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292 contributed the Harrispurc(PHILADEL- PHIA), KRooNLAND, LOUISVILLE St: Louris), Piatrssurc (NEw York), and the Fintanp. The Sr. Paut has been returned to this line. The Atlantic Transport Co. has contributed the MancuurtA, Moncoria, and the Troy (Minnesora). The Grace' Steamship Co, contributed the Sanra ANA, SANTA Barpara, SANTA Pavura and the SANTA Rosa, out of its fleet of 13 steamers. Several of the better steamers were taken out of the coasting trade and converted into troopers. Among these were the Comrort (Havana) and the Mercy (Saratoca), of the Ward line; Awncon and Gen. W. C. Gorcas of the Panama Railroad, Co.; the CALAMARES and the Pastores of the United Fruit Co.; the Housatonic (Et Rio) and the Roanoke (Ext Dra) of the Southern Pacific Co.; the Marrory (H. R. Mattory) of the Mallory line; the MarsoniA, Maui and .the WILHELMINA, three of the largest steamers of the Matson Navigation Co.; the SANTA Ciara, and the Santa Ortvia of the Atlantic & Pacific Steamship Co.; the Peertess of the Standard Transporta- tion Co.; the SHosHONE of the Shoshone Navigation Corp.; the Srerra of the Oceanic Steamship Co.; the Pacific liners, Great NorTHERN and the NortH- ERN Pactric, and the Santa Ceciiia of the Nafra Co., Inc. The PENNSYLVANIA of the Texas Steamship Co. was re- turned to her owners after the armistice was signed, and the Lenape of the Clyde line has also been returned. Three transports built by the Sun Shipbuilding Co, Chester, Pa., have re- cently been turned over to the transport service. These vessels were built for the Emergency Fleet corporation. They are named the Marcia, Eppeyn, and Soi Navis. They are each 10,000 tons dead- weight, have twin screws and turbines, being oil burners. They are capable of making 13% knots. Their length is 499 feet, beam, molded, 60 feet, and depth, molded, 40 feet 11 inches. Secure Enemy Ships In addition, the transport service ex- pects to obtain 25 German and Austrian vessels which were interned in German and Austrian harbors during the war. ~Twelve of these have already been designated and the navy sent officers abroad to take charge of them. They are the Grar Watperser, Parricta, Pretoria, KatrieN, CLEVELAND, KaIsEr- In AucusTAN VictTortA, Cap CoLonta, Cap Finesterta, and the big Imperator. The other two are Austrian vessels, the BELLEDOERE ARGENTISIS, and the Prest- DENT WILSON. The transport HENDERSON was signed over, and the transport service obtained the Cananpracua, CANNonicus and the QuinNEBAUG from the mine force. The THE MARINE REVIEW RiynpAM. and. ZEELANDIA, vessels char- 'tered from the Holland-American line, were, fakes cover from™ the shipping board. Be eaten Early in March, the transport service had 104 vessels listed as transports. Sixty-seven of these were freighters converted into troop ships. At the time. the armistice was signed, only about 40 vessels were engaged in this service. The transport service suffered and the Prestpent Lincotn. The TENA- porEs, which was in this service at the time of the armistice, has since been wrecked. Merchant Fleet Lost 151 Ships During the war, the American mer- chant marine suffered the loss of 151 ships, 130 of which were sunk during the period of belligerency of the United States. During the same time only 48 of the vessels operated by the navy were lost, of which 14 were ~ submarined, 5 mined, 15 lost through collisions, and 14 lost through miscel- » laneous reasons. Numbered among the navy's losses' were the army transports ANTILLES, submarined when she was two days out from Quiberon Bay, France, on Oct. 17, 1917, the Presipent Lin- coLN, torpedoed on return voyage from France, May 31, 1918, and the Covinc- TON, torpedoed on the return voyage, July 1, 1918. None of the accidents to the vessels under navy control involved the loss of many lives. The army trans- ports 'TippECANOE, BERWIND, JOSEPH CupAHy, LAKE Epon and Laxe Owens were also submarined. The army freighters Westover, TICONDEROGA, SEATIA, WILLIAM ROocCKEFELLER, LAKE Moor and CatirorNIAN' were lost through enemy action; the Herman Frascu, OosTeRDYK, WESTGATE, ZAAM- LAND and West BripceE were lost through collision, and the Lake Broom- INGTON, Lake Borcne, OpHir and LAKE WESTON were lost through fire 'or ex- plosion. Many attempts were made upon the convoys but these were for the most part driven off. The naval overseas transportation service, commonly known as N. O. T. S., is a distinct organization of the navy. This branch had its in- ception in a small division which came into existence in the fall of 1917, which took over the few tankers and colliers of the navy for operation. N. O. T. S. was formally organized in Jan- uary, 1918,.and through it was solved the problem of 'managing what are known as shipping-board vessels, as well as freight vessels for the army in addition to the supply ships of the navy. This newly created branch of the navy began with a fleet of 65 ships,' which consisted chiefly of small cargo. boats built! oni the Great Lakes two- losses during the war, the CovINGTON © June, 1919 in addition to the navy tankers and colliers. In March of that year, n. 0 T. S. began taking over vessels for the army. account as well. On Jan, 1 JOE EN. Oo OS was operating 372 freighters, a total of 580 having been assigned.. One year prior the fleet con. sisted of but 65 vessels, and it was _ planned to have a fleet of at least ' 1000 freighters when the American army in France totaled 4,000,000 men. _ Since the armistice -was signed, many 20f the requisitioned ships have been yturned back to their owners, while others have been converted into troop ~ships and turned over to the navy trans- port service. At the present time, how- ever, No O, T. S. is -operdting irke classes of vessels. The navy's own tankers and colliers, and such freighters as were commandeered to transport navy supplies overseas; commandeered freighters, which were taken to carry army supplies, and shipping board ves- sels engaged in ordinary commercial trades.. Five months after the armistice was signéd, the fleet had diminished to about 300 vessels including 58 op- erated for the navy, 179 operated for army account, and 73 operated for the shipping board. On April 17, N. O. T, S. was operating 92 ships for army account, 44 for navy account and 87 for shipping board account, mak- ing a total of 223 vessels. The. in- crease in vessels operated for ship- ping board account was due to the fact that these vessels were released by the army and switched to board account. At that time approximately 1,300,000 men were still in France, the intention being to reduce the supply fleet as rapidly as the reduction of forces abroad would permit. The necessity of shipping supplies to European nationals, _ however, tended to check the reduction in the size of the fleet and the service was. compelled to hold itself in readi- ness to reswme and increase its opera- tions in case of an emergency. oe 1 Records of Sailings A careful record was at all times kept of the operation of the vessels, a system of photostat reports being adopted. These showed, day by day, where the ship was and what she was doing. In this way defects of opera- tion were remedied, time in port re- duced to a minimum and the ship kept in constant essential service. The great- est emergency was present, naturally, while the war was in progress, and the records of N. O. T. S. show that out of the port of New York during September, 1918, it had 100 ships sail- ing, which was the highest record for any month since this branch of the service came: into existence. The num- ber of sailings out of New York in