FLOTTENRICHTER KRANZBÜHLER: Will you please tell us what you remember after reading the log.
THE PRESIDENT: Wait a minute. If he remembers anything about what the commander told him he can tell us that, but the log speaks for itself and he can’t reconstruct it out of that. He must tell us what he remembers of what the officer said.
FLOTTENRICHTER KRANZBÜHLER: Very well, Sir.
[Turning to the witness.] Will you please speak from memory.
GODT: The commander reported that he had encountered a number of trawlers extraordinarily close to the coast, considering conditions at the time. Failing in his attempt to torpedo one of them, he sank it with gunfire. That was all the more remarkable because, in the first place, the incident occurred quite unusually near the coast and, in the second place, the commander risked this artillery fight regardless of the presence of other vessels nearby.
FLOTTENRICHTER KRANZBÜHLER: Were these other ships also armed trawlers?
GODT: It was to be assumed at the time that every trawler was armed.
FLOTTENRICHTER KRANZBÜHLER: The witness McAllister thought that the submarine surfaced 50 yards away from the trawler. In the light of your own recollections and experiences, do you think this is possible?
GODT: I do not remember the details; but it would be an unusual thing for a U-boat commander to do.
FLOTTENRICHTER KRANZBÜHLER: McAllister also stated the U-boat used shells filled with wire.