That Monday, June 3rd, was one of the busiest days of the war in the Navy Department, as it was at naval bases all along the Atlantic. The fact that the Germans were operating off our shores stirred up not only Washington but the entire country.
Plans for submarine defense had been made out long before, and were put into effect. Our patrol force, all along the line, was on the job. But hunting a U-boat and capturing it are two very different things.
News and rumors were pouring in, and when I received the newspaper correspondents I faced a fire of questions as rapid as that of a machine-gun:
"What is the Navy doing to protect shipping?"
"Why did it let the submarine sink those vessels?"
"Have you sunk the U-boat?"
"What naval vessels have you sent out? What methods are they using to get the 'sub'?"
"How many boats have the Germans sent over?"
"Have you got enough vessels to protect our coast and commerce?"
"Will you recall our destroyers from Europe?"