What the Navy is Doing: To The Glory of Our Destroyers
U.S. Navy Recruiting Bureau Ca. 1917-1918 Lithograph
On August 29, 1916, the United States Congress approved the Naval Act of 1916 which authorized the construction of ten battleships, six battlecruisers, ten scout cruisers, nine fleet-type submarines, 67 coastal defense submarines, and 50 naval destroyers. However, after the United States Navy adopted a convoy system in 1917, the Navy focused on destroyers as convoy escorts.
On November 17, 1917, two destroyers became the first United States Navy ships to sink a German submarine. The United States destroyer USS Jacob Jones, sunk by a German submarine, was the first United States Navy ship sunk during the war.
