United States Navy operations during World War I | |||||||
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Part of the War at Sea of World War I | |||||||
The Sinking of USS San Diego, Francis Muller | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
United States |
Germany Austria-Hungary | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
William Sims Austin Knight Hugh Rodman |
Reinhard Scheer Franz von Hipper Maximilian Njegovan |
United States Navy operations during World War I began on April 6, 1917, after the formal declaration of war on the German Empire. The United States Navy focused on countering enemy U-boats in the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea while convoying men and supplies to France and Italy. Because of United States's late entry into the war, her capital ships never engaged the German fleet and few decisive submarine actions occurred.[1]