The return of the Mayflower

The Return of the Mayflower commemorates the arrival of the first American destroyers sent to aid the British in World War I. The painting shows destroyers approaching Queenstown, Ireland on May 4, 1917 to help hunt down German submarines that were fast cutting off transport to England. In the left foreground, fisherman in their boat are welcoming the American destroyers. The arrival of these American ships was commemorated in the historic painting by the British artist Bernard F. Gribble. (The So-Called) Return of the Mayflower, the ship which over 300 years earlier had brought British settlers to the New World.
On April 10, 1917 Rear Admiral William S. Sims learned from 1st Sea Lord Admiral Sir John Jellicoe that Britain was perilously close to being starved into defeat by the German U-Boats. He sent an urgent plea to Washington for destroyers to aid the hard pressed Royal Navy. A reply was not long in coming. On April 14 Commander Joseph K. Taussig received orders to fit out his Destroyer Division 8 for Long and Distance Service. Three weeks later the flotilla of six sleek destroyers streamed into British waters and a heartfelt welcome is depicted in Bernard Gribble's painting. A painting depicting this subject, of mural size (5 ft x 7 ft) hangs in the U. S. Naval Academy Museum in Annapolis, Maryland.