The sun., 1917-08-02
TELLS
ATTACK STORY
Admiral Makes Official Re-
port on July 4
"Battle."

WASHINGTON, Aug. 1.-THE true story
OF the experience which the American
transports carrying the Pershing expedi-
tionary force had with submarines on
theln way to France has been given to
the public at last in the form Of an Of
ncial report by Rear Admiral Albert
Gleaves, who commanded the convoy Of
American destroyers. II justifies the
charge OF naval officers that the account
OF the battle which George Creel
chairman OF the Committee on Public In
formation, wrote In the form Of Fourth
Of July announcement by Secretary Of
the Navy Daniels, was an elaboration
| and was not In accordance with the
| facts. 1t shows why Admiral Sims, COM
manding American naval forces in Euro
pean waters, repudiated the story on the
ground that II tended to make the Amer
| ican navy ridiculous.
Secretary Daniels made the report
public, with certain military information
deleted, after he had sent an uncensored
copy in confidence to the Senate Naval
Committee, members OF which recently
inquired as to the truth Of charges In
the Senate that the official account OF
the attack published on July was
( greatly exaggerated. When the COM
mittee's inquiry first was made the full
report from Admiral Gleaves had not
been submitted to the department, but
| the Secretary replied that he was will
ing to show the members the briefer des-
patch from which the nrst announce
ment was made.
Daniels sends Reports.
In his letter OF transmittal to-day Mr..
Daniels recalled these facts and con-
| tinued
..I am sending you the exact text OF
| the report OF Rear Admiral Gleaves CIV
| ing in detsil the account OF the sub
marines attacks for the use or the
Naval Affairs Committee. l am also
sending you a copy for the press eS-
aotly in the words of the official report
| the only changes being that the names
| OF the ships are represented by letter
! and not by the real name or the snip,
| with the omission also OF certain mill
tary information that cannot be pub
lished under naval regulations. How
| ever the omissions are noted. Every
thing with reference to the attacks Of
the submarines is given In the exact
words OF the official report"
The Official report OF Rear Admiral
Gleaves bears out the description which
TIE SUN gave of what actually hap
pened when the Creel elaboration was
frst exposed on July s. Instead OF an
attack in force by submarines ana
battle in which the torpedo discharge ny
the enemy forces became increasingly
scattered and inaccurate under heavy
gun Are OF the American ships, Rear
Admiral Gleaves reports that one enemy
submarine was sighted on this occasion
and one Of his officers believes there may
have been two.
Instead Of the Creel statement that
one submarine was certainly sunk ana
chat there Is reason to believe that the
accurate FIRE Of our gunners sent others
To the bottom" Rear Admiral Gleaves
makes no mention whatever OF any sub
marine having been hit by single shot
from any of the guns and indeed makes
n clear that on this first occasion the
submarine was not sunk. for one OF the
destroyers, which is designated as de-
stroyer b, reported the presence OF this
U-boat or possibly two astern after the
transports passed.
second Attack Reported
The second attack 10 which Mr. Creel
referred as a battle resulting In favor
~ "American gunnery' consisted in
sighting first one submarine and then
another two hours later, Not shot
was hred. But one of the destroyers
saw a mass OF bubbles which were pe<-
sumably coming up from the wake OF a
perlscope and let go depth charge Just
ahead. Several pieces OF timber. quanti-
ties of oil and debris came to the sur
face, which was regarded as evidence
that a JJ-boat was at least damaged.
Admiral G!eaves reports third es-
nerience where II was believed SUBJ
marine had bsen sighted, but this was
not referred 10 in the Creel statement.
Comparison OF the Creel statement
: with the report OF Admiral Gleaves ex-
plains why the Associated Press account
: from abroad and other accounts OF eye
witnesses failed 10 bear out the pictur-
: esoue statemen: purportinR TO describe
5 The battle" and bearing the signature
I Of Secretary Daniels. Referring 10 the
I, frst attack. the Daniels announcement
\ written by Mr. Creel said:
! THE first attack took place at l0:3O
{ nm the night II June 22, What gives II
= peculiar and disturbing significance Is
that our ships were set upon at point
we'll this side OF the rendezvous and In
that part of the Atlantic presumably free
from submarines.
"The attack was made In force. al.
. though the night made impossible any
exact count Of the U-boats gathered fol
r what they deemed a slaughter"
I Opportunity for U-DOnts.
= The official report of Rear Admira
. C;Ieaves, prepared at a French port and
: submitted to Admiral Mayo, IN command
of the Atlantic fleet, who forwarded 1
TO the Navy Department, follows:
about AS T, NJ. June 90 the frs
} group Of the eXpeditlonary force, q
y which the flagship was the leader, en-
e countered the enemys submarine In lati
! tude - north. longitude ---- west
AT the time IL was extremely dark
q the sea unusually phosphorescent, and I
d fresh hreeze was blowing from the north
d west which broke the sea into white
J. caps The condition was ideal for sub
l. marine attack
Is "(Paragraph gives the formation
and names Of the vessels, together wifi
y the speed thcy were making and tn
70 method Of proceeding, nothing else. |
/ ia therefore omitted for obvious rea
r fons.)
,r shortly before the attack the helm o
3 the flagship had jHmmed and the shi
r took n rank sheer. to slsrboard. Tn
20 whistle was blown to indicate this sheer
II In a few minutes the ship was brough
l. back 10 the course AZ this time the OF
D. ncer OF the deck and others on tn
Il Continued on Second Page