CAPTAIN ORTON E JAC AND MAJOR FRANK E. £ '9 'Sa^i* »»'0>' THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESENTED BY PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID THE MARVEL BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS Itciirlitlrd \ill Pv LANDING AT VKKA CIUZ THE MARVEL BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS BY CAPTAIN ORTON P. JACKSON, U.S.N. MAJOR FRANK E. EVANS, U.S.M.C. WITH TWELVE COLORED PLATES AND OVER FOUR HUNDRED ILLUSTRATIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS NEW YORK FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY PUBLISHERS Copyright, 1917, by Frederick A. Stokes Company All rights reserved .1^^ ' : CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I The Happy Ship 1 II Our Underse.\ Fighters 11 III Birth of Superdreadnought 21< IV All Around a Battleship 35 V The Queen of the Sea 54 VI The Destroyer 65 VII The Policeman of the Seven Seas ..... 80 VIII The Liner is a Lady 86 IX Square-Riggers and Fore-and-Afters 95 X MOTORBOATS FOR FuN OR WaR Ill XI American Yachting 121 XII The Freight Carriers of the American jVIarine . 135 XIII Our Nautical Training Ships 148 XIV The Making of a JVIan-o'-War's-Man 159 XV When the Ships Go South 172 X\T The Fleet Has Its Train 182 XVII How the Ships Talk 193 XVIII When Fleet Went Round World 203 XIX Sentinels of the Sea - _ . 214 XX Following our Ships Through the Panama Canal . 229 XXI The Fleet at Battle Practice 241 XXII Big Guns and Little Ones 253 XXIII Fighting Ships that Fly 266 M309481 vi CONTEXTS CHAPTEh PAGE XXIV The Solmers of the Sea 281 XXV Heroes of the Coast Guard 293 XX\T The United States Naval Academy 306 XXVII Athletics in the Fleet 319 XXVIII Sailormen and their Pets 330 XXIX Ceremonies and Uniforms 341 XXX Where the Ships Nest 358 XXXI Seven Great Sea Fights 368 XXXII Tragedies op the Sea . . 381 COLORED PLATES Marines Landing at Vera Cruz Frontispiece FACING Ships that Fight Above, Upon, and Beneath the Waves . . . . 18 A Battle Fleet in Action . . 54 Destroyers in a Seaway . . 76 The "Aquitania" (Cunard Line) . . 86 House Flags and Funnels of the Principal Steamship Lines 9'-2 A Submarine Commander Hailing a Merchantman \M Signaling a Message to the Fleet . 194 International Code Flags and Pennants 20'-2 Ensigns and National Merchant Flags 20'-2 "Soldiers of the Sea" 284 The "Constitution" and the "Guerriere" . 370 IN THE DAYS OF WOODEN SHIPS AND IKON MEN THE MARVEL BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS THE HAPPY SHIP OX the bridge of the historic flagship of Admiral David Farragut, the frigate Hartford, was carved in huge letters the motto "A Happy Ship is an Efficient One." That is the aim of the American Na\'y to-day, and that is the reason why the American hhiejacket is the best fed, the best uniformed, and the most contented of all the sailormen afloat on the Seven Seas. To cruise the salt seas, 1 THE :\rARVEL BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS 1 i — »l- ] , //ll\ s V' ' .' /nil SCRUB AND WASH CLOTHES drop anchor now and then in a for- eign port, and sandwich in be- tween the rivalry of drills ashore and afloat the contests of water and field sports is in itself attractive enough to lure the Amer- ican boy to the na- val service of his country. To know a year ahead where each ship will be, to make the cruises to foreign lands more frequent, and to enlarge the opportunities of the enlisted men of our Navy in both study and recreation is the aim of the Navy Department in peace times. The man-o'-war's-man in our 'Navj begins his day with the bugles sounding reveille at 5 :30 in the morning, backed up by the shrill pipes of the bosun's mates and their hoarse shouts of: "Up all hammocks! Lash and carry!" Hammocks are lashed and stowed away in the hammock nettings and then coffee and ship's bread are served. In the old days hard- tack was served, but to-day the American blue- jacket has his bread baked fre.-li daily. Then comes the call of "Scrnl) and wash clothes!" Kidnap a blue- jacket and carry him in an aero- plane to the top of Pike 's Peak, and in ten minutes his pipe will be going and from some the forecastle wash line THE HAPPY SHIP queer hiding-place he will produce a bucket, soap, brush and water, and a line of wash clothes will flutter in the breeze. Until the bugles blow their welcome call of ' ' Soupy ^soupy — soupy — without a single bean!" at 7:30 the ship is running in water ankle- deep from the hoses. Wher- ever you turn, bluejackets and marines are cleaning decks and paint-work, scrubbing gratings and boat-gear, pol- ishing bright-work, as the sailors call the brass fittings, and swapping yarns. After breakfast the "smoking lamp" is lighted and with it goes permission to smoke. Until the morning drill period sounds at 9 :30 the men are getting into the uniform prescribed for the day, attending the call to sick bay if they are in need of medical attendance, and stowing away their sea-bags and ditty-boxes. If you are allowed a peep into the small, square ditty-boxes you will see sewing material, writing paper, souvenirs of cruises and the pictures of many girls; for the sailor of to-day, like those who have gone before, has liis "sweetheart in every port." Take a sea-bag off its rail and inside you will find every article of a bluejacket's wardrobe. Each piece is neatly rolled SIDE CLEANERS AT WORK ^ud ' ' stoppcd ' ' at the euds P/wlo bij Paul Th A LOVE LETTER AND A DITTY-BOX T! ^^^ • j^ ^;i| ^^kr^ ^^^^^ ■1 I^ Dnb mr THE MARVEL BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS THE SHIP S TAILOR After the iiis])ection the and go through the Swed- ish phj'sical drill, ending with double time about the decks while the ship's band plays a lively air. At the close of the phys- ical drill comes the first regi;lar drill for the day. Some of these drills grow monotonous but most of them are picturesque and blood-stirring. In the big turrets and at the rapid-fire guns the crews go through the drill men extend of the roll — tied with white cord to keep it from unrolling — and the sail- or's name is stenciled in white letters on his blue uniforms, and in black on his white suits and under- wear. When the call sounds to "quarters" the crew falls in, each man in his division, in double ranks that face each other. The divisional officers walk up and down between the ranks, and woe to the man who is not cleanly shaven, whose uniform lacks a button, or whose shoes have not been shined ! These inspections every day are the secret of the natty, w^ell-unif ormed sail- ors and marines you see on shore in uniform, their intervals between files READY I'OU I'EAST, FIGHT OR FROLIC THE HAPPY SHIP DRILLING WHILE STEAMING IS KNOTS that fits them for rapid and accurate handHiig of tlieir guns in battle. On tlie forecastle deck another division is having its infantry drill, and this often goes on while the ship is rolling and pitching to the seas. Tlien there are drills, carried out to the smallest detail, for fire, collision at sea or port, general quarters for going into action, aban- don ship, and the night torpedo defense drills. When a man goes on board ship he is given a number which shows his division, his gun, his mess, hammock, sea-bag, rifle, cleaning station and where he is to go in each of these general drills. Sometimes the call to "clear ship for action" or collision drill comes at night with the gongs ringing and bugles blowing to awake the men from sound sleep. When the drill is for collision, fire, or abandon ship, the marines race to the boats with bayonets fixed, with orders to allow no man in the boats until the captain himself passes the word. Many watertight doors are closed by electricity, and if the crew gets orders to abandon ship each man can be over the side and at his proper seat in one of the boats in a very few minutes. THE MARVEL BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS THE SAILORS GAME OF ACEY-DUCEY When the drill is "general quar- ters" the crews rush to their guns, and up from below comes the ammuni- tion by electric hoists. Down in the battle dressing- station the surgeon and the hospital at- tendants are ready, the shii^'s band is split up at various stations, and each of the thousand officers and men knows exactly where his station is and what to do. Meantime the captain, watch in hand, receives reports from all parts of the ship; and it goes hard with officer or man who is not reported ready after a few minutes have passed! Then again it may be signal drill. The men in our Navy talk in many ways unknown to the landsman. Varicolored flags spell mes- sages to them by day, and at night the red and white lights of the Ardois system wink news from ship to ship. Then there are the wig- wag flags, the semaphore arms at the wings of the bridge, and the blinker system at the signal yard-arms. In port every opportunity is taken to land the crew for infantry and artillery drill, or for a long practice march into the country, and the small boats of the fleet go through their drills under sail and under oars. The hour of noon, when "the sun crosses the yard-arm," is a welcome event. A red pennant slides up to the foretruck and the crew goes to dinner. ^ favorite recreation ^[l^^ THE HAPPY HOUR ON THE "NORTH DAKOTA" A READING ROOM ON THE BERTH DECK THE MARVEL BOOK OF AMERICAN_SHIPS — After dinner comes a recreation period for games, letter writing- and smoking, and the band plays for dancing, etc. The afternoon drill may be in seamanship, gamnery, signaling, or ship's work, and at eight bells — 4 o'clock — comes the welcome call, "Knock off all work!" Come about the ship now and on the boatdeck you will find husky bluejackets swinging together at pulley weights until the 50-pound weights fairly sing. They are training for a race cutter crew. Duck do^\^l the nearest ladder and you see a big sailor- man bent over a tiny sewing-machine. Beside him is another man on all fours bent seriously over a strip of blue cloth and laboriously cutting out the pattern for a pair of trousers for his mate at the machine. Other gioups are reading or writing, working over their c rrespondence- school courses in electricity or me- chanical engineer- ing, and t w o healthy - skinned boys are boxing. Take a turn across the forecastle and you come across a number of power- ful, beautifully muscled men fast asleep on black strips of canvas that are known as "caulking mats." When a sailorman wants to sleep he is apt to say, "Time to caulk off!" They are the men from the engine-room below, the giants of the ship 's company, and he is a rash man who disturbs their slumbers. After the mess-call for supper comes what the crew calls "The Happy Hour." There are moving-picture shows, concerts, dancing to the music of the band, and a great deal of ship-visiting. The call to "Sling hammocks!" announces the end of "The Happy Hour," and taps at 9 o'clock ends the day aboard a battleship. Each Wednesday afternoon is given to sewing and the washing of outfits. The crew knows Wednesday afternoon by the curious title of "Rope Yarn Sunday." The formal inspection of the entire ship and every man in it is held on Saturday, when the Old ]\Ian, as the Captain is affectionately fholf) by H. Tot.lcrlun.l ROPE YARN SUNDAY THE HAPPY SHIP TAPS ON THE "NORTH DAKOTA" known, moves from deck to deck. He wears white gloves on this occa- sion, and it is not well for the peace of the ship if those white gloves are soiled by any gear or fitting aboard his ship. Naturally, with this busy day of drills and recreations, and the tang of salt air, the appetite of a battleship's crew is a hearty one. The paymaster of the ship has charge of this department, ^vith a large force of stewards, cooks, and messmen under him. For the officers the mess attendants are Filipino boys. Nowadays on ships like the dread- nought Nevada the cook of the ship, always an important and well-paid post, is a trained electrician. Every bit of work in the Nevada's galley is done by electricity. The cook turns a switch and the appetiz- ing meats, the potatoes that are pealed by electricity, the soups and the vegetables along the line of electric ovens begin to steam and sizzle. Electric hoists carry the pans and pots with their steaming foods to the decks below, and the cleaning and scouring of the iron- ware dishes is done by an electric dishwasher. Uncle Sam feeds his men from the pick of the market because his paymasters, buying daily for so many men, get the best at wholesale prices. The mess tables, scrubbed until they are white, are slung in racks above the deck, and the meals are served, and all signs of them 10 THE MARVEL BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS removed, in shipshape manner. Because evei'y bit of space aboard ship is precious each man has his mess-table, hammock, sea-bag, and his g-un all in the same casemate. To help out the sweet tooth of the crew, which is a big one, the paymaster also carries a large stock of candy and other tidbits, which are sold at low prices. And twice a week, whether in port or at sea, he serves chicken and ice-cream to his big family. The days of hardtack and of the old "shellback" sailorman are gone. The modern sailorman can no longer "pass the weather earring," but he is handier, better cared for, and a more useful man to his country than the old tar. . ., J 1 THE LATEST TYPE II OUR UNDERSEA FIGHTERS OF all the craft that make up the Fleet, from the grim dread- nought and its powerful fourteen-inch monsters to the fussy steam-launch and its one-pounder gun in the bow, there is none that should have the same interest for the American boy as the sub- marine. Of all the units of the Fleet it is the one distinctively American product of inventive genius. It was an American, Robert Fulton, then living in France, in 1800, who designed the first submarine. It was another American citizen, John P. Holland, who built the first sub- marine that met its tests successfully, and which carried within its steel skin practically all of the principles of the modern submarine. As far back as the sixteenth century men dreamed of a boat that could travel beneath the seas, just as men dreamed of a craft that could sail through the skies with the freedom of a great bird. Not until the two Americans, Fulton and Holland, made their practical contributions to this end did the submarine of to-day emerge from the realms of visions to its grim power. Jules Verne, in his remarkable romance. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, only sketched the wonderful possibilities of the craft that he dreamed of. Of all ships, the submarine is the only one that can maneuver beneath the waves as well as on the surface, and the dreadnought of 27,000 tons is an easy victim to the submarine of one-fiftieth her tonnage when the submarine takes her unawares. 11 OUR UNDERSEA FIGHTERS 13 It remained for the European War, more than a century after Fulton's design, to vindicate the prophecies that the submarine would play a great part in the struggle for the control of the seas. The war stripped the submarine of much of its mystery, for every American boy now knows something of the part it plays in naval warfare, of how it fights and how, in turn, it is hunted to be either captured or sunk. It must be a matter of national pride that Americans gave to that war one of its mightiest engines. American-built submarines, too, showed to the world that the tiny undersea craft, assembled in tliis country, were heard from in the fighting at the Dardanelles, having traveled five thousand sea leagues away. SECTIONAL VIEW OF A SUBMARINE Ever since the United States Government accepted the first suc- cessful submarine, the Holland, in 1898, all navies of the world have built, and are building, fleets of submarines. They have increased in size, power, and seagoing abilities until Germany produced the super- submarine, the Deutschland, Avith its displacement of 2,300 tons sub- merged, in the summer of 1916. The Deutschland was the first demon- stration of the part that the big undersea craft are destined to play in the development of commerce as well as its destruction. Unai-med, she ran the formidable British blockade from Bremen to Baltimore and back, her hull loaded with priceless contraband, and returned, making Bridgeport, Connecticut, on the second triji. 14 THE :\IARVEL BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS FULL SURFACE SPEED The ordinary type of submarine used by the United States Navy has about 500 tons of submerged dis- placement, m u c h smaller than the seagoing subma- rines used by the European nations in their raids on commerce and in their blockades. It was left to them to prove that the submarine was even a more formidable weapon, in some respects, than those who knew it best under peace conditions had claimed. There had been practically no chance to test out its efficiency except under peace conditions. Naval officers not only had had no practical opportunity to prove out their theories of attack, but there had been no practical chance to build up a defense against the untried weapon. Like the torpedo, without the use of which the undersea boat would have remained little better than a toy, the submarine is so shaped. In reality it is a submerging or diving torpedo-boat, driven on the surface by oil engines, below the sea by electric power, and discharges torpedoes at its enemy. The torpedo tubes of a submarine vary in number according to the size of the boat. Some types carry their tubes aft, some on the broadside, hut the majority carry them forward. The torpedoes used are the same as those fired from destroy- ers and from b a t tie ships. The torpedo it- self is aston- ishingly accu- rate because of the gyroscopic mechanism which, acting on a vertical rudder, holds it true to its course. The surface conditions OITR UNDERSEA FIGHTERS 15 ?V*-r-^ ' '^'!J-"T'<'R,^jj|u«p IN DIVING TIIIAJ, difficulty in aiming the torpedo in submarine work is great and this alone has saved many ships from destruction. Because the subma- rine does the greater part of its deadly work while partially or totally sub- merged, and because its only protection against an enemy ship lies in diving, it is built to meet the great pressure on its hull. Un- like other craft it is there- fore usually built in circu- lar sections, because this form gives it the strength needed. When the submarine runs on the surface it is driven by oil engines with a speed which ranges around 15 knots. When the "sub," as its crew calls it, dives and runs submerged, it is propelled by electric motors which are fed by storage batteries. At target practice they run submerged at about 8 knots, and one improvement for which all navies are striving is to increase this speed below water. The new submarines that are now building for our Navy will average about 800 tons displacement when submerged, be about 250 feet long and will have a speed on the surface of about 19 knots, and a maximum speed below of nearly 14 knots. The "subs" of this type will cost $1,200,000 without figuring on the armor and the armament. To build them longer would increase the danger in diving, but they will be as sea- worthy, speedy, powerful, and com- fortable as any submarine afloat. At one stage of the submarine's development car- bonic acid gas was a danger to which RUNNING AWASH the crcw was ex- OUR UNDERSEA FIGHTERS 17 posed and it was customary to carry white mice as pets on the "subs," for they quickly collapsed at the tirst trace of it. Now mechanical de- vices show the formation of any gas, such as hydrogen, which is odor- less. As the current developed while running submerged is quickly used up at high speed, the undersea fighter usually runs at slow speed, using the high speed only for short spurts. The current can only be replaced by coming to the surface, operating the oil engines, and re- charging the batteries; so that the maximum speed can only be made while on the surface. Like the torpedoes that have made the submarine the most dreaded of all sea fighters, the modern submarine is divided into watertight KL\N.M-\(i AT HALF SPKED compartments. These are the torpedo, crew, battery, diving, and engine compartments ; spare torpedoes are carried in the crew quarters. Life on a submarine is no bed of roses, but the Navy never lacks for volunteers for the flotilla. It carries extra pay to make up in part for its discomforts, but more than all the lure of danger attracts the American bluejacket. The living quarters, built for crews ranging from ten to thirty men, are damp, cramped, and the air is usually foul with oily vapors and stale air. At best the amount of fresh air in a submarine is one- third that which a man enjoys on a surface-operating ship. In rough weather, whether running above or below water, the percentage of seasickness is high even with men who never have felt its pangs on board a battleship in the worst of storms. On the surface, in nasty weather, everything is closed but the conning tower hatch and then 18 THE MARVEL BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS conditions within the "sub" are ahnost as bad as when running submerged. In the regular channels it is hard to sink to a depth that will bring any relief, but out in the open sea, when a gale rages, she can sink to a depth of one hundred feet. Even then there is an up and down motion, which the crew calls "'pumping," that cannot be escaped. It is only on cruises of a fortnight or so, how^ever, that a sub- marine crew gets no relief from these conditions. Between runs, and while in port or at the submarine base, the crews live in airy barracks or sling their hammocks in tenders that are detailed with each flotilla as a mother ship. Little shows above the deck of the submarine on the surface but the conning tower, which stands about six feet above deck. The surface navigation is done exactly as with other vessels, the captain and helmsman using the conning tower for their station. Below the water the periscope takes the place of the conning tower. A rapid-fire gun, running in caliber up to one that fires a fourteen-pound shell, and the radio for sigiialing purposes, are housed in the superstructure or recessed in the hull when the submarine makes its dive. The gam is used both for halting merchantmen that try to escape and in blockade duties. A submarine bell for use while submerged has been added to the modern submarine's signal equipment; and another great improve- ment i!s the use of electric stoves for cooking, the current being taken from the storage batteries. When the submarine finds it necessary to submerge preparatorj^ to an attack, to escape an enemy ship, or for practice, all openings in the hull are closed by watertight hatches. The Holland type has diving rudders, and the Lake boat — our two leading types — flat pro- jecting fins forward and aft, called hydroplanes, and both sink nearly on an even keel. Water is then admitted to destroy the natural buoy- ancy of the craft, by way of tlie ballast tanks. The diving rudders, forward at the bow, and aft at the stern, are deflected, and the water closes over the sea tiger, leaving but a few bubbles to mark its going. A gauge registers the depth to which she sinks. The greatest depth at which she operates is ordinarily one hundred feet, but sub- marines have operated as far do\vn as from two hundred to two hundred and fifty feet. Here the pressure of the water is so powerful that there is danger of crushing the sides and being unable to rise to safety. To test the streng-fh of a new submarine's hull they must submerge to one hundred and fifty feet, if they are of the large type, as this has been found to leave the right margin of safety. OUR UNDERSEA FIGHTERS 19 Wlien running submerged the swish of a ship's propellers in the vicinity can be heard inside the submarine; and when the captain is thus warned of the enemy's presence he can rest in peace on a clean bed of sand while the submarine hunters cruise vainly above. Without the periscope the submarine would be a blinded fighter. Its most deadly Avoi-k is done at a submerged distance which shows but a foot or two of the periscope's tip. The periscope is a long vertical tube of small diameter, with prisms at either end and the necessary lenses. Eighteen feet above the deck it runs; and below, where the other end pierces the hull, is the eyepiece for the observer. Courtesy of " Fleet Rev LAUNCHING B-2 FROM COLLIER IN MANILA BAY It can be turned in any direction, and when an enemy ship, or a merchantman trying to run the blockade, comes within its field, the submarine is suddenly transformed into a formidable and stealthy sea tiger. The periscope becomes its eyes, and the dials, compasses, and other instruments of the fire-control its brain. The engines that carry it to effective range are its swift, tireless legs, and the destructive charge of 250 pounds of gun-cotton in the unleashed torpedo the death- dealing jaws and rending claws of the great cat that has seen its prey and steals up on it with the skill of a tiger stalking a buffalo. The submarine chooses to fight at as close quarters as can be had with safety, to cut down the chance of missing its big quarry, and because an unlimited supply of the $8,000 torpedoes cannot be carried. As soon as its target is discovered — it may be miles distant — the cap- tain takes his bearings and down goes the "sub" and with it the telltale 20 THE MARVEL BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS periscope that, once seen, draws a shower of shells which would crush its skin as though it were but an eggshell. Then he dives and steers by his bearings to a range as close as is wise. Up goes the periscope for a final aim, just high enough to make it certain, and the submarine swings about to bring its torpedo tubes in line with the target. In the time that the torpedo covers a thousand yards a dreadnought will steam twice her length; and this, and the conditions of the weather, must be quickly A SUBMARIXK FLOTILLA and accurately considered by the "sub's" skipper. The war has shown that when a submarine is discovered the only safety for a vessel is to steer a zigzag course and crowd on enough steam to let the torpedo go tearing by. The slightest error in aim is fatal to a submarine's chances of a telling hit. When the exact position is determined comes the word : ' ' Stand by to fire a torpedo! . . . Fire!" Straight as an arrow speeds the cigar-shaped missile and its deadly gun-cotton, traveling ten to fifteen feet below water to make its hit beneath the vulnerable waterline of its target. The compressed air that is its motive power shows in the torpedo's wake in a sinister track of light air-bubbles. The impact OUR UNDERSEA FIGHTERS 21 of the torpedo's head on the hull of the luckless ship explodes the shattering charge of gun-cotton and this first explosion is felt slightly within the hull of the waiting submarine. Often there is a second explosion if the torpedo finds the ship's boilers or her powder magazines. Then the diving rudders are reversed, the ballast tanks pumped out by compressed air, and the long, shark-like body creeps warily to the surface for a "look see," as the sailors have it. The critical mo- ment, whenever a "sub" rises, be- gins when the peri- scope has climbed to a point where it reaches the depth of a ship 's keel. It ends only after the periscope's tip shakes off the wa- ter and the captain can sweep the sur- face with its aid. All this time his craft is like a great, blinded fish, helpless against at- tack. As the tijj clears the surface the dark shade of the sea fades to the grass green of the undersurface, and then white air-bubbles can be seen as the silver touch of daylight signals the return to the surface. With the nerves of the crew at high tension, iron men though they are, comes the search for the enemy. A seething white cloud of steam pouring from the open hatches and ports of the crippled vessel tells its tale. A few minutes later there is nothing but a huddle of wreckage to show where the submarine has added another to its grewsome toll. Just as the European War brought the possibilities of the sub- marine to a skill never dreamed of, so has it brought to the front the TRYING OUT A NEW SUBMARINE 22 THE MARVEL BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS methods of hunting down and destroying or capturing it. On blockade duty trawlers, towing between them grappling lines, sweep suspected areas for them. To protect the clumsy trawlers torpedo craft patrol outside with unceasing vigil and tow explosive-laden sweeps behind them. At other points where submarines have been reported are stretched stationary nets with mines above. The explosive sweeps and the mines, when detonated by the touch of the submarine, explode with deadly effect. Many submarines in the course of the war were caught in nets of wire. Their ])ropollers fouled in the meshes, and as the submarines rill'; I'Aiii 111'; riiui'KDi) were closed tight against the water, it was impossible for them to cut the net away. When trapped in this manner their fate was sealed. The initial air carried inside a submarine lasts but little more than half a day. Then air had to be used from the air flasks or "banks" and the foul air could not be pumped out, as then would come a vacuum in which the crew could not live. Three days or possibly four and the trapped sea tiger held only a dead crew. Seaplanes, when the sea is calm, the bottom light in color, and the air conditions good, can spot and follow submarines when they are within fifty feet of tlie surface. It calls for men of iron nerves and quick decision to man our submarines either in peace or in war. Submarine experts look upon the factor of nerves as the most important of all, and they have given to it the title of calculation. Within the cramped walls that are the home of the crew are housed the most intricate mechanisms that man has invented for warfare. Outside its steel walls are mines, great nets of wire, explosives, shells, and seaplanes, all devised for its destruction, and the sharp keels of ships that slice through a submarine as a knife OUR UNDERSEA FIGHTERS 23 cuts cheese. The smallest shell can penetrate the steel skin, and nets can hold the submarine as helpless as a child in the grasp of a giant. Danger lies everywhere for the tiger of the seas. The ocean in which it lives is a powder tank that needs but a spark. Only nerves of iron can cope against such an array of enemies. The slightest hesitation of its captain in the face of any one of them means the end of his ship and his crew. As one expert has put it, the whole A B C of submarine warfare is the ability to meet any situation at an instant's warning and then to act with nerves of steel. LAYING A BATTLESHIP S KEEL AT THE FORE RIVER SHIPYARDa III THE BIRTH OF A SUPERDREADNOUGHT FROM the first step in the conception of a mighty superdread- nought until her captain's pennant flies over her, the chapters of her life are screened from public view except for the pic- turesque ceremonies of the laying of her keel and her launching. Only ih*^ privileged few are allowed fleeting glimpses behind the screen that prudence, and military necessity, rear about the new fighting monster. The finished fighter is not the work of any one man, or any one ship-building yard. Down in the offices of the General Board of the Navy Department at Washington, over which the hero of the Battle of Manila Bay, Admiral George Dewey, ruled, its birth begins. The recommendations of these expert advisers giiide the Secretary of the Navy in his dealings with the Naval Committees of Congress when they meet to di-aw up tJie building program for the American Navy. 24 THE BIRTH OF SUPERDREADNOUGHT 25 When the Naval Appropriation Bill has run the gauntlet of Congress, and the pen of the President has made it law, the chiefs of the various bureaus of the Navy Department are ready with their plans and their specifications. On these the navy-yards and private ship-building yards make up their estimates of time and cost. The ship-builder has not been idle. The plans still require that he, through his corps of crack draftsmen, must submit estimates or bids that require the outlay of many thousands of dollars. All these THEN CO.MK.S TlIK TUAiNSVEKlSE FRAMING finished estimates are sent to the Navy Department in sealed envelopes, opened on a certain day, and the awards for construction of the new ships are placed. Not a moment's time passes before the lucky bidder puts his force to work at maximum capacity to make detail drawings for the work. Orders for bis steel and other material are rushed through with the same celerity. The keel is the first part of the superdreadnouglit to be laid down. Even while its drawing and its material are under way the shipwrights work at top speed preparing the blocking on which the keel-]3lates are to be laid. On the floor of the mold loft of one of the largest buildings in the shipyard is begun another highly impoi'tant 26 THE MARVEL BOOK OP AMERICAN SHIPS work. The plan of the shape of the new fighter, known as the "lines," is here enlarged to actual size. The shape of each transverse frame, which in your rowboat you call a rib, is shown on this floor, and then a "template," or wooden form, is made to fit the "frame." These are rushed over to the bending "slab," where the steel frames are heated red-hot in the fur- nace and bent to the shape of the ' ' template. ' ' Sim- ilar plans are fol- lowed in shaping the bulkheads and decks. As each part of this work is finished the ship- fitters begin their noisy chorus, punching holes in the structural steel, and it is then ready to be bolted up in its proper place on the ship's skeleton and rivet- ed on. The trans- verse frames are joined to the long stretch of keel, and the ship-builder bends his energies on the array of transverse and longitudinal bulkheads that divide the sea-fighter below the water line into hundreds of rooms so skillfully fitted that they are watertight compartments. Should a shell, a torpedo or mine pierce one of these compartments, the other bulkheads confine the damage to a small space and our sea-fighter can still deliver her mighty blows. This work below the water line shelters the very vitals of the great machine : the machinery and the magazines ; and above them all the craftsmen of the shipyard build the heavy steel deck so aptly called THE PROTECTIVE DECK IS CURVED AS GREATER PROTECTION AGAINST SHELL FIRE 28 THE .MARVEL BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS the protective deck. The sides of this guardian sliield of steel slope down so that an enemy's shell loses the deadly advantage of a direct hit, and deals but a glancing blow. Above this structure i.s built the main deck and the upper deck, with heavy plating that protects the shij) from falling shells and from aerial attacks. Along their length gape openings where the mighty turrets, the stacks, and the masts are to be located. The big ship is now well advanced and every department of the shipyard is racing to guaran- tee its completion within the contract time. The pattern makers are shap- ing their patterns for castings, which the foundries mold in iron, steel, and brass. The machine shop is turning out its products, and the copper and pipe shops are as busy as beavers in- stalling pipes for THE TURRETS REAR THEIR STEEL HEADS drainao"e and fire mains and pump- ing and steam pipes. When the ship at last is ready for her place in the fighting line her network of pipes can easily be traced, and their functions seen at a glance, for each carries its own distinctive band of color. Over in the blacksmith shop small forgings are being turned out, and the electricians are running their miles of wiring. Teakwood backing is being put on the armor, and the sheet-metal shops are busy with the ventilation x)iping and metal furniture, for the modern fighter has little use for wood with its risk of fire or splinters. The paint shop sends its swarm of men to put on the first coat of red lead ; and THE BIRTH OF SUPERDREADNOUGHT 29 all through the yard, with its mass of shops and thousand woikers, the great job moves on with beautiful teamwork, despite the apparent confusion that bewilders the lajTiian. Outside the limits of the shipyard a corps of specialists are doing their part. Some furnish the steel plates and others the hoisting- machinery for the giant anchor chains. Electrical manufacturers sup- ply motors and dynamos, and still others the electric fans which draw in great draughts of fresh air for ven- tilation, laundry machinery, electric bake-ovens, and all the wealth of elec- trical wonders that are housed in the finished ship. And follo"\ving up each detail of the work comes a corps of inspectors who rig- idly inspect and then test every foot and piece of it all. The ship can now be likened to a great hotel with stories ten feet high. It has three cellars of this depth below its ground floor. Above that comes the floor that is level with the bridge ; and so it goes, to a total height of eleven such floors; to a point just below the circular platforms of the fighting masts, where the "spot- ters" are stationed in action to observe the splash of her shells and correct the range. The electric plant is powerful enough to supply ten 40-watt lamps to each of the crew of 1,000, and the bakery, galley and kitchen sufficient to feed them. THE STEEN VIEW WHEN KEADV FOR LAUNCHING 30 THE MARVEL BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS The ship carries her own blacksmith shop, coppersmith shop and machine shop. One floor has its "sick bay," as the hospital is called, with twelve beds, an operating room and an isolation ward. All of these and many other facilities beyond the instrnments with which she fights are found in the modern superdreadnonght. Should a THE BOW CHAINS ARE RELEASED WHEN SHE TAKES THE WATER mighty tidal wave lift her unharmed on to a desert island she would be a city in herself. The months mount up to twenty from the laying of the keel, and the big fighter, minus her guns, turrets, and part of her armor, is ready to slide into the water that has been waiting patiently for her child. These would add too much weight foi' the launching. The carpenters build under her huge bulk the launching ways. Two ground ways, for all the world like the boardwalks at an ocean resort, are secured to the gTound. The sliding ways are made fast to the ship to take the pliinge with her. Between the two is laid a thick layer of grease. By THE BIRTH OF SUPERDREADNOUGHT 31 driving wedges into the sliding ways the weight of the monster is transferred from its long resting-place on the keel blocks and other supports to the ways alone. The keel blocks and supports are then removed and only two heavy oak ties hold her back from the dive. The veil of secrecy is lifted on the great day of the launching and a distinguished company is assembled on the flag-decked platform at her bow. On a given signal the oak ties are saAved in two, and as the THK IHAILIXC I HAIXS < I1I':(K IIKK HEADWAY giant moves slowly toward the water the sponsor breaks a bottle of champagne, swung in a nest of silken ribbons to keep the fragments from flying, on the steel bow and christens her. The sponsor is always a woman selected by the Governor, of the State for which the super- dreadnought is named, and her choice is a great honor. A band plays and a mighty shout from the guests and the happy workmen follows her as the sea-fighter gathers momentum and strikes the water with a mighty crash. The heavy chains loo]ied along her sides are released when she takes the water — "water-borne," the shipyard calls it — and, trailing behind, check her plunge. Fussy tugs nose her into the shipfitting basin, where giant cranes 32 THE MARVEL BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS swing into place her turrets, guns, and armor. The masts, deckhouses, and other fittings are erected ; and after the machinery and boilers are swallowed up in her holds, hatches are fitted over the openings. The smoke-stack rears its great column, and she is ready for cleaning and the final coat of war gray. Out she steams to a measured-mile course at sea, with the American WATER-BORNE flag at her taftVail and the builder's red flag at her maintrnck. He must prove to the Navy Department that his engines can drive her over that mile at the guaranteed speed, that her fuel consumption does not exceed a certain limit, and that she can pass other tests of speed and endurance. Success crowns the trials and the builder delivers her to the Com- mandant of her designated navy-yard. Here she is fitted out with ammunition, stores, and supplies. The day comes when the Com- mandant turns her over to her Captain, a finished superdreadnought. Twenty months have come and gone since the laying of her keel, and a thousand men have put their best into her. THE BIRTH OF SUPERDREADNOUGHT 33 It is a gala day for the Navy when her newest and most powerful fighter is ushered into the Fleet with picturesque and colorful initiation. Officers and crew, a thousand in all, are drawn up in ranks on her broad decks. The Commandant, with the broad gold stripes of a Rear- Admiral on his sleeves, and the stars on his collar, reads aloud the Secretary's order placing the Captain in command. The American INSTALLING HER 14-INCH GUNS flag creeps slowly up the hoist, with the crew at attention, the marines presenting arms, and the drummer and bugler playing the " ruffles" and * 'flourishes" to the national colors. The ship's band crashes into the national anthem, and at its last note the thousand men who are to sling their hanniiocks on the splendid fighting machine bring their right hands down smartly in the end of their salute. In a few well- chosen words the Captain greets his crew; bugles and bo.sun pipes shrill their ' ' Carry on ! " and the superdreadnought is ready for active service. SHE STEAM^ (HI I i(i iM FORE RIVER FOR HER BUILDER S TRIALS FULL SPEED OVER THE MILE COURSE 34 ^^m^' 3^ U-iJ^^HKHBi .