The relations of the American Navy with the Allied fleets were in every case cordial and harmonious. The close and friendly coöperation was especially noteworthy with the British fleet, because the major portion of American operations was with it and the association was closer and more constant. American vessels operated under British command and British under American command effectively and without friction and the ability, skill and seamanlike qualities of each, officers and men alike, won hearty praise from the other. The British Admiralty sent a commission to the American squadron of the Grand Fleet to inquire how the ships were kept in such a state of readiness and high efficiency without sending them to the dockyards. American naval forces in European waters engaged in 500 battles with submarines, in which it was known that at least ten undersea boats were sunk by them and thirty-six others damaged. Deaths in the Navy from war causes totaled 1,200 and at the close of hostilities there were 15,000 patients in naval hospitals. In both European and American waters a total of 48 naval vessels of all classes was lost during the war, of which the armored cruiser, San Diego, which struck a mine off the coast of New York, was the most important. The losses were occasioned by submarines, mines, collisions and miscellaneous causes. CHAPTER XII THE NAVY ON LAND The American Navy did work important and memorable on land as well as upon the sea. Its Marine Corps fought in decisive battles with unsurpassed courage, daring, endurance and aggressiveness and some of its big guns were instrumental in more quickly bringing to pass, unexpectedly early, the order to “cease firing.”