SIMS, William Sowden 1858-1936

PERSONAL:

Born October 15, 1858, in Port Hope, Ontario, Canada; died September 18, 1936, in Boston, MA; son of Alfred William and Adelaide (Sowden) Sims; married Anne Erwin Hitchcock, 1905. Education: U.S. Naval Academy, graduated, 1880.

CAREER:

U.S. Navy, joined, 1880, commissioned rear admiral, 1917, admiral in command of European waters, 1917-19, retired, 1922.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Pulitzer Prize in history, 1921, for The Victory at Sea.

WRITINGS:

(With Burton J. Hendrick) The Victory at Sea, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1920, reprinted, James Stevenson (Fairfield, CA), 2002.

SIDELIGHTS:

William Sowden Sims was born in 1858 in Port Hope, Ontario, Canada to American parents, and the family returned to the United States when Sims was a child. At the age of twenty-two Sims began his distinguished military career after graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy in Anapolis, Maryland. He rose through the ranks of the U.S. Navy, becoming a rear admiral in 1917, a vice admiral shortly thereafter, and admiral in 1918. He commanded U.S. Navy operations in European waters from April 1917 to March 1919, after which he earned the permanent rank of rear admiral of the World War. After World War I Sims joined Burton J. Hendrick to write The Victory at Sea; the effort earned Sims a Pulitzer Prize in history in 1921.

The Victory at Sea focuses on the submarine campaign in World War I, a military operation that was not highly recognized because of the need for secrecy during the war. It is a personal narrative, which contributor B. A. Fiske in the New York Times called "concise and clear." The authors explain events in a simple, yet intriguing, manner, leaving readers left with few unanswered questions. A critic for American History Review wrote that The Victory at Sea is "a comprehensive and intelligent description of the submarine … war, and is by far the best yet made known to the world." A writer for Yale Review noted that the story is "attractive" and likely to achieve a "wide popularity."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American History Review, January, 1921, review of The Victory at Sea, p. 332.

Booklist, December, 1920, p. 109.

New York Times, October 31, 1920, B. A. Fiske, review of The Victory at Sea, p. 4.

Spectator, December 18, 1920, p. 815.

Times Literary Supplement, December 16, 1920.

Yale Review, January, 1921, review of The Victory at Sea.*