New Britain herald., 1917-08-02
TWO ATTACKS ON
 U. s. TR00PSHIPS
CreePs Fourth of July Story Shown to Have Been Exaggerated

Washington, August "A long off, cial report from Rear Admiral Albert Gleaves, describing in detail the in- cidents involving encounters of Amer lean troop ships and their conveying war vessels with German U-boats III June, fails to bear out the account ol these incidents contained in a state- ment furnished to the press as l Fourth of July message by the con- l mittee on public information.
 The Fourth of July statement was | prepared personally by George Creel' l chairman of the committee, in the presence of secretary Daniels and Ad- miral Benson, chief of naval opera 1 tions, and has been much criticised In the senate and the press on the ground that it exaggerated what oc- cured.
 MT. Creel has been criticised par ticularly for the use of the expres- sion "an attack in force' in describing one of the encounters between the American conveying ships and Ger 1 man submarines. In the official re- port of Admiral Gleaves which was
 made public last evening, nothing is
 
 was experienced by the American ves- sells. The report shows that there were two encounters with submarines and possibly a third incident of the | sort, although there is doubt that U-boats were actually engaged in hos tile operations in this third instance. In the first encounter, submarine is believed to have crossed the bow of Admiral Gleaves' flagship, and two torpedoes passed close to one of the American vessels. Another torpedo was apparently seen, but the report of Admiral Gleaves is not clear on that point. One officer described as "Col. A" gave the opinion that streaks in the water were the wakes of two submarines
 The second encounter, that of June 25, was with two submarines sighted about two hours apart. There does not appear to be any doubt that these submarines were seen.
 ''Depth Charge'' Effective.
 "A depth charge" was fired at ono of the U-boats, and several pieces of lumber, quantities of oil, bubbles and debris came to the surface On the third occasion 1t was believed that
 a submarine was sunk, but the doubt
 One of the interesting features that has come to light concerning the con- troversy over the encounters between Admiral Gleaves' ships and U-boats is that the navy department is making an investigation to ascertain the re- sponsibility for statements contained in an Associated Press cable dispatch from the British base of the American naval force in European waters, quoting an unnamed American naval officer as denying that there had been any such encounters as were described in the communication given to the press on the evening of July 3, by the mittee on public information There have been hints that the author of this statement was known and that the investigation might De followed by his relief from duty and possibly court martial proceedings. The navy department declines to make any statement on the subject but it is known that Secretary Daniels and other officials of the government l were very indignant over the practical l denial of the report from Admiral l Gleaves that warships under his com 1 mand had encountered German suo- marines while conveying American 1 transports across the Atlantic.
 l The report of Admiral Gleaves was l written in France on July IF and : mailed to Admiral Mayo. commander in chief of the Atlantic fleet, who sent 1 it to the navy department. This pro 1 cedure, it was said at the navy depart ment was responsible for the delay Tn l giving the report to the puollc. 1 Report Sent to Swanson. 1 Senator Swanson, acting chairman l no1tteo Of the senate. gave out the following letter he had received from Secretary l Daniels, forwarding the report Of Rear Admiral Gleaves, giving in detail the l story of the attack of German sub-
 marines upon the transports:
 | Aug. 1, 1917.
 Dear MT. Chairman
 On the Fist day of July, in response to an inquiry from the chairman ot
 the naval affairs committee or the
 senate. requesting information with
 reference to the safe arrival or all the troops in the first transports which the navy conveyed to France, l ad-
 dressed a, communication giving the
 inflammation requested to the chairman
 of the committee. In that letter 1t
 was stated that 1t had been the i'm
 memorial custom Of the navy depart 1 ment not to give out the exact text of ] any cable because publication might
 enable the enemy to learn the naval l code, but I added:
 "The cablegrans from the Rear Ad-
 miral which have not been given to the public for reasons stated above,
 are. of course, subject to the inspec-
 ton of the Naval Affairs Committee" I write now to say that the full re-
 port of Rear Admiral Gleaves, con-
 mander of the cruiser force, has been
 received. It was sent in accordance | with the regulations to Admiral Mayo
 commander in chief of the Atlantic l foot and bv him to the Chief of Ma