Salt Lake Tribune | 1918-09-22 | Page 33 | U-Boats are Still Seeking Transports

U-BOATS ARE STILL SEEKING TRANSPORTS Reports That They Have Abandoned tlie ChaBG Is Shown to Be 1 Untrue. By ROBERT 5. DO MAN Universal Service Staff Correspondent. A PORT IN FRANCE, Sept. 21. American naval gfficers permanently stationed sta-tioned here are much amused at the reports re-ports coming from Germany via Switzerland Switzer-land that the U-boats are not devoting any attention to American troop convoys. "The- reverse is the case, if anything," declared one officer. They are neglecting neglect-ing merchant shlppLng ,to get our transports. trans-ports. " It may be true that .we are. debarking de-barking troops, as the German press says, from the north coast of Scotland to the Mediterranean ports, both Italian and French. "Assuredly in masking our movements we are taking advantage of foggy weather, weath-er, moonless' nights and any other atmospheric at-mospheric conditions, including a little 'atmosphere' of our own which we sometimes some-times throw off. "The German reports that they can't afford to- bother with transports owing to weightier duties with food1 ships is bosh, clumsily designed to make us relax our watch. The U-boats are harder on our trail than ever. ""they -have pretty speedy craft nowadays, nowa-days, and make it a point to pursue our convoys for day after day after they have discovered our location. They come out to meet us, ever behind or miles off, like swill sharks. "Uately certain ships, I won't specify whether American or not, have been subjected sub-jected to successive attacks at some hours of interval. These attacks, more- t over, were made by a number of submarines, sub-marines, each letting fly several torpe- -does at the same time and at the same boat. Thev figure on getting at least one boat with a school of five submarines subma-rines simultaneously -loosing from-three to five torpedoes. "That's expensive work, though they tbJnk it sound tactics. However. I can sav that-on the whole they are not meeting meet-ing with as much success aa they hoped f"The U-boats fight mighty shy now of the -channel, where they used to '"be so busv They are seldom found there nowadays now-adays Thev seem, to have deserted the eastern Mediterranean also, and to be concentrated in the western part. They're reported occasionally off the Azores and in the Bav of Biscay. "We've got their number however; we're outguessing them, sinking them and outmaneuvering them."