('■i.'li'; 1 J^^^^H^H^^J J;, r Courtesu iif " t'kfl Hi LOOKING AFT FROM A DREADNOUGHT S BOW IV ALL AROUND A BATTLESHIP IF the safety of the United States should ever depend on its Navy to keep an invading fleet from its shores, the battleship will have to bear the heaviest burden, for she is the backbone of a navy. She is the only fighting ship that can keep command of the seas by taking it and keeping it in all weather and fighting the enemy's strong- est ships. She is the acknowledged champion of the seas, with the heaviest gTins and torpedoes, and the greatest protection of massive armor. Her place is in the main line of battle, for she can give and take the heaviest blows. The issue of a great sea fight, after the smaller vessels have been driven "behind her lines or sunk, will be the battle of these giants. The ships that first brought fame to the American flag were the wooden ships of the line. The largest had batteries of seventy-four guns of varying sizes on two or three decks. The thick oak sides stood terrible punishment in those days from the round shot poured into them at short range. 35 ALL AROUND A BATTLESHIP 37 Steam and iron ended the reigii of the wooden ship of the line. The first fight between iron ships came in the meeting of the Monitor and the Merrimac in the Civil War. The Monitor was the beginning of the battleship era, for she was the first ship in which the principle of a few of the heaviest guns Avas matched against many smaller ones, and an a 1 1 e m p t was made to give real and not par- tial armor protec- tion to gams and engines. Then came the battleship, a tri- umph of steel and steam. The Massa- chusetts, Oregon, and Indiana, all heroes of the San- tiago fight, were the first laid down for our Navy in 1890. They were great fighters, but they had but one- third the displace- ment of our newest dreadnoughts, and their guns were but one-half the caliber of the ones now building. Then came bigger ships, bigger guns, and heavier armor. Li 1906 the British launched H.M.S. Dreadnought, the first all-big-gun-sliip, and the ships that followed were all known as dreadnoughts rather than battleships. Our first dreadnought was the Delaware. It was long the pride of the Ameri- can Navy. To-day we are building superdreadnoughts which carry big guns Courtesy of "Scientific American" THE world's first DREADNOUGHT THE "aRKAN.SA« on HER BUILDERS TRIAL Copyright by N. L. Slcbbins THE UTAH AT FULL SPEED THE WYOMING STANDS OUT TO SEA 3S ALL AROUND A BATTLESPIIP 39 of only one caliber, three to a turret, mounted all on a center-line, the guns of one turret above the other, to give the heaviest broadside and the greatest field of fire. Her secondary battery guns are for torpedo defense or attacks by aircraft, and she has two military masts and but one stack. Her armor is the heaviest and she carries a crew of 1,000 men. Let us hoard the U. S. S. Pennsylvania, which, with her sister ship, the Arizona, shares the honor of being the most powerful super- dreadnought flying our flag. The Neiv Mexico has been launched, and others are on the stocks. All of these, when put into actual commission, will overshadow the Pennsylvania in tonnage and in fighting power. You are first struck by the wonderful sweep of the deck from bow to stern, for she is 600 feet long. While not so long as the greatest ocean liner, she is much wider in proportion, with a beam one-sixth her length. An officer or bluejacket will gladly show you over her; but if the officer of the deck calls a bluejacket, do not make the mistake at the end of your tour of otfering him money. That he will resent. All he asks is a hearty "Thank you!" First of all you learn that the ship dit^places 32,000 tons of water with her guns, armor, and other details, and perhaps you wonder how so heavy a mass of steel can float. It was Archimedes, a Greek mathematician, who discovered that when an object floats on water it displaces, or pushes aside, an equal weight of water. But place a piece of tin in the water and it sinks. Shape it into a tin can and it floats. In its flat shape it does not really displace water, so an object floats not from its weight but its form. Fill the can with water and drop in a stone. The water that flows over the sides will be exactly the weight of the stone. The big turrets with their triple guns catch your eye. Each of the big guns, you hear, weighs 64 tons and is 52 feet long. Each fires a 1,400-pound shell when loaded with smokeless powder that weighs 380 pounds. It costs Uncle Sam $500 to fire this gun in battle. When you learn that all twelve 14-inch guns can be fired in one broadside and throw seven and a half tons of steel at a target you are staggered. The bluejacket smiles and tells you that for each pound of that broad- side the actual cost is $815, for it cost $13,695,000 to build and equip the Pennsylvania before that broadside could be fired. You look at the great steel tubes, rigid as the Rock of Gibraltar, and you smile when he tells you that the shock of firing actually sets them vibrating. The vibration is small and it is called the "whip" of ALL AROUND A BATTLESHIP 41 the gun, just the same on a smaller scale as the "whip" of a tishi)ole when you shake it. ( )ne of the nnizzles is open and you wonder what the shining wooden plugs with the brass five-pointed star in the others are for. They are tompions to keep the spray from dashing in and rusting the steel bore. Even the little three-pounders that fire the Pennsylvania's salutes have them. You are even more interested when you hear that the terrific blast of the rushing shells would throw them off the mark if all three were THE ■ NEW YORK IX A SEAWAY fired at the same instant. So only the two outer ones are fired together, and the center one the fraction of a second later. Your bluejacket also tells you, when he notes your sparkling eyes, that swinging all three guns to one side would list the big ship to that side. He points out the great overhang in the back of the turret, which swings to the opposite side and keeps her on an 'even keel. How are the turrets moved! you ask. By motors that revolve them on a path with steel rollers between the path and the turret like the tiny steel balls in the ball bearings of a bicj'cle. An American, T. R. Timby, invented the revolving turret, and Ericsson, their first liuilder, paid him a royalty of $5,000 on each turret that he built. Before you leave the after turrets to go forward with your guide AT.L AEOUND A BATTLESHIP 43 l)E ISLAND AT ANCHOR you must 1 c a r n more about the fascinating subject of the Pennsyl- vania's armor, for it is one-fourth her total weight! On the triple turrets the thickest is 18 inches, and on the barbette — the stem on which a turret revolves — it is 13 inches thick. The heaviest, of course, is on her water- line, to protect her from torpedoes and shells that would otherwise burst in the vitals of her machinery or magazines. This armor belt runs nearly three-fourths of her length, in a strip ISi/o inches thick, and from top to bottom 17 feet wide with one-half below her waterline. Then there must be armor for the conning tower of 16 inches, to say noth- ing of the armor for the base of her stacks. You look at the spotless wood- en deck at your feet and innocently ask why it is not armored too. Three and a half inches below you runs a steel deck, while the next deck below is the ar- mored protection deck to cheat fall- THE TURBET CREWS ARE ALWAYS AT PRACTICE I'^S ShellS ailCi tUC ALL AROUND A BATTLESHIP 45 bombs of Zeppelins or aeroplanes from piercing it, but a deck of metal would be unbear- able to bare feet in the tropics. The wood is teak, an expensive wood, but much better than the yellow pine on the older ships, and its seams do not spread. Forward we go, vnth some of your curiosity sat- isfied but still keen for more facts about this modern fighting machine. Passing the after military mast wo come to a house- like building called the superstructure. In its steel walls are the galleys or kitchens, the bak- ery, blacksmith shop, and many other interesting and necessary spots that make the superdread- nought a floating city, a workshop, and an arsenal for one thousand American blue- jackets. Courtesy of ' Our A'ni'i/" THE BULL DOG ' OREGON" TAKES A DRINK THE "TEXAS" ON MANEUVERS Note the Anti-.\ircraft Gun on Searchlight Platform 46 THE MARVEL BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS The Pennsylvania's galley is oil-burning, not so interesting as the electrical ones of the Nevada and Oklahoma, but our ship burns oil and it is more economical to use it also in the galley. Oil is the best fuel and is rapidly driving coal out of the Fleet. The crew hailed its coming with delight, for, although the band plays through the coaling of a ship, there is no task so fatiguing or disagreeable. Oil is almost smoke- less, too, and the oil-burner increases or reduces speed more quickly; and the space formerly taken up by coal-bunkers now adds greatly to the berthing space and comfort of the men. Instead of the endless procession of heavy coal bags and the clouds of coal-dust the Penn^ sylvania takes her oil on board from a hose attached to an oil barge, with no more fuss than the turning on of a kitchen spigot. In her tanks she carries 2,300 tons of the heavy oil. Just as we pass the supej'sti'ucture we see the steel conning tower with its roof peei)ing above the after forward turret. Here is the Captain's station in battle and it has been called the brains of the ship. It has communications leading to all parts of the ship through armored tubes protecting them until they come within the shelter of the side armor. As the conning tower is a small target, and so heavily pro- tected, it will stand the heaviest punishment and may be the last spot from which the Captain can fight and navigate his ship. Forward, on either side of the deck, run great anchor chains along steel plates, with their own engines for lowering and hoisting the anchors. We are now up in the "eyes" of the ship, where the chains lead through the yawning hawse pipes, and you recall that when you saw the bow before coming on board, in place of the knife-like stem you had expected to see, the Pennsylvama's bow was a wide, flaring clipper bow, somewhat like that of old sailing ships. Like everything aboard ship there is a good reason for the clipper bow, for the wide flares keep seas from tumbling on board as in the old battleshijjs, and the turrets are not bothered with the pounding of the seas nor their telescopes by flying spray. It has made the forecastle, a favorite spot of the crew, much more livable at sea. We turn back to the bridge, a mine of interesting details, crammed with devices that are in constant use in fighting and sailing. Your bluejacket friend calls them "gadgets." Amidships of its length is the signal locker, and when you lift the lid the racks are gay with bunting. At either wing are the semajihores and hand searchlights. Compasses, steering wheels, dials, speaking-tubes and telephones that connect with all parts of the ship greet your eye. Just off the steel ladder is a flat lever. Turn this lever and the great ship would resound with it? w m p- — -,^=-:tMB|. -■■■ .ri a - m • -My jPHi u m r^asi Copyright, E. Muller, Jr., N. Y. LOOKING DOWN OK A SUPEKDREADNOUGHT ALL AROUND A BATTLESHIP 49 alarms for collision or fire drill, clear ship for action, general quarters, abandon ship, or night torpedo defense drill, as the case may be, and the battle-gongs, sirens, howlers, and other ear-splitting devices would send every man to his station. Quartermasters and sigiialmen are on the In-idge night and day. At sea the officers charged with her handling drive her through fog and storm, blue waters and crowded harbors. We look aft from the bridge along the superstructure deck and, high above the pulling boats, the motor boats and steam launches, towers the forward military mast. Here are lockers filled with fresh vegetables or boat gear and the four wicked semi-automatic aircraft g-uns that the Navy calls "sky g-uns." They fire 3-inch shells at an angle up to 80 degrees at any Zeppelin or other aircraft that may fly above to drop bombs on the crowded decks. The mast looks for all the world like a giant waste-paper basket turned upside-down, and its interwoven, braced lattice-work is really stout steel tubing. One lucky shot would carry away the old-style mast, but the military or fire control mast will stand much battering and still survive a battle. At the top of the lattice-work is a circular platform, where the spotters and range finders are stationed in battle; and high above water are the slender wireless aerials. Signal yards jut out from the mast, with their halliards fastened at the bridge. On the mast are projections supporting powerful searchlights and the fire control for defense against torpedo attack. Leave the bridge and visit the deck below the superstructure and you are on the g-un deck. On this and the berth deck below the crew live. They are divided by steel bulkheads into compartments called casemates, on most dreadnoughts, and the men who serve the gim in that casemate sling their hammocks, sea-bags, and other gear there. Mess-call sounds as we enter one of them and down from racks over- head come mess-tables and benches. If you could tarry until "ham- mocks" you would see these, also, slung overhead from two steel hooks. Farther aft, below the quarteitleck, are the officers' quarters, a separate suite for the Admiral and the Captain, and for each officer a room opening out on the same deck or the one below and near the wardroom, where the officers gather for their meals and pass their few spare hours. Nearby is a similar arrangement for the junior officers, once called the "steerage," and there are other comfortable quarters for the warrant and petty officers, and reception rooms, 50 THE MARVEL BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS showers and baths for the crew. On these decks there are laundries, a barber shop, the crew's reading and reception rooms, the spotless sick bay, or hospital, and the operating room. Overhead a white pipe with a band of green and black catches your eye, and as you pass along the decks you see the same band at intervals. It is a salt-water pipe and the bands make it easy to trace it for leaks or repairs. The fresh-water pipe is lead-colored, and the ones painted with yellow and black bands carry fresh air to the decks below the main one. The paint on these pipes is smooth and glistening but on the steel Copyright, E. MuUer. Jr.. \. Y. THE "PENNSYLVANIA" STEAMS UNDER BROOKLYN BRIDGE 51 52 THE MAEVEL BOOK OF MIERICAX SHIPS Avails you will often see a rough, jagged sort of jiaint. It is a sticky paint in which broken cork has been mixed. The cork paint keeps the steel beneath it from "sweating" and forming beads of moisture; it also keeps the ammunition passages and the magazines at an even temperature by absorbing their moistui'e. In other parts of the ship great slabs of cork are placed behind steel plates for the same pur- pose. Of course we want to see the great engines that drive this mighty ship through the water at twenty-odd knots, so we turn down a narrow steel passagoM'ay and down a steel ladder to another steel deck. What a surprise is in store! You had forgotten that the Pennsylvania is an oil-burner. There is no roaring furnace with half-naked stokers throw- ing in coal, and the racket of slice-bars and clanging shovels. There is no network of flying machinery, throbbing pistons and whirling con- trolleis. There are boilers, gauges, valves, and steampipes, but only the steady roar of the burners keeping up their flame. The turbines work so silently that it is hard to realize that they can drive this great bulk of 32,000 tons. We are now well below the waterline, but still below us are the double bottoms and the bilges before the keel is reached. Here, between the inner and outer hulls that we call the double bottoms, are stored the oil fuel, spare stores for men, guns and machinery. The handling rooms for the turrets also are below the waterline, as are the magazines and the fire-control room and the wireless room. In the center of the handling rooms run the elevators that hurry shell and powder to the hungry breeches above. Below it are the four 21-inch torpedo tubes. On all the decks you pass men who turn from their tasks to tling a greeting to your bluejacket escort, and a smile for yourself. Their number is based on the men required to tight, navigate, keep up full speed through a battle no matter how long it lasts, attend the wounded, clear away wreckage, make repairs, tight fires, and keep the communica- tions working. The Pennsylvania has not only its Admiral with his staff, but its captain, executive, gunnery, navigating, engineer, first lieutenant, watch, medical, pay and marine officer, and most of them have one or more assistants, to a total of more than forty officers. You come back on deck sobered by the picture of power you have seen and a better American for the trij). Nothing gives a greater impression of power and efficiency than a superdreadnought, with its massive armor and its wicked guns. It seems as though such a ship could never be surpassed; but already we are building and planning ALL AROUND A BATTLESHIP 53 bigger and better ones, for the life of a battleship is only twenty years. The life of her great guns is less than 300 rounds, but the guns can be relined. As the years pass the Pennsylvania must drop back into the second or third line of battle to give way to her younger and stronger sisters. THE "Charleston" is o\k di ovu largest protected cruisers THE QUEEN OF THE SEA FASHIONS in ships change much like the styles of dress on shore, and the cruiser is no exception to this rule. From a very minor part in the Fleet the cruiser in its latest form — the battle cruiser ■ — is now the Queen of the Sea, as the superdreadnought is the King of the Sea. Largest and fastest of all warships, with guns almost as powerful as those of the King, she is well entitled to her crown, for only in armor does the King really outstrip her. In fact the battle cruiser is a high-speed battleship, and her development from the minor role to her present proud position is an interesting one. Cruisers began as little fellows, not much larger than a modern sea-going tug, and their only superiority over otlier ships then was their speed. The first ones were 1,500 tons — hardly one-twentieth the tonnage of the battle cruisers we are now building — and their first protection was of iron. They were useful little craft; but the strides made in rapid-fire guns and explosive shells soon made them useless. Steel armor of light weight was added to them, and they became known as protected cruisers. Between 1883 and 1886 the AVhite Squadron was the pride of the American Navy, and the Chicago, the Dolphin and the Boston are still on the Navy list. The guns scored again, and it was France who led the way for 54 THE QUEEN OF THE SEA 55 other nations by buildhig the first armored cruiser, the Dupiiy-de- Lome, in 1888. She was of 6,500 tons, 20 knots speed, and witli her heavier armor of 4-inch steel and two 7.6-inch guns in turrets tlie Dupuy-de-Lome was a remarlvable ship for that time. All other naval powers followed France's lead, and among the ships built on her lines by the United States was the famous Olyinpia, Admiral Dewey's flagship at Manila Bay. The protected cruiser was now useless and we were approaching the day of the battleship. The armored cruiser was designed for sea THE "CHICAGO" WAS ONE OF OUR FIRST CRUISERS scouting and coast patrol, and in that class the United States rapidly took the lead with her four cruisers of the Montana type. Other improvements in ordnance and gunnery again outstripped the cruiser. While the Brooklyn and the New York held their own with the battle- ships in the great Santiago sea fight,, and Admiral Dewey's cruisers humbled the Spanish fleet at Manila Bay, their place in the .line of battle is over. We still have several ranging from 3,000 to 8,000 tons, the largest carrying 10-inch guns in two turrets, and they are useful for patrol and blockade work in war. In peace we employ them in Central American waters and on the China Station, to show the flag and to rush to the protection of Americans in those troubled sections, for the best of them are still speedier than our battleships. Courtesy of ''Scientific American" THE GERMAN BATTLE CRUISER " VON DER TANN' Curl.^!/ „f ■■.Srl,„lific Ameriam" THE FAMOUS GERMAN BATTLE CRUISER "gOEBEN" ELUDED THE BRITISH FLEET IN THE MEDITERRANEAN 56 THE QUEEN OF THE SEA 57 It was Great Britain tliat gave to the sea its first battle cruiser. Where the battleship sacrifices speed to carry the greatest number of powerful g-uns and at the same time the heaviest armor so that she can take as well as give punishment in a stand-up fight, the battle cruiser has as her greatest feature speed. The guns she does carry are as powerful as those of the superdreadnought, but only by re- ducing their number and the thickness of her armor is this feature secured. With her wonderful speed she can run down and sink any craft on the sea except the battleship ; and when she meets this grim fighter the battle cruiser can fight or run as she chooses. Scouts, destroyers, and submai'ines are her natural enemies, but they are also her easy prey. With her speed she can steam far ahead of the main line and find out how strong the enemy is and where it is. After smashing his screen of scouts she carries back the news to the main line and joins it for the final fray. In the big battle the battle cruisers form a fast wing- that keeps the enemy ships from "capping" or crossing the line at right angles, they protect its flanks, take their chances of battle, and, if the end is victory, pursue and harry crippled ships. Their powerful torpedo battery helps make up for the lack of armor. Besides scouting and fighting, her great fuel capacity and speed make the battle cruiser an even more useful ship than the super- dreadnought, for she can raid an enemy's coast and destroy her com- merce. With the speed and dash of a destroyer and her powerful battery, the battle cruiser is the favorite topic where naval officers meet. Her cost is even greater than that of the superdreadnought and she is more expensive to keep in commission. She has in her speed greater safety from attack by destroyers or submarines tlian her big brother and she is little inferior to him as a fighter. Because of all these things there are many naval experts who look upon her as even more valuable as our main dependence at sea. Great Britain, as we have said, was the first naval power to build the battle cruiser. Close on her heels came Germany, Russia, and Japan ; but all others, including the United States, have no battle cruiser in their line of battle. It v/as in 1907 that the Indomitable, the first one, was begom. One year later she crossed the Atlantic at a speed of a little more than 25 miles an hour. The Inflexible and the Invincible followed ; and when the European War came. Great Britain had a squadron that proved of immense worth to her. The famous Cat Squadron, so-called because of the Lion and the Tiger, is to-day the last word in the battle cruiser, but in a few years the new American THE ARMORED CRUISER " MEMPHIS" WAS WRECKED IN SANTO DOMINGO HARBOR THE CRUISER MONTANA IS A lOHl'KDn IKAlM.NCi sllll' 58 Courtesu of " Scientific An THE BRITISH BATTLE CRUISER "lION" LOST IN THE GREAT JUTLAND BATTLE Courtesy of "Scientific Americari" A GERMAN SHELL SUNK THE "INFLEXIBLE" OFF JUTLAND Courtesy of •'Scientific American" LACK OF ARMOR LOST THE "iNVINCIBLe" TO GREAT BRITAIN AT JUTLAND 59 (]{) THE MARVEL BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS battle cruisers now boino- built will far outstrip the Cats in every feature. Where the crack British bat- tle cruisers have a length of 720 feet, our Queens of the Sea will be 850 feet, or 250 feet more than the tow- er top of the fa- mous Woolworth Building in New York. The British highest speed in this class is 32.4 knots for the Prin- cess Royal; ours will slice through the water at 35 knots, equal to more than 40 miles an hour, a speed that few trains keep up for any distance on land. With their beam of 97 feet they will be 7 feet broader, and their displacement of 35,000 tons will be greater than any superdreadnought afloat and 5,000 tons more than the British giants. They not only will be able to race away from the British scouts with news for the Admiral, but in a fight with ships of their class their battery of ten 15- inch guns will be far more powerful, and hit at longer ranges, than the eight 13.5-inch guns which are now the biggest carried by anj^ for- eign battle cruiser. Each of them will cost Uncle Sam $20,000,000. THE U. S. S. SCOUT CRUISER " CHESTER' SAN DIEGO BOWS ON J THE gUEEN OF THE SEA 61 Another improvement in our Queens will be equipment to carry, launch, and operate hydroplanes, the largest made, to fly far ahead of them and aid in scouting. With their seven funnels, or smoke-stacks, these beautiful lighters will look like giant destroyers and, like our latest superdreadnoughts, they will burn oil for fuel. This will be a great help in their scouting; for, instead of heavy plumes of smoke to warn the enemy of their approach, the oil fuel is almost smokeless. We have seen how the cruiser gave way to the protected, then to the armored, and still again to the battle cruiser. But there is still an- other cruiser be- sides the battle cruiser that mod- ern navies have added to their lists — the daring little scout cruiser. Their part is to travel at high speed to locate the enemy fleet in time of war, but, unlike the battle cruisers, they are not strong enough to fight any other craft but destroyers and submarines. Their armor is very light and none of their guns could do great damage except to the thin-skinned destroyers and undersea craft. We now have three scouts, the Salem, Birmingham, and Chester, but the ones being built will far eclipse them in every way. Although they are as long as the average battleship, with their 550 feet, their tonnage is only 7,100 - — one-fifth that of the battle cruiser. With a beam of 55 feet, the scouts will be as lean as racehorses, and they can cover their forty miles an hour. Their battery will have eight 6-inch guns, tw'o sky- guns, and four torpedo-tubes, and the crew will muster 330 men on each scout. Like the battle cruisers, they will be eqiaipped for hydro- planes too. If the scouts should ever have to prove their worth in time of war PUEBLO WAS FORMERLY THE COLORADO THE QUEEN OF THE SEA 63 no other ships of the Fleet will lead more exciting lives; for, like the scout soldier on shore, the sea scout is always ready to receive its death blow to secure information that will help the main body in the deciding fight. Oi CopyriglU, E. Mutter, Jr., N Y A iJi:blli(J \ KK FLlJliLLA VI THE DESTROYER HOW many readers know the derivation of the name of this, the speediest of warships? The duties of the destroyer are better known to-day than several years ago, for the great war in Europe has riveted the attention of some of us upon the value of a navy in general, and the exhaustive published accounts of the sea actions give more or less complete information of the work of the destroyer and its great value to a fleet. But the knowledge that the destroyer is a long black vessel with many smoke-stacks and great speed will no longer satisfy us; we now want to know more about this vessel that is so frequently mentioned in the daily accounts from the war zone. We w^ant to know wherein it will be useful in war, the reason for its express-train speed, and with what weapons it is armed. The term "destroyer" is but an abbreviation from the original name given to this type of warship — torpedo-boat-destroyer — meaning a destroyer of torpedo boats. Many years back, when the automobile torpedo had risen above an experimental weapon, a very fast vessel was required to use these 65 THE ''gushing" in A SMOOTH SEA Photo bii Slebhinf THE "WILKEs" ON HER TRIAL lU N 66 THE MORRIS ON A PRACTICE RUN Courtesy of " Fleet R, TACTICAL EXERCISES 67 68 thp: marvel book of American ships THE DUNCAN MAKIM implements of de- struction; this vessel was called a torpedo boat. In the early days the torpedo was accu- r;ite only at short rang'o. The vessel armed with torpe- does had to be both small and speedy. Due to the short range, it was neces- sary at night to arrive within 500 yards of a battleship or cruiser before it could launch a torpedo with any chance of a hit. The smaller the vessel, the ek^er it could reach its target without being discovered. After discovefy, high sjjeed was required to rush upon its big prey. During this rush the warship attacked could pour upon the torpedo boat a rain of explosive shells, the searchlight meanwhile illuminating distinctly the dark hull to enable the gunners to aim accurately. Surprise was the chief ally of the torpedo boat; on a dark misty night, a low lying black hull, showing no light, could not be seen until it was practically along- side, and then the attacked vessel was doomed, for there would be no time to turn on a searchlight or to man the guns and shoot before the alert torpedo boat had fired its torpe- does. Torpedo boats THE "NICHOLSON BOWS ON THE "cASSIN" at REDUCED SPEED > Cuurlesy uj ■■ Scicnlific Art A TORPEDO BOAT B'LOTILLA 69 70 THE MARVEL BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS armed witli torpedoes and small guns were built by all the maritime nations; England, P^'rance, and Japan especially placed great confi- dence in them and constructed a large number for the purpose of attacking the battleships and cruisers of an enemy. The largest of the torpedo boats were of about 100 to 150 tons displacement; they carried two or three torpedo-tubes for firing tor- pedoes and two or more torpedoes for each tube. As a defense against an attack by the torpedo boats and picket boats of an enemy, they carried in addition several small guns, usually 3- or 6-pounders, firing a shell of that weight. Speeds varied; the highest was not over 26 knots. These vessels were very inferior sea-boats : in a rough sea they were very lively and their decks were swept by the waves. Their use was limited to localities near harbors, and it was thought that, in having a large number of torpedo boats, they could be used to defend our coast by issuing forth and attacking at night a blockading- force of enemy warships or a large body of transports which might be attempting to land troops upon our shores. There soon became a feverish haste by all nations to build these terrifying, little vessels; and after each great power had acquired a fleet of them, then naval experts saw the necessity for a new type of warship — a vessel fast enough to overhaul and destroy these delicate structures of steel, and thus rid the big ships of their nightly terrors of being sunk by a torpedo. At first it was the intention of arming this new tyi^e of ship, the "torpedo-boat-destroyer," with guns only, in order to sink the tor- pedo boat by gun fire; then it became evident that by giving them torpedoes in addition to their guns they could be used also to attack the enemy's battleships at night. Although much larger than the torpedo boat, it was found by experiment that on a dark night the destroyer could win its way to dangerous torpedo range before the ' battleship could discover it; and being of greater tonnage, the new torpedo vessel was in consequence more seaworthy and could be used in all weathers on the open sea, whereas the smaller type was restricted to operations near shore. Although the destroyer came into existence mainlj^ for the purpose of destroying torpedo boats, it was evident, even at that time, that such a type of vessel must be given greater size, in order that it could venture farther away from shore and withstand the destructive effect of a gale at sea. The first of our destroyers were built just after our war with Spain. They displaced about 450 tons and had a speed of about 28 t. Copyriahl, B. Midler. Jr.. iV. 1'. DESTROYERS ATTACKING THROUGH SMOKE SCREEN Courtesy of *' Our Nary" A FLOTILLA BACK TO THE BASE FOR OVERHAUL AND UPKEEP 71 72 THE MARVEL BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS knots an hour. Once having a vessel comparatively a fine sea-boat, all recognized that the tiny little torpedo boats were obsolete. No more were ever built. This development of warships is paralleled in all types. When the increase in size produces a nioie trustworthy vessel the smaller ones soon become an obsolete type. The range of the torpedo and the searchlight have been important factors in both torp'edo boat and destroyer development. When the torpedo first came to notice as a weapon useful in war, the effective range was only 500 yards; and this small range did not increase rapidly as the years went on. There was quite an interval of time before the thousand-yard torpedo became an established fact. THE "PRE.STOn" at FULL SPEED Then the useful limit of the searchlight, the warship's mainstay in its protection against the torpedo, was scarcely more than this distance. The searchlight was quickly improved; and no sooner had it reached out to 2,000 yards in efficiently illuminating an attacking torpedo boat or destroyer than the torpedo increased its radius of action to 2,500 yards. For a time it looked as if the searchlight might hold its own ; then suddenly through the invention of the superheater, by which the air in the torpedo is heated in its passage to the engine, the range of the twenty-five-hundred-yard torpedo became 5,000 yards, and the searchlight gasped and sputtered, but could not penetrate the night farther than 4,000 yards. Torpedoes are now' of ranges up to 10,000 yards. However, a destroyer cannot see a battleship on a dark night much farther than 4,500 yards, so for night work a long range torpedo is unnecessary. The long range weapons are most useful in daytime. A new searchlight has recently been invented and built which will THE DESTROYKR 73 be capable of illu- minating an at- tacking destroyer at from five to six thousands y a r d s away. On account of the necessity for very high speed, the destroyer structure is thin ; frames and plat- ings are made of the automobile torpedo, the weapon used by destroy- the highest grade . ers and submarines steel in order to give as great strength as possi- ble with a mini- mum weight. The underwater for m is very carefully d e s i g n e d. The length of the ves- sel is great and its beam narrow. The motive power in- cludes water-tube boilers, oil-burning and turbine en- gines. The engines revolve at very high speed and the driving power usu- ally is distributed between t h r e e shafts and propel- lers. The ai'inament of a destroyer of Muita-. Jr.. x. y. the present day A TORPEDO ABOUT TO TAKE THE WATER COUSistS of f O U r 74 THE DESTROYER 75 double torpedo-tubes. In each tube there is a torpedo, and spare ones are carried for each tube. The number may be even more greatly increased, for a destroyer without torpedoes is only half a destroyer. An important use of the destroyer developed during the present war is to hunt down and destroy submarines. It does this by giin fire and by ramming. The destroyers recently built carry five guns of 4-incli caliber, firing a shell weighing about twenty-five pounds. The battleship fieet as it moves through waters likely to be infested with enemy submarines should be surrounded by its destroyers. This important use for this type of vessel greatly increases the demand for them in a fleet. As mine sweepers, also, destroyers are useful, and in clearing a channel for the passage of a fleet. The size of our new destroyers is about 1,100 tons. For several hours they can maintain a speed of over 30 knots an hour. The night attack of a destroyer is the most picturesque duty and requires the greatest amount of dash and valor in the personnel. Destroyers are used