The Prime Minister only two days ago expressed to me the opinion that it ought to be possible to find physical means of absolutely sealing up all escape for submarines from their own ports. The fact that all such methods (nets, mines, obstructions, etc.) inherently involve the added necessity of continuous protection and maintenance by our naval forces is seldom understood and appreciated. I finally convinced the Prime Minister of the fallacy of such propositions by describing the situations into which we would be led: namely, that in order to maintain our obstructions we would have to match the forces the enemy brought against them until finally the majority if not all of our own forces would be forced into dangerous areas where they would be subject to continual torpedo and other attack, in fact in a position most favorable to the enemy. But the naval administration at Washington had faith in that idea, and urged it again and again, until it was adopted, and the vast barrage was laid across the North Sea. CHAPTER VI NAVAL ALLIES IN HISTORIC CONFERENCE FOUR DAYS AFTER WAR WAS DECLARED, BRITISH, FRENCH AND AMERICAN ADMIRALS MET AT FORTRESS MONROE TO MAP OUT PLANS FOR IMMEDIATE COÖPERATION--CONFERENCE AT WASHINGTON, APRIL 11TH, FIXED THE POLICY OF UNITED NAVAL EFFORT--FREQUENT AND FULL INTERCHANGE OF OPINION WITH ALLIES. Four days after war was declared, admirals of the United States, Great Britain and France were in conference at Fortress Monroe. Immediately upon the action of Congress, without awaiting the arrival of Admiral Sims, then on the ocean bound for London, arrangements were made to confer with the commanders-in-chief of the British and French forces on this side of the Atlantic, who were familiar with conditions overseas as well as on this coast. When they arrived Admiral Benson asked: "Where can our Navy render the best immediate service?" Then these sea fighters sat down to an all-day session to find the best answer to Benson's question. The Allied admirals, who had been in the war from the beginning, told what had been attempted, what achieved, and the ways wherein they hoped America could come to the rescue. Hampton Roads was the site of a historic conference, between Abraham Lincoln and Alexander H. Stephens and others in 1865, when there was hope that the War between the States might be brought to an end. That conference failed, but this of April 10, 1917, was a pronounced success; for it was followed the next day by the conference at the Navy Department in Washington, which laid the foundations for the perfect coöperation in the war with Allied governments, the first agreement the United States Navy ever made with foreign naval officials to wage war together. At the time even the fact that it was held was secret, and its conclusions were sent abroad only in code. For secrecy was necessary in regard to this as well as other plans and operations.