Enlisted men--Aviation ratings, 21,951; general ratings assigned to aviation duty, 8,742. Marine Corps--Aviation officers, 282; Enlisted men, 2,180. This force was equipped with 1,170 flying boats, 695 seaplanes, 262 land planes, ten free balloons, 205 kite balloons, and 15 dirigibles. Of this equipment 570 aircraft had been sent abroad, before the armistice. Captain N. E. Irwin was Director of Naval Aviation, with offices in the Navy Department. Captain H. I. Cone was in general charge of our aviation activities in Europe. Construction and operation of air stations in France were under his supervision until August 1, 1918, when he moved to London, as head of the Aviation Section of Admiral Sims' staff. Then all our forces in France, except the Northern Bombing Group, which was commanded by Captain D. C. Hanrahan, were placed under command of Admiral Wilson, Captain T. T. Craven, as aide for aviation, on his staff, being charged with all aviation matters. Building more than forty stations in Europe, some of them of huge extent, was a big task in construction. Its accomplishment, under many handicaps and difficulties, reflects the utmost credit upon all concerned. Constructors and aviators displayed such energy and resource, that it was a current saying that, "Naval Aviation can do anything that comes to hand." They created in a few months stations that, under ordinary circumstances, would have required years to build. Let me give one example illustrative of others. At the big air station at Killingholme, England, contracts for the buildings had been made, but it became evident soon after the arrival of our aviation personnel that unless we did the work ourselves that station would never be built in time to permit active operations or house the men in comfort. But Lieutenant M. E. Kelly, with a detail of 200 American blue-jackets, built in thirty days twenty-eight barrack buildings of brick and concrete, each twenty feet wide and sixty feet long. That is only one instance of hundreds of things done by this force in Europe. The Navy erected its own aircraft factory at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, which was producing and shipping planes to Europe in the spring of 1918. This immense plant was of inestimable value in carrying out the program of aviation construction, which was pushed all along the line.