That visit to the Fleet, August 11, 1917, was a notable occasion. It was the first time, I believe, that a President has, in the midst of war, gone to the chief naval rendezvous and gathered the officers about him for a heart-to-heart talk. Standing on the quarter deck of the _Pennsylvania_, surrounded by admirals, captains, commanders and other ranks, he could see all around him the dreadnaughts which are the embodiment of national strength and naval power. In the background was Yorktown, where Cornwallis' surrender marked the culminating victory of the Revolution. And in this historic spot American forces were again making history. The President had slipped away so quietly from Washington that few knew he was gone. Not only the speech he made, but the very fact of his visit was long kept secret. But that address, informal and confidential as it was, deserves a place in naval history. Disclaiming any idea that he had come "with malice prepense to make a speech," he told the officers that he had come to have a look at them and say some things that might be best said intimately and in confidence. "One of the deprivations which any man in authority experiences," he exclaimed, "is that he cannot come into constant and intimate touch with the men with whom he is associated and necessarily associated in action." "The whole circumstance of the modern time," is extraordinary, calling for extraordinary action, he pointed out and said: Now, the point that is constantly in my mind, gentlemen, is this: This is an unprecedented war and, therefore, it is a war in one sense for amateurs. Nobody ever before conducted a war like this and therefore nobody can pretend to be a professional in a war like this. Here are two great navies, not to speak of the others associated with us, our own and the British, outnumbering by a very great margin the navy to which we are opposed and yet casting about for a way in which to use our superiority and our strength, because of the novelty of the instruments used, because of the unprecedented character of the war; because, as I said just now, nobody ever before fought a war like this, in the way that this is being fought at sea, or on land either, for that matter. The experienced soldier,--experienced in previous wars,--is a back number so far as his experience is concerned; not so far as his intelligence is concerned. His experience does not count, because he never fought a war as this is being fought, and therefore he is an amateur along with the rest of us. Now, somebody has got to think this war out. Somebody has got to think out the way not only to fight the submarine, but to do something different from what we are doing.