The sun., 1918-07-20
Map of waters where cruiser was sunk

hope that it would make certain the
cause.
Admiral Benson. Chief of Naval Op-
erations. agrees with the officers and Of
| hcials here who fail to foresee a re-
newal OF the German submarine drive
! against American coastal shipping and
| who do not believe that U-boats are
again near the American coast. 1t is
pointed out that an American mine
might have become detached from its
mornings and floating with the tide
might have blown up the San Diego.
However, it Is more generally be-
lieved here tonight that floating mine
turned loose by one of the German
submarines when they were on this side
OF the Atlantic may have come In con-
tact with the San Diego. The German
submarines were known to have turned
loose number of these mines, but all
that have been swept up have been
south of the Delaware.
U-Boats Over 400 Miles Away.
The fact that two vessels were de-
stroyed last week in midocean far west
| of the areas usually traversed by under
sea pirates does not shake the belief Of
| AdrniralBenson and other officers II was
recalled that while these two vessels
were attacked at an extraordinary dis
lance west of the so-cai:ed war zone
nevertheless one ship when II was at
tackled still was 1,400 miles from the
American shore and the other LOO
miles of The last report Of the Ger
man submarines which visited here was
June IL.
Later reports tonight from Admiral
Usher, commandant OF the New York
naval district indicated that survivors
Of the cruiser would not reach New
York before Tomorrow morning. Ad-
miral Usher informed the Navy Depart
. ment that he was without information
beyond the facts given out mere. II was
explained that The Department was re-
raining from using the wireless to
ea'her ue'al's ior OBVIOUS reasons Con-
sequeh'l! II "ouiu NOT ne until or1cers
! anu ere" iaNe reavheu Ne" 10TH tna'
sie Depa '''he"' VIII nave any more III
'0' al" so.
suo, as ~o,u was Ieee'Ntu u! Au-
'' "a 'e S.n'e' ~e'e
the coas, to he on tho loosou, Tor suh.
marines. as the Department is taking no
chances. rms WORD went to all the
haFal districts aiohg the coast as Tar
south as NorloIk' however since the
N n''it Vi 'ne suo,'i'l mes mere the ''si-
n's Nv o..i e.a Neu'
ha'e zen .u!iors VI SUBMARINES
n.. 80, ~ .ne ,a'
-, nus '"e' " 'uo''""''"'e
rho sno, , a.. Co. Dt
s,rL 60 dt,.o,,,, IN ~ ,rars,or, 80
and ,his ;s rasaraaa ne ,a,,,a.ha, a.
niacant
The Sa, D,oso hos bs.r ,,i,i,.a for
patrollinp betwaen Neu, yorr ana po-1s.
mouth and was about NJ tho and or ons
leo or nor natroI uber sha uar, do,rn
The fact thai tho w,,srs ahon, .r;re
| IsIard liobt arc cnns,apt,, ra,rolIaa ~
steamships are continually nassInv N
and fro armed and with ,ookouts al.
WAYS on the watch for att,rks 4. an
,thar raason adv,noad 80 disaraIi. ~
theory thai a s,,hmarire ,s -.snons,hIs
for loss NJ tho cruiser Omcers Sta
tIoned here capno, haIiava that C:ar-
man submarine would take tho cb,rc.
Of being DESTROYED in attacking a naval
vessel in broad daylight in sucb a nosi.
tion.
n,
The loss OF the San Diego is not SER
aous from aae point OF view of naval
effectiveness. While is II only eleven
years since the vessel was commissioned
the enormous strides In naval construc-
ton since the advent OF the San Diego
have relegated 1t far to the rear as a
sea fighter. Modern cruisers could run
away from cruisers OF the San Diego
class without trouble and some or the
heavy first line dreadnoughts are faster.
TWENTY-FIVE Knots h0dlF M