Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1917-08-02
DANIELS MAKES PUBLIC FULL
DETAILS OF SUBMARINE ATTACK
First Attempt Made on Flagship of A m i a
Gleaves-At Least Two U-Boats Engaged and
Appeared to Have Had knowledge of Troop
Ships-Second Group Of Transports Also At
tackled

and G on the 2eth Of June. 100 miles
from Te-ceira (Azoresl. This subma-
rine was ordered TO watch in the vi
cinty OF the Azores, a: such distance
as it was supposed the enemy Amer
lean convoy would pass from the
| Azores
git appears from the French re-
| ports just quoted above. and from the
! location of the attack that enemy sub
/ marines had been notified OF our ap-
| proach and were probably scouting
across our route. II is possible that
! they may have traiied US all day on
| June %, as our speed was well with
! in their limits Of speed. and they
could easily have trailed our smoke
under the weather conditions with
! cut being seen. their failure to score
! hits probably was due 70 the attack
feing precipitated by the fortutious
! circumstances of the fagship's helm
/ tanning and the sounding OF her
, whistle. leading the enemy to suppose
! they rad been discovered.
! "1o-The H leading the second
group encountered two submarines
! the first about so a. m. June s. 1917
/ in Lat.-N. I4ong-W about a
! and the second two hours later. The
investigated the wake Of the first
without further discovery. The J
! sighted the bow wave Of the second
! at a distance of 1900 yards and head
, ed for il at speed Of % knots The
! gun pointers at the forward guns saw
! the periscope several times for several
seconds but il disappeared each time
= taf re,
/ zig gag Of the ship. The passed
/ about 25 yards ahead Of a mass Of
; bubbles which were coming up from
! the wake and let go depth charge
/ just ahead. Several pieces OF timber.
quantities Of oil. bubbles and debris
came to the surface. Nothing was seen
( CT the submarine. The attacks on the
! second group occurred about 500 miles
/ 20 the eastward Of where the at
! tacks had been made on the first
group.
1.-THE voyage Of the third group
! vas uneventful.
"i2-In the forenoon Of June 28, in
Lat II: Long W the X
oD"red fire on an object about 300
y,.rds distant which he thought was a
auhaa".:lc. TIE commander of the
c-ro-i;. however. dii not concur in this
y n n, jut the reports subsequently
received f-'c.7 the commanding officer
o. the K and Lieut.. V are too circum-
s,antiai TO permit the incident from
being ignored. The commanding officer
states: The only unusual incident Of
the trip worth mentioning was in the
18th day Of June about 1905 A. NJ, the
.lcckouts reported something right
ahead of the K Il had the bridge al
the time. When l looked. I saw what
appeared 10 be very small object on
the waters surface, about foot or two
high which left a small wake: on look
tEg closer ard with the aid Of binocu-
lars. I could make out a shape under
the water. about 250 70 300 yards ahead
and which was too large to be a black
fth. lying in a position about IS de-
grees dagonaily across the KS course.
T" ordered the port bow gun to
open fire on the spot in the water and
BOUNDED warning sirene for convoy;
when Judging that ship had arrived
above the spot first seen ordered
right rudder in order to leave the sub
marine asterr.
"A minute or two later. the port after
: a
rine on port quarter and opened fire at
the same time. The lookouts from the
( top also reported seeing the submarine
under the waters surface and about
where the shots were landing
! The ship kept zig tagging and firing
from after guns every time something
: was sighted.
! Lieut. V. L. S y, was in personal
4; charge of the firing and reported that
! he saw with ali the gun crews and look
+ outs aft the submarine fire two torpo-
! does toward the direction Of the convoy,
which sheered off from base course to
right 80 degrees when alarm was sound
ed
All the officers and men aft had OBJ
! served the torpedoes travelling through
the water and cheered loudly when they
saw torpedo miss transport. They
are not certain. though. which one it
, was, as the ships we're not in line then
and more or less scattered.
The gunnery officer and all the men
who were aft at the firing are certain
F., that they saw the submarine and the
J torpedoes fired by same.
"A separate report OF Lieut. V. I. s.
n. the gunnery officer. is herewith ap-
pended:
The K kept zig-zagging until it
was considered that danger was past.
and in due time joined the escorts and
convoy formed column astern
Report by signal was made to
group commander of sighting subma-
, rfnes and torpedoes'
I 13-(Paragraph 13 deals exclusive
~ with a recommendation as to the
7 best methods TO be employed in the fu-
ture for the purpose Of saving life. It
is plain this ought not to be made pub
: lic).
/ "i4-Copies of reports Of command
ing officers flagship A. and H are
enclosed, also copy OF report Of Lieut.
w Of the X.
(SignedD ALBERT GLEAvEs."