The destroyer flotilla was the
first contribution of American military power to the Entente Alliance
against Germany.
Admiral Sims is one of the most energetic and efficient of American
naval officers and to him as much as to any other man is due the
efficiency of the American Navy. During the period just before the
Spanish-American War Lieutenant Sims was Naval Attache at Paris, and
rendered invaluable services in buying ships and supplies for the Navy.
In 1900 he was assigned to duty on the battleship Kentucky, then
stationed in the Orient. In 1902 he was ordered to the Navy Department
and placed in charge of the Office of Naval Practice, where he remained
for seven years and devoted his attention to the improvement of the Navy
in gunnery. During that time he made constant trips to England to
consult with English experts in gunnery and ordnance, and became
intimately acquainted with Sir Percy Scott, who had been knighted and
made Rear-Admiral for the improvements he had introduced in connection
with the gunnery of the British warships. In 1909 he was made commander
of the battleship Minnesota, and in 1911 was a member of the college
staff at the Naval War College. In 1913 he was made commander of the
torpedo flotilla of the Atlantic fleet and in 1905 assigned to command
the Dreadnaught Nevada.
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