In April, 1917, the regular Navy contained 4,366
officers and 64,680 men. In April, 1918, it contained 7,798 officers and
192,385 men. In the Marine Corps in 1917 there were 426 officers and
13,266 men. In one year this was increased to 1,389 officers and 38,629
men. In the organization of the Naval Reserves, naval volunteers and
coast guards there were in 1917, 24,569 men, in 1918, 98,319 men, and
11,477 officers.
While personnel of the Navy was thus expanding the United States battle
fleet had grown to more than twice the size of the fleet before the war.
When war was declared there were under construction 123 new naval
vessels. These were completed and contracts made for 949 new vessels.
Among the ships completed are fifteen battleships, six battle cruisers,
seven scout cruisers, twenty-seven destroyers, and sixty-one submarines.
About eight hundred craft were taken over and converted into transports,
patrol service boats, submarine chasers, mine sweepers and mine layers.
The government also seized 109 German ships which had been interned in
American ports. The Germans had attempted to damage these ships so that
they would be useless, but they were all repaired, and carried American
troops and supplies in great quantities to France.
As the fleet grew the training of the necessary officers and crews was
conducted on a grand scale.
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