New Britain herald., 1917-08-02


 their limits of surface speed, and they could easily have trailed our smoke under the weather conditions without being seen; their failure to score hits was probably due to the attack being precipitated at the for tuitous circumstances of the flag ships helm jamming and the sound ing of her whistle, leading the enemy to suppose he had been discovered 10. The H. leading the second group, encountered two submarines, the first about 11:50 a. m.. June 26, 1 1917, in Lat.-N, Long.-W, about a hundred miles off the coast of France, ] and the second two hours later. The 1 l investigated the wake of the first l without further discovery. The J.. sighted the bow wave of the second at distance of 1,5O0 yards and head l ed for it at a speed of 25 knots The gun pointers at the forward gun saw the periscope several times for several seconds, but it disappeared each time before they could get on, | due to the zig-zagging of the ships The J. passed about twenty-five wards ] ahead of mass of bubbles which were coming up from the wake and
 let go a depth charge. just ahead Several pieces of timber, quantities of oil, bubbles, and debris came to the surface. Nothing more was seen of the submarine.
 The attacks on the second group 1 occurred about 800 miles to the east ward of where the attacks had been l made of the first group. II. The voyage of the third group 1 was uneventful.
 12. In the forenoon of June 2S, when in lat, long. W, the K opened fire on an object, about three hundred yards distant which he thorught was a submarine. The com l mander of the group. however, did not concur in this opinion. but the l reports subsequently, received from the commanding officer of the K ! and Lieutenant Ware too circum- being ignored. The commanding of ficer states:
 (b) The only unusual incident of the trip worth mentioning was on the 18th day of June about 1O:45 a.. m. The lookouts reported something right ahead of the K. q had the bridge at the time.) When I looked, I saw what appeared to be a very small object on the waters surface, about foot or two high, which left a small wake; on looking closer and with the aid of binoculars, l could | make out a shape under the water about 25O to 300 yards ahead. and ! which was too large to be a black l fish, lying in a position about 5 de- grees diagonally across the K-'s l course.
 '" (b) IT ordered the port bow gun to open fire on the spot in the | water and sounded warning siren for l convoy; when judging that ship had | arrived above the spot first seen. l ordered right rudder in order to leave 1 the submarine astern.
 "(b) "A minute or two later, l the port after guns crew reported sighting a submarine on port quar- 1 ter and opened fire at the same time. The loolSouts from the top also re- ported seeing the submarine under the waters surface and about Whera 1 the shots were landing.
 l 6" (b) 3-The ship kept zig gag 1 ging and firing from after guns every time something" was sighted. 1 " (b) 4-Lieutenant V. U. $. N was in personal charge of the firing I and reports that he saw. with all the ! gun crews and 1ookouts aft, the sub- 1 marine fire two torpedoes toward the l direction of the convoy, which sheer l ed off from base course to right 90 degrees, when alarm was sounded. :. (b) All the officers and men
 aft had observed the torpedoes trave | ling through the water and cheered
 loudly when they saw a torpedo miss l a transport. They are not certain l though which one it was. as the ships ] were not in line and more or less
 scattered.
 (b-6.) The gunnery officer and all the men who were aft at the fir ing are certain that they saw the
 submarine and the torpedo fired by
 same.
 "(b7) A separate report of Lieu l tenant ". U s. N, the gunnery oftl-
 cer isherewith appended.
 "bS) The K. kept zigzagging un-
 til it was considered that danger was
 past. and in due time joined the es- ] corts, and convoy formed column
 astern.
 "b9) Report by signal was made
 to group commander of sighting sun
 marines and torpedoes.
 1 CParagraph 13 deals exclusively
 with a recommendation as to the best methods to be employed in the flu
 ture for the purpose of saving life
 It Is plain that this ought not to be
 made public.) 1 IA Copies of reports of command
 ing officers flagship, A. D. ana h.
 are inclosed; also copy of report ol
 Lieutenant V. of the K.
 (sipned) ALBERT GLEAVES.