Besides transporting American troops, the Navy, in one detail of its work, actually participated in warfare on the Western Front. Though this feature of our effort has nothing to do with the main subject, the defeat of the submarine, yet any account of the American navy in the war which overlooks the achievements of our naval batteries on land would certainly be incomplete. The use of naval guns in war operations was not unprecedented; the British used such guns in the Boer War, particularly at Ladysmith and Spion Kop; and there were occasions in which such armament rendered excellent service in the Boxer Rebellion. All through the Great War, British, French, and Germans frequently reinforced their army artillery with naval batteries. But, compared with the American naval guns which under the command of Rear-Admiral Charles P. Plunkett performed such telling deeds against the retreating Germans in the final phases of the conflict, all previous equipment of naval guns on shore had been less efficient in one highly important respect. For the larger part of the war, the Germans had had a great gun stationed in Belgium bombarding Dunkirk. The original purpose in sending American naval batteries to France was to silence this gun. The proposal was made in November, 1917; but, rapidly as the preparations progressed, the situation had entirely changed before our five fourteen-inch guns were ready to leave for France. In the spring of 1918 the Germans began the great drive which nearly took them to the Channel ports; and under the conditions which prevailed in that area it was impossible to send our guns to the Belgian coast. Meanwhile, the enemy had stationed a gun, having a range of nearly seventy-five miles, in the forest of Compiègne; the shells from this weapon, constantly falling upon Paris, were having a more demoralizing effect upon the French populace than was officially admitted. The demand for the silencing of this gun came from all sides; and it was a happy coincidence that, at just about the time when this new peril appeared, the American naval guns were nearly ready to be transported to France. Encouraged by the success of this long-range gun on Paris, the Germans were preparing long-range bombardments on several sections of the front. They had taken huge guns from the new battle-cruiser _Hindenburg_ and mounted them at convenient points for bombarding Dunkirk, Chalons-sur-Marne, and Nancy. In all, the Allied intelligence departments reported that sixteen guns of great calibre had left Kiel in May, 1918, and that they would soon be trained upon important objectives in France. For this reason it was welcome news to the Allies, who were deficient in this type of artillery, that five naval fourteen-inch guns, with mountings and ammunition and supply trains, were ready to embark for the European field. The Navy received an urgent request from General Pershing that these guns should be landed at St.