Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-07-06
TROOP SHIP ON
WAY HOME IS
SUNK BY Sub
Transport Covington Torpe-
doed in War Zone After
Landing Soldiers

Washington, July 6.-The United
States Army transport Covington.
homeward bound with fleet of troop
ships conveyed by American destroy
ers. was torpedoed in the war zone
last Monday night and sank the next
day while an effort was being made
to tow her to port. Six men of the
crew are missing, but the others.
with the officers. were landed at a
French port. No soldiers or passen-
gers were aboard.
The missing men are:
Anderson. Ernest c.. fireman, Lynn.
Mass.
Bowden. Joseph p. seaman. Noun
tain Lake. n. j.
Ford, Ambrose c.. fireman, Somer-
vile. Mass.
Lynch. William Henry. Jr, fireman.
Manchester. n. H.
Payne, Albert s. seaman. West New
Brighton, Staten Island. n. Y.
Silvernail. Lloyd H.. seaman, Balm
bridge. ~ II.
In announcing last night the sink
ing of the Covington, formerly the
Hamburg American liner Cincinnati.
the Navy Department said that the
submarine which sent a torpedo
crashing into the ships side just for
ward of the engineroom at 9.17
o'clock was not sighted.
Although Vice Admiral Sims mes
sage did not go into detrils, officers
here said that the submarine was on
the surface recharging batteries
when the convoy came along and
that it submerged Immediately after
discharging the TORPEDO without at
tempting further attack on the fleet.
U-BOat Submerged Quickly
The theory that the submarine
made off in haste would seem to be
borne out by the fact that the trans
ports crew was transferred to one
of the destroyers without apparent
incident.
Some surprise was caused by the
fact that the submarine did not re-
turn after the fleet had proceeded and
undertake to finish the sinking of the
Covington.
ican transport to e sunk while in
convoy. the former Hamburg Amer
lean liner President Lincoln and the
former Morgan liner Antilles, the only
other American transports sunk in
the war zone having been destroyed
when returning home without the
pTOleCtlOn OF war cfa1t.
Few details were given in the Navy
Departments announcement, and
there was no explanation of Admiral
Sims report that none of those from
the Covington who were landed at
French port was seriously injured"
Apparently some OF them were hurt,
probably in being transferred to the
destroyer in a choppy sea, but evil
IDENTIFY Admiral Sims did not give the
number
The torpedo struck just forward
of the engineroom bulkhead," said the
Navy Department. announcement.
and the engineroom and firerooms
were rapidly flooded. With its mo-
tive power gone. the vessel was help
less, and, facing the possibility of
the torpedoing of another ship in the
convoy, the Covington was tempor-
arily abandoned. This was done in
excellent order and the officers and
crew were taken on board a destroy
er. The submarine was not seen.
AT daybreak the captain, several
officers and a number of members of
the crew returned to supervise sal
vaging operations. Another vessel
and two tugs took the Covington in
tow in an effort to get her to port,
but she was too badly damaged to
keep afioat and sank.
Vessels have been searching for
the missing men and the Navy De-
partment awaited the report of the
names of those missing. which was
not received until yesterday, before
announcing the sinking of the ves-
sell"
Circumstances surrounding the
sinking of the Covington evidently
were similar to those when the Brit
ish liner Tuscania was sent down off
the north coast of Ireland while car
rying some 1900 American troops to
England. The vessel was with
feet of ships conveyed by destroyers
and was attacked early in the night,
the submarine either having laid in
wait or else stumbling upon the con-
voy accidentally.
There was no explanation by the
department as to whether the six men
were missing after the transfer of
the crew from the troopship to the
destroyer or after the transport
actually went down. 1t was feared,
however, that they either were killed
by the force of the explosion or were
caught by the thrush of water into
the engine and firerooms.