File No. 763.72/4549

The Minister in Denmark ( Egan) to the Secretary of State

[Telegram]

659. Newspapers report from Berlin to-day that the Secretary of the Navy addressed the Reichstag yesterday stating that the results obtained by the submarine warfare during the last three months were far in advance of what had been expected. In the course of that period the submarines had sunk 1,826 vessels representing approximately 2,800,000 tons. He stated that many thousand hands were engaged in the building of new submarines, the capability of which was constantly being improved. He indicated that there existed the best possible morale among the crews and that applications for entering that service were pouring in. He admitted that a certain number of submarines were lost as a result of the improved means of destruction devised by the Allies but stated that there existed no radical means of defeating them. He concluded by stating that every soul in the Navy from the commander in chief to the youngest sailor had an unshakeable confidence in the final result of the submarine warfare. He was greatly applauded.

Egan