I congratulate you all on the work you have done. It will be a very satisfactory and proud memory for you and for all those connected with it. But I congratulate you most on the preparation that it gives you to do still more, to be better men, to be better citizens. Nothing more valuable could come from our work than that. You can fancy what my associations are with these two ships. I made my first cruise as a commissioned officer in the _Baltimore_; and the past four years in her and the _San Francisco_ have been the most interesting I ever had. I am very sorry to leave you of the _San Francisco_ even for a short time, but I could not leave under happier conditions. To leave at a time of a success like this happens only once in a lifetime. Good luck to all of you. Long before the barrage was finished we were studying how to sweep it up, and soon after the signing of the armistice, experiment began towards safeguarding the sweeping vessels. Before leaving for home the squadron transferred over 400 men to the bases for the sweeping duty, and subsequently a number of new sweepers were sent over from the United States, in groups commanded by officers formerly of the mine squadron. The British authorities took steps immediately to mark out the barrage area, with light-vessels and gas buoys, and actual sweeping began as early as December, 1918. It will take months to complete, but well inside a year from its laying the Northern Barrage will have become a thing of the past. It served its purpose, and more besides. Through the part played in former wars, submarine mines grew in recognition, though slowly, as important means of defense. In this war they came into extensive employment in offense, the largest as well as most striking offensive use being the Northern Barrage, which, in popular phrase, put mines on the map. SUMMARY OF MINES LAID