The Corsair in the War Zone Author:Ralph Delahaye Paine General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1920 Original Publisher: Houghton Mifflin company Description: Includes the typescript of The Corsair in the War Zone with a list of the ship's company and three letters to Ralph D. Paine, two from Rear Admirals and one from an Admiral of the U.S. Navy. Subjects: Corsair (Yacht)... more » World War, 1914-1918 History / Military / World War I History / Military / Naval Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: CHAPTER III AT SEA WITH THE BRETON PATROL WHEN the Corsair arrived on the French coast there was nothing to indicate the vast American organization, military and naval, which was soon to be created with a speed and efficiency almost magical. Supply bases, docks, fuel stations, railroads were, at the outset, such as France could provide from her own grave necessities. Marshal Joffre and Lord Balfour had convinced the Government at Washington that if the United States delayed to prepare, it might be too late. Troops were demanded, above all else. Man power was the vital thing. And so these early divisions were hurried overseas to Pershing with little more than the equipment on their backs. The Navy was aware of its own share of the problem which was to extend its fighting front to the shores of France as well as to the Irish Sea. To protect the ocean traffic to and from the United States, small, swift ships were required by the dozens and scores, but they could not be built in a day, and, as a British admiral expressed it, "This rotten U-boat warfare had caught all the Allies with their socks down." Of the naval escort with the First Expeditionary Force, the cruisers returned to the United States for further convoy duty andthe destroyers went eith...« less