New-York tribune., 1918-07-22
Frightfulness" :"
Marks U-Boat
Raid This irne
Officials Believe Germans
Hope, Through Terror, to
Shake u. S. Morale

WASHINGTON, July 21.-In contrast
TO the tactics adopted by the SUBJ
marines which last raided American
waters. the German sea wolf which an.
peared to-day off the Massachusetts
coast torpedoed and shelled vessels
without giving the crews opportunity
to seek safety in small boats.
This fact was accepted in some quar-
ters as indicating that the Germans
were undertaking to bring their cam
palgn of frightfulness directly home to
America in the hope of shaking the
morale Of the nation. That this at
tempt would have no more success than
the raid of last May and June was the
firm conviction Of official Washington.
Officials plainly were surprised that
the submarine should have attacked a
tug and barges, as these vessels were
without. military value and the mone-
tary loss was small. Some accepted
TINS waste of ammunition as bearing
out the theory of frightfulness cam
palgn, for upon no other ground, they
sad, could the submarine commander
justify such an expensive attack.
Raid Not Unexpected
Temperance of submarines in
American waters at this time was not
unexpected after the finding of for
eign made mines off the Long Island
coast last week. The presence of the
sea raider was not accepted sby naval
officials as proof that it was torpedo
that sank the armored cruiser San
Diego off Fire Island, N. Y, last Fri
day, with possible loss of sixty-two
lives.
Most officials still held to the theory
that a mine had destroyed the cruiser
In their opinion the submarine strewed
mines in the transatlantic ship lane
east of New York, in the hope of de-
stroying transports bound to Europe
with American troops. This method of
undertaking the destruction of troop
ships instead of by direct attack was
believed to have been adopted by the
own destruction by destroyers and other
war craft conveying the transports if
they attacked.
Thus far there has been nothing to
is conducting the present raid. That
of last May and June, however, was car
ried out by at least two submarines
Steps to deal with the new raid already
have been taken by the Navy Depart
ment and coast patrols, and seaplanes
are hunting out the submersible.
Doubt About Size
Officials were inclined to doubt re-
ports that the submarine was 400 feet
long, as no submersible of such size
has heretofore been reported. There
have been reports recently that the
Germans were building super-sub-
marines to be heavily armed and
armored. but it is not believed that
even those vessels would have such
length.
This was the first appearance of
submersible in New England waters
since the United States entered the
war, but before that the U-53 sank
<everal vessels off the Massachusetts
coast after appearing at Newport, II. |.
The submersibles which visited this
side of the Atlantic last May and June
operated between New York and the
Virginia Capes and largely off the
shores of Virginia and Maryland.
All of the twenty ships DESTROYED in
American waters in that raid were first
halted by the submarines and their
crews permitted to seek safety in the
small boats. Eleven of the vessels were
sailing craft and the other nine steam
ers. Two other vessels we're sunk we'll
out in the Atlantic, presumably by
these submarines when homeward
bound.
The submarine which appeared to-
day may be the same one that sank tho
Norwegian ship Marosa, 700 miles east
Of Cape Race, on July 7, and captured
the Norwegian bark Manx King the dav
before. If so she probably has been
away from her base more than a month.
In the previous raid the U-boats an
peared on May 25 off the coast of Viz
ginia and were last heard from on july I
IA off the Virginia Capes, when they |,
sank the Norwegian bark Samoa and
the Norwegian ship Krin1sjaa.