, with a fund of interesting anecdotes.
Connections
Gleaves was survived by his wife, formerly Evelina Heap of Washington, D. C. , whom he had married on June 12, 1889, and by their two daughters.
Awarded Victory Medal with star, and Distinguished Service Medal (both Navy and army). Military Medal (Czecho-Slovakian). Order of Sacred Treasure, 1st Class (Japanese).tempSpaceOrder of Weng Hu, 1st Class (Chinese).
Commander Legion of Honor (French). Presented with gold and jeweled sword by citizens of Nashville, 1919.tempSpaceDoctor of Laws, Jefferson College, Pennsylvania, 1919. Gold watch, Hoboken (New Jersey) Chamber of Commerce, 1919.
Awarded Victory Medal with star, and Distinguished Service Medal (both Navy and army). Military Medal (Czecho-Slovakian). Order of Sacred Treasure, 1st Class (Japanese).tempSpaceOrder of Weng Hu, 1st Class (Chinese).
Commander Legion of Honor (French). Presented with gold and jeweled sword by citizens of Nashville, 1919.tempSpaceDoctor of Laws, Jefferson College, Pennsylvania, 1919. Gold watch, Hoboken (New Jersey) Chamber of Commerce, 1919.