tactically in groups to attack the enemy's battleships at night. In war time they will seek the enemy at a reduced Sliced and after they have located their quarry will attack at their highest speed. Tearing through the water at the rate of fifty feet a second, they will fling themselves upon the surprised battleship. They will approach bows on, displaying to the enemy's g-unners a black wedge twenty-five feet wide at its top, and traveling so rapidly toward the gun that accurate hitting would be nearly impossible even if the searchlight could effectively give sufficient illumination. At the dis- tance of two miles they will fire four torpedoes each at a battleship of the enemy. Each torpedo carries a war head charge of guncotton of 250 pounds, and its speed will be 30 knots. It will run 15 feet below the surface and if it hits the underwater plating will cause damage sufficient either to sink or totally to disable the battleship. The accuracy of the modern torpedo is almost beyond compre- hension. Torpedo after torpedo has been fired at a target, a small flag, while the destroyer is steaming at thirty knots, and a miss of more than a few yards seldom occurs. The torpedo is a very expensive weapon, each costing from $5,000 to $8,000. It may be seen that a navy could hardly afford to expend in such wholesale manner a vast number of torpedoes for the purpose of drilling the men who fire them in battle. That the men must be trained and the torpedo run is quite necessary, and to do this without loss is an everyday occurrence on board a destroyer. Instead of the war head containing high explosives, a practice head similar in weight 76 THE MAEVEL BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS and size is fitted. Secured within a cavity in this head is a calcium phosphide torch. Now we can fire the torpedo exactly as would be done in war, and the torpedo after expending all its air will rise to the surface of the water and there float, giving off smoke in the daytime and a bright calcium flame at night, to show the destroyer where it is located. The process of getting a torpedo ready for firing is to torpedo men an everyday occurrence. They think nothing of it. The torjjedo air flask is charged with air at 2,250 pounds pressure. This air leads through a stop valve to the engine of the t o r p e d o. This engine is ca- pal)le of making a great number of I'evolutions per m i n u t e, driving- two propeller shafts and giving to the torpedo a high speed. After all the adjustments have been made — there are m a n y, a n d each is vital to the success of the run • — the torpedo is loaded into the tube and the tube door closed upon it. Then a pow^der charge is inserted in a receptacle and the firing mech- anism cocked ready for ejecting the torpedo from the tube into the water. The tube now is trained in the true direction to fire. The torpedo is ready for its run ; the pointer in his seat on top of the tube is eager to train on the target when it becomes visible. The destroyer at full speed steams to the attack. At several thousand yards from the target the destroyer turns sharply, bringing its broad- side toward the target. The gun pointer quickly aims, and when his sight is on, pushes his key. The powder impulse charge explodes, a pressure of about fifty pounds per square inch is put upon the rear end of the torpedo, which forces it through the open end of the tube at a rate of about thirty-five feet per second. As it leaves the tube the starting valve is opened and Courtesy of " Our Nnry" TORPEDOES RECOVERED AFTER PRACTICE RUN THE DESTROYER 77 the engine begins to turn over. When the torpedo takes to the water in a long flat dive the throttle automatically opens wide and at a speed of from 27 to 35 knots the torpedo starts truly in the direction fired. To keep the direction true a gyroscopic steering gear is installed wliicli prevents a deviation from the straight path. When the torpedo has ended its run a thin curl of wliite smoke can be seen in the watei-. The destroyer goes near and lowers a boat, which pulls for the torpedo so easily discerned by the smoke of the phosphide of calcium which produces the paradoxical phenomenon of burning on water. The boat secures its lines to the torpedo and pulls back to the ship, hoisting it aboard to get it ready for another shot. The destroyer not only must train its crew to fire torjjedoes; there are other important duties which must be accomplished with the utmost accuracy. The destroyer is an engine — or, rather, a machine — from stem to stern and requires the most expert skill, because each part of the vessel and each piece of machinery has been reduced to a minimum weight in order that high speed may be reached. The fire room and the engi- neer's force must be expert in making steam quickly and in running the turbines with safety at the highest speeds with but an instant's notice. Then the crew must be trained to shoot the guns with accuracy. This is quite a difficult task, owing to the very lively gun platform furnished by the vessel. It rolls deeply and quickly and expertness in gunnery is therefore a real necessity. The attack of the destroyer upon the enemy battleship fleet in the daytime is an important tactical achievement. To make its attack the destroyer flotillas use their high speed to gain an advantageous posi- tion on the bows of their enemy's fleet and hover there until their own fleet is engaged in a gun duel with the enemy. The destroyer selects the bow of the enemy fleet for the very obvious reason that the torpedo will approach its target in less time if the target comes to meet it and will reach farther. If a torpedo with a range of 5,000 yards is fired from ahead of a battleship steaming at 20 knots, the destroyer that fires it can be at the instant of fii'ing about 8,000 yards away and the apparent speed of the torpedo will be 50 knots an hour — the sum of torpedo and target's speed. On the other hand, if the torpedo is fired from astern, the destroyer must come in to a distance of about 1,700 yards from the target. The destroyer has done very little in the day actions so far dui-ing the European War. However, the accounts received on this side are not accurate enough to decide as to the value of this type for day 78 THE MARVEL BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS attack. If, during an engagement between the two battlesliip fleets, a well-timed destroyer attack is made and in consequence the enemy fleet is thrown into disorder, great results thus may be attained even with- out a single torpedo having struck a battleship. The day duty of the destroyer is to guard the battleship fleet from submarines and to take part in the day action. Tlie night duty is twofold: first, to guard the big vessel at night Courtesy of "Rcienit fir \ against hostile raids of these night riders; second, to go out on similar raids against the enemy's battleships. If a battle fleet is plentifully supplied with these small vessels one-half can be kept on guard while the others, by attacking the enemy, make it imperative for him to hold his own destroyers with him. Who has not gazed with pride on the huge gray hull of a battle- ship? We have wondered at its mighty size. The destructive power of its guns, we are told, is more serious than an earthquake and can leave ruin in its path wor.se than the swiftest cyclone, and these at dis- tances where the dreadnought appears only- a speck on the horizon. That anything could daunt this impregiiable floating fortress, could cause it to stop even for breath in its juggernaut way, seems absurd; THE DESTROYER 79 yet the destroyer spells to the mountain of strength a terror which is too important to overlook, too strong to refuse to consider. The destroyer is a nerve tonic to the personnel of the big ships and is one of the most important of the small types of warships. An unknown danger is always a difficult one to become accustomed to, and the attack fi'om a destroyer flotilla upon a fleet inadequately guarded is a terror which every sailor dreads. The destroyer terror, like the noxious vapor from a looisonous swamp, is ever in the night air. As the sun drops into the sea, and while the moon is yet beneath the horizon, the battleships lose their air of uncon(|uerable majesty and wish to shrink unseen into the gloom; to be lost from all eyes until the night has vanished and the sun again rears its head, or until the moon comes to dispel the shadows in which the destroyer is hiding, ever ready to issue forth, unseen, unheralded, and unwelcome, and rush down upon its blind prey. In time of peace the destroyer has a hard time to maintain its mil- itary self-respect. Being of high speed, it is a very convenient vessel to do all manner of odd missions for the battleships — from carrying marketing to playing "messenger boy." That these duties are not legitimate every one knows, but in time of jieace the battleships do not need guarding and the destroyer is "always in the way." Some work must be made for her. Howevei', Avhen war comes and the first night shuts down, it will be "Please walk in front. Sir" to the inadequate number of destroyers so far commissioned to protect our battleship fleet. Commander Yates Stirling. Jr. THE GUNBOAT YORKTOWN VII THE POLICEMAN OF THE SEVEN SEAS THE beat patrolled by the Policeman of the Seven Seas is world- wide. Xo matter how obscure the corner in which American citizens or their property is threatened by a mob, an American gunboat is sure to poke its nose into the nearest port, swing her guns to cover the foreign quarters, send her landing party ashore with rifles and machine-guns, ready to stay there until jjeace reigns again. Their bulging gun sponsons and stacks that tower above, out of all propor- tion to their size, are as familiar a sight to the out-of-the-way ports as the policeman who patrols the block in which you live. Many of these spots are so far inhnul, or their waters so shallow, that the big ships must lie miles out and send in boat crews ; so this part of the Fleet's duty, the protection of our interests in any part of the world, has for years been assigned to our gunboats. The State Department has a real affection for the homely little chaps, for our diplomats and consuls have found them a faithful and trusty ally. There is no ship's ci-ew that leads so adventurous a life as that followed by those of the gunboat. Their ship is busy surveying off the Cuban coast when the wireless awakens to life as a radio comes in. A disturbance has broken out in a Central American port and the Amer- THE "DLIiLuLE Willi 1 1 I , li I'OWERING STACKS Courtesy of "Our Navy" THE ANNAPOLIS RIDING OUT A GALE THE "ANNArOLIs" IN SAMOAN WATERS 82 THE POLICEMAN OF THE SEV^EN SEAS ican Consul lias appealed to Washington for a warship. The cornet goes whipping up aloft and a one-pounder barks out the call for all boats to make their way back to the gunboat. The boat falls sing as the boats are hooked on and hoisted in, and away steams the gunboat on her policeman duty, leaving the signal survey flags flying in the breeze. She makes the unruly i^ort just in time to land a boat's crew of bluejackets and marines, ready for any emergency. The boat returns, and with it the gold from an American bank that has been threatened by a raid from revolutionists. Up anchor and down the coast to a secluded bay, where an ex-President boards her to seek an asylum from the firing squad or jail that awaits him should the revolutionists win the little war. Sometimes the radio calls her to back up a customs officer in Haiti or Santo Domingo in his work of putting down smuggling. Or it may be to carry supplies to a battalion of marines who are holding a port to which no regular liners ply, or to land them for the seizure of some town where anarchy has broken out as a result of constant revolutions. On the Asiatic Station, where the revolutions in China often put in danger the lives of all Americans and Europeans, the gunboat plays a great part, and has done so for generations. With her shallow draft she can reach points far up the rivers that empty into the sea. She has proved a needy refuge for missionaries of every na- tion and religion, and a rallying-point for all for- eigiiers who had given up hope of aid from the out- side world. The majority of our gimboats are old one.s, grown venerable in the picturesque service de- manded of them. Many of those now carried on the Navy list as gunboats are of little value for these demands. They have been assigned to duty with the naval militia on both coasts and on the Great Lakes, and to other duties as station or school ships. When the Mexican troubles called for blockade duty or the hurrying of ships THE GUNBOAT LANDS A FORCE IN THE TROPICS 84 THE MARVEL BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS Courtesy of "Our Navy" THE QUARTERDKCK OF THE U. S. S. WILMINGTON to tlu'cateiied quarters, it was neccssarj- at times to take cruisers and destroyers away from their regular duties to do the worlv of gun- boats. To remedy tliis situation we are now building more modern gunboats, which will be larger and faster than the Sacramento, now the largest in the American Xavy. They will be designed for long service in the troj^ics, where ships' hulls foul more quickly and their equipment deteriorates faster than in the waters of a moderate climate. The draft of gunboats is an important feature, for too much defeats their usefulness for river work. When we built two of them at the Mare Island Navy Yard a few years ago especially for work up the Yangste River in China — a hotbed of revolutionary outbreaks and of demonstrations against foreigners residing in China — the Palos and Monocacy were designed to draw but 29 inches. They were built in sections, transported to Hong Kong, and there assembled for their work up the Yangste. With a displacement of but 190 tons and this shallow draft, the Falos and the Monocacy, small as they are, are splendidly fitted for police work under the American flag. Two of our most famous gunboats won their laurels in the East. The old side-wheeler Monocacy, which has handed down her Indian name to her Yangste successor, was for years one of the most familiar sights in Chinese waters. She buino4 knots, or nearlj' 31 miles an hour. The great liners are equipped with every form of luxury that is possible at sea. There is the wireless to bring them the news of the world as well as to add to the safety of passengers. The larders are stocked with every delicacy. Each has its refrigerating and electric plants, telephone system, cafe, grill, private dining-rooms, and con- servatory. For recreation the passenger can turn from the games of ship- board life to a well-stocked library, the swinnning-pool or the gyrana- THE LINER IS A LADY 89 sium. Every want may be satisfied by a system rivaled only by the best of hotels. The modern liner is indeed a floating palace. Because our laws do not foster shipping as do those of foreign countries, and because of higher building and operating costs and larger crews, we have held our own only on the Great Lakes. Our only transatlantic steamship line, the American Line, has entered the race with the building of four turbine ships of 32,000 tons, to show a speed of at least 26 knots. When finished they not only will figure materially in the overseas passenger trade, but they will be valuable as auxiliary cruisers and in the trans- porting of troops in war times. The outbreak of the European War, with its dangers to the liners fly- ing the flags of the fight- ing nations, proved a boon to the eight ships of the American Line that sailed from New York and Phil- adelphia for Liverpool and Queenstown in the first two years and a half of that struggle. Savan- nah, the home of the first ocean steamship, is now the home of the Savaimah Line, and that line has on the stocks two 10,000-ton ships destined to take their part in the trans- atlantic routes, renewing the old traditions of the Georgian city. With the beginning of the great war its liners carried cargo to Euro- pean ports and as far east as India, making the opening wedge for the wider field of overseas sailings in both the passenger and freight service. The American tendency is toward this combination of passen- gers and freight. If somewhat slower than the ships designed pri- marily for hurrying passengers across sea at the highest possible M i h ,11 1"- 1 *^ [ i \ ' l^^k^^ M |i )/ ^^^^■^ II i ™HBpi^^l i MH^H.^ i^^^^K I^H^Hk&^^^i^ B^^SI THE UNITED FRUIT LINER " PASTORES " READY FOR LAUNCHING 90 THE :\[AKVEL BOOK OF AMERIC^AN SHIPS THE PASTORES JOINS THE GREAT WHITE FLEET speed, this type is not lacking in lux- ury. The great conflict, which has made such an im- pression on the development of American ship- ping, m a d e de- servedly popular the winter cruises to the West Indies and Central Amer- ica. There is a splendid fleet fly- ing the American flag on these historic routes that once were traveled only by warring frigates, buccaneers and the adventurers of the Old World. Sea fights, piracy, and filibustering were the i)rincipal industries of these waters for centuries, until the possibilities of great banana planta- tions and the cultivation of sugar-cane in the countries bordering the Caribbean tempted Amer- i c a n me r- chants. The Great White Fleet, of the United Fruit Company, was the pioneer in this trad e. From a ]n'ac- tically unused fringe of islands that rest in 1) 1 u e tropical waters, we have come to know them as the American Mediterranean. the promenade deik of a.\ ameuicax liner 92 THE MARVEL BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS On the white liners of this fleet the refrigerating apparatus guards the preservation of the cargo of bananas with a temperature of 53 degrees. The fortunate passenger has but to pull a slide over- head to enjoy its cooling draught on a warm day at sea or in port. There could be no ■""o-v-««*^l^ '**^^ Wf more ideal way to "\ ~^^J^^^ ^^^^ escape the rigors \ 4Nif; ^ff^ J ^^ ^ northern win- ter than on one of these staunch and luxurious ships. Besides its regular runs to the ports of Cuba, Panama, Costa Rica, Guate- mala, Honduras, and to the main- land of Colombia, the Great White Fleet runs its lin- ers on special cruises in the American Mediter- ranean. Another Amer- ican steamship companj^ the At- lantic, Gulf, and West Indies, known to shi))i)ing men as the AGWI, oper- ates four modorn- ly equipped lines in the Caribbean. The Ward Line runs to the Bahamas, Mexico, and Cuba. The Clyde liners touch at South Carolina, Florida, and Santo Domingo. The New York and Porto Rico Company runs to the picturesque ports of Porto Rico ; and the Mallory ships cruise from New York to the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. The Munson Line combines a passenger and freight service to Cuban points ; and the Red D steamships run to San Juan, the capital of Porto Rico; to the fascinating Dutch island of THE WIKELESS ROOM OF THE S.S. P.-VSTORES '*^ ,^' m \o v^M \yO \\ ^ -11 ® ^^ ^ HOUSE FLAGS AND FUNNELS OF ^ o». I \/^ I ^^LCRmTi^ ii: THE PRINCIPAL STEAMSHIP LINES THE LINER IS A LADY 93 Curasao, and to ports of Venezuela on the South American coast. There are numberless steamship lines which venture well out to sea on coastwise trips that range from Key West or New Orleans on the south to Nova Scotia and Newfoundland on the north. The number that ply our inland waters plays no small part, either, in their equipment or the volume of their traffic. Out on the Pacific Coast we first figured in what bade fair to be a winning race with other nations for the cream of the Pacific passen- - -" -■- - 1 VHB^^ 1 |fev-> -^ kS U3I i ^Ifei^i^l tm iw THE NAVY FURNISHES GUNS AND CREWS FOR THEIR DEFENSE AGAINST U-BOATS ger trade. James J. Hill, the railroad king, built the Minnesota and the Dakota, splendid craft. Unable to survive the competition of the subsidized Japanese lines, with their lower operating expenses, the two fine ships met with failure. Other ventures thrived for a time, only to succumb to like handicaps. In the coastwise trade from Alaska on the north to Mexico and Panama on the south, American lines, however, have built up a great volume of passenger and freight traffic. It is gratifying to turn to the Great Lakes for evidence of solid progress in its passenger steamship service. Here we find the largest fresh-water steamships in the world. In speed and accommodation their deep-sea rivals have but little to offer beyond them. The See- 94 THE MARVEL BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS and-Bee and the City of Detroit 111 lack iioiio of the modern equip- ment for safety, comfort, or reci'eation that the ocean greyhounds boast. When the American Shipbuilding Company of Cleveland launched the See-and-Bee she was the largest side-wheel steamship in the world; and she still holds that unique title. She is a nine-decker, 500 feet long, with beautiful lines for speed. Her capacity, besides hei- large crew, is 3,000 passengers. At night the passenger steamers, blazing with light, and the lights of freighters and barges combine to make the lakes the Great White Waterway of the world. The shores are lined with resorts, and gayly bedecked excursion steamers thread their way to them from the cities in a never-ending line. When winter comes and seals the lakes with ice the immense passenger fleet ties up at the docks in mile-long lines, waiting patiently for the opening of navigation in the spring. Phulo bu Stebb, IX SOUAEE-RIGGEES AND FORE-AND-AFTERS WHEN the United States was but a stripling among nations, and the world's ocean trade was carried in wooden bottoms, our flag was shown in every port. America ruled the waves in those days. No other craft could show its heels to one that carried Yankee topmasts. Of all the ships that sailed in blue water ours excelled in the beauty of their lines, in the cloud of white canvas that was stretched on tapering spars, and in their record-breaking runs around Cape Good Hope with holds laden with the teas, silks and spices of the Far East or in the rounding of the Horn. There were many reasons that won us the supremacy of the seas, which we wrested from Great Britain only to see it pass back to her. Back in the days of the colonies Americans took to the seas as a natural calling. Our shores were rich with timber and our waters teemed with fish. The sea held out rich rewards and the colonists were a hardy lot for whom its hardships and risks held no terrors. It is a curious coincidence that' in the year 1607, when the first permanent settlement was made in this country, the first American vessel built for commercial enterprise was launched, and to her was given the name of that settlement, Virginia. Built at the mouth of the Kennebec River, this 30-ton pinnace crossed the Atlantic safely and returned to join the fishing vessels of Europe on the Newfoundland Banks, sharing with them the dangers of drifting ice, black fogs, and wild gales. Others followed, and our colonial fishermen led the fishing 95 Vi 100 THE MAEVEL BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS fleet in sea skill and daring. To-day the Gloucester fisbermen hold up their traditions in gallant fashion. Their rich jorofits tempted still more, and the ports of Salem and Marblehead grew until their shipyards were never idle and their waters were lively with the com- ing and going of a forest of masts. The colonists w ere fast gaining the "sea habit." P]ven those who did not follow the sea regularly foi- a livelihood, ]H"eferring the tilling of the soil, knew how to "hand reef or steer." The first of these ves- sels carried three masts: two fitted with square sails, while on the third was a long, slender yard that spread a lateen sail fore and aft. Underneath the end of the rakish bow- sprit a square sail was also spread on a yard. The ketch supplanted this, the one small and one large mast, fitted with yards, being easier to handle with a smaller crew. Then came the "snow," a modified brig, two masts with ci'ossed yards as on a ship, with a slender mast abaft the main for a fore-and-aft sail. The sloop was the next to win favor, with its fore - and - aft four - cor- nered sail and jib, Avliich still survives in yachts and oyster boats, for it — *-^ilif^pr !W"r- ^}4 fe\'V Pholo by Slebb THE EAST INDIAMAN PANAY SALEM SETS OUT FROM SQUARE-RIGGERS AND FORE-AND-AFTERS 101 gave then as well as now the greatest speed in proportion to its canvas and called for the smallest crew. The coming- of the schooner was a natural step and its story is an interesting one. Gloucester saw its first launching in 1713, and when the news went abroad that this two-masted fore-and-after was to be launched with her sails stretched a large crowd gathered. When she took the water the swift, graceful motion of the hull gliding out into the stream brought from one admirer the shout: "Oh, how she scoons!" The quick-witted designer answered, "A scooner let her be!" Except for the launching of Robert Fulton s steamer Cleiiuont in 1807, the invention of the schooner was the most important event that ever transpired in American shipyards, for its economical and liandy rig soon absorbed the coast\\'ise trade of the country. From the first schooner the type developed until it reached its climax in the seven-master Thomas W. Laivson. The growth of the colonial merchant marine was spurred on by three curious trades — smuggling, privateering, and slaving. They laid the foundation which led to the brilliant climax that came in the golden days of the Yankee clipper ship. The unfair navigation laws enforced on the colonies by Great Britain led to the smuggling trade, for the colonists did not submit tamely to them. Their fast .ships had little trouble in evading the King's cutters, for the ships laid down were built Avith an eye both to speed and to carrying capacity. To the royal returns to be won from the sea on the fishing banks, in the growing whale tisheries, with Nantucket and New Bedford as the rendezvous of the whalers, and in smuggling, were next added those of the slave trade. In those days "black-birding," as it was called, was not considered an unjust practice. Its profits lay in quick runs, and here again the combination of speed and capacity helped lay the foundations of many a solid fortune for a God-fearing people. It is easy to see that with this activity at sea there grew up a hardy brood of sailormen second to none. Some even yielded to the lure of a pirate's adventurous career, Avith its promise of fat prizes, the excitement of the chase, and its hand-to-hand tights between the crews of honest merchantmen and those who sailed and fought under the Jolly Roger. They made Madagascar Island a headquarters, and here the notorious Captain Kidd sailed in a private armed ship, American manned, to rob them of their stolen wealth. A mutiny broke out on his ship, the Adventure Galley, and in quelling it Kidd struck a muti- Plwlo liii Slelihiris THE TIMANDRA l\ \ W I H il.l :sAIIj BREEZE PhotoAiy Stebbins THK UAKK Kiil-WAKD ILil 102 IIU; '. 'iDL NUMUhl: SQUAKE-RIGGERS AND FORE-AND-AFTERS 103 neer with a bucket and killed him. He found the pirates at Madagascar Island too strong for him to attack, and so he set sail for his home port with a ship that he captured on the high seas. In the meantime he had been branded as a pirate and on his return was hanged. Held up as one of the greatest of pirates, Captain Kidd could boast of only one captured prize and a sea brawl in which he killed his man with a bucket. When the colonists threw off the yoke of the British in 1776, their merchant marine, in both ships and men, was a threat to be reckoned with. It had won its share of commerce, and our Yankee tars and Yankee ships showed brilliantly throughout the war. The deeds of our privateersmen in the War of the American Revolution stand high in the annals of the sea. Most noted of the privateersmen was the brig General Armstrong, commanded by Captain Samuel G. Reid. Three British warships, en route with reenforcements for the British besieging New Orleans, attacked her at anchor in the harbor of Fayal, in the Azores, in Sep- tember, 1814. After a spirited all day and night battle her brave crew drove off the British with heavy losses. Captain Reid then scuttled and abandoned her and fortified himself ashore. The British gave up the fight, but the delay of a week in burying their dead and making repairs proved fatal to their original errand. When they arrived off New Orleans, General Jackson had defeated the British in the most brilliant success of the War of 1812. The heavily armed British men-o'-war were no match for our privateersmen in speed or seamanship, and their merchantmen were helpless against their swift raids. The officers and crews laid the foundation for the American Navy, and it was small wonder that with such stock to draw from we were able to humble the Barbary pirates, and, though we lost heavily at sea in the War of 1812, our frigates and armed merchantmen at least won the right for an Ameiican ship to sail the high seas unmolested. The close of the War of the Revolution left our sea-carrying trade crippled, for peace saw but one-quarter of the cargoes that came and went from American ports. Wise legislation liegun by George Wash- ington to aid ships built and owned by Americans soon remedied this. The merchant marine grew by leaps and bounds. One hundred years ago our foreign commerce was almost as great as it was before the European War of 1914 revived our overseas trade. With this remarkable growth men turned again to shipping. From the yards on the New England coast were launched craft that excelled \o\ 'rill'. MAia I'M. ]M)oK i)V ami:k1('\\ siiirs; l*hiih> hit St<1*hi»i> •\-\\\: liVKM'.M'lNK "liMUKl. KMl'.in ill speed Mllll 011- |i;n'ity. ;i comhinn- tioii llint no (or- eiuii sen p o \v (^ r e (> n I (I e.pinl. It w ns e\ en ni o r e ^upi'enie in t h e sinnitness nnd seamanship of the men will* manned t h o s e wiHiderlul ships. Thoir offi- ('(M-s \V(>re men o\' edneation and fam- ily as well as ilar- iuu". shrewd traders who were pioneers in new trade routes. They eombed the seas I'or rieh earuoes. ;ind showed their topsails in port I'ar ahead o[' any t'oreiiiu rivals. Then eanit> the design o\' the Ualtimore elippers, whieh swept the sea with tht-ir remarkahle tpialities when th(> tirst was tnnied out from a ('hes;>pi\nke shiiiy;inl W itli their liuhl draft, i^reat hreadth of beam, elippiM' hows, and ji'rt'nl spread of s.ail, they emdd walk away from any other eraft ailoat. Their cabins were litted witli rare woiids, tlieir bows with earveil liiiiireheads, and no ships eonld olose the gap between their riohly oavved and !>• i I d d sterns. Their skippers seorned \o take in their li,i;ht sails when nuu'e timid sea fa r i n g- men showed b;ue ti^p masts. They de- lighted in earrying fnll sail and driv- ins? their sliijis in the faeo ot" a howl- ing gale. But they knew that nnder their feet was the rMo h„ ^irMi.. best of timber, that thk briuaxtixk "KArm tuaxsu ' o\ srAUBOAun taok SQrAin-;in(;(ii;i;s .\m> loin: AXD-AF^rKUs 105 THE "FEANK HARNETT IH A TYFICAL M^AteTlNO te<;H<><^Nfcll ovfrhead the slini spars were equal to the gale, and that their crews were picked men. Constant vigilance was hand in liand with their daring. The sea had come to them as a heri- tage. It was in the ten-year period be- ginning with 1847 that the clippers held their greatest sway. Then came the rush of gold-hunters to California by the deep- sea route around Cape Horn; the great Irish famine created unusual demands for foodstuflfs tliat Europe could not supply; and the ?>ast Indian trade was at its height. In one year of that period alone more than a half-million of tonnage was added to the American merchant marine. The clipper ships bore bra\e names in those days when seafaring men had not been sobered by the pro- saic influences that came in with the era of steam. Westward Ho, Sovereign of the Seas, the Flying Cloud, the Comet, the Lightning and the Dreadnaught were the leaders of the clipper fleet. Queen of them all was the Dread- naught, command- ed by Captain A B.ALi>-HEADED scHoo.vEK Samuel Samucls of 106 THE MARVEL BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS the American merchant marine. The sailors called her "the "Wild Boat of the Atlantic" after she hung up her record of 9 days and 17 hours in the 2,760-mile run from Sandy Hook to QueenstowTi ; and the i-ecord holds good to-day for sailing craft. The Flyinr/ Cloud made the trip from New York to San Francisco in 89 days and 18 hours; on one run of 24 hours she made the astonishing distance of 427 miles. IVu'ln btj .Slcbbins THE SIX-MASTED SCHOONER " GEORGE W. WELLS " The Sovereign of the Seas, another of those miracle ci'aft, logged even seven miles more on her fastest daj^ When the Li t/Ji tiling left Eng- land for Calcutta with troops she made the Indian port sixteen days before any other of the troopers, while some of them dropped anchor full forty days behind her. The end of that romantic period saw a steady tlecline. Iron was beginning to supplant wood for shipbuilding. The great advantage we had held in our limitless forests fell before the greater output of iron that Great Britain enjoyed. Congress wiped out the subsidies that ]0S THE :\IARVEL BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS George AVashingtoii had begun, and wlien the Civil War was ended our ships numbered but half their proud strength. Confederate privateersmen, notably the Alabama, had taken heavy toll, for our shijis were built and owned largely in the North. A great part of the merchant tieet had gone under the neutral protection of the British flag, and the needs of the fighting forces had converted many into ships of war or aux- iliaries. It was cheaper to build and man foreign ships, and famous old clippers were dismantled to do duty as coal barges up and down the coast. Low-water mark was sounded by our shipping in 1898, -when American bottoms carried less than ten per cent, of our trade. No longer did Yankee ships venture out into blue water to show^ their masts in every corner of the world. In some great ports the American flag was not seen from one gear's end to another, un- h'ss it flew over the decks of a man-o'-war or private yacht. American crews were almost unknown, and our forecastles were filled wnth seafaring men of alien birth. Only tlie schooners held their own in the coastwise trade, and it was then that the famous Thainas W. Laicson was launclied. She was soon the talk of the seas, and sailormen were hard jnit to it to find names for all of her seven masts. Some compromised by naming them from bow to stern after the days of the week, beginning with Sunday. Others gave them the truly nautical names of forecastle- mast, foi-emast, mainmast, mizzenmast, jiggermast, spanker- or driver- mast, and aftermast. Her sails were lowered and hoisted with donkey engines, and a small crew handled her with her tons of cargo. Her Courtesy of " Y,\cld,„ freight wooden steamers of the '70's, followed in tlie next decade by the steam barge and its double tow. Iron steamers for the ore trade came next and then tlie steel freighter. The orecarriers are the largest fresh-watei' vessels in the world, and few ships that sail the high seas are larger. IModern ore-hand- ling machinery operates in their roomy holds down through hatches, lifting out the ore in clam- shell buckets ; and the holds are clean of stanchions and stringers, so that, in reality, they are immense steel barges. Each carries what the whole fleet of sailing vessels once held. The lake freighters are divided into two great classes: the bulk freighters for ore, coal and grain, and the package freighters in which miscellaneous cargo is stowed. The Marquette S Bessemer No. i is a good type of the bulk freighter. Coal cars run on its deck and are THE BULL TRAMP STEAMER " CORNELLS " HER CARGO BOOMS 144 THE MARVEL BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS emptied into the yawning hold. The Harvester is typical of the lar.ii- est orecarriers with its tremendous cargo capacity, its stack and machinery well aft, and its huge bow. Much of the oil carried on the Great Lakes was at one time trans- ported in the whalebacks, most curious of all lake vessels. They were cigar-shaped, with decks rounded like a whale's back, and but a few feet above water. Since 1900 no whalebacks have been built. The modern oilcarrier in these waters is a trim steamer, remark- able for the flying bridge that runs fore and aft almost for its entire length, and with squat expansion tanks jutting up above deck. Bald- headed schooner barges carry their share of the oil also, being towed by steamers, and most of them find their way to the ocean oil fleet. Truly typical of the lake traffic are the side-wheel and stern- wheel paddle steamers for both passenger and freight traffic. Most of the latter are of shallow draft, built on the lakes, knocked down and shipped by rail to interior lakes, there to be assembled and re- launched. First of all steamers to ply the Great Lakes was the side- wheeler Walk-'m-the-Water, built one hundred years ago. Nowhere else has the side-wheeler been developed as on the lakes, even the Mississippi River steamers being pygmies in comparison. The Great Lakes are the scene of terrific gales, and its craft are sturdily built, for they must not only buffet wind and sea but fight ice in the winter. They are American ships in every sense of the word despite the fact that many of them never venture on salt water, and the history of shipping there is a bright page in the annals of our merchant marine. There are no more interesting craft on the face of the waters than the tramp steamer. Dingy and unkem])t as a rule, they are giving way to smarter ships, and desjnte their humlile apjiearance there is no ship to which the romance of the sea has clung so tenaciously. A tramp will run anywhere, combing the coast and the transatlantic routes for work, scorning risks that would ajjpal the average skipper. Be it potatoes or dynamite, molasses or railroad rails, it is all in the day's work for the tramp steamer. If she carries grain and a leak develops, the swelling of her cargo will burst out her plates. She runs the risk of fire with her load of dynamite or cotton. Railroad iron rails and lumber are prone to shift and pound out her sides. But the tramp takes tliem all. She is the vagabond of the sea, picking up her cargo where she may, indifl"erent to where it takes her. And the tramp made its harvest when the demand for ship bottoms grew, She. 145 146 THE MARVEL BOOK OF A:\IERTCAN STTTPS carries her engines sometimes aft and sometimes amidships. Stamiclily built as she is, many a tramp is lost at sea through hazards that other cargo carriers do not face. The story of the first American tramp steamer is well worth knowing, for the Winifred led to a fleet of fine tramps which were the first to dispute the monopoly enjoyed for years by foreign tramii steamers. When the shipping firm of