But more was needed, and I gave orders to use our old battleships and cruisers to carry troops. Naval officers objected, saying these warships were not fitted for such duty. I was told the soldiers on board would be uncomfortable, and would return home with a grouch against the Government and the Navy. What happened? Army officers and men were glad of the chance to come home on a warship. It was an experience no other soldiers had enjoyed. Once aboard, they fell to and made themselves thoroughly at home. Upon the arrival at Hampton Roads of the first battleship bringing troops, the Army officers sent me a letter of thanks for the fine voyage and the opportunity to return on a naval vessel, and later other officers expressed themselves in similar fashion. In a few months we had in operation 142 vessels carrying troops with facilities for 363,684 officers and men. The maximum was reached in June, when 340,946 embarked from France, 314,167 of them in United States transports. This exceeded the largest number carried overseas by all American and Allied vessels in any one month during the war. By the end of July, 1919, 1,770,484 men had been returned to America. The big troop movement was virtually over by October 1st, at which time nearly two million had been returned, 1,675,733 of them in naval transports. Several thousands more came later, and 11,211 had returned previous to the armistice. The record of the ten leading vessels of the Cruiser and Transport Force, in troops carried to Europe and passengers and sick and wounded returned, was: Transported Transported From Europe Total to Europe Passengers Sick and Wounded Carried Leviathan 96,804 93,746 10,913 192,753 America 37,768 46,823 4,668 86,801 George Washington 48,373 34,142 5,085 83,350 Agamemnon 36,097 41,179 4,425 78,249 President Grant 39,974 37,025 3,301 77,129 Mount Vernon 33,692 12,500 4,015 76,402 Siboney 20,299 34,702 5,307 55,169 Mongolia 19,013 34,813 2,707 54,337 Manchuria 14,491 39,501 6,186 54,230 Great Northern 28,248 22,852 5,522 54,085 -------- -------- -------- -------- 374,679 427,283 52,129 812,505 These ships also brought back 2,366 passengers before the armistice, which are included in the total numbers carried. The other vessels used in transporting to France, as well as returning troops were: