New Britain herald., 1917-08-02

oAdCI WOTOS or the OIQCal report. It IS matter of gratifcation that none of these attacks were successful, and I have writer to Rear Admiral Gleaves congratulating him and the officers and mon upon the successful compile tion of the hazardous voyage in the face of the submarine attacks.
 Sincerely yours,
 JOSEPHUS DANIELS. Hon. Claude A. Swanson,
 Acting Chairman Naval Affairs
 Committee, United States Senate.
 Report of First Attack.
 The report is as follows:
 FLAGSHIP, DESTROYER, FORGE,
 ATLANTIC FLEET
 -, France, July 12, 1917
 From: Commander Destroyer Force.
 To: Commander in Chief, Atlantic Fleet.
 Subject: Attacks on convoy by sub- marines on the nights of 22 June, 26 June and 2S June, 1917.
 l. About 10:16 P. M. June 22, the first group of the expeditionary force, of which the flagship was the leader, encountered the enemy's submarine in Lat. - N.. Long. - w.
 2. At the time it was extreme ely dark, the sea was unusually phosphor- escent; fresh breeze was blowing from the northwest. which broke the sea into white caps. The condition was ideal for a submarine attack.
 Paragraph gives the formation and names Of the vessels together with the speed they were making and method of proceeding; nothing else. It is therefore omitted for obvious reasonsj.
 4. Shortly before the attack the helm of the flagship had damned, and the ship took rank sheer to star board; the whistle was blown to indi- cate this sheer. In a few minutes the ship was brought back to the course. At this time the officer of the deck and others on the bridge saw. a white streak about fifty yards ahead of the ship. crossing from starboard to port at right angles to our course. The ship was immediately run off 90 de- grees to starboard at full speed. I was asleep in the chart house at the time. I heard the officer of the deck say: Report to the Admiral a tor pedo has just crossed our bow" Gen. eral alarn, was sounded torpedo crews being already at their guns. When I reached the bridge the A and one of the transports astern had opened fire, the formers shell fitted with tracers. the right and left in accordance with instructions. B crossed our bow at full speed and turned toward the left column in the direction of the firing.
 5. 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 opinion of Lieutenant X. who was on the bridge, it was probably the wake of the submarine boat itself. The tor pedoes passed close to the A from port to starboard," one about thirty yards ahead of the ship, and the oth- CT under the stern, as the ship was turning ta> the northward. Captain Y reports the incident thus:
 ''Steaming in formation on zie-za g. courses, with base course 75 degrees P. s. C., standard speed. At 1O:25 sighted wake of torpedo directly across our bow, about thirty yards ahead of the ship. Changed course 90 degrees to left and went to torpe- do defense stations. Fired two one- pounder shots and one five pounder shot from port battery in alarm in ad- dition to six blasts from siren. Passed through two wakes ,one being that from the U. $. s. c. in turning north ward the other believed to have been from the passing submarine. A second torpedo wake was reported at about 1O:35 from after lookouts. After stcaming in various courses at full speed, resumed course S9 degrees P. S. c. at 11:1O 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. Colonel z, U. s. A., was on the starboard 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 1 first saw 1 it it looked like one very wide wake and similar to the wake of a ship, but after crossing the bow, and when i'll 1 line with it, there appeared two dis tinct and separate wakes, with Q streak of blue water between. In my opinion, they were the wakes of two | torpedoeS.'
 1 2, The submarine, which was sight l ed by the flagship, was seen by the | B., and passed under that ship. The l B. went to quarters. When the alarm l was sounded in the B. Lieutenant w l was reused out of his sleep, and went 1 to his station and found unnistak- 1 able evidence of the presence of a 1 submarine He had been there only l a few seconds when the radio operat- | Or reported, submarine very close to l us." As the submarine passed the B l and the fiagships bow and disappear