The Washington herald., 1916-05-11
BERLIN ADMITS SUSSEX
WAS VICTIM OF U-BOAT
COMMANDERS MISTAKE
TEXT OF GERMAN NOTE
Gerard to the Secretary o
State.


Berlin, May s.
Following is translation of the text of
note upon which my telegram number
thirty-eight fifty-eight, was based:
"Supplementing his note of the fourth
instant. concerning the conduct of the
German submarine warfare. the under
, signed has the honor to inform his ex-
cellency, the American Ambassador, Mr.
James w. Gerard, that the further in
vestigation made by the German naval
| authorities concerned, in regard to the
French steamship Sussex. on the basis
Of the American material, has been con-
cluded in the meantime In conformity
with the result of this investigation the
assumption expressed in the note Of the
undersigned of the tenth ultimo, that the
| damage of the Sussex was to be traced
back to a cause other than the attack Of
a German submarine. cannot be main
tanned
German stand Explained.
Such an assumption had to be ar
! rived at with certainty from the material
In the possession Of the German govern
ment, for itself, and without future
knowledge of the circumstances con-
nected with the torpedoing of the Sus-
sex, the more so as apart from the points
enumerated in the note of the tenth nj
| umo. the following facts had come to
the attention of admiralty STAFF of the
navy through reliable information:
March "A, 1876 approximately at the same
| time as the Sussex, an auxiliary warsbip
lett the port Of Folkstone with a large
| transport Of British infantry on board;
! on the same day transport steamer was
torpedoed In the Channel: a few minutes
preceding the explosion on the Sussex.
she had passed through a mass of shin
wreckage, which created the jnnressio,
that ship had sunk at that SPOT shortly
before All these facts justified the ron
! cIusion that the only case of torpedoinr
! which could be considered under the cir
cuinstances' had struck the British war
vessel whereas the Sussex had met with
an accident in some other way.
however on the basis Of the Ar,.-,o.,
material, the German Government 60,
not withhold its conviction that the
snip torPedoed by the German submarine
Is in fact Identical with the Sussex ror
in accordance with this material tho
place. the time, and the effect of +bo
explosion by which the sussex vos
damaged, agree in the essential detail,
with the statements Of the German oor,-
mander' so that there can no longer ba
any question of the possibility of two
Independent occurrences.
Torpedo Fragments Found.
An additional reason is constituted by
the fact that officers Of the American
navy found fragments of an EXPLOSIVE in
the hold Of the Sussex which are de-
scri0ed by them upon firm grounds AZ
parts of German torpedo.
Finally the counter evidence which
was deduced in the note of the tenth
ultimo from the difference in appearance
.of the vessel described by the submarine
commander and the only reproduction NJ
the Sussex then available, has proven n
be untenable. inasmuch as ACCORDING to
"a photograph of the damaged Sussex
now to hand. the characteristic distinc-
tions no longer existed at the time Of
the accident; while the Sussex in the
photograph of my Daily Graphic incIosed
in the note only carried one mast and
also showed the white gangwav custon,-
ary on passenger vessels on the level
with the port holes o. w. s., the repro
duction of the damaged Sussex shows a
second mast and a uniform dark color.
and thus approaches in her outer an
pearance the description of the vessel q q
furnished by the submarine commando
In view of the general impression
OF all the facts at hand, the German
government considers it beyond doubt
that the commander of the subna-
rine acted in the bona fde belief that
he was facing an enemy warship.
On the other hand it cannot be denied
that, misled by the appearance of the
vessel. under the pressure of the cir
cumstances, he formed his Judgment
too hurriedly in establishing her char
aCter and did not therefore act fully
in accordance with the strict instruc-
tion which called upon him to exercise
particular care.
Germany Expresses Regret.
In view of these circumstances the
German government frankly admits
that the assurance given to the Amerj-
can government, in accordance with
which passenger vessels were NOT to
be attacked without warning, has mot
been adhered to in the present case
As was intimated by the undersigned
in the note of the fourth instant. the
German government does not hesitate
to draw from this resultant eonss-
quence. It therefore expresses to the
American government its sincere re-
gret regarding the depIorabIe incident
and declares its readiness to nav m,
adequate indemnity to the injured
American citizens. 1t also dIsapproves
of the conduct of the commauder-
who has been appropriately punished. |
Expressing the hope that the