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Show STUCK HGDHDY ! OFlESSffiilll! t Admiral Says Berlin Knew When American Destroyers Set Sail For Europe. AMERICAN LETTER ! GIVES KNOWLEDGE American Troops Said To Have Been Better Protected Protect-ed On Sea Than Others. WASHINGTON, March 15. German submarines were enabled to atlauK the firal convoy of American troop ships sent to France because the navy department de-partment used an unsafe qode which' was injercepted and deciphered, Rear Axlmira 1 1 S lms-jta d Ry.toUl tii owitm n teT invesiigpthig committee. The announcement of tho sailing of the first American destroyers wa primed in Eerlln four days before th'iy arrived at Queenstown, declcred , tho officer. j All the allies and the enemy were, using new wartime codes, he said.! while the United Stales continued wilhj a zidQ used for many years. To illustrate the widespread knowledge; knowl-edge; of the plans for the first con voy's departure, the admiral testified that tiie-United States naval attache! at Paris obtained his first word that troop ships were sailing from a woman whose husband had received the In-fopnalion In-fopnalion in a business message. In response to protests regarding convoy methods, the admiral said he I received a reply that "the department recornizos the soundness of your recommendations," rec-ommendations," but because of the present sensitive public opinion considers con-siders it essential that the escort orders or-ders foi tho first convoy already is-su-d, be executed 4by American destroyers. de-stroyers. The admiral had recommended, recom-mended, he testified, that the convoys be proic-ctcd by whatever allied es-corts es-corts were available. There was no question at any time, Admiral Sims saiJ. as to whether troops should get the very best protection available. "Throughout the war," he added, "American troops received more pro-tcc'ion pro-tcc'ion than tho alllps were anie to give their own troops on the high seas.' That the department realized the inadequacy in-adequacy and danger of the arrangements arrange-ments made for the convoys was demonstrated, dem-onstrated, the admiral asserted, by the fact that oven before the ships Balled he was asked to submit recommenda-' tiotiti for future use and this rccom- inundations were afterward adoped in their entirety. Admiral Sims testified at length re-i garding- disagreements with the de-i partment on plans to meet enemy j raids on convoys, possible Gei'nanj baitlc cruiser raids in the Atlantic, and: what he called the department's "royal road ti victory" by blockading Ger-I man ports or similar measures. oo ! |