A. H. Bull & Company of New York built the Winifred at Bath, Maine, in 181)8, it was a risky venture. She ended as a tanker on the Great Lakes, for she was too expensive to operate as a tramp. Then the same company built the Jean at New^port News and proved to a skeptical ship- ping fraternity that it was possible to build a success- ful tramp in this country. ITor en- H'ines, shafts, cyl- inders, and other ])arts were built to standard type in different parts of the United States and then assem- bled at the ship- yard. Now it is no longer necessary to follow out this troul)lesome method, for the tramps that followed led shipbuilders to provide for all pai'ts at their own yards. This company now operates a fine fleet of fifteen tramps — • glorified tramps when compared to the foreign type. Four make regu- lar runs between Porto Rico and other ports while the rest range from Rio to Mobile, Buenos Aires to New England, or from the West Indies to Norfolk, wherever their o^WTiers find freight waiting for them. Two were sunk by mines in the North Sea while under charter to this company. There are still other types of cargo boats which are built for one trade like the ore boat of the Great Lakes, the bald-headed lumber schooner of the Pacific Coast, and the motor-driven tanker. There are tankers that carry molasses from the cane-fields of Cuba and Porto Rico to all ports of the world, and there is a handsome fleets 1 THE TYPE OF GUN THAT AR.MED MERCHANTMEN ARE BEING ARMED WITH FREIGHT CARRIERS OF THE AMERICAN MARINE 147 that carries forty million bunches of bananas from Central American ports to the United States yearly. With single decks for bulk freight and double decks for fruit and general cargo their hulls quiver to the throb of winches, the groaning of cargo booms and the tramp of stevedores. Some fly the house flag of a powerful line and others only the pennant of their single owner, but all are united in the drive to put the American flag back on the seas and to outstrip the other nations in carrying the trade of the world. On the Atlantic and the Gulf trade, on the Pacific Coast, the Great Lakes, and western rivers, and on every sea, the drive is on. In the second year of the European War this American fleet was added to by double the tonnage that its iirst year reaped. With proper shipping laws that will allow American merchantmen to suffer no handicaps from foreign governments' regulations, there is no reason why the remarkable growth should not be a permanent one. THE OLD SCHOOLSHIP ST. MARY S XIII OUR NAUTICAL TRAINING SHIPS THPj past few years have seen a reniaikalile advance in American shipping. Its growth and prosperity have recalled the halcyon days of the middle of the past century. The increase in our forei.gn tonnage, the activities in our shipyards and the development of a great coast-to-coast trade tlirough the Panama Canal, all have quickened public interest in matters of the sea. As this interest has expanded and shown the vital needs of the merchant marine, so the public has been attracted more than ever to the part that our nautical state schools play in upbuilding the supremacy of the American flag on the high seas. The first step taken to provide nautical schools, so that in time the American merchant marine could be manned and commanded by trained Americans, was taken by Congress in 1874. On June 20th of 148 OUR NAUTICAL TRAINING SHIPS 149 EXERCISING UNDER OARS that year, when our shipping was at low ebb, Congress voted power to the Secretary of the Navy to promote nautical education by furnish- ing states on the seaboard with ships and equipment to instruct the youth in their borders in navigation, steamship marine engineering, ENGINEERING DUTIES ON THE " NEWPORT" 150 THE MARVEL BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS and electricity. Until tlifii the only avenue to a sea-faring life was through the forecastle, with its meager pay, poor fare, hard knocks, and privations. In that same year the city of New York established its nautical school with the old St. Mary's, a noted man-o'-war in her time. Massachusetts followed in 1891, wisely placing its school under the control of the state, and receiving from the Navy tlie bark-rigged steamer Enterprise. It was in 1913 that the New York Nautical School passed into the state's control and became firmly established with a liberal appropriation to carry out its aims. To-day the Massachusetts Nautical School has as its training ship the famous old Ranger, a barkentine-rigged, single-screw steamer which was one of the first iron ships of the United States Navy. She was originally fore-and-aft rigged and a sister ship of the U.S.S. Huron, lost at sea off the coast of North Carolina in 1877. She is commanded by Captain P. W. Hourigan, a retired naval officer of distinction. The New York nautical cadets sw^ing their hammocks on the Newport, still carried as a gunboat on the Navj' list, and her captain is a graduate of the New York Nautical School, Captain F. S. McMurray. A retired Commander of the Navy, C. H. Mathews, is her chief engineer. The other states have lagged behind, but the cruise of the Newport to the Pacific Coast in 1915, when she was held up on that coast for three months by slides blocking the Panama Canal, stirred the Pacific states to serious agitation for nautical sclioolships along the same line. To enter either of the two schools a boy must be a resident of the state, between 16 and 20 years of age, and pass a mental examination such as is required to enter the high schools of that state. He must also be of rugged physique and undaunted by the work and hardships of the seafaring life that it is his ambition to lead. There is a deposit of $85 to cover the cost of blue and white uniforms and the technical textbooks required at entrance; but once he has put on the uniform of the Ranger or the Newport the state pays all his expenses and gives him a training that will fit him for an officer's duties on the deck or in the engine-room of a modern steamship. A well-rounded officer, whether he is a deck or engineer officer, must have training in both branches of the sea. He will not make a good engineer unless he has first acquired the "sea habit" by i)re- liminary training as a seaman. And to make a first-class deck officer and be fit to command his own ship, he must know much of its machinery. He must learn enough of machinery to weigh anchor and Phot,} l-j Brawn Hrolhcrs, N- )'. SAIL DUII>L USINC TITK MONKEY YARD SmaWs, Buzzard Bay, Photographer THE NEW YORK SCHOOLSHIP " NEWPORT" IN CAPE COD CANAL 151 Phuco by StM FURLING SAIL ^gf Sra i#^ V^ I?"!""'' "m pi m Sr-' w ^Si M B AIRING BEDDING ON THE FOC's'lE Hum,,, ../ M,;l,r,,n a,i,l I'lTAL SHIP XVI THE FLEET HAS ITS TRAIN JUST as an army must have its noii-fcimbatant supply trains to feed, clothe, and arm the battalions for the firing- line, so the navies have their less showy but invaluable aids to keep the Fleet ready for battle on the seas. The Fleet calls its fuel-ships, both oil and colliers, its transports, tenders, hospital, supply, amniunition, repair, and other auxiliary vessels its Train. The mine-layers and sweepers and mine-depot shijjs are a separate unit, known to the Fleet as the Mine Force. Without the Train the Fleet could not be kept up to the efficiency that fighting under modern conditions de- mands any more than a city could exist without fuel, food, hospitals, and stores. Before the Fleet sallied forth to give battle to its rival, tli(> Train would be busy night and day filling bunkers and tanks with fuel, maga- zines and shell-rooms with jiowder and projectiles, and store-rooms 182 THE FLEET HAS ITS TRAIN 183 with the immense supplies iieedeil. When the fight- ing ships finally clash in an engagement that may either settle or have a de- cisive bearing on the fate of the nations involved, the Train stays well to the rear of the smoke and fire of bat- tle, usually in a well-protected naval base. Its ships are not built for fighting, although, with the exception of the hos- pital ships, they are armed with light gi;ns as a defense against raiding destroj^ers and submarines. When the Fleet comes out from the shock of battle, either victor or vanquished, then the Train steams forth to hasten the work of repair- ing damages, carrying away the wounded to naval hospi- tals, and putting the bulldogs of war into trim for another trial of stroiin'tli. Courtcsu of Flirt Ktriru" THE MONITOR "TALLAHASSEE' Courlesu of" Fleet Itcnew" BATTLESHIP COALING AT SEA FROM COLLIER AHEAD As all destroy- ers and the latest of American su- p e r (1 r e a d - noughts a r e oil- burning craft, and many others use oil as an auxiliary fuel, the oil-fuel ships are among the most important of the Train. The oil-fuel ship is real- ly a large oil tanker SHIPS A SEA 184 THE MARVEL BOOK OF AMERICx\N SHIPS such as is used in the merchant service, but it also must be ready to accompany the battle fleet and be prepared to supply fuel-oil to v(>ssels of all sizes, under the worst conditions of wind and sea. The oil-fuel ships can be recognized by the landsman through the Indian names which distinguish them from the colliers of the Fleet. The first of our modern carriers were christened the Mau- iiiee, Kanawha and Cuyania. In tonnage, length, and (haft they are much like our largest armored cruisers, ]>ut the Union Jack at their bows, and their coats of gray paint are the only features that outwardly distinguish them from commercial fuel- ships. They can make 14 knots with their modern Die- sel engines, and carry 10,000 tons of the precious fuel-oil. The first tank ship, to use the commercial name, the Aiefhtisa, was one-fourtli the size, carried one-third the fuel, and with her 10 knots is unequal to the cruising speed of the battle fleet. Our colliers, sixteen in all, despite their grime and dust, bear names famous in mythology, such as the Ja- son, Nero, Neptune, Mars, Jupiter, and Cijclops. Half of them are fitted to carry fuel-oil in addi- tion to the coal in their roomy bunkers. The colliers take on their black cargoes from modern coal elevators at the seaboard. At sea, when traveling with the Fleet, coaling is done at cruising speed by an ingenious device. The collier steams ahead and from her stern runs a traveling cableway to a temporary mast rigged on the fore- TilK DKCK OK 'I'lIK Tli.WsroRT THE FLEET HAS ITS TRAIN 185 castle of the battleship. Over this cableway go bags loaded with coal, and back go the empties to be refilled. A most welcome sight to the Fleet at anchor in one of our distant bases is the arrival of the supply ships of the Train. Down in their refrigerators are meat, butter, eggs, vegetables, and other supplies that cannot be had in the tropics, and the opening of their cargo hatches brings joy to the ships. The Culgoa, Celtic, and Glacier, the last well-named, were bought by the American Navy for the Spanish War. One-fourth of their cargo space is devoted to meat kept at a temperature of 15 degrees above zero. When they join the Fleet they bring along a half-million pounds of frozen beef alone, which keeps the mess-tables of the Fleet well supplied for a month. The destroyer flotillas, which combined make the Destroyer Force, must have tenders to carry extra supplies and for repair work. These tenders, as a rule, operate with the Train, of which they form an integral and important part. The Submarine Force operates from mobile bases, which is an- other term for a tender or mother-ship. Each division or group of the undersea boats, not more than half a dozen, has its mobile base. Their mother-ships not only carry extra supplies for them and are able to make minor repairs, but the crews of the subs use their more comfortable quarters as a floating barracks. From the ranks of spe- cially built craft such as the Bushnell, discarded cruisers such as the Cltaiieston and Milwaukee, and from the monitors are recruited Pholo tiy Slcbbii THE TWO-TUERETED MONITOR "mIANTONAMAH" THE FLEET HAS ITS TEAIN 187 the mother-ships. The monitors are of the type that came in with the Civil War. When the Spanish War broke out old ones were has- tily put into commission to defend our harbors from raids. Some were later used in the Cuban blockade, and the Miantonomah and Monadnock were rushed out to Manila to reenforce Admiral Dewey. Others were built just after that war. The European War saw the monitors once more in favor. On the Belgian coast, at the Dardanelles, and in the Danube they did excellent work. With their light draught and heavy guns they were able to work where a battleship would have grounded. Their ten- dency to roll in a seaway makes them poor platforms for accurate shooting, and they are not so habitable as battleships; and in our Navy they have dropped from the battle line to new usefulness as tenders and mother-ships to the little submarines. Another ship of the Train to which great attention is being paid is the transport. For years we were dependent on old cargo steamers that were bought at the time of the war with Spain, and hurriedly converted into transports for the marine expeditionary forces. At present the Hancock, Rainbow, Prairie, and Buffalo are the bulk of THE COLLIEK "NEPTUNE' 188 THE MARVEL BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS GUI' naval transports, but the commissioning of the Henderson, named after a former Commandant of the Marine Corps who distinguished himself in the Florida Indian Wars, has given the sea soldiers a modern transport. She is the forerunner of a new fleet, with her armored trucks and cars, her wireless field outfits, her landing- guns and all other gear that is needed when a regiment of marines is hurried to a scene of fighting in the West Indies or "somewhere in France." With her tonnage of 10,000 the HendersoH is not only twice the size of the old transports but she can follow the Fleet anywhere. The ProiiieflieKs and Vestal are fitted out for re- pair work that cannot be done aboard a battleship or cruiser away from the navy yards. They are actually floating machine shops with every facility of forge and lathe to do the work, and the Fleet could ill spare them. To help out the hard- worked gunboats the Train includes in its strength two surveying ships, the Leoni- das and the Hannibal; and to keep the Fleet supplied with ammunition of all kind s, from the 14-inch "sol.^ce" shells down to the one- pounders, and powder to re- place the charges fired away at practice or in battle, the Lebanon is the annnnnition ship of the Train. There are no ships performing more interesting work than that of. the mine-layers and mine-sweepers. The possibilities of sinking ships by mines sprang from the fertile mind of an American, David ' Burmu I./ Medicine ami .Siiri/ir;/ HOISTING PATIENTS ABOARD THE THE FLEP]T HAS ITS TRAIN 189 Courtesy of "Our Navy" THE REPAIR SHIP "vESTAL" Bushnell, at the time of the Revolutionary War. In the Civil War twenty-tive ships were lost by mines alone, planted in Confederate waters. Our prin- cipal mine - layers, the San Francisco and the Baltimore, began their naval careers as cruisers, but as mine-layers they are well equipped for their new work. A submarine mine is a metal case filled with an explosive, and moored near the surface. Small craft can pass over the mine fields, for they are not wast- ed on the small game of the sea. AMien a larger ship, with greater draft, passes over a mine, however, its hull pushes in a plunger which de- tonates the gun- cotton or other high explosive and the mine is explod- ed against the hull, either sinking or crippling the un- lucky ship. The mines, hidden from spying aircraft or watches on deck, have a great moral effect. When struck they throw a column of water as high as the masts of the tricked vessel. I'HE TRANSPORT " HANCOCK " 190 THE MARVEL BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS In recent years our Navy has done much to perfect the mine. In a great sea fight the fleeing fleet drops its store of mines overboard in the path of the pursuing ships. As a defense against the danger of mines the mine-sweepers tow drags behind them, and these set oif the detonators of the mines so that they explode without injury. Okl destroyers have been pressed into this service and, with trawk^rs, tugs, and Liunches, make good mine-sweepers. The Mine Force of tlie present Fleet has jumped into a very important role of naval warfare. Aptly named are the Solace and the Relief, for they are the hos- pital ships of the Train. As hospital ships are immune from capture or attack they are the only vessels of the fleet that do not carry arma- ment for either attack or defense. Both the Solace and the Belief are converted merchant vessels, but the work performed by them has proved so valuable that we are now building a new hospital ship w^hich when finished will be a modern floating liospital. Her hull has been specially designed to prevent rolling, and in that way make life more bearable for the sick and wounded in her care. She wall be 460 feet long, with a beam of 60 feet and room for 500 patients in time of war. Meals will be served hot on a steam table that is rolled along deck and carried to other decks by elevators. There wdll be a diet kitchen, an X-ray room, sterilizing apparatus, contagious dis- ease wards, and laboratories and other special rooms equipped with the latest devices of surgery that the modern hospital has on shore. The Navy also has its fleets of yachts and tugs which are part of THE CULLlliU 'JLI'ITKU .:■■■% w:m nn i'::;P"' 191 192 THE MAKVEL BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS tlie Train. The most famous of the yachts is the Mayflower, the President's official yacht, which was formerly J. Pierpont Morgan's pleasure yacht, the Corsair. Another is the Yankton, the official ten- der of the Commander-in-Chief of the Atlantic Fleet, and formerly the Cleopatra, Sarah Bernhardt 's famous yacht. The Scorpion, which did valuable relief work at the time of the great Messina earthquake in Sicily, in 1908, is the station ship for the American Embassy at Constantinople. The Navy has also a goodly flotilla of tugs, most of which bear such Indian names as Apache, Arapaho, Choctaw, and Siuux. These useful midgets tow lighters and barges filled with ammunition and supplies, help the big ships in and out of their navy-yard berths, and do a multitude of errands and hard work for the navy-yards, foreign stations, training stations, and the Fleet. Largest of them all is the Sonoma, and the fleetest is the Potomac, which distinguished her- self by rushing under forced draft from the naval station at San Juan, Porto Rico, to the French island of Martinique when the eruption of Mt. Pelee wiped out the city of St. Pierre. Here she did yeoman work in rescue, in caring for refugees, and, until the cruisers Cincinnati and Dixie arrived, was the only representative of the American nation in the foreign fleet that lay at anchor in the roadstead of Fort de France, the birthplace of Josephine, the consort of Napoleon. ^~V£ ^?*ii*iJl-5f*V nil, MIM- l,A\l;U " UALTIM(.)UE C'nvUan of "FUd 11. INSTRUCTION WITH SEMAPHORE AND WIGWAG XVII HOW THE SHIPS TALK THE ships that sail the seas are great talkers. They not only have their ways of sending messages of distress and other important news, hut they love to gossip on matters of much less consequence. Of all ships the man-o'-war is the greatest talker, for the Fleet bustles with life in port or at sea, and the navies of the world talk fluently in many languages of which the peaceful merchant- man has barely mastered the A B C. The ships of the American Navy carry on their talk by day or night: anchored within the toss of a ship's biscuit of each other or hundreds of miles apart; on a day sparkling with sunshine or when the fog lies like a great gray blanket on the sea, and all with the same ease. Within sight of each other they use their visual signals, and when the fog rolls in and hides them from each other their boom- ing whistles carry on the talk with long and short blasts. Even the submarines, darting beneath the surface, have their bell warnings so that the little undersea craft may avoid collision. The visual signals are in constant use and are the most varied of all the odd tongiies that carry on deepsea talk. Flags and sema- phores keep up a lively conversation by day, and when night sets 193 194 THE MARVEL BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS ill the maii-of-'\var has its Ardois hghts and blinkers, its searchlights and rockets. At the ends of the flying bridges that span a modern man-of-war you cannot fail to notice the upright bar from the top of which stubby arms wave at all angles, for all the world like the arms of a lively Jumping-Jack. These are the semaphore signals and they are made of either wood or metal and worked by small levers. "With the same movements a sailorman, with a small red and yellow flag in either hand, can send the same message ; but the bulk of the messages are sent by the machines, for they reel off messages faster than a man can. Before the semaphore system was perfected this kind of visual signaling was done by flag waving or wigwagging. The sem- aphore is faster, but when' the distance is too great for the waving semaphore arms to be distinguished the message is wigwagged by the big red and white flag. In the semaphore each angle of the arms is a letter. In the wigwag there are three motions, one to the right, one to the left, and one to the front. Each motion to right or left repre- sents the dots and dashes of the telegraphic alphabet of the Morse code; some letters require four moves. "When the marines hold Guantiinamo as a base for Admiral Samp- son in 1898, their signalmen wigwagged at night to the ships in the harbor with an ordinary lantern, while the Spanish sharpshooters volleyed at the signalmen standing upright on the parapet of their trenches. "With a lantern placed inside a box with a sliding lid yoiv SEMAPHORING AN OKFICIAL MESSAGE IN ENGLISH WATERS <1G.N Ai.iNi; A -\i]:ssA(;i: in iiii: j-i.ki;t Courtesy of '*Our Navy^" A BATTLESHIP SEARCHLIGHT A FLAG HOIST DRILL 19.5 KADKI TOWERS INLAND TALK WITH THE FLEET I I'M 1 h'W LfA R 1' ffl A4=k_: ^^ AfvA |4-; ■pM|i ** ' »-■' /-l(-2g>-*-4 1 SSSS9 ^H 1 THE DAKIEN IIADIO TOWERS AT PANAMA 196 HOW THE SHIPS TALK 197 can carry on an animated conversation b.y fastening a cord at the top of the sliding lid, and then lowering the lid qnickly for the dots, and slowly for the dashes of the Morse alphabet. For distance where the sema- phore and wigwag are not adequate, and always when the Fleet is ma- nenvering at sea or in battle, signal flags are hoisted. These hoists, as they are called, can be seen for miles, and many sentiments that have gone down in history were first flown in battle from the yard-arm of a flagship. It was Nelson at Trafalgar who or- dered the hoist that read : ' ' Eng- land expects every man to do his duty!" And it was Perry at Lake Erie who flew the signal: "Don't give up the ship!" Lawrence of the Chesapeake. For the flag hoists the twenty-six flags of the International Code, one for each letter of the alphabet, are used. With their reds and yellows, whites and blues, they are as gay as the flags of rival schools at an athletic meet. All navies, and the merchantmen of all nations, use the International Code; so that an American schooner, meeting a Norwegian bark in mid-ocean, can give the latter her latitude and lional A'fM'S Simcc THE BRIDGE OF THE FLAGSHIP -the dying message of Captain 198 THE MARVEL BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS longitude and then run up a hoist asking for the loan of a cake of ice. Each navy, too, has its own secret code and uses the international flags by hoisting them under its own code pennant. The code book of a navy, if it should fall into the hands of another government, might spell disaster if those two nations should ever meet in war. So, in peace time as well as war, the code books are guarded jealously. Their loss is a courtmartial offense. The signal code book is weighted with lead and if a ship is captured it is thrown overboard. Every morning at seven o'clock the flagship makes the time and uniform signal; and at ten o'clock each ship in the Fleet makes a hoist that informs the Admiral of the number of sick and absentees under his command. Every noon another hoist tells him how much fuel and water each ship has used in twenty-four hours, and how much is left in her tanks and bunkers, and, at sea, the latitude and longitude. AVhen night falls the red and white lamps of the Ardois at masthead wink out their messages, and each ship, as it reads them, passes them on to the ships astern. Yard-arm blinkers are supplant- ing the Ardois just as the semaphore did the wig-wag, for the blinkers flash out the dots and dashes in short and long displays faster than the Ardois. Both are worked from the bridge by an electrical key- board, the press of a button showing the letter up aloft. "With a fleet at anchor at night it is a fascinating sight when the red and white lamps of the Ardois spell ou' their news and the white blinkers are winking like so many fireflies against the black of the night. The semaphore arms, lighted by bulbs, sweep like glowing jewels at the ends of the bridges, and from the searchlight platforms the great white beams of the searchlight move back and forth or throw their soft light up against a bank of cloud. If a message must be sent a great distance, perhaps to a scout far out at sea, the great searchlight draws its giant finger against the somber background of the sky, calling the scout by its code letter. From the black ocean leaps up the answering "Aye! Aye!" of the scout. Off goes the message, flashed by the opening and closing of the searchlight's shutter. The signalmen lay their telescopes in the quarter from which the answer is to come while the recorder, pad and pencil ready, writes it down in his signal book. The latest of our ships now use small searchlight lanterns on the bridge, and with their blinding lights messages have been sent for great distances. With a ship of the Atlantic Fleet lying off the entrance to the Panama HOW THE SHIPS TALK 199 Canal, and a ship of the Pacific Squadron lying at the other entrance, by throwing their powerful searchlight beams across Culebra Cut on a dark night messages have been sent with comparative ease. There are other lights used at night by all ships for special purposes, such as code signals and signals of distress. These are the Very night signals. A cartridge much like that used in a shotgun is fired from a specially constructed pistol, and the rocket that soars up in the night is followed by other cartridges that send out their message in red and green stars like those of a Roman candle. The greatest of all methods by which ships talk to each other, or to shore stations, is that of the wireless telegraph. The Navy calls it the Radio because the energy is radiated or sent out into space and the messages are radiograms. Nowadays with the radio communica- tion vessels several hundred miles apart can talk with greater ease than the old frigates could lying in the same harbor. Every day the ships at sea get their radiograms of the world's news, and those giving the baseball and football scores are circulated through the ships with great enthusiasm. To make this wonderful communication not only every ship in the Navy has its wireless, but the Navy has stations along the coast to receive and transmit orders and messages. There is little evidence to show that a ship is fitted with wireless except for the slim aerial Avires, or antennip, that hang from the top of the highest mast. The wireless room is out of sight behind the heaviest belt of armor, and our battleships are now fitted with mili- tary, or fire control, masts, so constructed that no single shell can smash them and thus destroy the wireless. King of all the wireless in the Navy is the great station at Radio, Virginia, which rears its twin wireless towers within sight of the Navy Department and flashes its messages to ships 3,000 miles out at sea. Night is more favorable for wireless than daytime, for then messages are sometimes sent double the distance. The distance varies with conditions, some of which the experts cannot explain, but the power of the instrument and the height of the mast or tower support- ing the aerials are great helps for distance. The wireless has not only become a great factor in war but a mighty agency in peace in the calling of ships to a vessel in distress. The magic letters S. O. S. are sent out repeatedly by the doomed ship as warning that a call for help is coming. All ships within re- ceiving distance shut down their wireless and listen anxiously for the message that will give the ship's name, position, and the nature of her distress. Then from every quarter they crowd on steam to 200 THE MAEVEL BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS rush to her assistance, repeating her message so that no ship within reach of her will miss the call. Distress signals are also shown at night by a special International Code signal, bj' giin-firing and by the rockets. With all this wealth of talk by flag and light, by -wireless and rocket, by whistles and semaphores, the ships are not content. They must have signals beneath the sea for use in thick weather and at A LESSON IN WIRELESS night, and so we have submarine liells in all lightshiiis and other aids to navigation. Shii)s love to sight tliese aids in clear weather to check up their positions, but at night they may be a source of danger and the warning of the submarine bell is welcome. The sending set of tlie submarine bell is an ordinary bell, smaller than a ship's bell, which is kept ringing by electricity. On the passing- ship is the receiving set of two small iron tanks filled with water, one on each side of the ship well below the waterline. In each is a micro- phone electrically connected with an indicator box in the ship's pilot HOW THE SHIPS TALK 201 house. The bell sound coming through the water passes through the skin of the ship, enters the water in the iron tank and is jiicked up by the microphone. It then enters the indicator box which has two telephone receivers. Switches in the indicator box allow the operator to listen to the sound picked up by the port and starboard microphones. By the loudness of the tone the operator can tell on which side of the THE WIRELESS ROOM OF A BATTLESHIP ship the warning bell is ringing. The ship is swung in that direction, and when the sound is heard equally on both sides he knows that the ship is pointing toward the bell. By the skill and rapidity with which the signalmen of a ship make and read signals its smartness in the Fleet is rated. Mistakes or slowness in signals make the offending ship a marked one and from the flagship comes a sharp reprimand, for in battle or emergency human lives hang in the balance when the signalmen go astray. The making of expert signalmen begins at the naval training stations in the selection of keen and alert boys for the signal squad. Each ship has its signal officer, signal chief quartermaster, and quartermasters and signalmen. A flagship carries a squad of twenty-odd, and night 202 THE MARVEL BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS and day a relief is stationed on the bridge. Along the bridge is the sigiial locker, with each signal flag hanging in its own rack. Each alphabet flag is known by a name such as dog, cat, quack, rush. The reason for this curious custom is that when an order is shouted for D or C it is easy to make a mistake. Instead the order goes for Dog or Cat and no mistake is possible. The officer in charge orders a certain signal to a sister ship. "Bear a hand there with the Quack!" sings out the quartermaster. Out from its rack goes the Q of the alphabet, and its top is toggled on and its bottom snaphooked on the signal halliards in less time than the telling takes. Then away it swings to the 5^ard-arm up aloft. Each year the signal squads have a keen competition for the Correspon- dents ' Cup, pre- sented to the Fleet by the special correspondents who made the famous cruise around the globe with the Fleet. The Fleet is at anchor. There is not a sign of the impending departure fi-om the peaceful harbor in which the ships lie like so many immovable gray fortresses. A hoist of gaudy flags, giant but- terflies in the whipping breeze, breaks out from the flagship. Boat- swains' gangs swarm on the forecastles making ready the anchor gear. With clanking of engines and thunder of anchor chains in the hawse pipes the anchors are hoisted and catheaded. The Fleet gets under way. The flagship, with her four-starred blue flag at masthead, leads the van. String after string of signals break out from the yard- arm of the flagship, giving the course, speed, and formations. The ships repeat them down the long column. Out they go to sea with no confusion, no tumult and shouting, only the gay hoists of bunting working the will of the Admiral with his i^roud ships. Cuurlrsy a/ '•Our Nary" WINNERS OF THE CORRESPONDENTS' CUP :i:«-^i-fe->>-S ■«3 -?ft H M M SS •1-. 1 1 .fv"R'-Ei 'H- INTERNATIONAL CODE FLAGS AND PENNANTS IJI i.iaesiB'^mw ENSIGNS AND NATIONAL MERCHANT FLAGS Courtesy of "Collier's Weekly" THE FLEET LEAVES HAMPTON ROADS XVIII WHEN THE FLEET WENT ROUND THE WORLD IN the history of all the navies of the world there has never been anything so colorful as when the American Battle Fleet belted the globe. It was not only the greatest fighting force that had ever sailed under the American flag, but it was the longest cruise the fleet of any nation ever made. Sixteen first-class battleships, the flower of the Navy, with 14,000 officers and men, logged a total of forty thousand miles on the fourteen months' ci'uise, showing the Stars and Stripes in the ports of nearly every one of the world's great nations. The value of this remarkable cruise can hardly be estimated. It proved to a doubting world that the United States was one of its leading naval powers. It strengthened us in countries that were friendly, and in the few where our relations were not then all that every American could desire it left a lasting impression that made for great good. It made the Battle Fleet, as it was officially known, a welded unit that came home stronger in gunnery, more skilled in maneuvering on the high seas, and more efficient, from the main trucks to the engine-rooms. The countries of the world strove to excel each 203 204 THE MARVEL BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS other in hospitality, and the cruise was crowded with stirring and unique incidents. Out from historic Hampton Roads the fleet steamed on December 16, 1907, President Theodore Roosevelt reviewing the column from the Maytiower as it passed out beyond the Virginia Capes. Fighting Bob, as Rear-Admiral Robley D. Evans was affectionately known to the American people, was in command on the bridge of the flagship Courtesy of "Collier's Weekly*' THE FLAGSHIP " CONXECTICUT" Connecticut. The first of the four divisions, each commanded by a Rear-Admiral, comprised the Connecticut, Kansas, Vermont, and Louisiana. Then came the Georgia, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Virginia. In the third division came the Minnesota, Ohio, Missouri, and Maine. In the last were the Alabama, Illinois, Kearsarge, and Kentucky. Each of the ships steamed 400 yards astern of its leader. At times the Fleet steamed in two columns; again in columns of four; and all day long on the cruise signals from the flagship sent the divi- sions hurrying into the formations that a battle fleet must be expert in. The first port in which anchor was dropped was at Trinidad, where WHEN THE FLEET WENT BOUND THE WORLD 205 the ships celebrated Christmas with the thermometer at 90 degrees. Each ship was dressed with tropical greens from stem to stern, from masthead to waterline, and even the turrets and their frowning guns were wreathed with them. The day was given to boat races and other sports, and to visiting parties that brought back to their ships the first installment of pets that, by the time the cruise was ended, would have stocked a fair-sized zoo. The torpedo flotilla, the dispatch l^oat Courtesy of "Collier's Weekly' NEPTUNE INITIATES HIS SUBJECTS Yankton, the repair ship Panther, and the Glacier and the Culgoa, with supplies and coal, joined the fleet in this port. Here came the first interchange of official and other courtesies that followed the fleet around the world; and then up anchor and the Sweet Sixteen, as they were nicknamed, went "rolling down to Rio." Two great events marked this run, with the celebration of New Year's Day at sea, and the crossing of the Line. Every sailorman has two great ambitions — to cross the Equator and round Cape Horn. The first of these two came true on January 6, 1908, when the Battle Fleet entered Neptune's domain. The ceremony that took place on the Louisiana was typical of that on the other ships. As Neptune 206 WHEN THE FLEET WENT ROUND THE WOELD 207 boarded her with his wife Amphitrite and his court, a red flag with a white sea-serpent was broken out at the main, for Neptune was in command. Neptune wore a scarlet robe with sea-serpents embroid- ered on it, and a beard of golden hemp fringe, and carried a trident. His wife was in white with a sea-green hat, and with her was her cat. When a land- lubber enters the waters that Neptune rules he must be duly initiated. Two tanks had been erected on the forecastle. Over each tank was sus- pended a chair. With much ceremony the victims were led to the chairs, where they had a mock shave and their heads were powdered. At a signal they were dropped from the chairs into the tanks, where two of Nep- tune 's court seized and ducked them in the brine, to the huge delight of the crew. Only those who had at some time crossed the Line were exempted from the initia- tion. All through the quaint ceremony an enormous gull hovered over the ship, and the sailors greeted it as a happy omen. At night a barrel filled with oakum and oil and tar was lighted and dropped from the stern of each battleship, in token of Neptune's return to his kingdom. The new subjects of Neptune were given certificates bordered with deep-sea designs and the mock Neptune witli his wife and court went back to their old posts in the ranks of the Fleet. In Rio de Janeiro, which all sailormen will tell you is the most beautiful harbor in the world, the Battle Fleet was royally enter- tained for two weeks. Each day 2,000 bluejackets and marines went MAKING LIBERTY AT RIO JANEIRO 208 THE MARVEL BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS ashore, and, as one of the officers expressed it, they were hterally stunned by the hospitality of the Brazilians. On the way to Punta Arenas, Chile, the next port to call, came one of the memorable incidents of the ci-uise. Of¥ the River Plata the Argentine Fleet steamed out to meet our ships. Guns barked, marine detachments ]3resented arms, and the sigiial yards were bright A BIT OF XAVKiATIO.N l.