Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1942-11-03
Knox, Davis Amp|ify
Explanation Of Late
News on Carrier
Navy Acted as Soon
As Facts Were Known,
Joint Statement Says
BY the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
Secretary Of the Navy Knox and
Elmer Davis, director of war infor-
nation, jointly issued statement
today declaring that the Navy De-
partment had made public "as much
as they knew, as soon as they knew
it," regarding the sinking of United
States aircraft carrier in the South
Pacific October Is.
The Navy has not identified the
carrier, announcing its name would
not be revealed until the next of kin
of those lost had been notified. The
Navy said most of the complement
was believed saved.
Mr.. Davis, on October % in an ad-
dress in New York, said all sinkings
of major United States naval vessels
up to noon of that day had been
announced The Navy announced
October 81 that the aircraft carrier
had been lost, after it had been an
nounced October 26 as having been
severely damaged.
Sunday Mr.. Davis said he believed
the Navy did not receive word of
the actual sinking of the carrier
until after he had made his state
ment of Wednesday. He explained
this was probably due to difficulties
and restrictions on naval commune
cations arising from battle condi-
tons.
Loss Announced Sunday.
Todayis joint statement said Sit
was not until Saturday morning
that the Navy heard it had been
found impossible to get the damaged
carrier to port, and. that word of the
loss was announced Saturday after
noon, though ''it was not until Sun
day morning" that information was
received of the time the carrier was
actually sent to the bottom by
United States forces.
If there has been any error" the
statement said, 1T has been in the
direction of telling the enemy of the
loss of ship which he may pos
sibly not have known to have been
more than heavily damaged; but not
in the direction of withholding news
from the American people"
The text of the joint statement
follows:
THE difficulties and delays in
obtaining exact information from
naval operations in the Pacific are
illustrated in the case of the United
States aircraft carrier which was re-
ported in the Navy communique 16e
Of October 26 as severely damaged,
!! and whose sinking was announced
on Saturday night.
1T was recognized in Washing.
ton, from receipt of the first re.
ports, that 1t might be impossible tt
bring her to port, and orders were
issued to sink her If this could moi
be done. But the endeavor wa.
being made, and it was not unit
Saturday morning that the Navy
| Department received reports which
made it certain that that endeavo1
had been abandoned.
Salvage Impossible.
LOSS of the ship was accordingly
announced that night; but it was
not until Sunday morning that posi-
tive information was received OF
the time, the circumstances and even
the fact that she had been sent to
the bottom by our own ships, after
it proved impossible to salvage her.
There were similar delays in re-
ceiving reports of the damage in
f1icted on the enemy in this en-
gagement, which took place on Sum-
day, October Is washington time).
Damage to two enemy carriers
was reported to the Navy on Tues
day, and announced to the public
in a communique, No. I'll. The re-
tirement of the enemy fleet made
it seem probable that he had suf-
fered much heavier damage, but full
details were not received by the
Navy Department until Sunday aft
ernoon, and were then announced
in communique No. 1T.
Ships operating at sea in prox-
unity to the enemy used their COM