In the work of examining and considering the great volume of ideas and devices and inventions submitted from the public, the Naval Consulting Board has rendered a signal service. Beginning March, 1917, the Navy Department was overwhelmed with correspondence so great that it was almost impossible to sort it. Letters, plans, and models were received at the rate of from 5 to 700 a day. Within a year upward of 60,000 letters, many including detailed plans, some accompanied by models, have been examined and acted upon. To do this work a greatly enlarged office force in the Navy Department was necessary, and offices were established in New York and San Francisco. While a comparatively small number of inventions have been adopted--some of them of considerable value--the majority has fallen into the class of having been already known, and either put into use or discarded after practical test. And thus the Navy Department is carrying on its share of the war, a share significant at the very outset as one of our most important weapons in the establishment of the causes for which the United States entered the great conflict. CHAPTER XVI The beginning of the end--Reports in London that submarines were withdrawing to their bases to head a battle movement on the part of the German Fleet--How the plan was foiled--The surrender of the German Fleet to the combined British and American Squadrons--Departure of the American Squadron--What might have happened had the German vessels come out to fight In the early fall of 1913 an American naval officer, who enjoyed to a peculiar degree the confidence of certain officers of the British Admiralty, was attending to duties of an extremely confidential nature in London when one morning he was accosted by a friend, an officer high in the councils of His Majesty's Navy. "M----," he said, "I have rather an important bit of news. Within a few weeks--in fact, we cannot quite tell how soon--there is going to be the greatest naval engagement the world has ever seen. We are ready for them, though, and we shall win." The American was naturally curious, and in reply to his questions the Briton went on to say that from certain intelligence quarters word had come that the trend of German U-boats back to their bases--which had been noted for a week or so--contained a grim meaning. It meant, in fine, the emergence of the German fleet, headed by the submarines, prepared for a final battle to establish the question of sea power. One may imagine the tenseness that reigned at the Admiralty, and the code messages that flew back and forth between London and the flag-ship of the British and American battle fleet. As it happened, the German sea fighters never sallied forth in battle array, their final appearance being less warlike.