\ THE .STHAms with the greetings of the two fleets. No such honor had ever before been extended the fleet of any nation. Now the crews shifted from white to blue, as the airs grew bracing. One day the columns steamed into Possession Bay, with the mountains of Patagonia sheltering it, and on the first of Febru- ary dropped anchor at Punta Arenas, Chile, for coal and liberty. It was an odd port, with its tongue stretching out into the Straits of Magellan, and one rarely visited by an American man o 'war. Here two Chilean cruisers, another graceful compliment of the South Amer- ican countries, joined to lead the Battle Fleet through the Straits. The Straits of Magellan have an evil name with sailor folk. They are 360 miles long and their width runs from a mile and a half to Photo by Pavl Thompson, X. Y. READY FOR REVIEW IN SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA A srUKEI- PARADE IN MELBOURNE 209 210 THE MARVEL BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS SKiHT.SEEING IN CHINA twenty-five miles. Never before had a fleet of steel monsters passed through the stretch of water, with its heavy fogs, its treacher- ous currents that run like mill-races, its shores capped by giant glaciers and snow-topped m o u 11 1 a i ns. In daylight the run was made in safety, until the long, zigzagging column had left the scene of weird beauty for the heaving swells of the Pacific. The horn had not been rounded, for only sailing ships take that long route now. AVhat the Battle Fleet remembers as the most unique welcome of the cruise followed. In and out of the crescent-shaped harbor of Valparaiso, Chile, the fighting machines, now headed north, passed. Tlie shores were black with peojile, and on the terrace of the Chilean naval station were stretched the cadets in white, forming the word Welcome. Salutes were exchanged, each battleship roaring out its salvo, and President Montt of Chile reviewed the moving fleet from the deck of a Chilean warship. At C a 11 a o, Peru, the Battle Fleet stopped for a stay filled with a great bull fight, trips to the top of the Andes and other points. "Wherever they w e n t our m e n found the Peru- vian and American flags intertwinetl. Two days ahead of the Navv m r mu a ku kshaw hidi-; in colomho 1 WHEN tup: fleet WENT ROUND THE WORLD 211 Department's schedule the ships came to Magdalena Bay, Mexico, for a month's hard work at battle practice. They had been reviewed by the Presidents of the United States, Brazil, Chile, and Peru. Then came brief stops at San Diego and other California ports, and on May 6, 1908, the Battle Fleet passed through the beautiful Golden Gate and into the crowded harbor of San Francisco. The actual steaming time from Hampton Roads to the Golden Gate for 13,750 sea miles had been (51 days and 19 hours. Without the time given to maneuvers and social duties the Battle Fleet had proved to Washington that, in time of need, it could have been sent into the Pacific in 78 days. Admiral Evans had given up his command just prior to his ar- GIBIL^LTAU WAS THE LAST FOREIGN PORT rival at San Francisco. Up to Seattle and Tacoma went the Fleet, and a month later, under Rear-Admiral Charles S. Sperry, it sailed for Honolulu. There was a week's stay at this American outpost, with its wonderful scenery and water sports, and then on to Auckland, New Zealand. Here were trips to the famous geysers and the warlike dances of the Maori tribes for the liberty parties, and then came the Australian ports of Sydney, Melbourne, and Albany. The rifle experts of the Battle Fleet shot matches with the pick of Australia's noted riflemen, and at Melbourne the Louisiana, holder of the Battenberg Cup, defeated the crack Australian crew of the British cruiser Challenger, which had not until that time known de- feat. At Sydney and Melbourne the brigade of sailors and marines were reviewed by the Governor of Australia in a land parade. Then came strange waters, unfrequented by the battleships of any nation, as the Fleet ran through the Lombok and Macassar OJO THE MARVEL BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS Straits, names made famous by Kipling, into tlie Strait of Basilan, the entrance to our Philippine Avaters, past the American post at Zam- boanga and up to Manila. Manila gave itself up to carnivals and other forms of celebration in which Americans, Spaniards, and Fili- pinos joined; and then up anchor for Yokohama, the favorite seaport of Japan. The Tm]ierial Ciovernment of Ja])an made the stay of the Battle CoHrlcsu of ■■Cull. THE FLEET COMES BACK TO HAMPTON ROADS Fleet in Japanese waters one memorable for the lavish scale of hos- pitality and the many courtesies shown to officers and men. The visit had strengthened the old friendship between the United States and the lilmpire of the ^likado, and the United States Navy had another diplomatic victory to its credit. From Yokohama the ships returned to Manila for target practice, and one squadron went to Amoy, China, to pay that great nation a visit. The entire Fleet assembled next at Colombo, Ceylon. Christ- mas, the second since the Fleet had begun its task of encircling the globe, was celebrated at sea during a run of great interest through the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea, and the Suez Canal. WHEN THP] FLEET AVENT EOUND THE WORLD 213 At Port Said the Fleet separated, to visit the ^Mediterranean ports of Smj-rna, Genoa, Algiers, Marseilles, and others, giving to Asia, Africa, and Europe a demonstration of the part that the Navy of the United States played in the world's affairs. The great eartli- quake at Messina, Sicily, occurred during the stay at Port Said, and several of the ships steamed close to the ruined city on the shores of the Strait of Sicily ready, as an American fleet has always been, to give aid to a stricken people. In the shadow of the famous Rock of Gibraltar the Fleet showed its formidable strength, and then steamed westward, out of the inland sea to the Atlantic at the end of January. Eear-Admiral Charles S. Sperry flew his two-starred flag from the flagship Connecticut when the Battle Fleet passed in revieAV be- fore President Roosevelt at Hampton Roads three weeks later. The cruise of the Battle Fleet had gone down into historv. Courtesy uj "Cullu Weiklu" WHEN THE FLEET WENT ROUND THE WORLD THE SPECTACLE REEF LIGHT STATION XIX SENTINELS OF THE SEA WHEN a ship is at sea her captain lays her course by the stars at night and the sun by day, but when from the crow's nest the cry is raised: "Land ho!" then he looks for some famil- iar landmark. No harbor entrance is without them, no hidden shoal or dangerous reef that is not mai-ked in some way, or else the coast would be strewn with the rotting hulks of liners and merchantmen, and every gale that swept the coast would leave its toll of lost ships and drowned in its wake. So the captain sweeps the coastline with his glasses until they show the image of a stout-hulled lightship with its stumpy masts, or of a lighthouse's tower rising sheer from the sea on its base of hidden I'ock, or perched high up on some commanding point of the mainland. If it is at night he can tell from the nature of the light that they carry which of the hundreds on the coast it is. It may sweep its beam of light in a slow-moving circle, or hold straight out to sea in a fixed lance of white. Again it may wink its friendly eye over the water, shutting it ten seconds out of every half minute or so. The story of these sentinels, beacons by day, and gleaming by 214 215 216 THE MAKVEL BOf)K OF AMERICAN SHIPS night, is one of romance and jjorils, of timely warnings and of tragic wrecl\S, of wintry gales juid dangerous fogs, and above all of the triumphs of American engineers. No other nation has such a great and varied shore to protect in the interests of. the shipping of the woild, and no other has lighted its coastline in the face of such obstacles. Here a stretch of rockbound shore, and fartlier south leagues of sand-dunes, which give way still farther south to the reefs of coral where the West Indian hurricanes bring death and ruin in their path: so runs the Atlantic Coast. Cliffs rise sheer from the water's edge on a shore where fogs hover for weeks at a time, and hidden pin- nacles thrust their fingers of rock upward: so runs the Pacific Coast. The Philippine archipel- ago is threaded with swift cur- rents and hidden I'eefs, and the waters that wash the shores of Porto Rico, Hawaii, and Alaska are under our care. As far back as 331 b.c. the ancients were alive to the need of aid to their shipping and they built the first of lighthouses, the famous Pharos, one of the ancient wonders of the world, to guide seafaring men into the harbor of Alexandria. Its huge bonfire of wood burned all night long for a century and a half. The first American lighthouse was built at the entrance to Boston Harbor by the Province of j\lassachusetts in 1715, and it was not until 1789 that the Government took charge of the lighting of our coasts and inland waters. The United States Lighthouse Service is now chai'ged with that work, with its land and sea marks to aid the naviga- tion of vessels. In Panama the Canal Government looks out for its safeguards and in the Philippines the Insular Government. , THE SCREW PILE STATION 1\ ILOKn)A WATERS SENTINELS OF TPIE SEA 217 The two most famous of our lighthouses are, curiously enough, separated by the width of the continent, and the third is halfway be- tween. The Minot's Ledge Light, off the coast of Massachusetts, yields to no other light in the world in its fame, not even to the Eddy- stone Light in England, after which it was patterned. There is scarcely a forecastle in the Seven Seas that has not its tale of Minot Ledge. Every engineer knows it as one of the greatest victories ever wrested from the sea and its fury. Its base is that of a hidden reef, long the terror of mariners, and the most seaward of a clusters of reefs that has given that part of the New England coast a dread name. The first tower erected there in 1851 did not sur- vive the first gale, and Minot's Ledge went on exacting its deepsea toll of ships and men. Then it w a s de- cided to build a new beacon of stone, with the conical tower of the Eddystone Light as a model. It was five years before it was finished and anchored to the hidden reef; and then the gales which swept the ledge were routed by American skill. On the Pacific Coast there was no more evil point for shipping than where the Columl)ia River empties into the cliff-bound shore line of Oregon. For 1,500 feet above the water's edge the cliffs rear their heads. At their bases the sea is studded with rocks and reefs, and fogs haunt it, making it a veritable deathtrap for passing craft. To build on the mainland was l;o shroud the light in heavy fogs or in the smoke of forest fires, so it was decided to place the light on Tillamook Rock, which rises a scant hundred feet above water one mile out to sea. The waves that broke with shattering force across it defied the engineers in vain, and its final erection was a triumph over obstacles that seemed to mock the toil of men. Four men were finally landed on the lone rock from a revenue cutter, and all stores and men after that had to be transported from THE TILLAMOOK LUiHT IS A MILE OUT TO SEA ON THE OREGON COAST 218 thp: :\rARVEL book of American ships tlie cutter to the rock by an improvised breeches buoy. It took more than a year and a half of working days before the light of its 160,000 candle-jDower flashed out, showing eighteen miles at sea in fair weather. The Great Lakes are famous for the furious storms that rage over them when they are ice-bound in winter. Then the pounding of heavy ice floes at the base of exposed lighthouses calls for a new skill in their building to resist the attack of ice and gales. One of the worst spots is kno^\^l as Spec- tacle Reef, a name given because its two hidden shoals are shaped like a pair of spectacles. It lies where the Strait of Mackinac leads from Lake H u r o n to Lake Michigan, and is a frightful place in storms. As it was impossible to work in winter, when ice floes battered at the submerged shoals, it was four years before the Spectacle Reef Light was fanished. One spring, when the keepers returned to man the light, they had to cut their way through a frozen mass of ice thirty feet high and seven feet deep that barred the door. Canada shares with the United States the lighting of the Great Lakes, with throe-fifths of the eleven hundred lights under our con- trol. lIKill UP ON THE CALIFORNIA COAST THE BLACK AND WHITE STRIPED HATTERAS LIGHT 219 220 THE MARVEL BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS Still another stirring fight was staged between man and sea before the Race Rock Light, off New London, Connecticut, first sent out its w'arning on New Year's Day, in 1879. The top of a ledge over which a swift current raced had to be leveled off by divers be- fore a foot of the tower could be raised. It is a striking fact that the first construction that proved a success in ice-bound waters proved also to be the best type in the semi- tropical waters, where lights guard the Florida coast and the Gulf of Mexico. The screw pile which bores in like an auger proved the solution for the base of coral rock. Many of our early lighthouses were frame buildings on the main- land. As engineering skill met and won over the obstacles of swift water and sea-bound reefs, the work of protecting shipping by these water-bound sentinels has met with but one failure. The evil name of Cape Hatteras is such that sailors called this stretch of the coast The Sailor's Graveyard. North of here was the wreck of the IT. S. S. Huron, in 1877, the first iron ship of our Na\'y, in which her captain and many officers and men were lost. After this wreck lights were placed along the coast which runs from Cape Henry to Cape Hatteras, a lightship was moored well out from the danger of the Diamond Shoals, and the old name died out. The ocean breaks white with fury over the Diamond Shoals well out from the mainland. Ships that blunder into those hissing breakers find themselves help- less in the swirling currents and the grip of the shifting, sucking- sands. The chances of rounding Hatteras on a quiet day are rare, and until the Diamond Shoals Lightship was placed it was a hazardous undertaking. All ships coming from the south to the United States have to cross the Gulf Stream, which hugs the shore at Hatteras. The three- knot equatorial current, meeting the cold water of the North, breeds mist and nasty weather. On one side of the stream you wear Arctic overshoes and on the other are in bare feet. But Hatteras is a valuable aid to navigation and must be picked up. The lightship throws its friendly light, but Diamond Shoals has mocked all attempts to rear a lighthouse on its treacherous sands. The highest light on the American coast is at Cajje [Mendocino, on the Californian coast, which throws its 340,000 candle-power light ten out of every thirty seconds from a height of 422 feet above the sea. Its light can be seen twenty-eight miles at sea in fair weather. On the Pacific Coast the towers are usually low, as they are mounted SENTINP]LS OF THE SP]A 221 on high shores, while on the low Atlantic seaboard high towers are the rule. Brightest of the lights is that at Navesink Highlands, at the door to New York Bay, wth its candle-power of 25,000,000. The rays of its glare have been seen seventy miles at sea. It is one of the few THE PIGEON ruINT LKIHT IS TYPICAL OF THE PACIFIC COAST electrically lighted beacons, with a powerful electric arc enclosed in a lens that magnifies its light. Largest of all the lenses used is that at Makapuu Point, the land- fall light for vessels bound from the United States to Hawaii. Oddest of all the lights is that at Cape Spartel on the Moroccan Coast at the western entrance to the ^Mediterranean, for we share with seven European countries the care and expense of this African light which impoverished ^lorocco built but could not keep. Where lighthouses are not possible, as on Diamond Shoals, to THE MARVEL BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS mark off shore dangers, and in the approaches to harbors or chan- nels, lightships are used. The first was built by the English to mark the Nore Sands off the mouth of the T li a m e s, as far back as 1732, with lanterns hung from its yard-aiiu. Our pioneer light vessel rode at anchor at Willoughby Spit, Hampton Roads, in 1820. Now we have a total of 53, with 13 relief vessels to take their places when the regular ships are brought in for docking and repairs. As lighthouses are distinguished in d a y t i m e by markings of r e d and black, or red and white, some- times in spirals and at others in checkerboards, the light vessels have their hulls painted red or straw color, w i t li other com- binations, a n d t h (' i r n a m e is painted on the side in large letters. With their odd shape and rig, and usually a cage as a day-mark at the mastheads, they are most welcome siglits to inl)ound ships. They carry both a light at night and a fog-signal, and ships can run close by them without danger, BRIGHTEST OF LIGHTS IS THE NAVESINK THE LENS OF THE KILAUEA LIOHT IN HAWAIIAN WATERS 223 THE NANl'L'CKlil 8I10AL.S LI(illT8HlF K^)LL,-^ l.N JHE s I'KAMSUll' l-A.SK.s KOKIA MILES OUT FROM SHORP: THE DIAMOND SHOALS LIGHTSHIP 22-1 THE LicHTSHii' ri;\iii:i; " ikkn THE SENTINEL OF THE GOLDEN GATE 22.5 1 226 SENTINELS OF TPIE SEA 227 fixing their positions in a fog with much more certainty than in the case of lighthouses equipped with a fog signal. There is something very appealing in the sighting of a lightship well out from the coast, for it is not hard to picture the monotony, the drab routine, the discomforts in rough weather, and the isolated lives that the crew leads. Every effort is made to give them shore leave, to provide them with libraries, fresh provisions and mail; but at times they are absolutely cut off from the world when wintry gales rage and toss them about like shells. Those stationed in the channels that lead to great steamship piers can even see the lights of the great city, yet they are cut off from it as much in such times as though they were in the middle of a desert. Four of our lightships are equipped with wireless, which the Navy works as a part of its coast radio system. One of them, the Nantucket Shoals Lightship, is more than forty miles from shore and is the first to be sighted by travelers, for it stands pluckily out in the steam- ship lanes. Her crew is a large one, with four officers and ten men, wliile less exposed ones carry but a crew of three. Inside the hollow steel mast, which houses a ladder, is a regular lighthouse lens, and on the largest a 12-inch steam whistle is used for a fog-sigiial. A submarine bell is operated under water, giving the lightship's num- ber when fogs shroud the sea. AVhile the lightships are knov.-n by the name of their station, the tenders which supply them are named after a plant or flower common to the district: Lilac, Fern, Snoiidrop, Ivy, or Water-lily. How does a captain make sure of the lights that are flashed at night when he approaches the coast! If he is making for the light off Hatteras his chart shows this legend: "Cape Hatteras. Fl. W. (> sec. Flash 1.4 sec. Eclipse 4.6 sec." Sighting the ligiit, he takes out his watch and times flash and eclipse and in that way knows his light and its characteristics. The first lights were fixed, but now the more important have lights that either flash or occult. This is regailated by a clockwork mechanism that governs the light and the dark periods. The fixed lights vary at intervals with one or more flashes, usually of greater brilliance ; while a flash begins or follows with a lessening of the light or total eclipse, the flash being an interval shorter than the eclipse. When a light is occulting its steady light is suddenly and totally eclipsed at regular intervals shorter than or equal to the duration of the light. While the white light is more powerful in a fog red lights are 228 THE MARVEL BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS used to mark outlying dangers near the light or the limits of a channel. The light shows white when a passing vessel is clear of the dangers but, thi-ough a screen of colored glass, shows red as the shoal or other danger is approached. Then the prudent skipper changes his course until the white light shows. There is nothing he dreads more tlian threading his way througli a fog, for even the fog-signals play odd tricks at times, the sounds seeming to come from one direction when they are actually sent from another. There is also what might be called the phenomena of "air pockets," when signals cannot be heard by ships close by, although those more distant hear them distinctly. The Lighthouse Service has its minor aids to rob the fogs of their dangers. If you have ever heard the mournful fog-horn and the unceasing strokes of a bell or the weird whistle of buoys you can never forget the uncanny feel- ings they stir. Seguin, Maine, is the place for anj' one who enjoys those ghostly warnings, for there the waters are hung with blankets and vapors of gray fog one-third of the year. Out on the Pacific Coast sounding-boards are erected at some points, so that a steamer's whistle brings a quick echo. The bronze bells of the bell buoys are struck by iron clappers moved by the motion of the waves. The falling of the whistling buoys in the seaway forces air through the whistle on its superstructure. Horn signals are worked by hand and the fog-g-un by acetylene. Whis- tling buoys are moored in the rough outside waters, while the otliers are used in inside waters. In daytime our channels are marked by buoys, which are given odd shapes, marked by numbers, and colored in various ways. Some are red and black, while others have white and black stripes running up and down. On their tops are cages, balls, or other marks, all with meanings for the pilot. At night lighted gas buoys mark the most prominent shoals and channels and they are the most valuable of all the minor aids to navigation that make Safety First the coastwise motto of Uncle Sam. AMEKICAN BATTLESHIPS IN CHAGRES RIVER XX FOLLOWING OUR SHIPS THROUGH THE PANAMA CANAL TO send a ship from ocean to ocean through the Panama Canal is as easy for a shipowner as to write the check for the sum that will cover the expense of the vessel's passing through. When the Government receives the check it will attend to every detail and mail him back the change if there is any. From the Atlantic entrance at Colon, to the Balboa exit on the Pacific side, is but a trip of ten hours. One-third of that time is spent in the locks that lift the ship from coast to coast, and the wnzard of electricity governs every moment of the time spent in them. Back of this startling simplicity lies an amazing story. Ever since the wonderful voyages of discovery that began with that of America by Columbus, admirals and rulers, merchants and adventurers, dreamed and schemed of the day when the argosies of the world should find an all-water way that would lead ever westward from Europe to 229 230 THE MARVEL BOOK OF A:\IERTCAN SHIPS the Far East, across the Atkntic and the broad Pacific. Thousands of men, of high and low degree, of the white, black, and yellow races, laid down their lives before those di-eams came true. Fortunes were staked and lost. Spain, England, Portugal, and France in turn took up the dream and its burdens and failed. Balboa, one of Spain's hardiest soldiers of fortune, was the first white man to cross the Isthmus, stalked by fever and fought by the Indians. It took him twenty-three days. Four hundred years then passed before the silver threads of the canal waters were strung from coast to coast. In the meantime Morgan and his buccaneers had laid the Isthmus waste, revolutions had marked its stormy history, and the gold-hunters of '49 had crossed it in droves to avoid the long trip across the western plains with its danger of hostile Indians. AVhen Americans first came under the spell that had lured the countries of the Old World to this great project Congress ajjpointed the Isthmian Canal Commission to make a study of the problem. As a result of its surveys of Central America all possible routes for a canal were set aside for the rival claims of the Panama and Nicaragua routes. Since 1883 a French Company, under the famous De Lesseps, who drove the Suez Canal between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, had spent millions trying to build the Panama Canal. One year before the successful revolution of the State of Panama against the United States of Colombia, in the winter of 19(Jo, the American Commission had decided for the Panama route. The French had stopped all work and it was on May -i, 1904, that our Government took charge of a strip of land ten miles wide running across the Isthmus and called it the Canal Zone. Then came a long fight between those who favored a sea-level canal and those who chami)ioned a lock canal. The sea-level would be less exposed to danger in time of war and the expense of maintain- ing it less. The lock canal would cost half as much more, take half the time to build and ships could pass through more quickly. Whether it should be a lock canal like the Soo between Lakes Stiperior and Huron, or sea-level like the Suez, was finally decided in favor of the locks. In 1906 actual work was begun, and it was only ten years from the time that the Government stepped into the breach before this golden waterway lay open for the commerce of the nations. Panama, which lies directly south from New Yoi'k, is a land of contradictions. Colon, the city on the Atlantic Coast, lies twenty miles to the westward of Panama City on the Pacific Coast. When dawn breaks in Panama City you see the sun rise out of the Pacific Ocean! THE DEEPEST CUT IN THE BACKBONE OF THE ANDES THE GATUN SPILLWAY WITH SEVEN GATES OPEN 231 232 A FREIGHTER STEAMING THROUGH APPROACH TO CULEBRA CUT THE S. S. "CRISTOBAL" IN PEDRO MIGUEL LOCKS 233 THROUGH Tin^] PANAMA CANAL 235 When a battleship, an ocean greyhound, or a freighter nears tlie Canal its wireless splutters its blue sparks while the captain reports her name, nationality, tonnage, length, and draft. If he wishes coal or oil it is ready for him when he enters the channel at Limon Bay. If he wishes provisions of any sort they will be delivered to him at any point he names. From Limon Bay to Gatun the ship runs through a sea-level canal for seven miles; and here an operator, with the touch of a lever, walks it upstairs to the great Gatun Locks. At this new- level an electric towing locomotive takes the ship in hand, hauling her at a-mile-an-hour speed. There are three levels at Gatun, and they lift a ship 85 feet in all before she steams into Gatun Lake, the largest artificial lake in the world. Each lock is built with two parallel chambers so that vessels moving in opposite directions, north or southbound, can use the same flight of locks at the same time. They are all of the uniform length of 1,000 feet and 110 feet wide, and the water in the locks varies from 80 feet, while a vessel is being loAvered or "locked" down, to 45 feet while she is being lifted or "locked" up. Massive steel gates block the channels of the lock, cutting oft' the flow of water; and steel and concrete divide the lock into its chambers. Concrete and steel are the bone and sinew of the locks. A ship passing through enters a lock as it would a dry dock, the gates acting as the caisson of the dry dock. As water is pumped into the lock the ship rises with it. In this simple manner it is raised to a higher level and when the gates are swung open passes on into the new level. In "locking" down the opposite method is followed. A pilot is in charge of each ship and controls the movements of the towing locomotives by signals of his arm. At the ends of each approach wall of the locks fifteen-foot steel arrows signal to him when the lock is ready for him. Ships in their journey through the locks are for all the world handled like a railway train on its "run." There are the signals, the sidings, the stops and telephone and telegraph com- munication from one end of the cajial to the other, besides the towei'ing radios. A mammoth dam holds the waters of the Chagres River in leash to make the Gatun Lake, and this yellow river — once second only to Culebra Cut as the greatest engineering obstacle on the Isthmus — now harnesses its floods to make the Canal a success. Through the Gatim Lake the ship steams at fifteen knots, reveling in this chance to show her heels, for at all other points no speed higher than six knots is allowed. The shores wind along low banks 2.% THE MARVEL BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS heavy with jungle growth and flecked with strange water plants. Six- teen miles from the dam she slows down to twelve knots, for the 1,000-foot channel here narrows to 800, and four miles on, as it api^roaches the famous Culebra Cut, speed is reduced to ten knots. The banks are clean-cut now and the water that curls up under the ship's forefoot spreads away in widening ripples. Culebra is the Spanish name for snake. This crooked cut that the French had begun on the highest point of the canal route, had a repu- tation sinister as that of the coral snake, the venomous serpent of the Isthmus, until American engineers triumphed over its heart-breaking difficulties. Here was the backbone that held two continents together, and outraged nature gave way to her anger at the intrusion of giant dredges by great slides that filled up the work of months. The waters have buried all traces of that great fight that changed the name of Culebra Cut to Gaillard Cut, in honor of the Colonel of Engineers who finally cut the backbone of the Andes. The eight miles of this giant cut show high banks that are still scarred and gashed with terraces where noisy dirt trains once ran. Here and there a graceful palm-tree shows against the skyline and the swamps and jungles of the Chagres country have been left behind for shores that fall rapidly away to the blue Pacific. No longer is the ship lifted from level to level, for the lock at Pedro Mig-uel drops her thirty feet and then the pair at Miraflores lower her fifty-five feet more. In the background the low, rough peaks of the Andes are hazy in the tropical sun and the waters of Miraflores Lake gleam like burnished copper. All along the route the effect of this miiacle in the wilderness deepens, with the banks lined with bungalows and stoi-ehouses, with playgrounds and parks, and at night arc-lights show where but a few years before only the faint loom of candles in a native's shack lighted the night. At Balboa, the Pacific terminal, where the boom of the Pacific's long surges can be heard, lies a concrete dry dock that wall float the largest ship in the world. Here are great wharves, stores of coal and oil, and modern warehouses where the jungle lay. This is the story of how American science and skill and Yankee determination drove the great ditch across swamp lands and through rugged mountains, winning out over the obstacles that the jungle, the hills, the rivers, and the deadly climate had thrown in the i«^tli of other nations. President Grant first declared for this "American canal under American control." It was Roosevelt who began the AMERICAN SUBMARINES LANDED ON CRADLES IN GATUN LOCKS BATTLESHIPS IN UPPER CHAMBERS OF MIRAFLORES LOCKS 237 THROUGH THE PANAMA CANAL 239 work, Taft who saw it grow to completion, and President Wilson who threw it open to the world. The French had wrought nobly to crown their long- labors with success, and when we took up the unfinished task we profited greatly by their experience and their work. The Oldening of the Canal was a boon to the Amer- ican Navy. The long run of the U.S.S. r ego n around the Horn to help out the Fleet in '98 opened our eyes to the need of this great waterway. By it the distance to be logged from a cen- tral point on one coast to a central point on the other has been cut from 13,000 miles to 5,000. Before it was opened the Atlantic Fleet and the Pacific Squad- ron were severed by the Isthmus as effectively as though they were on opposite sides of the world, miles lies between their oceans. THE FLOATING CRANE HERCULES IN GATUN LOCKS Now only the slim gap of fort.y-odd Our battle fleet can steam from New York to Seattle, lie there ten days al anchor and ten more at San Fran- cisco, and pass under the Brooklyn Bridge within three months from the start. The problem of coaling on a cruise from coast to coast, such as the Fleet wrestled with when it circled the globe, is now a simple one. The fuel that lies at stations over which our flag flies along the whole route can carry our battleships from the Atlantic to almost any place in the Pacific where they may be needed. This alone is a tremendous 240 THE ^[ARVEL BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS advantage, for to fuel ships beyond our shores in time of war would be a staggering- problem. The Panama Canal has wiped out distances with a prodigal hand. Not only the Navy but our growing merchant marine, whether coast- wise or deepsea, has benefited. Water transportation from coast to coast is much cheaper than rail, and the time saved from the old sailing route is vital to shippers. It has brought New York and San Francisco closer by 7,873 nautical miles, and the sailing vessels that rounded the Horn between those great ports have cut down the average time of a return trip from 250 days to 120 days. From Colon to Balboa by way of the Horn is 10,500 nautical miles while the trij) l)y canal is less than 44 miles. The majority of ships that use the Panama Canal are engaged in our coastwise trade and their average saving in time on each voyage from coast to coast is over a month at sea. The Canal has brought San Francisco 5,666 miles nearer to Liverpool, and the port of New York now lies 3,717 miles closer to Valparaiso on the west coast of Chile by virtue of the ditch through the jungle lands of Central America. Yokohama, one of the favorite ports of call for all sailor- men in the Far P]ast, had New York brought 3,768 miles nearer than by the Suez route. These are but a few of the striking changes which the Panama Canal has made in the trade routes that are strung like a great spider's web across the seas. Courtesy of ''Fleet Review^* GETTING THE RANGE XXI THE FLEET AT BATTLE PRACTICE WHEN the American Fleet steams out to sea for its battle prac- tice every man on board, from the youngest apprentice seaman to the Admiral himself, wears his heart on his sleeve, and his eyes are bright, for to him it is the greatest game in the world. Back of it lies a wealth of tradition that no other game can rival. No other can approach it in science, in the millions invested, or in its thrills. The boundaries of its playing field lap over a circular rim of ocean that stretches to every point of the compass, and extends beyond the horizon, with the Admiral's four-starred blue flag in the center. It is played with the gray steel tubes of twelve- and fourteen-inch guns, which serve up thousand-pound projectiles that leap from them at a speed of half a mile a second, and throw up cascades of white water at the target ten miles away. The target is a screen of timber, covered with netting and strips of cloth, and is no larger than the advertisements painted on the fences of a big league baseball grounds. The call to "Play ball!" is a fiendish battle gong, and when the 241 IJI THE TARGETS OF THE (iUNS ^^! FITTIXG ON THE BULI/S EYE 242 Vopyrtijhl by O. W. Water. THE navy's sky GUN 243 244 THE :\rARVEL BOUK OF AMERICAN SHIPS THE GUNS USED IN SUB-rALIBER PR.\CTICE A d m i r a 1 calls. "Time!" the blare of bugles carries bis edict to the teams. It is played only at the end of patient months of practice, and it is l^acked, from start to finish, with inci- dents that equal the last minute of a football game in which an eleven forges across the goal for the win- ning tally. Its reward is the privilege of painting a throe-foot white E, the mark of Excellent, on the winning turrets, and, for the champion of the Fleet, a strong loaxl for the battle efficiency pennant, a red pennant with a black ball in its center, to be flown at masthead for a year. The Navy calls it the "meat ball," for it is like the meal pennant that flies at the yard-arm of every ship in commission three times a day. Back of these meager rewards, however, lies the grim satisfaction that the next great American naval battle will be won by proficiency in the game. W h en the Fleet steams out from Guantanamo Bay to its favorite playground, t li c rails, stanchions, and ladders are unshipped and tlie life lines removed. The decks art; bare. Fragile ar- A SEVEN-INCH GUN CREW TTTR FLRKT AT BATTLE PRACTICE 245 tides are stowed away, and pictures and electric light bulbs laid on bunks to save them from the shattering effects of conciission from the fire of the guns. Boats are swung inboard and "nested," the smaller ones in the larger; and if you walk about the decks you Avill see vege- table lockers, boats, crates, and all manner of wooden gear tagged "overboard" — and over they -would go in battle, so that an enemy shell would not tear them into flying splinters. The quick tattoo of battle gongs clang noisily, insistently, when the teams line up for the final practice, calling them to "general quarters." From the wardroom the "spotters" come storming up the ladders. Glasses to watch the splash of the shells are strapped over their shoulders, a n d chin-straps hold on their vi- sored caps. Some are in dungarees. The members of the gun crews drive past you at the double quick to their stations : bluejackets inside the turrets, bands- men to the sick bay, the pay clerk to his assigned post, bluejackets and marines to the ammunition passages and their hoists. There is not a man aboard who has not his post; and down in the hull of the ship are the men of the engine room force ready to give her every ounce of needed power. Every man who passes has a patch of fleecy cotton peeping out of his ears, and as you dig in your' pocket for some a bluejacket halts long enough to caution you to pack it in lightly and not to hold your hands over your ears. The turn of your ship to fire at its target has not yet come, but off to port or starboard you see a vivid sheet of flame leap out fi-om the turret gun of another ship that is on the range. A cloud of smoke hugs the water alongside her and a great roar grows with each second. It is like the thunder of i-ailroad engines racing at full speed over a bridge. You see her shell strike the sea and throw up a geyser of COMING ON THE RANGE '2M] THE MAR \' EL BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS CourUsy a/ "Fleet Rev. A PERFECT STRADDLE SHOT white water. On Ij e y o 11 d it other and smaller gey- sers rear their white c o 1 u in n s w hen the shell ricochets, s k i ni- m i n g- across the sea in bounds as a stone thrown by a lad skims across a mill-pond. A still more thunderons roar comes across the water wdien a salvo, or broadside, is let loose, and each sliell, as it strikes, sends up its whirling column of water. So far you are but an idle participant in the great game, watching it at a safe distance. Your ship is at last on the range, and the order to fire has been flashed to one of the turret guns. A mighty blast rocks the mass of steel beneath your feet and it slides to port from the drive of it. The military masts, for all the world like inverted waste-baskets, appear to whip over to one side like a bent fishpole, and you grin and try to affect the calm of a true sailorman. If you have been alert you have caught fleeting impressions of vivid white sheets of flame, great blurs of orange- colored vapors, and you grasp the near- est support a n d strain your eyes toward the target. The "spot- ters," with eyes glued to their glasses, watch for it too, and pass be- low their judgment of the range. If the range is good the first salvo will couHesy oj •■r/„ Mar,,.., ../„„..