With headquarters at Brest, where the American admiral had his offices next to those of the French Chief of the Brittany Patrol, Vice Admiral Schwerer, who acted directly under Vice Admiral Moreau, senior Allied naval officer, an organization was built up extending all along the French coast. Working in closest coöperation with the French, our forces were always under American command, first under Admiral Fletcher, and then under Admiral Henry B. Wilson, who succeeded him on Nov. 1, 1917. Captain T. P. Magruder was made senior naval officer at Lorient, with a division of mine-sweepers to keep clear the approaches to St. Nazaire. Captain N. A. McCully commanded the Rochefort district, which extended from the Lorient line to the Spanish coast. Six yachts were based at Rochefort, to give prompt service to convoys entering the Gironde River, for Bordeaux or Pauillac. The Brest district, from Cape Brehat to Penmarch Point, was in command of Captain H. H. Hough, and the Cherbourg district, north of this, was assigned to Commander David Boyd. Naval port officers, stationed at Brest, Havre, Cherbourg, Rouen, St. Malo, Granville, St. Nazaire, Nantes, Quiberon Bay, Sables d' Olonne, Bordeaux, La Pallice, Rochefort, Royan, Verdon, Pauillac and St. Jean de Luz, kept in touch with Army officials and shipmasters, expediting dispatch of vessels and the flow of transportation and commerce. Military and naval officers pulled together with a will, and the saying was: "There is no Army and Navy at Brest. It's all one gang!" From Brest radiated lines of command, communication, and coöperation--to our own forces, and the French naval commanders on the coast; our naval representatives and naval attaché in Paris, and the French Ministry of Marine; through the superintendent of ports and coding officer to Army officials, those in charge of troops and supply transport; to the Chief of Aviation and the American and French air forces; and to U. S. Naval Headquarters in London. The development of this organization brought such success in anti-submarine operations as the French coast had never known, changing the entire situation in these waters, not only for our vessels but for all Allied shipping. Here is a chart record of vessels sunk by submarines on the west coast of France for six months and it tells the story: October, 1917 24 November, 1917 13 December, 1917 4 January, 1918 9 February, 1918 1 March, 1918 0 Describing an evening with Admiral Wilson, Reginald Wright Kauffman wrote: The Admiral and his staff sleep in rooms just below their office. That is, they say they sleep. I asked the Admiral's orderly if he had ever seen him in bed, and he said, "No, sir."