Evening star., 1923-04-15

Omcers Punished at Home.
'Tll read you what I have already
written" he said, and began, II stated
IN addresses IN California that, bar
ring the case OF the hospital ship
Llandovery Castle. did not know
Of any case where a German sub
marine commander had fired upon the
boats of torpedoed vessel; that the
commanding officer and two officers
Of the submarine that torpedoed the
hospital ship in question were tried
In Germany, after the war and
punished; that the submarine com
nanders generally acted in a humane
manner and in some instances gave
the boats OF torpedoed vessels food
and water. and tow toward land.
and sent out wireless signals, giving
their positions. See my book, The Vic
tory At Sea- pages 127 and 1913.
Referred to Commanders Alone.
1T Is well known that the German
government ordered submarine com
manders to torpedo merchant YES
sells. without warning, and also hos
pital ships. IL carrying troops. 1 did
not discuss the orders of the German
government. My remarks referred
! exclusively to the conduct Of the
submarine Commanders in carrying
out their orders.
Il am speaking. you understand.
as one seaman speaking of another
seaman, as to the conduct Of Ger
man submarine captains exceedingly
q bic men and dangerous enemies
lney We're Carrying out the orders
OF thelr government. I'm not speak
ing OF the German government. II
is wei known that il ordered mer-
chant vessels to be sunk without warn
ing. Except for the single case OF
,he Liandovery Castle. l know Of no
instance or German submarine car
rying out these orders with needless
brutality. Let me read from my
book" '
The admiral rose and scanned the
shelVes In his library. 1t was not
there.
Some Captains Chfvulrous.
Haven't got a copy of my own
book" he complained, hastened from
the room and presently returned
with a copy OF "The Victory At Sea-"
You see. there is nothing new in
this here" CHe began TO read again:)
Each submarine behaved in a
oinerent way from the others The
dlHerence, of course representing
the human element in control One
would deliver his attacks in rapid
succession. boldly and almost reck-
tssSts ahother would approach his
task with the utmost caution, GER
tain ones would display the
meanest traits in human nature:
while others--iet us be just--prere
capable of a Certain display of gen
eros!ty, and possibly Of even chiyalrv
BY studying the individual traits If
each commander we could often toll
just winch one was operating az a
given time: and this information was
extremely valuable in the game in
"hlch We were engaged.
Recognized Roses Methods.
oId Hans is out again" the officers
IN the convoy room would ramark
ihey were speaking OF Hans Rose.
m. me commander OF the C-53; this was
iall or 1915 brought that boat TO
| Newport. r. L.. and torpedoed five nr
six ships off Nantucket Our men
never saw Hans Rose face TO face:
| whether he was fat or lean. vhetber
ne was fair or dark; yet they knew
MS military characteristics intimately.
ne became such d familiar person
OF operation were so individual, that
we came to have almost & certain
liking for the old chap. Other U-boat
commanders would appear off the
/
more or less easy going fashion. Then
| another boat would suddenly apnnar.
| and-bang hi and-bang hi-bang hi
hang hi1torpedo after. torpedo
| sink, and then this disturbing per
! son would vanish as unexpectedly as
he had arrived. Such an experience
Informed the convoy officers that
I Hans Rose was once more at large.
Acquired Respect for Him.
4
! Hans because he was a brave man
who would take chances which most
! of his compatriots would avoid: and
above all, because he played his
desperate game with a certain
pedoed ship Rose would wait
around until all the lifeboats were
| filed; he would throw out q tow line,
give the victims food and keep all
the survivors together until the
rescueing destroyer appeared on the
horizon, when he would let go and
| subrnerge."
The admiral laid aside the book
| and thought a minute. Then he said
! The Llandovery Castle presents a
/ different picture You should read
| the Liepsic trials for an understand
| ing Of that That was a hospital
ship. At the trial it was brought out
lowed this ship for some time trying
to discover whether she had troops
| aboard Then he torpedoed her and
| cruised around among the lifeboats
searching for evidence that she had
| carried troops. Not finding any. he
apparently lost his head and attempt
ed to see that there would be no sur
vivors. One boat got away.
Commander Never Found.
! "The submarine commander who
| did that disappeared. He has never
been found. Two Of his officers were
drought to trial in Germany and were
| found guilty because they had not
resisted his orders. They were pun
| ished, but not severely enough-dis-
| missed from the service and one WAS
! sent to a fortress for four years, l
believe.
| "As / said. I have been speaking
of the way in which the German ma
val officers carried out the orders or
| their government.
I "But what about the German gov
ernment's policy of sinking ships
without warning?
Germany could have won the var,
to nav the price," said Admiral Sims.
in q nositiye tone. "If they had de-
| stroyed all the people In the boats,
| aiaughtered the seamen of those mer-
chant ships. fellows we could not
have replaced, they would have won:
Not only would the allies nave iost
the trained seamen who were killed.
hut many others would have refused
to 20 to sea. AS it was, there were
| men who survived after being tor
pedoed half a dozen times
Could Have Won That Way.
"Rut the price-if the German gov
| arnment had given orders to slaugn i
fer ali the people in merchant ships
that they torpedoed and If the or