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William Sowden Sims

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"WILLIAM SOWDEN SIMS (1858-), American naval officer, was born at Port Hope, Ont., Canada, Oct. 15 1858. In childhood he removed to Pennsylvania and was graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1880. Then for eight years he served on board various ships in the N. Atlantic. During 1889-93 he was with the nautical school ship " Saratoga," and then was transferred to the Pacific Station, and later to the China Station. From 1897 to 1900 he was naval attaché to the American embassy, first at Paris and afterwards at St. Petersburg. In 1900 he returned to the Pacific Station. Convinced of the inadequacy of American methods of target practice Lieuten.a.nt Sims wrote numerous letters to the Washington officials urging changes. Meeting with no response he finally addressed a personal letter to President Roosevelt, which led to his recall to Washington. In the end he was enabled to arrange for a gunnery test and proved his claims. In 1902 he was assigned to the Bureau of Navigation, serving for the next seven years as inspector of target practice, which was remarkably improved under his guidance. Meanwhile in 1907 he was made commander and appointed naval aide to President Roosevelt. With this rank he was placed in charge of the battleship " Minnesota " in 1909. The following year, during a visit of the Atlantic Fleet to England, Commander Sims caused a stir by certain indiscreet remarks made at a dinner at the Guildhall, London, where he said: " Speaking for myself, I believe that if the time ever comes when the British Empire is menaced by an external enemy, you may count upon every man, every drop of blood, every ship, and every dollar of your kindred across the sea." A semi-official protest against this utterance was made at Washington by the German Government, which took offence at it, and there was some talk of Sims being dismissed from the service, but the incident ended in a severe reprimand from the Secretary of the Navy. In 1911 he was promoted captain and for two years was a member of the staff of the Naval War College, Newport, R.I. During 1913-5 he was in command of the Atlantic Torpedo Flotilla and then returned to Newport as president of the Naval War College. When America entered the World War in April 1917 he was chosen to command Ameri-;can naval operations in Europe. In Jan. he had been promoted rear-admiral, and early in April, when war was imminent but before its formal declaration, he sailed in disguise to England in a merchant vessel. In May he was made vice-admiral. In 1916 he had urged construction of battle cruisers, arguing their supremacy over submarines as shown in the battle of Jutland. In his book The Victory at Sea (1920, in conjunction with Burton J. Hendrick) he shows how the convoy system, used in transporting 2,000,000 American troops, frustrated the submarines. In 1919 he criticised the manner in which naval honours had been awarded; in particular, he held that " the commanding officer of a vessel that is sunk by a submarine should not receive the same reward as the commanding officer of a vessel which sinks a submarine." This criticism was obviously directed against the Secretary of the Navy for having decorated his own son-in-law, whose boat was sunk. He himself refused the D.S.M. In 1920 he made a formal report to the U.S. Senate, and charged the U.S. Naval Board with serious errors in the conduct of naval operations during the war. His English sympathies and his admiration for the British navy were openly expressed - too openly for the liking of some of his critics.