-,„.- tear the water near a bit ok shell-torn sea THE FORWARD TURRET GUNS FIRIXG Copurighl. E. MuHtr.Jr., N. Y. FIVE-INCH GUN DRILL SHOWING DETAILS OF POINTING AND LOADING 247 24S THE FLEET AT BATTLE PRACTICE 249 the target into boiling geysers. A hit will pass throngli the screen of netting and cloth and will add its bit to the tight for the gunnery- honors. Now and then when a two-gun turret launches its shells simul taneously, and the range is perfect, a "straddle" shot is the result, one just over and the other just short of the bobbing target. Field artil- lerymen call it a "bracket," and it is rarely that two shells fired at exactly the same range will not show this dispersion. Other ships are tiring, loosing their eight-, ten-, twelve- or f ourteen- inch shells at their targets. It is a deepsea spectacle that would have driven Nero or Barnum into hiding for pure shame. Wherever you look toward the targets you see flying jets of water churning green sea to white. The air is filled with lightning-like flashes and rolling- clouds of vari-colored smoke. The dull boom of big guns plays through it all. If you were privileged to enter one of the big turrets you would carry away with you a jumbled impression of its activities. A gun crew stripped to the waist, with tlie light of battle in their eyes. An interior white as a hospital ward and just as clean. A gun-pointer with his eye placed against the rubber eye-piece of his telescopic sight with the cross wires centered on the target. In recent practices our ships have tired at ranges and broken world's records that a few years ago were hardly dreamed of. The turrets are far from the noisiest part of the ship, for the walls of armor deaden the deafening roar that greets you on deck. It is quiet in the interior of a big turret, with its whirring, smashing, clanking fury, its snakelike hiss of compressed air that blows unburned particles of powder and powder bag lining out through the muzzle before the breech is swung open, but quiet only when compared with the racket on deck. And it would, if you could enter it tlirough the trapdoor at its bottom, fasten the lure of the game on you so that you would never forget it. You would wonder if there could be another spot where so much energy is crammed into the flying seconds. The fire control station, down below, where the armor belt shelters it from harm, Avould rival it if you could visit its sacred precincts. Here comes Avord of the varying fortunes of the game, from turrets and tops, from bridge and engine room. Out from it goes the chang- ing range and the orders that shake the big fighter from stem to stern, from truck to keel, with the roar and thunder of salvos. The game takes on an even sterner phase when the umpire, from another ship, plays his part. In actual warfare the ship might meet with distressing casualties besides the loss of men struck by shell 250 THE MARVEL BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS THE LAST SALVO fragments. A big gim might be put out of action and she would have to fight with the re- maining ones. So the umpire plays the part of the en- em j^'s shells and the ship must play the game as he or- ders it. When the game is at its height tons of steel are rushing toward the luckless target at the rate of half a mile a sec- ond, and their sudden and almost simultaneous departure creates an immense vacuum. From the depths of the lower decks and the engine- rooms below them the air rushes out to fill that vacuum. The sharp blast assaults your ears and tears your cap otf your head if you are not vigilant. And when "Cease firing!" shrills out on the bug-les you welcome their music. It is strangely quiet now, but the ship still bustles with life. Bluejackets and marines are shipping ladders and stanchions, rigging out boats and sweeping down. Uppermost in their thoughts is the picture of a shell-torn target; and news of hits, rumors of a winning salvo, stories of a tur- ret's guns ob- scured by flying spray at an un- lucky monient, are told and retold. The decks are thick with cinders and dotted w i t li white sticks that look like tooth- picks. They are the unburnt shreds of smokeless pow- WHEN CEASE FIRING SOUNDS 251 252 THE :\IARVEL BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS tier that the guns have sprayed from their muzzles. The "black gang," as the crew calls the engine-room force, come up on deck in little squads, hungry for news and a draught of fresh air. Fifteen years ago the greatest game of them all was no more like the game you have watched than the first practice of a college eleven is like the championship match that winds up the football season. Ordnance itself made seven-league strides from the days when the red-turbanned pirate of the Spanish ^lain squinted an eye along the barrel of his Long Tom at a gold-laden galleon, but, except for the advance in gun, sights, and projectiles, the gunners who swept two Spanish squadrons oif the seas in 1898 had made but little progress. Both had relied on their native skill in firing at the moment when the downward roll of the ship would bring the gun to bear on the target. To-day the American gun pointer, the best in the world's navies, lays the crossed wires of his sight on the heart of the target as soon as it can be seen, and holds it there indifferent to the pitch or roll of a heavy sea. Minute after minute, as the range narrows by thousands of yards, he holds his sight until the bugles end the game. The drills are known as the "ping pong" and sub-caliber drills. Sub-caliber work develops the team work that is necessary for record scores in the big game to follow. A small caliber gun, such as a one-pounder, is mounted on a turret gun so that its bore parallels that of the big one. A target reduced to scale is anchored several hundred yards off the ship and its exact range is measured. Then, in every detail that the turret practice is carried out as it would be in battle, except that the shot is fired from the little fellow, the sub- caliber practice is held. The men who survive this last test make the turret their home for the rest of the cruise and work like a railroad president to cut down the loading time and the firing interval by the fraction of a second. They are the kings of the Fleet and their less fortunate mates treat them as royalty should be. They are the men who can make the heaviest score for the "meat ball" and they are "the men behind the gun" that we read about when American ships meet an invading fleet on the high seas and drive it back in shattered units to its shores. Copi/naltl. E. Midler, Jr.. AM'. THE TRIPLE TURRET GUNS OF THE "PENNSYLVANIA' XXII BIG GUNS AND LITTLE ONES THE fight for victory between gun and armor has gone merrily on, like that between the attack and defense of a football eleven, ever since the sloping sides of the first ironclad stopped the round shot that had until then gone crashing through stout walls of oak. Both have had one common ally in the great strides that have been made in the manufacture of' steel. But other allies came to the help of the gunmaker, and to-day the gun has outstripped the armor. To-morrow the gunmaker may stumble on a new process of making steel and defy the smashing bite of the most powerful shell. The armor-maker, when his wrought-iron plates proved of no avail against the pointed shells that came with rifled guns, was put to it to find some way of hardening his armor. It was not until 1889 that the Harvey process of introducing nickel into steel made this 253 254 THE AIARVEL BOOK OF A:^IERICAN SHIPS possible. The Krupp process made still another advance; and now all armor on a modern sea fighter is face-hardened, super-carbonized steel except the tops of the turrets and conning towers. Wliile armor made these strides the gun m ado greater ones. The improvement i n steel broiight gims that could fire m ore destructive shells, loaded with exjilosives that Avould have shat- tered the old bar- rels, to ranges h i t li e r t o un- dreamed of. When the increase in the size of ships made it itossible to give her more a r m o r protection it also made it possible to carry more guns, and heavier ones. The chemist came to the aid of tlie gnu in this thril- ling race, by in- venting powerful explosives that more than matched the new steel plates. Tlie sight- maker turned out telescopic sights that allowed the gunners to find their target as far away as the limits of the sea's liorizon. Other inventive geniuses made the firing of tlie big monsters safer, more rapid, and more deadly. , The modern gunmaker looks upon his gun as a high-speed and great-heat-power engine of war. The average life of a big naval gun MARINES AT ANTI-AIRCRAFT DRILL 256 THE ^lAEYEL BOOK OF AMEEICAN SHIPS is close to 300 rounds; so you can see what tremendous shocks, what terrific wear and tear, the big gun suffers. You can see also that any flaw means its ruin, and death and injury to its crew. No gun of a single piece has ever been built to stand up against the punishment that the modern big naval gam must stand. The big- gun is really made up of separate parts united in an interesting man- ner known as the built-up system. These parts are the tube, jacket, and hoops, and all are made of the best plain or nickel steel, which has been forged, while at white heat, by giant hammers into their first resemblance to a gun. The tube, the barrel of the gun, is made in one piece. Inside it is placed a very thin lining of steel. When the finished gini has fired round after round, and its "life" is worn out, the gun is relined and is as good as new. The jacket fits over the rear end of the tube and in its rear end is the screw-box, which is to be part of the breech mechanism. Over the jacket and tube come the hoops, all of different sizes, tapering down toward the muzzle, which fit over each other. That is the built-up gun. These separate parts are first turned out as rough forgings, tem- pered and annealed to give them their sturdy qualities, and they are then taken to the machine shop to have their outer surfaces trimmed into shape. The solid steel of each is then bored out by powerful machinery. Powerful as it is, the gunmaker has no trouble in shaving- it down to the thousandth part of an inch. The parts are now ready to be assembled, or fitted together, and here comes the most startling- part of all the work on the built-up gun. It is built-up from the inside, beginning with the mammoth piece of steel that we know as the tube. This is placed on end, muzzle up, in the shrinking pit. Inside its hollow leng-th flow water and oil. The jacket, the next largest piece, is then heated in a hot-air furnace to a temperature of between 600 and 700 degrees, and this tremendous heat has expanded it so that, w^hen it is low^ered down over the cold tube by a giant crane, it rests easily, and not too snugly, over the rear end of the tube. The jacket, cooling in its bath of water and oil, gradually shrinks and tightens with jjowerful grip until it seems like a part of the tube itself. Before the hoops are heated and shrunk on in the same way, the tube and its surrounding jacket are hoisted out of the shrinking pit and the outside shaped to receive the hoops. "We now have our built-uii gun except for the finish-boring of the inside and the finish-turning of the outside, and other small changes. In the rear of the gun the powder chamber is bored out to hold the powder bags, and to give the gases formed by their ignition space. BOKIXIi THE I'llWDEU (JIIA.MBEIl OF A IJ-I\i H (ilN RIFLING A 12-INCH GUN AT THE BETHLEHEM STEEL COMPANY S WORKS 257 A C-INCII (iUN WITH SHIELD BKINC. ASSKMBLKD AT THE BETIlbEHKM SIKH'S A r,-INt'II (UN WITHOUT SHIELD IN .MACHINE SHOP 25S BIG GUNS AND LITTLE ONES 25!) in which to do their work of driving- out at blinding- speed the great projectile. Then the g-un is ready for its rifling of the bore. The ri- fling is a series of spirals, or twisted grooves, cut from the forward end of the powder cham- ber to the tip of the muzzle. These grooves give the shell a spin or twist that makes it fly steady along its axis to the target. Without them the shell would wol)ble and fall far short of its mark, and bo at the mercy of a strong wind. Near the base of each shell is a rotating band of copper. When the gun is fired this soft met- al is driven into the grooves and in their grip the shell makes t w o com- plete turns in the barrel b e f o v e it reaches t h e muz- zle. Before the gun is readv for its tur- THE SIGHTS OF A EAPID-FIRER THE GUN POINTER AND HIS PET 260 THE MARVEL BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS ret the breech mechanism must be finished. There are several kinds of breech blocks or plugs in use in our Navy, but the one most used is called the interrupted screw system. Its block is threaded much like the ordinary screw with two or more sections of the threaded block cut out. Tliese cut-out sections are known as blanks. The screw-l)ox, in the rear of the tube, has an equal numljcr of threads and blanks. A turn of the breech block lever forces the threads of the block intn the blanks of the screw-box and then the block rotates so that threads and blanks lock together. The gun cannot l)e fired until they have locked and the electrical connections for the firing are complet- ed, and tliis double device is one of the must important that gunmakers lave adopted to make the work if the gunners free from acci- ents. When the gun is fired, and the recoil of the explosion drives the mighty weapon back a full three feet, the recoil is checked by the hydraulic recoil cylinders and tlie gun is brouglit back to its original position by the heavy spiral springs that tlie recoil has forced l)ack into tight coils. This recoil mechanism is connected to the gun by a llea^•y yoke which is placed over the breech end of the gun. If the gnu is not meant for one of the turrets, but is a five- or seven-inch gun in the broadside battery, it must be fitted with a shield. This shield is secured to the gun's carriage, and the gun sticks out through a porthole in the center of the shield. In the latest ships the heavy guns, ranging from ten to fourteen inches in caliber, are placed two or three in a turret. Tlie broadside gims are from five to seven inches in caliber, with the smaller size coming more into use, as they have been found to be the guns that are to be relied upon to drive otT or sink the torpedo destroyers in their favorite night attacks. The other guns of the secondary battery range down from the fourteen-pounders to the one-pounders. These are either autcmiatic or semi-automatic, and are moimted on the rails, in the fighting tops, and carried in the motor sailers and other boats for tlveir protection and to cover the landing of bluejackets and marines. The word caliber, which indicates the size of guns, is used in the A 12-INCH GUN AND ITS MOUNT BIG GUXR AND LITTLF. OXER L>(;i X'avy to describe not only the size of the bore, but the length of the gam. For instance the shell tired from a 14-incli gun measures just fourteen inches across the base of its projectile. If a gun is referred to as a 14-inch 45-caliber gun it is 45 times as long as the diameter of its bore, or 630 inches. This gun, which is the largest on any of our superdreadnoughts in actual commission, is fed with a shell that weighs 1,400 i^ounds; is driven from the muzzle by a charge of 365 pounds ritoto liij N . Laza BATTLESHIP LOADING ARMORED CAR FOR EXPEDITIONARY SERVICE, EQUIPPED WITH MACHINE GUNS of smokeless powder at a rate of half a mile per second; and the gun itself weighs 64 tons. Seven sea miles away it strikes a plate of armor 14 inches thick with such terrific power that it slices clear through it. Fired at a shorter range, when it is tested out at the Indian Head Proving Grounds on the shores of the Potomac River, it passes through this plate at the almost unbelievable speed of less than a thousandth part of a second. When the Pennsylvania fires its battery of twelve 14-inch guns it lets loose 16,800 pounds of metal at the one blow. When the new ships that ai'e to carry ten 16-ineh guns deliver that broadside from 262 BIG GUNS AND IJTTI.E ()X?:S 263 tlioir tiin-ets 21,000 pounds of the 2,100-pouiKl shells will toar through the air in a mighty mass. Besides all these guns, ranging from the 16-inch to the semi- automatic one-pounder, we now have a new gun, the anti-aircraft gun, which the Navy calls her sky gun. These are for protection against Zeppelins and aeroplanes, and are so mounted that they can be fired straight up into the air. They fire a three-pound shell at the aircraft, and are semi-automatic in action. All our Navy guns, whether made at the Washington Navy Yard or by such private iirms as the Bethlehem Steel Company, are tested out at the U. S. Naval Proving Grounds at Indian Head, Maryland. This lies twenty-five miles below "Washington, on the left bank of the Potomac, and with its extent of one thousand acres there is also a clear water range of six and one-half miles. Besides testing the shells against heavy armor plate, backed up by timbers and sand, the velocity of the shell is found by a clever device. Two screens of electrically connected wires are placed in front of the muzzle. As the shell tears first through one, and then the other, the time of passage from one screen to the other is registered by a delicate instrument. The powder used in these tests and in battle is smokeless powder. The old black powder is used only for salutes and for the bursting charges of the shells. Smokeless powder ranges in color from light lemon to dark brown, and is perforated, for all the world like macaroni. It is perfectly safe to light it in the open air, but when it is ignited in a closed place, like the interior of a gun, it develops powerful gases that drive out the shell at a rate as great as 3,000 feet the tirst second of the flight. The Navy has a handy way of marking its shells so that one can tell at a glance what they are used for. The armor-piercing shell is painted black, with a yellow nose to show that it is loaded with high explosive. The common shell, which is not used against heavy-armored ships, but against objects on shore, is painted lead-color. The shrapnel, used against bodies of troops or trenches, is painted white ; and the blind shell, which is used in target practice, and which has sand in place of the bursting charge, is painted red. The weight of modern naval shells ranges from 33 pounds for the 4-inch to 1,400 pounds for the 14-inch. The blunt nose or cap shown in the photograph grouped with the old cannon balls, or round shell, is for the purpose of increasing the penetration of the projectile when it strikes armor by protecting the sharp point of the shell which it 2CA TKIK ^FARVEL BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS OLD ROUND SHOT AND OLD FORM OF STEEL CAPPED t>llELLl RANCiING FROM 4- TO 13-INCH ARMOR PIERCING SHELLS FROM S'TD 12-INCH WITH MOD- ERN LONG POINTED SOFT CAPS GIVING GREATER RANGE AND PENETRATION Courtesy of "Our A''fli'?/" THE BEST ARGUMENTS FOR PEACE covers. In passing through armor this nose is stripped off bnt it has then il(ine its work. Of the three shells, or projec- tiles, nsed by our Navy, the armor piercing and com- mon sliell are of forged and tem- ]H'red steel. Their chief difference is in the size of the inside cavity which holds the bursting charge of explo- sive. The armor piercers hold from 2 to ?> per cent, of h i g Ji explosive, which bursts the s h t' 11 into frag- ments after it has ]iassed through ar- mor and into the hull of a ship. The I'ragments which are first burst by 1 h e resistance of the a r m o r a r e broken into still smaller pieces by t h e b u r s t i n g charge, and the fly- ing bits of steel kill men and w reck guns, as they have a vei'v high veloc- ity. BIG GUNS AND LITTLE ONES 265 At Indian Head shells arc sometimes fired with the cavity loaded with sand. One of onr photogi'aphs shows the sand-loaded shell after the armor has stripped off its cap. The latest type of armor-piercing shells from 5- to 12-inch caliber have a long pointed cap that gives them more accurate flight and much greater range than was possible when the blunt cap was used. As the photograph of these latest shells shows, they are much like a modern rifle cartridge in shape. Courtesy of "Flyuig" THE FIRST HUMAN FLIGHT. ORVILLE WRIGHT, DEC. 17, 1903 XXIII FIGHTING SHIPS THAT FLY WHEN the great coiiHict in Europe began in 1914 the part that jiaval aircraft would play in war was little appreciated. That the control of the air might be necessary before the great object of all naval battles, the command of the sea, could be assured, was then admitted by few naval experts. The first months of the war found the navies of Europe equipped with but a handful of the fighting shii^s that fly. Now the general term of seaplanes covers all flying craft that can operate both on the water and above it, whether they have for their sea body a single boat-sha]ied hull or two pontoons. Their seaplanes were practiced in scouting and observing, but not in range-finding for the gi;ns of the fleets or in dropping bombs. The war brought out these and still other uses for the seaplanes and gave to the navies of the world a new fighting arm. We will not wait long to see in our own country's Navy our present squadron of seaplanes become a great air fleet that will require a corps of pilots and observers to man. A leading aeronautic expert. Mi-, llcniy Woodhouse, has drawn for us a stirring jiieture of the work tliat such an air fleet could do in wai'. 26t> FIGHTING SHIPS THAT FLY 267 "A dirigible lialting a sliii) at sea: a squadron of aeroijlanes attacking a cruiser witli bombs; a fleet of seaplanes starting from hangar-ships at sea to attack military bases; a seaplane launching torpedoes — these are events of tremendous imi)ort. They mark a new stage in the development of naval aeronautics and show clearly the advent of a new epoch, a period when the ships of the sea must face a new and j^otential adversary ; when transports equipped with torpedo launching seaplanes will be a match to armored warships, and naval battles will be preceded by aerial battles, and the side winning in the air will have preponderous advantage over the other." Although the United States was behind the great nations of Europe in the number and skill of its birdmen when the European War began, that war was but two years old before the American Government took steps to put our country on a par with them. They were Americans, after all, who gave the world the aeroplane and the first practical hydroaeroplane, or flying boat. Wilbur and Orville Wright began their experiments with the aeroplane fourteen years before the Great War awakened Americans to the wonderful part that aircraft were to play in warfare. Their first flight lasted but twelve seconds over the barren sand dunes at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. It was another American, Glenn H. Curtiss, who made the first successful flight in a flying boat. He was then working on aeroplanes for the Navy and experimented with a biplane equipped with floats. Giving this up for one with a true boat bodj', straightway came success. That was in 1911, and the first great stride toward giving the American Navy its fleet of fighting boats that fly followed five years after when Congress set aside $3,500,000 for naval aircraft alone. These are the aircraft in which we are interested, for they are as much at home in the water as in the air. They can fly by compass far out of sight of land, and their skippers and pilots are trained solely to fight for and with the Fleet. There is a great dift'erence in flying over land and in flights over water. For that reason the Navy has its own Aeronautic Station. In water flying the aviator has, under favorable conditions, a level surface on which to alight, while the land flyer has often to land on a spot thick with obstacles. The air conditions, too, are generally better at sea. These advantages, however, are partly wiped out by the fact that the water machine is harder to handle in the air, because of the large and heavy float it must carry. Navy aviators, all keen and alert young officei's, will tell you that 268 FIGHTING SHU'S THAT FLY 269 when road}' for their first flight tiiey always remembered at some time having looked down from a great height. The memory was not a pleasant one and they expected to repeat it on that first fliglit. With- out exception they found that this dreaded sensation was entirely lacking even when they looked straight down. They will also tell you that the "air holes" we read about are fiction. The pressure of the atmosphere is so great that it takes a cyclone to make even a tiny hole in the air. It may seem curious to think of our Navy flyers as authorities on such phases of flying, but the world's record for height in flying is a United States Navy record. Lieutenant Kichard C. Saufley, U. S. N., who lost his life in an accident in 1916, first made the record on December 3, 1915, when he soared up to a height of 12,136 feet in a hydroaeroplane. He smashed this world record again on March 29, 1916, when he piloted his machine in a climb of three hours to a height of 16,700 feet, or two and one-tliird miles. The first American bird- men who operated any type of aircraft under war conditions were two American naval officers. That was four months before the European War broke out. While the bluejackets and marines under Admiral Fletcher were holding the Mexican port of Vera Cruz in April, 1914, the battleship Mississippi steamed into Vera Cruz with a regiment of marines and two hydroaeroplanes from the naval aeronautic station at Pensacola, Florida. The machines were hastily assembled and launched, and their officer pilots, armed with bombs, scouted over the territory .\ llVDIiOAKUnl'LANE KKTUKMNXi FKOM .\ FLIGHT 270 TIIK .MAia'EL BOOK OF AMKKICAX SHIPS NINE FLYING BOATS AND HYDROAEROPLANES OF THE CURTISS, WRIGHT, AND BUR- GESS TYPES AT THE U. S. NAVY's STATION, PENSACOLA, FLORIDA occupied b}^ Mexican troops ten miles to the west, lifteen to tlie north, and twelve miles to the south of the city, bringing back valuable information. The flying school of the Navy is at Pensacola, Florida. Here is a land-locked bay five miles wide and fifteen long, with its practice for flying over smooth water. Only a narrow strip of land separates it from the Gulf of Mexico and it takes but a few minutes of flying to find the open sea. Straight out into the Gulf the seaplanes wing, without a landmark, buoy, or lighthouse to guide them, nothing but tlie compass. The station has its concrete and its floating hangars to house the fleet of seaplanes, its dirigilile, the captive kite oliservation balloon and the free balloon. The kite balloons can be sent up 1,500 feet above the deck of a battleship, at the end of a cable which is reeled on deck. The ])asket 271 272 FIGHTING SHIPS THAT FLY 273 Courtesy of "Flying'' A BURGESS-DUNNE WARPLANE WITH A BENET-MERCIER GUN MOUNTED ON IT The special mounting for liolding the gun and the open front and sides afforded by the shape of the Dunne wings give a range of 240 degrees fur the gun hung fi'om each balloon carries two officers. From their lofty perch you can imagine how much farther they can see than the spotters on the platforms of the military masts who can see ten miles to sea. Over a telephone wire the men in the basket send their news back to the battleship below. The kites are 81 feet overall, 22 feet high and broad, and Aveigh each 1,081 pounds. CHirious flaps or air pockets at the side are kept open by guy lines. These pockets and the tail cups that look so much like the tail of a boy's kite, are to steady the kite and the basket beneath. It is not a rare thing, however, for the kite to drop a hundred feet Avithout warning, and officers for whom gales have no terrors at sea fall easy victims to seasickness when flying above the sea in the unruly kite balloons. The Pensacola Station is as busy as a beehive. Scouts speed away and glide back. New officers take their first "joy ride." Motors and machines are tested in the shops. In other buildings experts on all aeronautic subjects deliver lectures. 274 THE MARVEL BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS When a new officer reports for duty an instructor first takes him up, to show him how it feels to fly. Then come studies and flights; work in the shop to learn the construction and repair of machine and motors; and experiments with the dirigible and balloons. Soon he is allowed to handle a machine himself with the instructor at his side, and finally he flies alone. A medical officer examines him once a week to see that his nerves are equal to the strain of flying. Any failure either in the work or in the medical examinations is the end of the course. The flying work of the Navy goes only to picked men. As the course goes on it becomes more exciting. The student learns to make spirals, to climb to higher altitudes, to fly in rough weather, to lay his course by compass out at sea, and he is tried out for endurance by long flights in the air. When he passes these tests he must be launched from a catapult while a ship is underway. He lands in deep sea waves and is hoisted aboard ship in his machine. He sends and receives radio messages while aloft ; and then comes the test for a Naval Aviator's certificate. In this trial the work is much the same but under more difficult conditions. For instance, he must climb 10,000 feet and land between certain marks with his motor cut off while 1,000 feet up in the air. He must find a vessel 100 miles out at sea by compass bearings. He must fly in very bad weather and must personally prepare his machine for launching from a cruiser's deck up to the pulling of the trigger of the catapult. One more test comes which is mainly in air navigation. When he passes this he is a Navy Air Pilot and can fly when he pleases and do as he pleases in the air. All our liattle cruisers and scouts are equipped with a catapult for launching seaplanes into the air from the ship's deck. The machine is secured to a car propelled along a track at a final speed of 50 miles an hour. At the start the machine's motor is also started. At the end of the track the car is halted and the machine released for its flight in the air, like some great sea bird, her crew ready for fighting or scouting as the case may be. Without the catapult's help it would be impossible for the seaplane to "get off" in rough open sea water without being wrecked. The Navy flyers have found it a simple matter to land on the open sea and then be hoisted aboard. To start the flight out at sea was a puzzle until an American naval officer invented the catapult. The machine flies alongside, rests on the water like a great sea fowl, and is hoisted aboard. Along steams the cruiser until it is time to send up the flyer. With all the building of anli-aii'craft or "sky" guns to bring FIGHTING SHIPS THAT FLY 275 down the lords of the air, the most effective way is still to figlit them from the air. The first machine-gun used with success in the European War in an aeroplane was the Lewis gun, the invention of an American army ofticer. So our Navy flyers carry light machine-gunh that can reel off their strings of flying bullets to bring down the enemy planes, and the crews carry automatic pistols for fighting at close range. Besides this they are equipped with bombs and gear with which to drop them on their target. The dropping of explosives and bombs from the height of a mile has been practiced with good results. In time of war our seaplanes would be used to drop them on fleets, sub- marine bases, navj^ yards, and the hangars of enemy aerial fleets. You can imagine what havoc one dropped into a funnel or hatchway of a man-o'-war would work. Steel arrows dropped from a height in clusters have shown almost as much offensive power as the bullets of a machine-gun. Scouting over the open sea is now done by our naval birdnien even in foggy weather, and far out of sight of land. To hide them from enemy scouts their wings are usually painted in striped colors that blend with the sea and sky when at a distance. When they are well up in their machines they can see objects some distance beneath U.NE UF TUP. L.VUl.L 600 II. P. IIALIAN CAPRONI TRIPLANES WHICH HAVE BEEN USED EXTENSIVELY TO BOMB THE AUSTRIAN BASES ,,(.-/ „f "Flying" A SUBMARINE TWENTY FEET UNDER WATER WITH SHADOW OF THE AEROPLANE ACROSS IT 270 Cinirlesii of ' Fining" A GOODYEAR DIRIGIBLE MAKING READY FOR A CRUISE Courtesy of "Flying" THE GOODRICH, NON-RIGID TYPE DIRIGIBLE BUILT FOR THE AMERICAN NAVY (PASSED BY THE censor) 277 !7S TIIK MARVEL BOOK OF AMKRICAX SHIPS the surface of the water, just as the fash-hawk locates his prey. Sub- marines fifty feet under water are easily picked up and followed by the fast 23lanes. Mine fields have no refuge from the keen-eyed pilots of the air. They are the "eyes of the Fleet" and if we had had but one at the time of the Spanish "War the Fleet would have long before located Oervera's squadron in Santiago harbor. It might have located the Spanish ships before they reached that haven and ended the war then and there. So we can see how our new aerial fleet will sweep away "the fog of war" in future battles. It was Wellington who com- plained that he could only guess what was going on "on the olhei- side of the hill, ' ' for in those days scouting Avas limited to cavalry. One of the greatest services that our air fleet will give in battle will be to fly well ahead of the Fleet to watch the fall of her shells. Either by wireless or by dropping smoke bombs that tell the story they will flash back to the g-uns the correct range. When the battle and scout cruisers speed out far ahead of the battle line the dirigibles and seaplanes will go with them. Then may come a great fight between the enemy air fleets, or it may be the role of the birdmen to fly back with news of the enemy for the .Admiral. While t h e modci'n Zeppelin, with the length of the super- dreadnought of to-day, is in the true sense not a fighting ship, for it is helpless in the water, no ^ . , naval air fleet will be Courtesy <'J '/ w '"/ A ZEPPKLIN ATTACK ON LONDON DEPICTED BY A GERMAN C"mp'f te WlthOUt tlieiU. ARTIST Compared with the FIGHTING SHIPS THAT FLY 279 lieavler-tlian-air flyers they have their advantages and their draw- backs. They can travel farther from their base. They can carry a far greater cargo of explosives. From their steadier flight they can drop them with greater accuracy, and observation liom them is better for this reason. The seaplane is faster and harder to bring down. Flying at 200 feet a second, it is a smaller target. It is harder to put out of action too, for a hit on a Zeppelin is almost sure to cause the explosion of the great gas bag. It is easier handled at its base, for the dirigible needs a great building for its shelter. The seaplane's jiilot can fire his machine-gun in any direction, while the Zeppelin's gimners cannot fire above its huge bulk at an enemy seaplane overhead. The Zeppelin is liaTd to maneuver in high winds. While it can fly fifty miles an hour, it cannot rise to little more than half the height of an aeroplane because of the gas pressure in its silken envel- ope. The first Victoria Cross won in the air was awarded to Flight Sub-Lieutenant Warneford of the Eoyal Naval Air Service when he destroyed a Zeppelin single-handed from his seaplane. Unless it would flirt with almost sure destruction from a cloud of seaplanes the Zeppelin must do its raiding at night. Then the ghost- like craft, double-ended like a lead-pencil and 600 feet in length, does its most deadly work. The sweeping fingers of searchlights catch it in their web of light but the shells bursting near rarely find their mark at night. Perhaps the best protection against these terrors of the sky, which "know no frontiers," is the Aerial Coast Patrol that both naval and military experts have worked for. The first American unit, oper- ating with the Mosquito Fleet of destroyers and motorboats off the Atlantic Coast in 1916, located the ships of the attacking fleet as well as submerged mines. With two to three times the speed of destroyers they proved a great factor in locating and following submarines even when submei'ged. With a picket line of seaplanes along our coasts, operating fifty to one hundred miles offshore like so many winged sentinels, ships fifty miles distant could be seen. Back to the nearest shore radio would go news of the enemy's approach, throwing into action the Fleet, the Destroyer and the Submarine Forces, and calling to the threatened section the coast defense troops. As fast as new machines are turned out there are new volunteers from officers and enlisted men of both the Na\^ and the Marines to •280 THE MARVEL BOOK OE AMERICAN SHIPS take the course at the Navy's flying school in Florida. Flying never loses its interest and thrill. To fly for the Fleet adds to its charm, for it then has a purpose. Behind the fascination of it lies the lure of a new and powerful weapon of warfare that will fight its future battles thousands of foet above deepsea water. THE KOOKlKiS LKAli.