Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1916-1918, 1918-06-04
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Will GUARD
TR0oPSHIPs
Has Expected Raid
On American Side Of
Atlantic, Officials Say;
Many Patrol Vessels Arc
Available For Defense.
BASE IN SOUTHERN
WATERS, is BELIEF

] Washington, D. c., June 3-AH
those who were passengers and all
the returning army officers and
men on transport President LIN
coin were saved after she had
been torpedoed last week. This
confines the loss Of life to the
| crew Of the ship.
! Washington, D. c., June 3.-Ger.
many, by striking with her subma-
rines at the very doors of America,
has admitted to the world that the
American army will turn the tide
against her on the battlefjelds Of
France.
| AS the first news OF the submarine
raid on the Atlantic coast, brought
to the navy department today BY
Associated Press dispatches, was FOL.
lowed by official reports, naval Of
hcials declared that the American
anti-submarine forces in home waters
are ample to meet the attack,
WILL NOT STOP TROOPS
All officials declared that the navy
department is fully equipped to meet
the thrust at the fountain head OF the
flow OF American troops to Europe
and that all its agencies are being
brought into full force to find the
submarines and destroy them. This
| challenge to the fighting forces of the
United States will be met, Officials
said, with the same measures which
have driven the submarines to cover
in the war zone, and the steady flow
Of American transports to France viii
be guarded with the same effective
protection which has carried them
through the infested waters Of the
British isles and France with re-
markable low loss Of life.
GERMANY'S ACT ANTICIPATED
Submarine blockade in the principal
transport lanes and about the terri
tory containing the principal embark.
alton ports for the American army
has long been counted upon by Amer.
ican naval officers as one OF Ger
many's last cards and preparations
have been made to meet it.
Pending receipts of official informa.
ton navy officials withheld their COM
ment. 1t is known however, that In
creased vigilance has been exercised
the trans port President Lincoln. That
ship was torpedoed so far at sea that
the incident suggested the presence
of cruiser submarines In which case
efforts to check the movement OF
American troops at the source were
to be expected.
RUMoRs PRECEDED RAIDERS
The navy department has heard
rumors for months Of great new 0er
man U-boats, so large that they could
operate efficiently even across the
Atlantic without re,fueling places on
this side, but no definite confirmation
has ever been received.
Extensive provision against possi.
BILE submarine operations on this, side
have characterized the navy's war ef.
forts from the start. The 11O-foot
submarine chasers were really built
for the protection of shipping on the
American coast. Sent abroad as an
experiment when the German U-boat
strategy confined operations to the
North sea and the British and French
coasts. they proved so useful that the
type is being copied here for the
French government.
NAVY is CONFIDENT.
Navy officials all along have -
pressed confidence that they would b
able to cope with such German q.
boats as might reach the Atlantic
coast Until full details of the sink.
ings already reported are received II
cannot be said whether they now have
TO deal with a single raider or with an
organized attempt to bottle up Ameri.
can troop ships on this side while the
great battle is being fought out in,
France.
Many navy officers have considered
| it highly improbable that Germany
could put more than few raiders in
to such service. To maintain den.
mite patrol off the whole American
coast would require an impossible
number of submarines in constant