Sims in command at Queenstown

At 8.30 a.m. on 18 June 1917, in front of Admiralty House, the headquarters at Queenstown in Ireland, the flag of the British Vice-Admiral Lewis Bayly was lowered and the flag of the American Vice-Admiral William Sims was hoisted in its place. Bayly, who since 4 June had held the title of Commander-in-Chief, Coast of Ireland, left for five days’ leave on the west coast of the island, his first in almost two years. For that time Sims took command of all British and American naval forces in Irish waters. He was convinced that never before had a foreign admiral’s flag flown over a British naval base, and that no foreigner had commanded ships of the Royal Navy in wartime.

The idea came from Bayly himself, and the Admiralty approved it. According to Sims’s memoirs the British wished in this way to pay a courtesy to the American navy and to show the world how well the two fleets were working together. The First Sea Lord, Admiral John Jellicoe, hoped that the news would have a good effect in Britain, America and France, and Sims supposed that the British also had no objection to the Germans reading about it. Sims, commander of United States naval forces in Europe and a vice-admiral since the end of May, had some doubts, because American regulations allowed an admiral’s flag to be flown only on a ship, not ashore. Bayly insisted, however, that his flag should come down and the American one go up. In a report to the Secretary of the Navy, Josephus Daniels, Sims gave assurances that he was continuing Bayly’s policy and not interfering in the administrative and disciplinary affairs of the British crews, but that he was personally directing the movements and operations of the ships.

Hectic days in the approaches to Ireland

The stand-in came at a difficult moment. Since May American destroyers had been arriving at Queenstown, and the Admiralty was just adopting the convoy system. In those same days eighteen American destroyers had to be sent far to the west to meet the transports carrying the first American soldiers to France. On 20 June Sims wrote from Queenstown to Washington that in the whole area, reaching far out into the Atlantic and deep into the Irish Sea, only four ships were on patrol that day, while German submarines were ever more numerous and were operating over an ever wider area. He called the situation “not only serious but critical” and demanded that every vessel capable of fighting submarines be sent, even armed tugs and yachts.

The Admiralty’s gesture aroused considerable interest in England, and strange rumours in Queenstown itself. According to one, Bayly had quarrelled with Sims and left in a huff. According to another, the American had taken power from him and assumed the government of Ireland on behalf of the United States in order to free it from British oppression. The influence of Sinn Féin was strong in the area, and Sims later wrote of the hostility of its supporters towards American sailors. After a few days Bayly returned and everything went on as before. The gruff British admiral and the American vice-admiral became friends, and their cooperation at Queenstown is regarded as one of the best examples of Allied cooperation during the war.