\ lu bLI.NG A HAMMOCK AND VULL A cL lliai ON SHOKE XXIV THE SOLDIERS OF THE SEA THE marines were the first of our regular services to don the American uniform, for before the Continental Congress formed the Army or the Navy it nuistered in "two battalions of Ameri- can Marines" on the tenth of November, 1775, as the first step to arm for the coming war with Great Britain. In the early days of the Reiniblic the marines were soldiers pure and simple, stationed on board our frigates and sloops-of-war as sharp- shooters to pick off gun's crews on hostile ships when the "men of iron" fought their "wooden ships" at a i^istol's length; and to quell the mutinies that broke out among the hard-bitten, undisciplined sailormen who had not learned th'e discipline of a man-o'-war. It is easy to see that little love was lost then between sailors and marines, for the latter did little of the ship's work and, in the expressive term of the sea, were known as "idlers," or "politicians." The American marine of to-day, however, despite his soldierlike uniform, is no "idler" on board ship. He mans the same boat, falls with his bluejacket shipmate, drills at the same batteries, and works at the guns in the frenzied endeavor of his ship to win the battle 2S1 Copi/rigU, J. B. Gelmer A S-INCH GUN CREW ON THE " NEW YORK " ADVANCE BASE PRACTICE IN MOUNTING G-INCH GUN 283 284 Tin-: .MAR^'EL BOOK OF AMP^RICAX SHIPS READY TO DEFEND A NAVAL BASE IN THE WEST INDIES efficiency pennant tluit flies over the crack gnnnery sliip of the Fleet'. He coals ship to the same music ; double banks the thwarts with his shipmate in the liberty boats; shoots side by side on the ship's rifle team; and works with the brawn of his ship- hardened nuiscle for the winning touchdown. And when the ship's battalion lands in some tropical country to raise the Stars and Stripes on an alien flag- staff, the bluejacket, who has taught the marine how to make a bowline, or sling- his hammock, follows without a moment's hesitation the advice of the sea soldier on scouting or street fighting. The Spanish-American War ended the old days when the marine was content to act as an infantryman whose main duties on board ship were orderly and sentry duties. Now he must handle a twelve-foot ash oar in a seaway and do his trick at the In-ails in a sailing cutter. He must know how to rig shear legs a n d transport a seven-inch n aval gun ashore and then move it to the top of a hill and there mount it where it commands the entrance to the port w h i c h the Fleet must use as a base. He must take his trick at coaling ship a n d getting ainmuni- tiitn and stores on the mauinks man the tokpedo dekknse ta.\s -^ PI.DIKUS (IF 'IIII.: SKA" THE SOLDIERS OF THE SEA 2S5 A BATTLESHIP S DETACHMENT READY FOR LANDING board. He has his own part of the berth deck and his own battery of five-inch gnns and must be ready at any hour of night to turn out and man them w h e n the bugle shrills its call and the battle gongs warn of a night attack by destroyers. At sea he drills on decks that slant as the ship steams through long swells and lands the next day for a battalion review at a navy-yard. He keeps house with a sea-bag, ditty-box, and locker, and learns the mechanism of every piece aboard ship, from the quick-firing five-inchers to the delicate machine-guns that fire the service rifle's cartridge. The sig- nals are an open book to him, and the marine has acquired the sea habit that makes him, as Kiiiling puts it, "soldier and sailor too." The destiny of the IMarine Corps has, from the birth of the Republic, been woven deeply into the warp and woof of the Stars and Stripes. They have fought in every sea fight in Avhich the American colors have flown, and their song, "From the Plalls of Montezuma to the Plains of Tripoli," is not an idle boast. Under Lieutenant Prestley N. O'Bannon they marched seven li u n d r e d miles through the North African desert in 1805 to haul down the flag of the Bey of Tripoli on the fortress of Derne, and run up the (irst American flag to fly over a cap- tured fortress of the Old World. The A CUTTER DRILL IN THE NORTH RIVER Florida Indian A REGIMENT ON A TROPICAL DRILLGROUND ADVANCE BASE WORK IN THE TROPICS 2S6 THE SOLDIERS OF THE SEA 287 wars called them next, and they rushed Malay stockades seventy-five years before the Philippines came under our rule. The Fiji Islanders and the pirates of Korea were chastised by them six different times. With the Army they marched to Chapultepec in 1846: Robert E. Lee led them in the capture of John Brown at Harper's Ferry, and through the long Civil War they fought under Farragut and Porter. When the Spanish War broke out the marines were the first troops to land at Guantanamo, where thej^ drove out the Spanish troops to give the Fleet a base for supplies and repairs. Again, when the nations hurried relief columns to the aid of their legations at Peking at the time of the Boxer outbreak in 1900, they were the first American troops to land. Panama was an old stamping-ground of the sea sol- diers, for under our treaty rights the United States held the right to land men to keep the railroad on the Isthnms free of interference from tJie revolutionists, who kept the canal strip in a turmoil for several years. In more recent years the marines and bluejackets from the Fleet restored order in Nicaragua after a spirited campaign. In the capture of Coyotepe Hill, when the marines were ready to advance the blue- jackets were ordered to be held in reserve, as their white uniforms would make shining targets for the defenders of the hill. With shoe brushes and yellow mud the sailors daubed their whites until tliey took on the khaki color of the marines' uniforms, and then all streamed u}) the hill that never before had been stormed. Again, when the Fleet was ordered to seize Vera Cruz in April, 1914, a brigade of marines from the LTnited States and from the detachments of the Fleet landed with their bluejacket brothers and brought new honors to the flag in the three days of street fighting that ended in the surrender of the Mexican seaport. When the Fleet was able to withdraw, and Funston's brigade arrived from Galveston, the brigade of marines became, for the next six months, a part of the Army to all intents. There came a year of quiet for the sea soldiers and then Haiti, a hotbed of revolutions and anarchy, needed a touch of what Theodore Roosevelt once described as the "loaded end of the Big Stick." Hardly had the marines restored quiet to the Black Rei)ublic before a regiment landed at Santo Domingo to repeat the work of their brother sea soldiers. As the Marine (*orps is a part of the Xavy, and its military branch, we can land them at any spot where American interests arc in danger, where to land any part of the Army would be equal to a declaration of war. Because of this rule of intei-national law the mai'ines have THE MARINES OF THE " NEVADA" REGIMENTAL DRESS PARADE AT I.EA(.L K I.SLAND NAVY YARD 2SS COOKING IN THE FIELD THE LEGATION GUARD AT PEKING, CHINA 2S9 2!)0 TIIK MAK\'KL I'.OOK OF AMKlfK'AX Sllll'S )1'K in I'V (I.N A HA I'I'LKSIIlr seen service in al- most every quarter of the globe, and this has made it a force that can be moved at the short- est notice, ready f r any kind of lighting. W hen acting with the Fleet they keep their role as a part of the Xavy, but when the Anny is in charge, as at Peking and Yova Cruz in the later days, the adaptable marine is temporarily trans- ferred to the Army for service until he is returned to shipboard or barracks. When a detachment of the Army is sent overseas it is no easy task to break up the routine of a post, and transports must be chartered, but it is only a bit of rou- tine to send the ma- rines. Their trans- port is their home, and the Fleet is their ever read y base of supplies. The main duties of the marines to- day are to furnish detaclunents for all battleships a n d cruisers, ranging frojii fifty to seven- ty-five men under one or two officers ; to f u r ni s h regi- ments or battalions for expeditionary work such as in observing aktillekv fire THE SOLDIERS OF THE SEA 291 Santo Domingo; to furnish guards for navy-yards, wireless stations, and arsenals ; to garrison our foreign stations in the Philippines, Guam, and Hawaii; guards for the American legations in Peking, China, and at Managua, Nicaragua ; and to take care of the advance bases that the Fleet might establish in time of war. This last would be the principal duty in wartime. Out at San Diego on the Oalifornian coast, and at the League Island Navy Yard at Philadelphia, they are trained in large bodies for the duties of advance base w■• ^ I • ^ ■< iih I ^ ■ Courtesy of "Our Navy" AliL IN THE DAY S WORK XXV HEROES OF THE COAST GUARD IN the maritime world the United States Coast Guard holds a unique and interesting position. Maintained by the Government primarily to save life and property from the perils of the sea, it has never failed to respond nobly in defending the nation in times of war. The very guns with which the cruising cutters of the Coast Guard are armed, while used to hurl death-dealing shells at our enemies, are called upon in the piping times of peace to shoot life- lines to wrecked vessels for the purpose of saving the lives of the imperiled crews and passengers. In times of war the Coast Guard stands for the self-preservation of the nation, and when peace reigns it is our greatest agent to help those in danger at sea. The Coast Guard, as now named and organized, did not come into existence until 1915, when CoiTgress combined the then existing Revenue-Cutter and Life-Saving Services into the Coast Guard. The Revenue-Cutter Service was established in 1790 for the purpose of preventing smuggling and aiding in the national defense. In fact it was the first armed sea service of the United States, as no regular navy existed at that time. Before the Navy was organized in 179G the vessels used for naval purposes during the Revolutionary War and forming the Continental Navy had been abandoned. 293 294 TIIK MAin'ET. BOOK OF AArEKTOAN SHIPS COAST GUARD CADETS AT NEW LONDON ACADEMY The earlier rov- emie cutters \v e r e small, fast sailing vessels, of about 100 tons, each manned by about tliii'ty ofiicers anil men and armed w i t li cannon. Al- though diminutive in size, their crews were fearless and daring. Many deeds of brav- ery were performed, both in peace and in war. D u r i n g the trouljle with France in 1798 and 1799 one of these cutters, the Picl'ci'iiuj. alone cai)tured ten prizes in engagements with the French, and another cutter, the Eagle, captured five. During the War of 1812 the first capture made was that of the British topsail schooner Patriot by the revemie cutter Jefferson. A total of fourteen British vessels captured, with their crews and guns, briefly tells the story of the prowess of the Revenue-Cutter Service in that war. In the troubles with the Seminole Indians, several revenue cutters ])layed so conspic- uous a part as to win the praise of the naval officer in charge of the sea forces. In the war with Mexico five revenue cutters were engaged in the naval opera- tions a 11 d ix'r- formed v a 1 i a n t ashoue in a navy yard for drill TIEROT-^S OF TIIF; COAST (JrATfO 295 service in connection with the blockading fieet along the Mexican Coast. The cutters were engaged in the Paraguayan expedition, in the Civil "Wai', and in the war with Spain. During the Civil War it was to a revenue cutter that the then Secretary of the Treasury wired his famous oi'der, "If any man hauls down the A m eric a n flag, shoot him on the spot." It was to the cap- tain of a revenue cut- ter that Congress awarded the only gold medal granted by that body for conspicuous service during the war with Spain. Although gallant service has been ren- dered to the Govern- ment by the Coast Guard in every war in which this country has been engaged, it is its peaceful function of saving lives and prop- erty that has made it most famous. As our maritime commerce grew, the importance of the revenue cutters as aids to vessels in distress increased in proportion. For many years past the Presi- dent has issued an annual proclamation directing all cutters along the Atlantic Coast to cruise vigilantly at sea from December 1st until April 1st for the purpose of lending aid to vessels in distress. So important did the services of these Government vessels become that there arose a general demand for similar aid to vessels in dis- tress along the shores. Yielding to this demand, the former Life- Photo by U. S. S. "Seneca," C. G. COAST GUAJID CUTTERS PATROL THE YALE-HARVARD BOAT RACES l29(i TIIK ^FAKVEL P.OOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS Saving Service was autliiu'lzeast (iuard Acadcmv, /■/,„/,. In, f\,i,i E II R.rfh.ilf. V. .S, C, G. A HEKl) OK .SKA LloXS HEROES OF THE COAST GUARD 305 which is operated along lines similar to the Naval Academy. No polit- ical influence is necessary to secure appointments as cadets in the Coast Guard. Examinations for appointment are strictly competitive and are open to all young Ajnericans who possess the necessary qualifi- cations. The instructicm is both theoretical and practical. The Coast Guard cutter liasca, formerly the Bancroft, built for the cadets of the Naval Academy, is annually detailed to take the Coast Guard cadets on a cruise extending over a period of from three to four months. Practical instruction in seamanship, navigation, and engineering is given all cadets, and at the end of the three years' course they are proficient in the duties of a third lieutenant, to which rank they are appointed. The commissioned ranks of the Coast Guard correspond to similar ranks in the Army and Navy. Republics are notoriously ungrateful, we are told, but our country is keenly alive to the self-sacrificing heroism that has always marked its gallant Coast Guard. Photo by McAboy THE NAVAL ACADEMY'S ATHLETIC FIELD XXVI THE UNITED STATES NAVAL ACADEMY IN the early days of tlic American Navy our officers began as mere boys, scarcely in their teens, to learn the duties of their profes- sion on board the frigates. It was a rough and ready school, and it developed such famous officers as John Paul Jones, Stejihen Decatur, David Farragut, and otliei-s who won distinction in our early wars. They were stationed in the waist or midship portion of the ship while under way, or in battle, to pass orders along, and for this reason they were known as midshipmen. It was only in recent years that the old name was brought back after the term "naval cadet" had been in use for several years, and its retuin was a pojiular change. ' As the Navy grew, however, its officers were the first to see that they needed more training than was possible aboard shi]i, ami for 300 THE UX1TP]I) STATES NAVAL ACADEMY 307 years they fought for a better school than the decks of the frigates and sloops-of-war for the training of the midshipmen. Finally, in 1845, their fight was crowned with success. George Bancroft, the Secretary of the Navy, gave them the Naval School, and to-day many officers who are graduates of the modern Naval Academy refer to it as the Navy School. It was founded at Annapolis, the capital of Maryland, where the Severn River enters the Chesapeake Bay. The old round walls of the Army post at Fort Severn were the first quarters for the middies, and later the Government bought the beautiful grounds and old man- sion of Maryland's colonial governors. There was little system in the arrangement of the old buildings, and few of them had any dis- tinction of beauty in themselves until the present new group of build- ings took their place early in 1900. But the fine old elms that shaded the walks and the vistas of the bay sparkling in the sunlight had a great charm. Annapolis was a sleepy old town, rich in history, and full of splendid types of colonial architecture. Several signers of the Declaration of Independence lived there or had their plantations in the rolling countryside. It was a fine location for the Navy School, rich in traditions, and of a quiet atmosphere. Sail changed to steam, and wooden ships to iron, and the Naval Copi/rirjhl b,j a. E. Bain THE ACADEMY CAMPUS Photo by McAboy INSTRUCTING IN AUXILIARY ENGINES PHulo tnj McAboy A CLASS IN THE STEAM LM.l.NLl.Ul M. 1)L1'.\ I; 1 ML.M 30S THE UNITED STATES NAVAL ACADEMY 309 School kept pace with the changes and progress of the Navy. To-day the Naval Acad- emy is abreast with naval prog- ress and as science works changes in the Fleet the in- structors at An- napolis keep their midshipmen in step with reforms. Early in the Civil War the Navy School was moved North to Newport, Rhode Island, and then back to its old moorings in 1865. Admiral David D. Porter, one of the naval heroes of the war, became its Superintendent and under his wise rule began the modern Naval Academj'. A board of naval officers recommended sweeping changes in the equipment of the Naval Academy in 1895, the chief of which was a complete set of new buildings to be grouped harmoniously with the natural beauty of the grounds. Congress fell in line with their views and in the spring of 1899 the changes were begun. The Naval Academy of to-day has a great quadrangle or campus surrounded by massive buildings. The midshipmen are quartered in Bancroft Hall, facing the campus on one side and overlooking the parade ground in the rear, with the blue Chesapeake stretching away as far as the eye can see. Bancroft Hall is flanked on one side by the armory, and on the other by the boat-house. Across the square of old turf and great elms, its walks lined by such trophies as captured cannon, the bronze bell brought l)ack from Ja])an by Commodore Perry, and Tecumseh, a famous figurehead of the old frigate Delaivare, lies the Academic Building. The Physics and Chemistry Building is on one side and on the other the Steam Engineering Building. The chief iiAl K Htd.M THE .SUMMEK LRVIfiE 310 THE :\rARVRL BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS building on the other side is the ^lemorial Chapel. Its striking dome is a landmark for miles. Under its cover, in a specially built crypt, lies the body of John Paul Jones, l)rought back from an obscure grave in France through the et^'orts of General Horace Porter, our Ambas- sador, by a squadron of American men-o'-war, in 190(). The cere- monies were attended by the President and his Cabinet, the French Ambassador and other disting-uislied men. In Memorial Chapel the graduation exercises are held and the President comes from Washing- ton to give the diplomas. Officers' quarters and other buildings line the walks, all of which bear the names of famous naval officers. It was in Buchanan Row that Admiral Cervera and the other Spanish officers captured at San- tiago were quartered until the close of the Spanish War. Besides the parade grounds, with its room for the drill of a bri- gade, are other spaces for drill, and well-equipped fields for football, baseball and other sports. The main street of "Crab Town," as the irreverent middies know Annapolis, leads directly to the main gate of the Naval Academy. Here is the midshipman officer of the day, and when you pass through Photu bu McAbiiu READY FOR STEAM LAUNCH MANEUVEii.S THE UNITED STATES NAVAL ACADEMY 311 you are at once struck by the scene. The grounds and buildings are as immaculate as the decks of a ship. A column of midshipmen is swinging along under its officers to some formation. The sound of a bugle comes from a distance, and on the half-hour comes the meas- ured strokes of a ship's bell. Every one seems to be in blue uniform, and over it all lie the outward signs of the perfect discipline that is the pride of the Academy. The same controlling features of Admiral Porter's days are still in force. Let us follow a group of candidates who arrive in Annapolis for the entrance examinations in May. Here is the son of an Army or Navy officer who has grown up in military surroundings, and who walks with the "brace" of a midshipman in his carriage. The boy with him is from an inland town where a ship is unknown; and still another hails from a fresh-water town in the interior. Another, from a great Eastern city, predestined by his father to be a lawyer, is on the threshold of his ambition to follow the sea. Instead of Harvard the Naval Academy is to be his Alma Mater. They must be between the ages of 16 and 20, of sound body and good physique. They must be well grounded in algebra, arithmetic, geometry, English grammar, and the history of the LTnited States, to pass the strict entrance examinations. Once past that ordeal they take the oath of allegiance and are now midshipmen in the United States Navy. They dotf their civilian attire for the navy blue blouse and trousers. On their sleeves is a thin stripe of gold braid and a star. On their collar is a gold anchor, and on their cap the fouled anchor of the midshipmen brigade. The brigade knows them as plebes, but the old custom of hazing or run- ning the plebes died a natural death several years ago. Uncle Sam takes his middies at a critical period in their lives. He isolates them for four years from outside influences and from the start breeds in them the high standards and traditions of honor that are the Navy's. Under the law each Senator, Representative, and Delegate of Congress has the appointment of three midshipmen. Tlie District of Columbia is entitled to two and Porto Rico to one. The President a})points ten more at large from the country and one hundred vacancies are open each year to the enlisted men of the Navy. In 1916 Congress raised the strength of the brigade from 1,200 to 1,700 midshipmen. Our new middies soon learn that their paj^ is to be $600 a year and in addition ration money at the rate of thirty cents a day. From this sum, which is retained by the Academy authorities, each midship- 312 THE MARVEL BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS man receives his uniforms, books and other necessaries, and a small monthly sum for spending-money. t]ach year enough of this sum is held out so that on graduation the newiv-fledged ensigns have on hand Photo by t'aut Th RESTING PLACE OF JOHN PAUL JONES THE UNITED STATES NAVAL ACADEMY 31.3 money willi wliicli to buy their swords and uniforms to report to the Fleet. From reveille to taps the plebes are busy with studies and routine drills. They learn the Swedish setting-up drills, infantry exercises, how to knot and splice, to handle small boats under sail and oars, and how to swim. At night they study in a room sim- ple as the old quarters in the steerage of the frigate where the first American midshipmen lived. There are only a table, wardrobe, and chairs for furniture and there is neither a car- pet nor a rug on the spot- less floor, nor pictures on the walls. What a contrast such a room is to the average college Photo by McAbotj THE COLOR GUARD While the plebes make ready in the summer for the academic year, which begins for the brigade early in October, the midshipmen of the three other classes are off on the summer cruise. One year the practice ships carried the middies to English and Mediterranean i)orts ; the next year to Guantanamo and New England. In 1915 three battle- ships took them on board at Annapolis and proceeded to the Pan- American Exposition in California. The route carried them through the Panama Canal, and the leading sliip, the Missouri, on July 16, 1915, with its crew of midshipmen, won the honor of being the first battleship to pass through. Long before "June Week" — with its rounds of exhibition drills, its dances, and its ceremonies — rolls around, the plebes are erect and strong, faithful and alert in obedience and orders, and snappy in the precision of their many drills. They have absorbed much of the Naval Academy's code of honor. They have learned how to dance as well as how to drill and shoot, and some have already distingaiished them- selves on the many athletic teams that wear the Navy's insignia. Some Pl,„tii hii Paul rimmiisu,,, X. Y. GOING ALOFT ON THE SEVERN 314 THE UNITED STATES NAVAL ACADEMY 315 have ijlayod in the great game against West Point and won the yellow N of the eleven. Others have made the baseball team and its white N. In track athletics, rifle and pistol sliooting, in sailing or swim- ming, in tennis or wrestling, in gymnastics or fencing, still others have won honors. A few have won their seats in the eight-oared racing shell and swept down the Severn to the finishing-line ahead of a crack college crew. In spite of the limited time for athletics at Photo by McAbny MIDSHIPMEN' AT ARTILLERY DRILL the Naval Academy it has ranked for yeais with the best of the colleges in every form of outdoor skill. For less strenuous recreation there is always the broad Chesa- peake for sailing, rowing, and swimming parties. On Saturday after- noons there are the college matches in the season; and on Sunday afternoons and evenings the m'id.shipmen are allowed to visit in An- napolis or seek other recreation. The Armory is the scene of fre- quent hops and more informal dances, and its background of colors and sigiial flags, stacked arms and parked field-pieces, makes the graduating ball a brilliant spectacle. With the end of "June Week" our plebes are now members of the third class, or, as the brigade terms it, "youngsters." Only a scant month of each vear since the day of that oatli of allegiance to SIC TlIK MARVEL I'.OOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS the Governmont have they left the boundaries of Annapolis. Up from Annapolis in a special train they have journeyed with the rest of the brigade to cheer the eleven on in its annual battle with West Point. If you have never seen the brigade tile into the Polo Grounds with the Naval Academy band playing the Navy's favorite, "Nancy Lee," you can hardly imagine how the blue-overcoated and white-gloved MIUSIIIP.MEX PASSING THROUGH PANAMA CANAL midshipmen have looked forward to this great bieak in tlie yearly routine. On through the rest of tlie four-year course the midshiijmen are never out of some military formation during working hours excej^t when they are actually in their quarters. They are mustered and mai-ched to and from recitations and lectures, drills, and meals. All day long companies and divisions are falling in and being dismissed on their return. Bugle calls wake the echoes of the ^Vcademy Grounds from reveille at six mitil taps at ten. The subjects change constantly as time passes. Tliere are sea- manshi)), ordnance, navigation, engineering, mathematics, physics, chemistry, electricity, French and Spanish, drawing, and law to be TIIP] UNITF:L) states naval academy 317 mastered. Miicli of the \\x)ik is jiractical and on the cruises the mid- dies do tlie duties of every grade of the seamen and engineering ratings. The last year is mainly of a professional character, for the first-year men are approaching the time when they must take up the duties of officers on a modern man-o'-war. From the first-class ranks are chosen the midshipmen officers of the brigade, a very practical way of learning- the habit of com- mand. The brigade is a formidable one to handle, organized into three or four full-strength battalions. In the old days the purely military drills were very unpopular with the midshipmen, but the modern naval officer must be expert in artillery and infantry maneu- vers as well as his cadet brother at West Point. In recent years the middies have suffered little in comparison with the gray-jacketed battalion from West Point when the sister academies have appeared together in puljlic. The organization under which the work of converting boys in their teens into full-fledged naval officers is similar to the West Point method. At the head of the Naval Academy is the Superintendent, holding the rank of Captain or Eear-Admiral. Next comes the Com- mandant, and then the heads of the various departments with their assistants. The majority of the instructors are naval officers, while in the departments where modern languages, English, and law are taught there are many college graduates as instructors. The Depart- ment of Discipline is perhaps the most important in the eyes of the brigade. This department takes charge of the conduct of midship- men and makes careful note of the efficiency of any middy placed in a position of authority or responsibility. Demerits awarded for the In-eaking of any Naval Academy regulation not only bar the gates for him on holidays but lower his standing in his class. ^lany of the escapades looked upon lightly at college have more serious results here, and any midshipman guilty of hazing is sure of dismissal. Each offense has its particular punishment under the code that is iron- bound. When the fourth "June Week" arrives the first-class men are allowed many privileges, which are all the more ai^preciated because of the inflexible routine that has surrounded them for four years. They have had a month's furlough following each practice cruise. These furloughs and the trips to the Army-Navy football game each fall are the only gaps in the long training. They are ready to break ranks for the last time and report after the graduation furlough to their ships as ensigns. ^Fany go to the P)attleshii) Fleet in the Atlan- 31S TIIK :\IARVEL BOOK OF AMHKICAX SHIPS tic and others to the Cruiser Squadron of the Pacific. Otliers have orders to report to a cruiser oi- gunboat on the Asiatic Station and some to either the submarine or desti'oyer forces. It may be years before room-mates meet, but tlien it will bo in uniform in some port of the Seven Seas. The Naval Academy deserves well of the American people. It has never failed to give to the nation its quota of keen, intelligent, well-disci])lined junior naval officers. They not only have served their country with distinction in every naval fight in our history, but in the Far East, in the unsettled countries that border on the Caribbean, and in every other corner of the world, they have settled diplomatic problems with a skill and firmness that often have averted war. I'holo hu Paul Tho THE FAVORITE SPORT IS BOAT RACING XXVII ATHLETICS IN THE FLEET IT would seem to a landsman that the Fleet, with its monster ships of the line, its swift dcstroj^ers, grim submarines, trim cruis- ers, and its thousands of bluejackets and marines keyed up to instant readiness for battle, would have little time or encouragement for frivolous athletics. But athletics play a big and useful part in the Fleet's routine and nothing adds more to the contentment and effi- ciency of the Navy. Not only do its officers — from the Admiral, his sleeve heavy with gold lace, down to the ensign just out of Annap- olis, with one slim stripe on his sleeve — stamp athletics with whole- souled approval, but so does the Government by official action. Uncle Sam knows its value and appropriates thousands yearly to buy uniforms and athletic supplies that a university would be proud to own, gives trophies and pennants to the winning teams, and arranges an all-year-round schedule for ships and men to follow. It was the Duke of AVellington who said tliat the battles of Eng- 319 320 THE MARVEL BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS land were won on the athletic fields of Eton. The American naval officer of to-day will tell you that due credit will go to the athletics in the Fleet when our future sea fights are won. The old adage that "All work and no play makes .Tack a dull boy" goes hand in hand with the knowledge that athletic competitions develop the cool heau, the strength, and the headlong coui'age tliat modern naval battles demand of the man-o'-war's-man. The Navy's policy is not to develop a few brilliant champions, but to encourage every man in uniform to put on the cleated shoe or the track jersey. There is hardly a form of sport that is not included in the Fleet's busy year. With this variety and the ship rivalry, inter- est in athletics never flags from January to December. "When it is recalled that every officer and man has had to pass a rigid physical examination to enter the Navy, it is easy to see that the Fleet has material for its teams that any college coach would envy. Many of the officers have distinguished themselves as star athletes at Annap- olis and in them the Fleet has a corps of coaches. In competitions one officer is allowed to play on each team with the exception of the track team. Others help in training the teams, and on the athletic 1 li ^■I^^^^^^^^^^^^^HHH^HL- ^^^^ .ajiy^pB ^^^^^Kfc,7 , .„_ ,.-„;„;, , ^■, r .11 m;^^mmmS^^M Pholo by Paul Th.mpson. X. Y. H.\LF .\N HOUR AFTER ANCHORING ATHLETICS IN THK FLEET 321 field the bulkhead of rank between officer and man is forgotten and no service in the world is so democratic. The crews, too, are in training- all the year round with their daily routine of drills and physical exer- cises, regular hours, wholesome food, clean habits, and life in the open. The recruit, before he is judged fit to wear the ship ribbon of a man-of-war, has to pass through a stiff course of physical exercises at the training station to which he is first ordered. Here lie has his r.23t.'. W»ji>Ti<"tr_' - jiQS^^^ff^ imtififii^ik START OF A WHALEBOAT Ti \i K teams and outside matches, and the stations are to the Fleet as the preparatory schools are to the colleges in supplying fine material. When he conies up the gangway of his first ship with sea-bag and hammock he finds chance for distinction in a greater field. Every battleship or cruiser, and every destroyer squadron, has its complete organization. The Captain appoints an Athletic Officer who has gen- eral charge of all teams. He also selects other officers, who have direct control of either football, baseball, boat-racing, track and swimming, basketball, boxing, and wrestling or gymnastics. The athletic season opens with the Summer Drill Period when the Fleet unites at a northern port. One week of this period, in which the Fleet fights an imaginary invader and carries out drills 322 THE .MARN'EL BOOK oF AMKRICAN SHIPS (lay and n i g h t, is k 11 o w 11 as Athletic Week. War is forgot- ten and all drills and work are practically suspended. Athletics h a V e the " " right of way," as tlie sailor- IIK'U put it. The sailing a n d rowing regattas fill out the greater part of the Athletic Week. Of all the sports that Hre the Fleet with enthusiasm n o n e nutranks that of tlie pulling races. IJaces rowed two or three score years ago, when American cutters and whaleboats showed their heels to the pick of for- eign navies, still live in the tradi- tions of the Navy and are told on the forecastles and in Ihe wardrooms. It is the favorite test ill which Yankee tars meet their in- lernational rivals. At times, such as t h e i^>raziliaii K e b (' 1 1 i o n of 1S93, and in. 1914 dui'ing tlie ^[exicaii Insurrection, men-of-war of all nationalities are assenihled in the harbor. On such occasions the unsettled conditions Courtesy oj "Flert Iterieii" THE WINNINO BOAI CARRIES A BROOM IN THE BOW '^??^ e q t r f f t <; -.j'Sti^^s^^ Conrtesy nj "Our Savy" THE WINNING BOATS CREW ATHLETICS IN THE FLEET 323 AKTER TlIK STARTI.VG GUN of the country fre- quently prevent the usual granting of shore leave. Ships of all the nations then resort to in- ternational con- tests in r w i n g, sailing, boxing, etc., the competi- tion in the various regattas anil con- tests being most spirited. The in- dulging in such athletic contests not only inspire patriotism, and pride in our own country's flag, but promotes good international feeling among the rep- resentatives of the rival countries participating. Rowing is the natural sport of sailormen. Base- ball may number more fol- lowers, and football is ten- derly regarded by the Fleet ; but when the crack crews line up for the starting-gun, baseball and football are forgotten idols. The decks are white with the massed ship companies, and when the winning crew sweeps across the finishing-line its sliip cuts loose with wild cheers, with booming whis- tles, and up to masthead swings a broom, the emblem of sweeping the seas of all rivals. The Navy racing cutter ^, „ . „ is a far different craft from Courlesu of "Fleil Renew" WHISTLING FOR A BREEZE the sleiidcr raciug shell of 'A ^ ■ i!H iV^. ^^i^''^ a' ^jr^ \^m i ^ ^^"^ J ^>^ u. i ^ C^ 1 // << '"( ^^^^ 5 ^S|.-ft ^^'ir ' -' 1 ( Kb' " V ' '^ i l>i?i' "^ff M| f '- Si m 1 r ^ ^^K'fV^LJS^n 1 ^^^^^^^^B44i^'^c^^dHik 324 Courtesy o/ ■•(Jul A A TUG-OF-WAR AT VERA CRUZ CuurU>:yof"Fl„l R,,ieu" BASEBALL AT GUANTANAMO WITH SMALL ARM TARGET-BUTTS IN BACKGROUND 325 .32fi TIIK ^rAKVP]L BOOK OF AMKKTCAX SHIPS the colleges. It is used only for races, scorning the heavy work of tho regular cutters, and is built to give its picked crew a boat both light and fast and yet staunch enough for rough and choppy seas. It is manned by twelve men and a coxswain instead of the eight of the 'var- sity crew, and the coxswain urges on his huskies standing in the stern sheets and steering with a tiller where his college rival sits and steers with tiller ropes. Officers who have pulled an oar in an Annapolis shell against leading college crews work wonders with the racing cutter and its twelve giants. In the old d a y s rival crews laslied the heavy slice bars of the stokers u n d e r a rival's keel, but in racing to-day, as in all other sports, the American tar follows the latest rules, and the Xavy's motto is: "May the best man win!" The Docking and Overhaul Period is the truly nautical name for the midstretch of the year's athletics, coming in the fall when the ships scatter to their home ports and navy-yards. Football and bas- ketball now claim their share of the glory. At each yard the elevens meet in an elimination series and the winners later decide the football cliamjtionship. Under the captaincy or coaching of an officer who has won the yellow N in the famous "West Point-Annapolis games, the teams play a game that would bo a credit to the minor college elevens. Gridirons hard as the decks of their battleships have no terror for tlie sinew and bone bred in the Navy. Tackles that would disable an oixlinary football star leave no wrecks in their wake when the final elevens meet. With the bands playing, the rival yells crashing out at every good play, and the goat, bear, or mule mascots straining at their leashes on the sidelines, no game could be more colorful. The win- ning eleven leaves the field the heroes of the great Fleet and its ship carries the Navy Department's tiophy for a year. WRESTLING IN THE NAVY SWIMMING CALL Courtesy of **Flcct tie. A BATTLESHIP S TRACK TEAM 328 TllK MARVEL BOOK OF AMKRICAX SIIIl'S Then the basketball teams have their innings and each man on the championship five wears a gold basketball as a souvenir. AVhen the Fleet steams South out of the sleet and drizzle of the navy-yards for the blue waters and flying fishes of the Caribbean, it has the racing cutter, baseball, swimming, boxing and wrestling and rifie championships to look forward to. This cruise, known as the Winter Drill Period, lasts three months and is usually based on the naval station at Guanta- namo, a few miles eastward from Santiago, Cuba, where the hulks of Cervei'a's fleet still lie. Its magnificent harbor and great sandy beaches make it an ideal field for the Athletic Week that eclipses that of the summer. When the teams and recreation parties "hit the beach" in this Cuban paradise you may have your choice of a dozen baseball matches, basketball, golf, tennis, trap-shooting, rifle and revolver contests, swim- ming, rowing and sailing races. The baseball teams play out their schedule, and the crack swimmers cleave the blue of the bay for their gold, silver, and bronze medals. On the forecastles the boxers and wrestlers battle for the gold challenge belts in bouts that fan the rivalry to white heat. The week ends with the racing cutter crews pulling out every ounce of strength for the famous Battenbei'g Cup. The British tars of the Cruiser Squadron, commanded by Rear- Admiral H. S. H. Prince Louis of Battenberg, presented this cup to the enlisted men of the United States Atlantic Fleet in 1906, "in grateful remembrance of the many kindnesses, tokens of good fellowship, and wonderful entertain- Courteity of "Fleet Review" BRITISH-AMERICAN CHALLENGE TROPHY PRE- SENTED BY ADMIRAL PRINCE LOUIS OF BATTENBURG ATHLETICS IN THE FLEET 329 iiionts that were given us in cordial fiiendship by our ccimrades across the sea," after the visit of that Squadron in American waters. One condition of the gift is that a British sliip present at the time the Cup is raced for sliall be aUowed to compete. Only once has a British crew won this blue ribbon match. To win the star events of the year's matches is not the prime idea of the Fleet. Greatest of all the trophies, overshadowing the baseball or football championships and the Battenberg race, is the trojihy for General Excellence in Athletics. This is awarded to the ship showing the highest score in all events that it was possible to enter, and is a great incentive for all men in the Navy to take up some form of athletics for the honor of the ship. Only the big red pennant with the black ball in the center that the crack gunnery ship flies at masthead "rates" this hard-won honor. Copyrii/hl, E. Mfdhr. J, , A'. J'. THE GOAT IS THE NAVY S BEST PET XXVIII SAILOEMEX AXD THEIR PETS THE love of sailoi-mon for pets is proverbial. Few ships put to sea without one or more pets aboard; and as the man-o '-war's crew is the largest, here we find the greatest and most inter- esting variety. The life of them within the steel walls of an Amer- ican warship is an enviable one. They never lack an audience and are in constant danger of being overfed and pampered, from the Cap- tain down to the ship's bugler. The "liajipy hour" tinds a knot of bluejackets and marines always ringed about them, laughing at their comical antics and putting tliem through tricks that would do credit to the performing animals of a traveling circus. The ship without a pet, or one that has just gone into commission without one on board, is not a happy ship until a bluejacket leads a whiskered goat, a curly- tailed pig, a mischievous monkey, or a frolicsome pup up the gangway. 