Office of the Historian

File No. 841.801/143

The Consul General at London ( Skinner) to the Secretary of State

[Telegram]
London, December 14, 1918.
[Received 11 p.m.]

Admiralty Notice No. 1462 announces following amended limits of dangerous area Orkney Isles.1 Dangerous area is enclosed by straight lines joining following positions:

(a)
Latitude 59° 20’ N., longitude 50’ W.
(b)
Latitude 59° 20’ N., longitude 2° 4’ [5’?] W.
(c)
Latitude 59° N., longitude 2° 15’ 30” W.
(d)
Latitude 58° 50’ N., longitude 50’ W.

Skinner

  1. The original notice regarding this area, published in the British press on Nov. 16, was not communicated to the Department of State. Concerning the mining of this area, which was a prolongation westward of the area covered by the notice of Apr. 26, the following statements were made in the final report of Rear Admiral Joseph Strauss, commander of American mining operations in the North Sea:

    “The eighth excursion was intended as a surprise excursion. Neutral nations had not been notified that Area B was dangerous to shipping, and with this knowledge, enemy submarines were constantly passing through it on their way to the Atlantic. It was accordingly decided not to notify the area but to secretly route all shipping so as to avoid it, with the hope that submarines might still attempt to use it after it had been mined. In order to prevent the enemy observing the mining while it was in progress, an elaborate patrol was arranged, beginning the day before the operation and continuing until after its completion.

    “British and American mining squadrons rendezvoused off the Orkney Islands on September 7 and proceeded to carry out the operation. We laid six lines of surface mines across Area B while the British laid one line of surface mines parallel to ours. This was really the first joint operation carried out by the British and American squadrons. On several previous occasions both squadrons had been at sea at the same time, but had not been working side by side, so as to necessitate appointing one officer to command the expedition. On this occasion Admiral Strauss was designated to take general charge of both squadrons while mining was in progress.” (Navy Department files; also printed in The Northern Barrage and Other Mining Activities [Publication No. 2 of the Navy Department, Historical Section, Washington, Government Printing Office, 1920], p. 115.)

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