"Most Reassuring"

Was the U.S. already in a shooting war with Germany, or not? In some alarm, the Senate's Naval Affairs Committee sent for Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox, to tell them true. Rosy-jowled, freckle-fisted Colonel Knox, who likes to think of himself as a bluff character, two days before had hinted that the U.S. Navy was under orders to attack "hostile craft" on sight in the Atlantic.

It all began when Columnists Joseph Alsop & Robert Kintner reported last month that a U.S. destroyer on patrol duty had tossed three depth charges at a German submarine. At a press conference one day last week, a reporter asked Colonel Knox whether the Navy's new policy meant that if U.S. ships ran afoul of Nazis between the U.S. and Iceland they would start shooting. For reply, the Secretary quoted Franklin Roosevelt's words: "I have . . . issued orders . . . that all necessary steps be taken. ..."

Said a newsman: "Will the Navy shoot to keep the route to Iceland open?" Colonel Knox said firmly: "I refer you again to the message." The newsman was persistent: "Does the message cover that point?" The Colonel nodded. "Yes, it does."

The Senate hearing was closed. But a full report of Colonel Knox's testimony (military secrets edited out) was promised the public this week. He was reported to have said: 1) no U.S. ship except the Robin Moor has been sunk in the Atlantic so far; 2) reports that 80 U.S. ships had been convoyed to Britain were wrong; 3) the U.S. aircraft carrier Ranger had not been damaged by a German bomb; 4) the Navy had no definite orders to shoot German warships on sight.

As for the rumored attack on a German submarine, the Secretary said it was grossly exaggerated. A destroyer, rescuing survivors from a torpedoed British ship, did hear the vibrations of an approaching submarine at dusk one afternoon. The destroyer did drop one depth bomb, and the vibrations thereupon ceased. But the submarine was too far away to suffer any serious damage. The depth bomb was dropped, said Colonel Knox, just as a warning.

Committee members thanked the Rough Rider, said his testimony was "most reassuring." It was probably much more reassuring than an unexpected depth bomb to a Nazi submarine.

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