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Show DETAILS OF THE U-BOAT ATTACK, EAGERLY AWAITED WASHINGTON, Feb. 7. Much satisfaction satis-faction is found, by officials here in the unofficial accounts of the destruction of the British liner Tuscania by a German submarine, which showed that a destroyer, de-stroyer, presumably British, gave chase to the raider and possibly sank her with a depth bomb. No details of the attack had come tonight to-night from official sources. They are awaited eagerly. Sorrow over the first loss of a transport laden with American troops is tempered by the growing total of survivors, and the dominant emotion among army and navy men now is the desire to strike back. Navy officials see no reason to change their opinion that the submarine menace is being overcome. The Tuscania incident inci-dent is regarded as an isolated case, which may serve to develop additional methods for repelling the undersea craft and improving the convoy system. No details of the action will be passed over when full reports from the British admiralty admir-alty are available. Many devices enter into the battle against the U-boats, some of which have bejn evolved by American inventors. Others have been greatly improved since the United States entered the war, and the detection apparatus now installed on American craft is so successful that British Brit-ish craft are being similarly equipped. Learned to Fear. There have been indications that the U-boats have learned to fear this ability of American craft to locate them at a distance, and maneuver to bring the submerged sub-merged vessel within range of a depth bomb. With a destroyer in the vicinity, the underwater craft moves carefully far below the surface of the water, depending depend-ing on mechanical ears to bring to her the propeller beats of the surface vessel. When a destroyer stops to "listen," unhampered un-hampered by the beat of her own engines, the lurking foe also stops, to lie stlent below until the destroyer moves on again. Such detliils as have come from Eu- t-rti -.a. ; t.i tVmf rhp Tnsi-flnia wfls Tor pedoed by a single submarine which slipped under the advance screen of destroyers de-stroyers leading the convoy fleet. There ! is no evidence of an attack in force, and the I." -boat probably got into the path of the liner largely by chance. Sometimes Some-times as many as forty vessels make up a convoyed fleet. Destination Unknown. War department officials would say nothing todav as to the destination of the Tuscania. It was admitted that American troops had been sent forward bv British trans-Atlantic liners on several sev-eral occasions. There are reports that the great White S-tar liner Olympic, largest of the Britisli merchantf leet and second onlv to the nov American Leviathan, Levia-than, formerly the German Vaterland, has been employed in that work. There is no indication in the loss of the Tuscania that a concentration of submarines sub-marines against American troop ship lines has been made. On the contrary, the efforts of the German high command com-mand still appear to be directed prin- i cipahy against the cargo craft bound for British ports. As the roil of missing from the Tuscania Tus-cania dwindled today. expressions of amazement were heard frequently that i a crowded transport could be torpedoed ( with such comparatively small loss of 1 life. The nearness of rescue era ft, the , fact that the vessel was afloat for two hours after a torpedo had exploded in . her boiler rooms, and possibly the prox imity of the Britisli coast, all were factors fac-tors in reducing the loss. Few Jumped Overboard. Army officers say it nu:st be remembered remem-bered tiiat the troops aboard were not seasoned veterans, nor even line men soldiers, into whom every effort has been made to Instill discipline, which would have stood them in good stead in such I an emergency. The fact that most ot them were brought safely to land is accepted ac-cepted as evidence, however, thai there was no panic. Some jumped overboard, but nearly all bravelv stood fast to await their fate. These soldiers were woodsmen of the forestry battalion, men of the supply train, of the engineer train. The most disciplined unit aboard undoubtedly would he the military police. The others are men devoted to hard work behind the lines. Around the navy department there was renewed talk tonight of "bottling up" the submarines. Many officers believe that a way can be found to hold the TJ -boats within narrow limits and keep the rest of the seas free except for occasional oc-casional raiders which might slip through. There is no doubt that plans to this end have been given great study both here : and abroad. ; The weight of American anti-subma-. rine efforts is yet to be brought to bear. What has been accomplished already by American naval forces has been through I make-shift devices and converted craft in a great measure. Every week now, however, sees the approach of the day ' when all the plans and efforts of the navy will bear full fruit and wide, extension ex-tension of the campaign be possible, both in the wav of additional fighting craft and Improved devices. On this is based the belief that the submarines can be j largely curbed before summer. |