By early December, it had received the equipment assigned to it and was judged to be ready for deployment. War Department inspectors found the division more advanced in its training than any other division in the United States. Orders were received in late December, and the first troops left Waco on 2 January 1918 for the New York Port of Embarkation at Hoboken, New Jersey. The infantry was moved first, arriving at Camp Merritt before the division headquarters sailed. The unit received its first casualties when the SS Tuscania (1914) was sunk by a German U-boat. Brigadier General William G. Haan led the unit when it arrived in France.