File No. 851.857Su8/77
The Ambassador in Germany (Gerard) to the Secretary of State
[Received May 9, 10 p. m.]
3865. Following is translation of the text of note upon which my telegram No. 38581 was based:
Supplementing his note of the 4th instant, concerning the conduct of the German submarine warfare, the undersigned has the honor to inform his excellency, the American Ambassador, Mr. James W. Gerard, that the further investigation made by the German naval authorities concerned, in regard to the French S. S. Sussex, on the basis of the American material, has been concluded in the meantime. In conformity with the result of this investigation the assumption expressed in the note of the undersigned of the 10th ultimo that the damage of the Sussex was to be traced back to a cause other than the attack of a German submarine, can not be maintained.
Such an assumption had to be arrived at with certainty [perforce] from the material in the possession of the German Government, for itself, and without foreknowledge of the circumstances connected with the torpedoing of the Sussex, the more so as apart from the points enumerated in the note of the 10th ultimo, the following facts had come to the attention of Admiralty Staff of the Navy through reliable information: March 24, 1916, approximately at the same time as the Sussex, an auxiliary warship left the port of Folkestone with a large transport of British infantry on board; on the same day a transport steamer was torpedoed in the Channel; a few minutes preceding the explosion on the Sussex, she had passed through a mass of ship wreckage, which created the impression that a ship had sunk at that spot shortly before. All these facts justified the conclusion that the only case of torpedoing which could be considered under the circumstances, had struck the British war vessel, whereas the Sussex had met with an accident in some other way.
However, on the basis of the American material, the German Government cannot withhold its conviction that the ship torpedoed by the German submarine is in fact identical with the Sussex, for in accordance with this material the place, the time, and the effect of the explosion by which the Sussex was damaged, agree in the essential details with the statements of the German commander, so that there can no longer be any question of the possibility of two independent occurrences. An additional reason is constituted by the fact that officers of the American Navy found fragments of an explosive in the hold of the Sussex which are described by them upon firm grounds as parts of a German torpedo.
Finally, the counter-evidence which was deduced in the note of the 10th ultimo from the difference in appearance of the vessel described by the submarine commander and the only reproduction of the Sussex then available, has proven to be untenable, inasmuch as according to a photograph of the damaged Sussex now to hand, the characteristic distinctions no longer existed at the time of the accident; while the Sussex in the photograph of my [the] Daily Graphic enclosed in the note only carried one mast and also showed the white gangway customary on passenger vessels on the level with the port holes O W S, the reproduction of the damaged Sussex shows a second mast and a uniform dark color, and thus approaches in her outer appearance the description of the vessel as furnished by the submarine commander.
In view of the general impression of all the facts at hand, the German Government considers it beyond doubt that the commander of the submarine acted in the bona fide belief that he was facing an enemy warship. On the other hand it cannot be denied that, misled by the appearance of the vessel, under the pressure of the circumstances, he formed his judgment too hurriedly in establishing her character and did not therefore act fully in accordance with the strict instruction which called upon him to exercise particular care.
[Page 266]In view of these circumstances, the German Government frankly admits that the assurance given to the American Government, in accordance with which passenger vessels were not to be attacked without warning, has not been adhered to in the present case. As was intimated by the undersigned in the note of the 4th instant, the German Government does not hesitate to draw from this resultant consequences. It therefore expresses to the American Government its sincere regret regarding the deplorable incident and declares its readiness to pay an adequate indemnity to the injured American citizens. It also disapproved of the conduct of the commander, who has been appropriately punished.
Expressing the hope that the American Government will consider the case of the Sussex as settled by these statements, the undersigned avails himself of this occasion, etc.
Von Jagow
May 7, 1916 .
- Not printed.↩