Washington, Apr. 18, Admiral William Leahy, Chief of United States Naval operations, said today that the "mystery fleet" off Davao, Philfppines was either an optical chimera or a flotilla of foreign vessel He said there was no possibility that the ships were American craft mhneuvring in Far Eastern waters. He suggested that possibly they were merely fishing smacks although he admitted he had received no report from Admiral Harry Yarnell, Commander-in-Chief of the Asiatic fleet.
Another naval official told the United Press that a Manila intelligence report had proved the flotilla consisted of twelve or thirteen war vessels of an unidentified nationality. He pointed out that Japanese warships were in the "general neighbourhood" of Davao.
Navy spokesman explained that the United States would be unable to even if the nationality of the ships were known for it would be impossible to prove that the flotilla had sailed within the three-mile limit. Even if a breach of international law could not be proved, one official said, the War Department had received the report with full awareness of its "serious implications."—United Press
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.