Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1918-07-06
Vessel Homeward Bound Is
Torpedoed, but All Officers
and Members Crew Saved;
6 Land at French Port.
FULL PARTICULARS HAVE
NOT BEEN RECEIVED HERE
Vice Admiral Sims Cable Did
Not Go Into Details; Ship
Was Formerly Property of
Hamburg-Am Line.

tsy NosnIno ------ .S,.- -.,sao w,asI
Washington. July 5.-The United
States army transport Covington.
homeward bound with fleet of troop
ships conveyed by American destroy
ers, was torpedoed in the war zone
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 French port
No soldiers or passengers were on
board.
The missing are: Ernest c. Ander-
son, fireman. Lynn, Mass; Joseph p
Bowden, seaman, Mountain Lake. N,
j.; Ambrose C. Ford. fireman. Somer-
vile, Mass; William Henry Lynch
Jr., fireman. Manchester, ~ H.; AL
bert s. Payne, seaman, West New
Brighton, Staten Island. N. Y; Lloyd
II. Silvernail, seaman, Bainbridge.
N. Y.
In announcing tonight the sinking
of the Covington, formerly the Ham
burg-American liner Cincinnati. the
navy department said the submarine
which sent torpedo crashing into
the ships side just forward of the
engine room at 9:17 o'clock at night,
was not sighted
Details Are Lacking.
Vice Admiral Sims message did
not go into details. but officers be-
lieve the submarine was on the sur
: face recharging its batteries when the
convoy came along and that 1t sub
merged Immediately after discharging
the torpedo without attempting fur
ther attack. M
The theory that the submarine
made Of AZ haste js borne out by .thps
fact that the crew was transferred to
q destroyer without incident. Some
surprise was occasioned by the fact
that the, submarine did not return and
undertake to finish the sinking.
The Covington was the first Amer
lean transport TO be sunk while in
convoy, the former Hamburg -Ameri-
can liner President Lincoln and for
mer Morgan liner Antilles, the only
other American transports sunk, hav-
ing been destroyed when returning
home without the protection of war
craft.
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 a
French port was seriously injured
Apparently some of them were hurt,
probably in being transferred to the
destroyer in q choppy sea, but evil
IDENTIFY Admiral Sims did not give the
number.
Vessel Rendered Helpless.
1.-THE torpedo struck Just forward
of the engine room bulkhead." said
the navy departments announcement,
"and the engine room and fire room
were rapidly flooded. With it's 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 temporar-
ily abandoned This was done in ex
cellent order and the officers and
crew were taken on board destroy
err. The submarine was not seen.
''At daybreak the captain. several
officerssand q number of members of
the crew returned to supervise salvag-
ing operations. Another vessel and
two tugs took the Covington in tow
in the effort to get her to port. but
she was too badly damaged to keep
afloat and sank.
vessels have been searching for
the missing men and the navy depart
ment awaited the report Of the names
of those missing, which was not re-
ceived until today. before announcing
the sinking Of the vessel"
Thete was no explanation by the
department as to whether the six men
were missing after the transferring
of the crew from the troop ship to the
destroyer or after the transport actu-
ally went down, 1t was feared, how
ever, that they either were killed by
the force Of the explosion or were
caught by the thrush of water intb
the engine and fire rooms.
Circumstances surrounding the
sinking Of the Covington evidently
were similar to those when the Brit
ish liner Tuscania was sent down os.s
the north coast of Ireland while car
rying 1900 American troops to Eng
land. The vessel was with fleet OF
ships conveyed by destroyers and was
attacked Searly in the night. The sub
marine Either laid in wait or else
stumbled upon the convoy accident
ally.