File No. 763.72/3067
The Chargé in Germany (Grew) to the Secretary of State
[Received December 13, 7.30 p. m.]
4720. Press summary. It is officially reported that on December 4 the British passenger steamer Caledonia tried to ram a German submarine although it had not been attacked by the submarine. The undersea boat succeeded in firing a torpedo before it was struck and sank the steamer. The submarine was slightly damaged and took on board as prisoners two English officers and the captain of the Caledonia, James Blaikie.
The Cologne Gazette calls this a new act of British piracy. Kreuz Zeitung writes, [that] the illegal action of the captain cannot be too sharply condemned and that he should receive the proper penalty. Count Reventlow writes that the incident proves that the bow or a fast steamer forms a first-class aggressive weapon against submarine. He hopes that the commander of the submarine had the captain of the steamer shot after summary procedure, as he would be quite justified in doing.