Sims was born to American father Alfred William (1826–1895) and Canadian mother Adelaide (née Sowden; b. 1835) living in
Port Hope, Canada West. He graduated from the
United States Naval Academy in 1880, the beginnings of an era of naval reform and greater professionalization. Commodore
Stephen B. Luce founded the
Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island in 1884, to be the service's professional school. During the same era, Naval War College instructor Captain
Alfred Thayer Mahan was writing influential books on naval strategy and sea power. In March 1897, shortly after his promotion to lieutenant, Sims was assigned as the military attaché to Paris and St. Petersburg. In this position he became aware of naval technology developments in Europe as well gaining familiarity with European politics which would greatly assist him during World War I. He was in this assignment during the
Spanish–American War during which Sims was able to use his diplomatic connections to gain information on Spain and its high-ranking officials.
Gunnery As a young officer, Sims sought to improve naval gunnery. In the recently concluded war with Spain, American warships had fired 9,500 shells, of which only 121 found their mark. Sims sought to improve on this by employing a technique about which he had learned from
Percy Scott of the British navy. The technique, continuous-aim firing, called for a gunner to adjust the gun's aim throughout the roll of the ship on which the gun is mounted, thereby keeping the gun constantly trained on the target throughout the roll, rather than keeping the gun in a fixed position and waiting for the roll to align the gun with the target. Scott had reportedly achieved a hit-rate of 80% using the new method. Sims advocated the same method for the U.S. Navy, but his superiors resisted his suggestions, partly because Sims was of low rank, and partly because of Sims's outspoken, rebellious attitude. In 1902, Sims wrote directly to President
Theodore Roosevelt. The president, who had previously served as
Assistant Secretary of the Navy, was intrigued by Sims's ideas and made him the Navy's Inspector of Naval Gunnery on November 5, 1902, shortly after which Sims was promoted to
lieutenant commander. He was promoted to
commander in 1907. From 1911 to 1912, Sims attended the
Naval War College. Promoted to
captain in 1911, he became Commander, Atlantic Destroyer Flotilla in July 1913. On March 11, 1916, Sims became the first captain of the battleship .
Nevada was the largest, most modern and most powerful ship in the U.S. Navy at that time. His selection as her captain shows the esteem in which he was held in the Navy.
First World War Shortly before the United States entered World War I, then
Rear Admiral Sims was assigned as the president of the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island in February 1917. Just before the U.S. entered the war, the
Wilson administration sent him to London as the senior naval representative. After the U.S. entry in April 1917, Sims was given command over U.S. naval forces operating from Britain. He received a temporary promotion (brevet) to
vice admiral in May 1917. The major threat he faced was a highly effective German submarine campaign against freighters bringing vital food and munitions to the Allies. The combined Anglo-American naval war against U-boats in the western approaches to the British Isles in 1917–18 was a success due to the ability of Sims to work smoothly with his British counterpart, Admiral Sir
Lewis Bayly. Sims believed the Navy Department in Washington, which was effectively headed by Assistant Secretary
Franklin D. Roosevelt, was failing to provide him with sufficient authority, information, autonomy, manpower, and naval forces. He ended the war as a vice admiral, in command of all U.S. naval forces operating in Europe. Shortly after the
Armistice, Sims was promoted to temporary admiral in December 1918 but reverted to his permanent rank of rear admiral in April 1919 when he was assigned as president of the Naval War College.
Attack on Daniels In 1919 after the war ended in Allied victory, Sims publicly attacked the deficiencies of American naval strategy, tactics, policy, and administration. He charged the failures had cost the Allies 2,500,000 tons of supplies, thereby prolonging the war by six months. He estimated the delay had raised the cost of the war to the Allies by $15 billion, and that it led to the unnecessary loss of 500,000 lives. Secretary of the Navy
Josephus Daniels was more of a politician than a naval strategist, so he ably countered the accusations. He pointed to Sims's
anglophilism, and said his vantage point in London was too narrow to assess accurately the overall war effort by the U.S. Navy. Daniels cited prewar naval preparations and strategy proposals made by other American leaders during the war to disprove Sims's charges. Despite the public acrimony, Sims emerged with his reputation unharmed, although some historians believe it cost him promotion to the rank of
Admiral of the Navy. He did however serve a second tour as president of the Naval War College (1919–1922). It was during his time at the Naval War College that he wrote and published his book
The Victory at Sea which describes his experiences in World War I. In 1921
The Victory at Sea won the
Pulitzer Prize for History. Sims is, possibly, the only career naval officer to win a Pulitzer Prize. (Rear Admiral
Samuel E. Morison won two Pulitzer Prizes but only served nine years in the Naval Reserve.) ==Retirement and death==