William S. Sims papers

William Sowden Sims was born on October 15, 1858, in Port Hope, Ontario Province, Canada, to Alfred William and Adelaide Sowden Sims. His father was a civil engineer involved in constructing harbor facilities on Lake Ontario. The Sims family, consisting of five siblings, lived in Canada until 1872 and then moved to Orbisonia, Pennsylvania.

Sims was appointed to the U.S. Naval Academy from Pennsylvania in 1876. He was not particularly well prepared for academic life and was an average student. After graduating in 1880, he served in USS Tennessee and later in USS Swatara, where he was promoted to ensign. Between 1882 and 1897, he served in USS Yantic, the schoolship, Saratoga, USS Philadelphia, USS Charleston, and the receiving ships Colorado and Richmond. In 1887, he received permission from the Navy Department to live in Paris for a year, where he perfected his French and absorbed French culture. This experience qualified him for an appointment as naval attaché to Paris, France; St. Petersburg, Russia; and Madrid, Spain in 1897, a position he held until 1900. During this time, he collected intelligence on Spain’s preparation for war and studied the gunfire systems of foreign navies, which, he averred, were superior to those of the U.S. Navy.

In 1900, Sims was assigned to the China Station in USS In 1900, Sims was assigned to the China Station in USS Kentucky, the Navy’s newest battleship. For the next two years, he continued to observe and report on the superiority of a new system of British naval gunnery that used the continuous aim method of firing developed by Royal Navy Captain Percy Scott of HMS Terrible. Sims felt that the U.S. Navy’s gunfire systems had deficiencies that imperiled the service’s effectiveness as a fighting force. After his pleas to the Bureau Chiefs and the Secretary of the Navy were ignored, Sims wrote directly to President Theodore Roosevelt about this matter in November 1901.Kentucky, the Navy’s newest battleship. For the next two years, he continued to observe and report on the superiority of a new system of British naval gunnery that used the continuous aim method of firing developed by Royal Navy Captain Percy Scott of HMS Terrible. Sims felt that the U.S. Navy’s gunfire systems had deficiencies that imperiled the service’s effectiveness as a fighting force. After his pleas to the Bureau Chiefs and the Secretary of the Navy were ignored, Sims wrote directly to President Theodore Roosevelt about this matter in November 1901.

In 1902, after the Atlantic Fleet scored poorly in target practice, President Roosevelt recalled Sims from China and appointed him Inspector of Target Practice. Sims held this position for six and one-half years, while serving as a naval aide to the president during the last two years of this assignment. He was successful in improving the effectiveness of naval gunfire using the continuous aim system, and eventually it was introduced throughout the fleet. An outspoken critic of the Navy’s bureaucratic system, he urged reform but made little headway. He did, however, succeed in getting the Navy to build the new heavy dreadnaughts.

Sims was rewarded for his loyalty and service by being named commanding officer of the Navy’s premier battleship, USS Minnesota, an assignment he held for two years before being detached for instruction at the Naval War College as a member of the 1911 Summer Conference. He continued at the college as a student in the 1911–1912 Long Course and remained on the staff through June 1913, when he assumed command of the Destroyer Flotilla, Atlantic Fleet. As commander of the Flotilla, he devised new tactical maneuver doctrines for destroyers.

After a year as commanding officer of USS Nevada, Sims was selected as president of the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, in February 1917, and promoted to rear admiral. Two months later, the college was closed when the United States entered the First World War, and he was sent to London to act as a liaison with the Royal Navy. Soon after he was appointed Commanding Officer, U.S. Naval Forces in European waters as a vice admiral. In order to combat the heavy losses of merchant shipping from U-boat attacks, he devised a plan to use destroyers as escorts. The convoy system worked remarkably well and cut shipping losses in half. He directed the operations of nine admirals under his command and worked harmoniously with the other allied powers while sanctioning the laying of the North Sea Mine Barrage.

When the war was over, Sims returned to Newport and the presidency of the Naval War College, where he remained until he retired at age sixty-four in 1922. He increased the number of faculty and students and defended the college as a citadel of naval thought and intellectual training in warfare. He spent the last fourteen years of his life in Boston, where he wrote, lectured, and testified before Congress regarding what he considered deficiencies in the Navy. In 1921, Sims won the Pulitzer Prize for Victory at Sea, a factual and reasoned account of World War I. He died on September 28, 1936, and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. His survivors included his wife, Anne Hitchcock Sims, two sons, William and Ethan, and three daughters, Adelaide (Mrs. Robert Fiske), Margaret (Mrs. Robert H. Hopkins), and Anne (Mrs. Elting Morison).

Sims received the following medals during the course of his career: the Spanish Campaign Medal, the Philippine Campaign Medal, the Mexican Service Medal, the Victory Medal, the Grand Cross of the Order of St. Michael and St. George (Great Britain), Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor (France), Grand Cordon, Order of the Rising Sun (Japan), Grand Cordon, Order of Leopold (Belgium), and Grand Officer of the Crown of Italy. He refused to accept the Distinguished Service Medal because he objected to the Navy’s policy of awarding medals to undeserving officers.

Sims received honorary degrees from the following universities: Yale, Harvard, Tufts, Columbia, Pennsylvania, Cambridge (England), McGill (Montreal), Queens (Kingston, Canada), and from Williams, Union, and Juniata Colleges, and Stephens Institute.

Three U.S. ships bore his name. The destroyer USS Sims (DD-409) was launched in 1939 and sunk during the Battle of the Coral Sea in 1942. The destroyer escort USS Sims (DE-154, then APD-50) was commissioned in 1943 and served during World War II. The third USS Sims (DE-1059) was commissioned in 1970 and served with the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean.

1858

Born, October 15

1880

Graduated, U.S. Naval Academy

1880-1882

USS Tennessee (Screw Frigate)

1883

Promoted to Midshipman

1884

Promoted to Ensign

1889-1893

Saratoga (Schoolship)

1893-1894

USS Philadelphia (C-4)

1894-1896

USS Charleston (C-2)

1897-1900

Naval Attaché, Paris, St. Petersburg, and Madrid

1900-1901

USS Kentucky (BB-6)

1901

USS Monterey (BM-6)

1901-1902

Staff, CINC, Asiatic Fleet, USS Brooklyn (CA-3)

1902

Promoted to Lieutenant Commander

1902-1908

Inspector of Target Practice

1905

Married, November 21 to Anne Hitchcock

1907

Promoted to Commander

1908-1909

Naval Aide to President of the United States

1909-1911

CO, USS Minnesota (BB-22)

1911

Promoted to Captain

1911-1913

Student, Staff, Naval War College, Newport, RI

1913-1915

CO, Destroyer Flotilla, Atlantic Fleet

1915-1916

CO, USS Nevada (BM-8)

1917

Promoted to Rear Admiral

President, Naval War College and Commandant, Second Naval District

1917-1918

CO, U.S. Naval Forces, European Waters

1919

Returned to rank of Rear Admiral

1919-1922

President, Naval War College

1922

Retired from the U.S. Navy

1925

Temporary duty with BUNAV and Aircraft Board

1930

Commissioned Admiral on the retired list

1936

Died, September 28