The Seward gateway and the Alaska evening post., 1917-08-24

respondence) Senator Swanson, act ing chairman of the Naval Affairs Committee of the Senate, has made public the letter he received from Sec retary Daniels, forwarding the report of Rear Admiral Gleaves, commander of the cruiser force, giving in detail the attack of German submarines upon the first transports carrying troops to France:
 Report of Rear Admiral Gleaves
 Attacks on convoy by submarines on the nights of 22 June, 26 June, and 2S June, 1917.
 About 1915 p. m., June p, the first group of the expeditionary force, of which the flagship was the leader, en- countered the enemy's submarine in latitude - N., longitude - w.
 At the time it was extremely dark, the sea unusually phosphorescent; a fresh breeze was blowing from the northwest which broke the sea into whitecaps. The condition was ideal for a submarine attack.
 Shortly before the attack the helm of the flagship had damned, and the ship took a rank sheer to starboard; the whistle was blown to indicate this sheer. In a few minutes the ship was brought back to course At this time the officer of the deck and others on the bridge saw a white streak about 50 yards ahead of the ship, crossing from starboard to port, at right angles to our course. The ship was immediately run off 90 degrees to starboard at full speed. was asleep in the chart house at the time. l heard the officer of the deck say, "Re- port to the admiral a torpedo has just crossed our bow" General alarm was sounded, torpedo crews being already at their guns. When 1 reached the bridge the A and one of the trans ports astern had opened fire, the for mer's shell fitted with tracers. Other vessels of the convoy turned to the right and left, in accordance with in- Structions. E crossed our bow at full speed and turned toward the left col umn in the direction of the firing.
 Two Torpedoes Passed
 At first it was thought on board the flagship that the wake was that of a torpedo, but from subsequent re- ports from other ships and in the opin- ion of Lieut.. x, who was on the bridge, it was probably the wake of the submarine boat itself. Two tor pedoes passed close to the A from port to starboard, one about thirty yards ahead of the ship and the other under her stern, as the ship was turn ing to the nOrthward. Capt. Y re- ports the incident thus:
 "Steaming in formation on zigZag courses, with base course 75 degrees D. S. C., standard speed. At 1925 sighted wake of a torpedo directly across our bow about 30 yards ahead of the ship. Changed course 90 de- grees to left and went to torpedo defense stations. Fired two 1-pounder shots and one 5-inch shot from port battery in alarm in addition to six blasts from the siren. Passed through two wakes, one being that from the U. s. s. c. in turning to northward, the other believed to have been from the passing submarine. A second tor pedo wake was reported at about 10:35 from after lookouts. After steaming in various courses at full speed, resumed course S9 degrees p. S. c. at 11:10 for rendezvous. At 12 set course 56 degrees p. S. c. -"
 The torpedo fired at the D passed from starboard to port, about 40 yards ahead of the ship, leaving dis tinct wake which was visible for about four or five hundred yards. Col. Z., United States Army, was on the star board wing of the bridge of the D at the time and states: "I first saw a white streak in the water just off the starboard bow, which moved rapidly across the bow very close aboard When I first saw it, it looked like one very wide wake and similar to the wake of ship, but after crossing the bow and when in line with it there appeared two distinct and separate wakes, with a streak of blue water between. In my opinion they were the wakes of two torpedoes."
 Submarine Passed Under Ship
 The submarine which was sighted by the flagship was seen by the B and passed under that ship. The B went to quarters. When the alarm was sounded in the B, Lieut.. w. was rous- ed out of his sleep and went to his station, and found unmistakable evi-
 l.