Sims, Irish republicans, and tensions around Cork

Sims's hostile view of Irish republican activists is explained through a dispute over the American deployment. He had arrived to fight Germany and regarded efforts to provoke conflict with Britain as harmful to the Allied war. The account also describes reported assaults on American sailors amid social rivalry around Cork. His protective attitude toward his crews is offered as a reason for his hostility to republican leaders who had not restrained the attackers. Coalition basing thus involved local political tensions and relationships as well as the conduct of naval operations.