Evening star., 1941-10-20

II " az lllt llISl lIIIt SlllIt id l)d
nese WarplaneS bombed and machine
gunned the United States gunboat
Panay on the Yangtze River ir
China that a unit of the Navy ha!
had losses due to belliserent action
The toll in the Panay bombing il
December. 1887, was 2 dead anc
43 injured.
Details Are Meager.
The Navy's announcement last
night was almost as meager as the
original cOmmunique on the tor
pedCing. 1t volunteered no detail.
on why the II men were considered
missing" or on the nature of the
injuries of the other 10. The only
ampliflcation was that one man was
critically injured, one seriously in
jured, and eight had minor injuries
The character OF the encounter
between the Kearny and the sub
marine, however, led informed
quarters here to write off the miss
ing as dead. 1t was their belief
that the men either had been blown
out of the ship when the torpedo
exploded. or else that they were
trapped when Watertight bulkheads
were closed after the ship had been
hit.
One possibility suggested by mer
familiar with the deStroyer'S con-
Struction was that some of the miss
ing men might have been trapped ir
a flooded engine room compartment
with bare chance for survival.
These compartments may be en-
tered only from the top deck. Ir
event of emergency. such as tor
pedo explosion, damaged compart-
ments are quickly sealed by ma =
chinery from the rest of the ship.
Delay Seen Possible.
Men might keep their heads above
water. under favorable circum-
stances. were the compartment not
completely flooded. Although ef-
forts presumably would be made to
open a flooded compartment as soon
as practicable. a delay was seen as
possible.
Awaiting more complete details
officials refused to comment. but
naval opinion inclined to the belief
that the missing men we're swept
overheard.
One Navy officer said that a per-
son familiar with destroyers could
n
at which the missing men probably
were when the torpedo struck, but
he refused to volunteer the informa-
ton.
However, since four OF the missing
were flremen and three Watermen
the belief was that one of the
Kearny' engine rooms had been hit
No Explanation of Lapse.
The Navy offered no explanation
why more than two days had elapsed
between the announcement of the
torpedoing and the disclosure OF
casualties.
One explanation was that the
Kearny flashed only the briefest of
reports after she was hit $50 miles
southwest of Iceland while on patrol
duty early Friday and then resumed
radio silence. so as not to advertise
her position 10 other raiders as she
limped to port.
The Navy announcement las
night was significant in that i
placed the responsibility for the at
tack on U-bOat. In the CLASH
between the Greer and a submarine
early in September. the Navy re-
ports made no effort to indicate thu
nationality of the underseas raider
although Berlin subsequently ac,
knoWledged that it was a U-boa
which missed the destroyer with
two torpedoes. Apparently the sub
marine, like the Greer, escaped un
scathed in that shooting episode.
Germans Charge Fake.
Nazi authorities thus far hav,
said that they have received NJ
word from any German ship abou
the Kearny. Going a step farther
the German radio has charged tha
the Kearny incident was purposel!
"trumped up" by administration
officials to inf1ame the Natior
against the Reich.
The assumption here was tha
The Navy believed it possessed posi-,
tive proof of the submarines ma.
q
it was obtained. One conjecture
was that some of the Kearnys crew
caught a glimpse of the underseai
boat before or during the engage
ment. but the opportunity for such
observation is usually remote under
the circumstances indicated
In its supplementary announce.
ment on the incident the Navy. fol
the first time since the outbreak OF
the European war. found itself usine
the long since familiar language Of
British Admiralty communiques
The next of kin of the missing
have been notified"
Gillette Suggests Probe.
Senator Gillette, Democrat. Of
Iowa, said he would suggest tt
Chairman Walsh of the Naval Com
mittee that it investigate the cir.
cumstances of the attack on the
Kearny and ask the Navy Depart.
ment for details. The Navy fur.
nished such report on the Greer
incident.
Senator Nye. Republican, of North
Dakota, author of a resolution which
asked an investigation of the Greer
encounter, told reporters he con-
sidered it essential that Congress bt
given full information about tbs
Kearnv attack az soon as the Nav
Department could obtain IT,