330 SAILORMEN AND THEIR PETS 331 There is no limit to the range of pets that are tlie mascots of a tight- iiig ship. Goats of all colors and de- grees, dogs of every breed, mon- keys from the jun- gles of tropical lands, inqnisitive- nosed raccoons, bright - plumaged parrots, and the always popular bear lead in favor. Yet it would be hard to think of any four-legged beast or anj^ bird that would not find a royal welcome. The ship that can claim an unusual pet is the envy of the Fleet. Such a pet was Cronje of the cruiser Atlanta when she was sta- tioned on the South Atlantic Station. It was at the time of the Boer War, in which General Cronje was a lead- ing Boer general. So, when a Brazil- ian wild boar, or peccary, was added to the complement CopijrigU by H. G. Miser, fnmi Underwood & Underwood, N^ Y. "skipper" is the champion long distance sleeper of the fleet rU„yol-Our Xnv.j" "URSA,' THE BEAR CUB OF THE TEXAS THK MARVRF. BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS Pholo by Paul Thompson. . THE ''uTAH's PRIDE VISITS THE POLO GROUNDS of tlie Jlldnhi, he was p r (> 111 ]) t 1 y cliristoncd Croiije. C r o II j e adapted himself to ship- lioard life as though he had al- ways been a sailor instead of a den- izen of a South American .iuni;le. If li y a n y chance a member of the \nix family could be called good-looking, then C r o n j e was a handsome pig. His nose fairly quiv- ered with the joy of life at sea, his feet were daintily formed, and his coat was sleek from the care it received daily. Cronje loved to poke his nose, which was shaped, of course, somewhat like a pansy, into everything. But most of all he 1 o k pleasure in stick- ing it into a can of the brick-red paste used to clean the brasses on board the cruiser. The crew firmly be- lieved that Cronje had been the lieau of his jungle, and thought it was \ng rouge. At other times his savage in- stincts came to the front, and when he was angry his jaws HULL AXD BRINDLE SATT.OTniEX AND THEIR PETS would snap like a steol traj). Then the men, in t li e language of t h o sea, "gave liini a wide berth." lie took a decided dis- like to the youHLV bugler, who most likely ha the foremast flew Jock a n d then, to taunt the enragcil steward, started across from the foremast to the mainmast on the wireless aerial which stretched from one masthead to the other. With the crew watching, Jock showed his best paces until he got over the smokestacks. It was a calm day and the ship at anchor, so the smoke and gases from tlie stacks were rising straight into the air. When their blast struck into Jock's nostrils he was overcome by the hot gases. Losing his hold, he fell right down into one of the stacks and was cremated. His tragic end cast a gloom over the destroyer's crew, with the exception of the hard- hearted steward, who said it served Jock right. Sailormen have even been known to try to make a pet of an alba- tross. It is the worst disaster that a ship can suffer to have one of its crew shoot an albatross, as the Ancient Mariner of Coleridge's Lay has made immortal. But at times albatross, weakened from long- flights, will seek refuge aboard a ship at sea. Masters of the air and IJ) D()(i OF WAR 338 TlIK .MAin'EL I'.OOK OF AMF.KJCAN SHIPS making their home at sea, as soon as they light on a ship they become violently "seasick" and can only flomuler helplessly about. Goats are also great pets at sea, for they enter into the life, making friends, parading ashore with the ship's company, and atford- ing never-ending pleasure with their propensity for butting and their queer appetites. Billy, the goat of the monitor Ozark, shared pet honors with a dog. Lying in the Panuco Kiver off Tampico, Mexico, the prevalence of malaria, yellow fever, and dengiie called for the taking of a five-grain capsule of quinine daily by each man in the crew at breakfast, and Billy was always on hand for his quinine ration. Quinine appealed to Billy until one day he made away with a box of one hundred capsules. The ship's surgeon pulled him back to life and his ration was cut off, for Billy was immune to fever after that breakfast of five hundred grains. Some ship's goats have records that rank with liilly's best per- formance, like the marines' goat on the Nevada who will eat cigarette papers, standing on his hind legs, as fast as they can be fed to him. But the most famous goat that the marines knew was Spiggotty, who joined the marine battalion in the trenches at Guantanamo in '98. Spiggotty 's favorite meal was lighted cigarettes, which he devoured greedily. He came to an untimely end at the New York Navy Yard years later after eating a lot of asbestos and then filling u]) with water. The combination was too much even for Spiggotty, but un- feeling persons held that he knew his time was near and that ho had eaten the asbestos to prepare himself foi- his futui-e home. The dogs who are attached to ships usually are true to one officer or man, but mingle freely with officers and men alike. Sailor, the big mastiff of the gunboat Na.s]iville, was an exception. He joined her off the Seychelle Islands in the Indian Ocean, swimming up to the port gangway. Sailor would have nothing to do with any of the officers who tried to make friends with him, and kept forward with the crew, a great favorite. Running through the Suez he seemed to go frantic at sight of the land and ran u\) and down deck like a wild dog, his eyes always on the shores. At Palermo, Sicily, the Nashville was moored otTshore. Each night Sailor would leap ovei-board and swim ashore, coming back the next morning in the mai'ket boat. The sight of the brown bear on the Chieaf/o, lying nearby, shared the fascination of the shore with Sailor. He would watch Bruin by the hour as the cub lumbered along the Chicago's deck, now and then bracing his fore-paws against the barrel of a five-inch gun and swinging his head in comical fashion from one side to the other of the gun embrasure. SAILOEMEN AND THEIR PETS 339 It was the same in every port for Sailor; a blur of brown would shoot down the gangway and jump into the first boat that came alongside, barking his joy. At Havana, after he had been transferred to the Dixie with his master, Sailor went mad as the Dixie passed through the narrow entrance. He had to be held back by main force when the carpen- ter's gang began to lower the gangway. In Havana he dragged himself back aboard ship after three days' of "rough liberty," but on his next visit ashore Sailor elected to stay ashore and meas- ure his strength against the dogs of the Cuban capital. When the Dixie, on the same cruise, left the Canary Islands, she took with her a black Spanish pointer, Negra, a gray African parrot and a "putty nose" mon- key. General. All three were fast friends. The gray African par- rots are better talkers than the more showy Brazilian birds, and Polly ended her days in a navy- yard, swearing at the house cat in two languages. The General was passion- ately fond of eggs, and when a joker passed one, just out of hot water, to him he would roll it up and down the deck with his paws, with little cries and capers, until it was cool. Then he would crack one end with his teeth and drain it. Eaw eggs saved his life after he liad found and devoured a sup- Courtesy of "Our Navy" "black jack' OF THE FLORIDA 340 Tlll<] MAK\'EL BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS ply of vaccine points, pills, and powders in the surgeon's room. "When the ship came back into cold waters the ship's tailor fashioned an over- coat for him out of an old marine's blouse, using the red piping to orna- mental effect, but three days after the Dixie made New York he suc- cumbed to pneumonia. The baby eagle mascot of the marines at Peking, China, is known throughout the Far East for his prowess as a Yankee tighter. A Chinese fighting cock had finished off every feathei-ed oi)ponent in the cockmains until the eagle was matched against him, his feathers trimmed until he looked like a strange variety of rooster. The Chi- nese champion attacked him with bill and spurs, tearing out feathers, but the eagle, with eyes closed, made no reply and looked to the anx- ious and discomfited marines like a beaten bird. The Chinese fighter swooped in to deliver the finishing blow. Suddenly the eagle awoke, stretched out his talons, and caught the champion firmly about the neck. With one twist he tore its head off, and the Chinese si)ectators fled in dismay, to spread the news through China of the wonderful American rooster. It is a happy life the pets live in the Fleet. Cats and dogs seem to forget their traditional enmities. Goats and monkeys pose together for their photographs ; and parrots, on their perches, talk in true deep- sea language to the bear cubs and pigs as they roll by on the sea legs that long cruises have given them. And in the background the happy grins of the crew greet every amusing gambol of their ship's mascots. Courtesy "J ' ' , \ THE ril'l'lKS OK THE ".\K\V HAMI'fiHIRE' Courtesy of "I'leet Rei THE DESTROYERS PASS IN REVIEW XXIX CEREMONIES AND UNIFORMS EXCEPT for the ceremony that surrounds the court of a foreign ruler there is no other spot where there is so much picturesque and interesting- display of ceremony as on the decks of a man- o'-war. All sailormen, whether they are on fighting ships, merchant- men, ocean greyhounds or private yachts, are sticklers for form and custom. The man-o'-war dictates the general form and the others follow with less detail, except for the yachtsman; so that, in describ- ing the ceremonies of the American Navy, a picture of the ways of the sea in etiquette and polite interchange of courtesies may be shown. To an outsider the length to which the details of the ceremonies are laid down in the regulations'of the Navy may seem too elaborate. He looks upon it, in the language of the Navy, as "red tape." There are good reasons for the disi)lay, however; for at the base of them all is the show of respect for the nation's I'uler, the tribute to rank, and the idea of courtesy. These outward forms are an aid to disci- jjline and to the spread of patriotism. No officer or man of the Navj ever fails in his respect to authority or allows the national colors to be carried past in parade without doing honor to them. It would be 341 A COMPLIMENTARY FAREWELL TO THE ADMIRAL THE ADMIRAL TURNS OVER CDMMANI) OF THE FLEEl READY TO RKCICIVK THE PRESIDENT' ;■/,„(„ l,y f Tl„.mi,s„„. .V )• THE PRESIDEN 1' RKVIKWS rllK ILKKI', I'H K DKLAWAKe" SALUTING 343 344 THE MARVEL BOOK OF A^MERTCAN SHIPS the height of discourtesy in the Fleet to interruijt the talk of another ship, for instance, while she is making a flag-hoist signal, just as in private life it would be impolite to interrupt a conversation. The strict routine of a warship becomes less monotonous; for the cere- monies that surround a visit to a foreign port, the passing of a war- ship at sea, the transfer of an Admiral's flag, the presentation of a silver service by the State whose name the ship bears, the commission- ing of a now ship, the review of the P^'leet by the President or the Sec- retary of the Navy, and the passing of "Washington's Tomb on the Potomac — all are made the occasions of colorful incidents. Greatest of all the ceremonies on board an American man-o'-war is the visit of the President of the United States. When the Mayflower steams between the lines of gray fighting machines with the blue flag of the President at her main truck, and beneath the rainbow of colors that loop from stem to stern of every grim ship the g-uns boom their salute of twenty-one g"uns, there is no other sight on the face of the waters that can compare with it for picturesqueness and dignity. The President decides to visit the Commander-in-Chief on his flagship. She has, in anticipation of his coming, been full-dressed with a rainbow of flags reaching from the watevline forward, over the mastheads, to the waterline aft. As the President's launch comes alongside the ladder, the shrill notes of the bosun's pipe stir the senses of the flagship's officers and crew who have been on the alert for him to appear. Forward on the jackstaff is the Union Jack, with its white stars on the blue field. At masthead flies the largest national ensign the ship owns. The officers have assembled in special full dress, with cocked hats, epaulets, and swords, on the quarter deck, and near them is paraded the detachment of marines in full dress. The Admiral with his staff, the Captain and other officers, receive the President as he steps on deck, and as he passes through the doul)le line of eight side-boys the silent shij) bristles with life. The officers salute and tlie marine giiard presents arms, while the drummer and bugler of the guard salute with four ruffles and flourishes. .Vt the last note of the bugle and roll of the diami the flagship band strikes into The Star-Spangled Banner, and the blue flag of the President, with the coat of arms in the center, is broken out at the main to fly while he is on board. Immediately, as the flag whips out to the breeze, the national salute of twenty-one guns comes, fired by two saluting guns with an interval of five seconds ticking off between each gunfire. The other ships present man their rails and fire the national salute with the flagsliij). CEREMONIES AND UNIFOEMS 345 Courtesy of"Scienilfic American" H. M S. DARTMOUTH IN FULL DRESS When the President leaves the flagship the same ceremonies are repeated, the salute being fired when his launch has cleared the ship to a safe point, and with the last gun the President's flag is lowered. And so, with a corresponding degree of honor the visits of foreign rulers, of naval, militar.v, diplomatic, and consular officers, is observed, ranging down from the twenty-one guns and eight side-boys of the ruler to the five guns for a Vice-Consul, and to the simple honor of two side-boys for officers of junior rank. There is a pretty bit of sentiment shown when the Admiral turns over his command to a successor. Then commissioned officers form the line of eight side-boys and another "pipes the side" as he leaves Ihe ship, to be pulled away in a barge manned by officers. One of the finest of all tributes paid by the American Navy is in its honor to the memory of George AVashington. No naval ship passing his Tomb at Mount Vernon on the Potomac between sunrise and sunset fails in this fine bit of sentiment. As the ship draws near it parades its giiard and band on the quartei'deck, the shii)'s bell PAG TlIK MARVEL ROOK OF AMKRTCAX SHIPS is tolled, and its colors half-masted. Opposite the tomb taps are sounded, the marines present arms, and officers and crew, stiff at attention, salute in respect to the memory of our first Commander- in-Chief. Every day the Navy salutes the national colors, both at "morn- ing colors" at eight o'clock, and at "retreat" at sundown. As the flag climbs smartly up the hoist the band plays The Star-Spangled Ban- ner. All officers and men face the colors at attention, and at the last note of the anthem salute with the hand. At sunset "colors" the ensign is started slowly from the peak or truck at the first note of the national air. It was once the custom to play The Star-Spanqled Ban- ner at "morning colors" and Hail Columbia at "retreat," but an order of the President's made The Sfar-Spangled Banner the official anthem. The visit of an American warship to a foreign port begins witli the thunder of her salute to the country's ensign that is seen either flying from a fort on shore or from a man-o'-war lying in the harbor. At the main is shown the flag of the foreign country, and there it flies until the last of the twenty-one guns has been tired. Then come the visits of courtesy, whieli nnist be returned within twenty-four .M.WM.Nt; I'HK U.\ll. l.N ,\ Ft.) ii l; U I .\ l'(.)KT CEEEMONIES AND UNIFORMS 347 hours; and if foreign nion-o'-war are at anchor a hoarding party of commissioned otificers leaves the ship to pay less informal calls. At times honors have not been properly paid, or promptly returned, and relations are strained until the incident is cleared up; for care- lessness in this deepsea etiquette is a slight to the flag of a country rather than to any individual or ship. When ships of different countries pass at sea they exchange the salute, gun for gun, showing the flag saluted at the fore. If the ships pass close by the national airs are played by the bands. No naval ship lowers her sails or dips her colors except in return for such com- pliment. In parading on shore the Navy dips the national ensign onlj^ when passing in review before the President or the ruler of a foreign nation. No American warship salutes any American city or fort. At night, when the ships are bare of bunting, strings of electric lights silhouette liei' from stern to stern, and from deck to masthead, and the searchlights play on the waters. On holidays the Fleet, when not under way, is as gayly decked with bunting as any city's streets. Full dress, the Navy calls it, and at eight o'clock the rainbows of flags break out and are not lowered until the sun sets. On Washington's Birthday and the Fourth of July the national salute is fired at noon, and on Decoration Day minute guns are used. All unnecessary drills and work are suspended for the day and the holiday is fittingly celebrated. At sea when the salute is fired the national ensign is displayed at the peak. An impressive ceremony always is that of a burial at sea. The ship is hove to and the ensign half-masted while the chaplain or the captain of the ship reads the burial service. The foot of the body's canvas covering is weighted with a round shot and the body is cov- ered with an American flag and with flowers. As it is committed to the deep a bugler sounds "taps" and a squad of marines fires three volleys as the last mark of respect. If the funeral should be held on shore the escort of marines and blue,jackets march to the solemn dirge of the Dearl March from Saul or Chopin's Funeral March, but when "taps" has sounded they swing back to their ship to the tune of a lively quickstep. The Union Jack, which is flown from the jackstaf¥ in the bow of a vessel from morning to evening colors, is sometimes hoisted at tlie fore as the signal for a pilot, and a gun fired to call attention to it. When it is hoisted at the mizzen or at a yard-arm, and a gam barks, you may know that a court-martial or a court of inquiry is in session. Naturallv the greater the rank of the Jiaval officer in connnand 348 THE MARVEL BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS the more ceremonious is the routine of a ship, squadron, division, or fleet. The flag carried at masthead of a ship shows his rank. The Admiral flies a blue flag with four stars of white. The Vice-Admiral's and Rear-Admiral's flags are blue with three stars for the former and two for the latter. When two or more flag officers of the same rank are present the senior flies his blue flag while the others hoist a red flag. All steamers, whether liners or cargo carriers, fly the flag of the nation to which they belong. Besides this they also disjjlay the dis- tinguishing or "house flag" of the line, and each line has its funnels painted wdth dis- tinguishing marks, so that other ships, and the observers who report incom- ing ships to the port officials, may know them. Great Britain, Germany, and other naval p o w e r s have a man - o ' - war flag and a merchant flag that are (juite different. The United States and France are among those that have but one flag for men-o'-war and merchant vessels. The American yachting ensign, however, is different, for its thirteen stars are grouped in a circle about a fouled anchor. The ceremony of announcing the time aboard ship by the strokes of a l)ell is an ancient one. A stroke is made on the bell for every half-hour and the number of strokes indicates the time. Beginning at noon, for instance, eight strokes are made in four pairs of strokes. Noon is eight bells at sea. At 12:30 o'clock there is one bell. .\t 1:30 o'clock, or three bells, two strokes are given and then, after a slight pause, a third bell. So it goes until eight l)ells come again at 4 o'clock. From four to six and fi'om six to eight are the first and second dog watches. All other watches are for four hours. A mutiny was planned in the British Navj' at Spithead in the Nore, in 1797, to take place at seven bells of the second dog watch. The officers, hearing Courtesy of "Our Navy" WHEN A SHIP COMES HOME FROM A FOREIGN STATION SHE FLIES A HOMEWARD BOUND PENNANT CEKEMONIES AND UNIFORMS 349 of the i)lot, had no bell struck at that time; and the signal failing, the mutiny also failed. The custom still holds good in that service only, because of this curious fact. The officers of the Navy are divided into the line and the staff. Their various titles in order of rank, with the corresponding rank of the Army and Marine Corps are : NAVY Admiral Vice- Admiral Rear-Adrairal Commodore (title now only existing on retired list) Captain Commander Lieutenant-Commander Lieutenant Lieutenant (junior grade) Ensign Midshipman ARMY AND MARINE CORPS General Lieutenant-General Major-General Colonel Lieutenant-Colonel Major Captain First Lieutenant Second Lieutenant CouTUsy of '•Fliil R, A BURIAL AT SEA THE "ITAh's" I'lcill'IXC \IKN MAN TUB RAIL FIELD MAKSIIAL JOKFKE AND FOKMKlt PKKMIER VIVL\NI RECEn ED WITH KILL HONORS ON THE FLAGSHIP "PENNSYLVANIA" ■m CEREMONIES AND UNIFORMS 351 Chief boatswains, chief gunners, chief machinists, boatswains, gunners, and machinists are warrant officers of the line. The staff officers of tlie Navy are surgeons, paymasters, chaplains, professors of mathematics, naval constructors, civil engineers, chief carpenters, pharmacists, chief pay clerks, and pay clerks. The enlisted man has a title, or rate, which tells the work he does. For ex- ample there are seamen, machinists, electricians, hospital nurses, quarter- masters, a n d signalmen. Most curioiis of all the rat- ings is that of the Jack- of-the-Dust who is a store- keeper for the Paymaster. The Navy's love for pic- turesque titles is clearly shown when the enlisted man in charge of a horse at a shore station is known as Coxswain-of-the-Horse. Petty officers of the Navy are similar to non- commissioned officers in the Army and Marine Corps. In the Navy, in- stead of being called ser- geants and corporals, they are designated as chief petty officers and petty of- ficers, such as chief boat- swain's mate or boat- swain's mate, first class. All persons in the Navy are required to wear uniforms while on ship. There are uniforms for ceremonies, and for ordinary work ; and distinctive marks and uni- forms indicate rank or ratings. Officers have stripes of gold lace on their sleeves to show their rank, the number and width of the stripes increasing with the rank. A Captain is unofficially knowni to the Fleet as a "four-sti'iper" and an ensign as a "one-striper." TWO AMERICAN ADMIRALS 352 THE MARVEL BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS Tlie corps device is a star on the sleeve above tlie stripes for of- ficers of the line, and colored cloth lietween the gold stripes for offi- cers of the stafif. For example, white cloth for paymasters, dark red for surgeons, violet for naval constructors, blue for civil engi- neers, etc. All officers also wear sjiecial collar devices which indi- cate rank and eor^s. The corps devices are anchors for the line and oak-leaves of different forms fur officers of the staff. Rank is shown on collar in addition to the corps device, also epaulets and shoulder marks, as follows: one l)ar for Lieutenant (junior grade), two bars for a Lieutenant, eagle Inr Captain, two stars for Rear- Admiral, three stars for a Vice- Admiral and four stars for an Ad- miral. All officers wear a sword at ceremonies and when on military duty, except in action, when they carry an automatic pistol. Com- missioned officers wear epaulets and chapeaux on special occasions. The enlisted men have the blue and white uniform and the flat sailor's cap with the name of the ship on the cap ribbon. Chief petty officers wear a double-breasted sack coat Avitli brass buttons and a cap. Rating badges and distinguishing marks made of cloth indicate the rating of the petty officers. The rating marks have certain spe- cialty marks which are for the purpose of showing their special trade or line of work. There are a large number of these special marks, the number of chevrons indicating the rating. For example, a second- class boatswain's mate has two and a first-class boatswain's mate three chevrons. The three narrow white stripes on the wide collar were first worn by the IJritish Navy, one each in honor of Nelson's great sea victories. All sailormen now wear them. The black neckerchief is THE CHURCH FLAG FLIES ABOVE THE STARS AND STRIPES ." '^Jrriircif R\YJr Admin// III III LieutenanI L/eufcnc7n( Junior Ensign :Jpr Ml.l^hl[>'rl,^n l-'CI midfhipnwnZ'^CI III! Ch Bcalswain Ch Carpenter Boj/sivain terpen l,!r Ch OtJnner Ch 6r7ilmoker Ci^nner S./i/rna/rr-r Ch fYlachinisf Ch ri,,,rmocifl . mxhinisl PhanncJCisf mate Pai/C/erk INSIGNIA OF RANK ON SLEEVE 353 1. Master at Arms 2. Bontswains' Mates. C> 3. Quartermasters 4. Blacksmiths, 8hip Fitters 5. Sailmakers" Alatea 6. I^rintcrs THE SPECIALTY MAUKS SHOW THE NATURE OF DUTY Plumb.' 7. Carpenters' .Mates, and Fitters, Painters S. Turret Captains 9. Gunners' Mates 10. Storekeepers {Chief Yeomen) 11. Yeomen 12. Eleetricians 354 13. Macliinists' Afates, Boiler ifak- crs, WiitiT TendiTS. Cnppcr- smiths. OilLTS * 14. Hospital Stewards. Hospital .\pprpntice3 (rod cloth) I.i. Bandmasters. Musiri.ana 10. Commissary Stewards SPECIALTY MARKS, CONTINUED — DISTINGUISHING MARKS — BUTTONS 17. Ship Cooks and Bakers 18. Bugler 19. Seaman Gunner 20. Gun Captain 21. Gun Pointer 22. Gun Pointer (First Class) 23. Marksmen (Merit Mark) 24. Radio Operator 25. Torpedo Man 26. Ex Apprentice 355 vl^ ^^^ 1. Ensign 2. Medical Corps 3. Paymaster Corps 4. Chaplain 5. Prof, of Mathematics MK'l'AL CORPS DEVICES 6. Naval Constructor 7. Civil Engineer 7i. Dental Corps R. Chief Boatswain 9. Chief Gunner 356 10. Chief Machinist 11. Chief Carpenter 12. Chief Sailmaker 13. Chief Pharmacist 14. Mates CEREMONIES AND UNIFORMS 357 .supposed to have been first ^vol•ll as a badge of nioui'iiing for Nelson. You doubtless ha\-e wondered at the wide, flapping bottoms of a man-o'-war's-man's trousers. They are made wide so that they can be rolled above the knees when decks are being washed down with water, and when on boating expeditions. Our ceremonies are fixed by law, but with the growth of the Navy its old traditions die and new customs take the place of old ones. John Paul Jones not only would feel sadly out of place on a superdread- nought but he would be lost in wonder at the passing of old customs. One of the last customs that passed from the decks of the modern navy was the "shooting of Charlie Noble." Tlie chimney or galley- stack of the ship's kitchen Avas dignified by the name of Charlie Noble, and when the galley-stack became clogged with soot the ship's cook fired a blank cartridge np it, loosening the soot. The report of the pistol was the signal for a shout of glee from the crew. The innocent landsman was informed that Charlie Noble had been burdened with so many troubles that he had shot himself as the only remedy. But Charlie Noble has been shot for the last time. THE "BROOKLYx\" enters DKV DOCK XXX WHERE THE SHIPS XEST CRUISTXG about and at anclior, especially so in the warm waters of the tropics, ships gather barnacles and other growths of the sea on their underwater bodies. Then, in the langiiage of the sea, a ship's bottom is foul and she must go back to her nest at the navy-yard to be scraped and cleaned. This fouling reduces a vessel's speed to a surprising degree, and no ship can afford to be left behind in the race. The difference of a few knots would spell disaster in battle to the ship of war, or the loss of money to a liner and merchant- man. More coal must be burned to drive a foul hull through the water at a normal rate; and so, in spite of the time lost in overhaul, and the expense of docking, it is well worth while tliat a ship should be docked frequently. In the Xavy the men-o'-war are docked at least once a j-ear, and usually twice in that period. 3.')8 WHERE THE SHIPS NEST 359 The docking of a big ship is very interesting, for then she is out if her natural element, the water, and seems to take on an entirely different personality. Stand alongside a dry dock and you will wonder how it is to be flooded and receive its mistress in the great empty nest. Across one end the water outside is barred by a caisson, which has the form of a ship, with its pointed ends, and which, when emptied of the water that holds it fast in place across the dock's end, floats like a ship. Near the bottom of the caisson are circular holes that are barred from the entrance of water by valves, and, when the valves are opened, allow the water to stream in and flood the dock by steady degrees. When the turn of our barnacle-studded ship comes to enter its nest, the tons of water in the caisson are pumped overboard and the clumsy aiTair is towed out of the way to let the tugs point our craft to the entrance of the dry dock, where the water is now on a level with that outside its walls. A line is run from the ship to the head of the (lock and she is hauled slowly in. Back comes the caisson, its valves ate opened, and it sinks to rest across the entrance to the dock. Before the dock is emptied and the ship rests safely within it, the Xaval Constructor who is in charge of the dry dock has consulted her docking plans. Each ship carries a docking plan that answers her needs alone. It would not be possible, for instance, to dock the 27,000- "\ >: —it . I --, i^.: -> . ■-.' ■•j»^,^^'' 'M ^^ ^ ^^ "^^^^^-O"' HOW A DRY DOCK IS BUILT 360 WHERE TIIK. SHIPS NEST 361 ton Neiv York and tlie 20,000-ton North Dakota with the same set of phins. When the ship is ready for its turn at the dock its docking plans are turned over to the Naval Con- structor, giving him all in- formation about the shape and size of her under- water hull, her bilge keels, and the rudder and pro- pellers at the s t e r n. Armed with this, and the knowledge of her draft, he places a line of wooden blocks down the center- line of the dock's floor, wliich may be of stone, cement, or wood. He reg- ulates the distance be- tween blocks by the weight of the bulk that is to rest upon them. If a ship of the larger classes she has her docking keels, running parallel to the true keel, and these must be placed on a double line of keel blocks. That the operation is one that calls for the utmost skill and experience is very evident. With the caisson back in place the pumps which empty the dock are started and all care is taken ta get the ship in exact position. W^hen ships have no docking keels, spar-like timbers called "shores" are brought into play, one end resting against the steel sides of the ship and tiie other against the side of the dock. As the water seeks lower levels the ship's keel touches the line of keel blocks and then the shores are set up tightly by wedges inserted at the proper time to support her. The dock is finally drained as dry as a bone, and with keel aligned along the keel blocks the ship is as fii'm as a rock, resting on her cradle of wood. Plioto by Paul Thnmpmn. N. Y. THE DIVER IS CALLED ON WHEN A DOCK IS NOT HANDY 36- TH K ^lARVEL BOOK OF A:\IP]Ria\X SHIPS Now is the time to study a big pea-fi,<>litcr, a blue ribbon yacht, or a nianimoth liner. The lines that the sea hides jealously at all other times are now stripped of their mystery. If it is a battleship you can tiace tlie armor belt at her w a t e r 1 i n e ; if a yacht you can see the graceful taper of stem and stern to the huge fin keel tliat holds her up in a stiff blow; and if an ocean liner the huge rudder and the propellers that drive her through the sea are clear to your view. First the hull is carefully cleaned and oxaiiiincd for traces of fouling, corrosion, or in- juries of any kind. The rudder, pro- pellers, and valves go through the same search. Giant cranes have swimg gangways be- tween the docks and the dock's sides, and the decks swarm with work- men and the air is vibrant with drills and hammers. Side-cleaners are swung overside and the underwater body is given coats of anti-cor- rosive and anti-fouling paint, while repairs are going on. The docking period finished, the water is again admitted through the lower part of the caisson until it is once more level with the water CLEANING TIER SIDES AND TROPELLERS WHERE THE SHIPS NEST 363 outside. The ship floats above her wooden cradle, and when the caisson is removed slie comes out, spick and span, ready to try her' sea-heels once more. All our navy-yards are equipped with docks, some large enough to handle a superdreadnought, others roomy enough only for a destroyer or a sulimarine. The shipyards have their docks too, or tlieir marine railways (MI which smaller craft are hauled out for clean- ing and repairs. But dry docks are hard to l)uild. They not only cost a great deal of money but at times the soil is either solid rock that requires blasting or beneath its surface is threaded with quicksands tiiat defy piling and other methods. So we also have floating docks on both coasts and on the Great T^akes. They are huge, unwieldy structures of wood or steel, and can be towed fiom one place to another. Large ballast-tanks on the sides and underneath perform, in their way, what the caisson and jjumps of the dry dock do. Secured at a spot where there is deep water the floating dock is sunk bj- admitting water into the ballast- tanks. When a ship enters between its towering Avails and is well secured, the ballast tanks are emptied and the buoyancy of the large tanks raises the dock and its burden. Tliere are times, of course, when a ship, although her bottom is foul, can get along on reduced speed by burning more coal. Often, however, the sea-injection valves, below her waterline, Avith strainers on the outside, clog up with barnacles. Then she is helpless, for she can get no water and her engines cannot run. Divers, who are carried on all ships of the Navy, are then sent overside in diving-suits, to clear away the troublesome barnacles. The towing of the floating dry dock Dewey from its shipyard at Sparrow's Point, on the Chesapeake, to the naval station at Olongapo, sixty miles up the coast of Luzon from Manila Bay, has gone down in the feats of seamanship. It was a story of gales and mcmsoons, of snapping steel hawsers, of snail-like progress, and of pluck and perse- verance which Avon over a remarkable series of obstacles that more than once bade fair to end in the'loss of the Dewey or of the ships that convoyed and towed her on that long trip. At one time the succession of mishaps had become so dishearten- ing that the Chinese crew of one of the three toAving ships, the collier Caesar, set off fireworks and tossed OA'ci'board colored bits of paper to put to rout the "devils" that Avere opposing the Dewey. The Lascar crew of a ship in the Indian Ocean that passed the strange procession 364 MOXlTOll AND CRUISER SHARE THE SAJIE DOCK THE "ILLI.XOIS" IX THE XEW ORLEANS FLOATING DOCK 3G.J THE XORTII DAKOTA IN DRY DOCK THE OREGON DOCKIXC 3m WHERE THE SHIPS NEST 367 at night, brilliantly lighted to warn all craft of the danger of running athwart the tow, was so terrified tliat it resorted to prayers to strange gods to protect them from the weird monster of the deep pursuing the three colliers. Befoio the Dewey could enter the Suez CJanal came a delay of a week at Port Said while the canal authorities deepened the sidings cut foi' her. Passing through the canal, where the channel twisted, the huge craft sliced off great stretches of sand from the banks, and at night caravans wondered at the odd sight that the stars outlined. It was 172 days from the time of the start in Chesapeake Bay when the first ship of the convoy forged through the mountain-guarded entrance to Subig Bay and rounded Grande Island which lies just within. When the Dewey hove in sight, with a new American ensigii hoisted, the warships in the bay greeted her with the fire of guns and the booming of whistles. The shores were lined with the Tagalogs of the native village, and the seawall of the naval reservation with the ])Iuejackets and the mai'ine battalion. There she rests to-day, doing yeoman service for the Asiatic Fleet, a monument to American seamanship and pluck and to the men who built her; a daily reminder to the Americans at that lonely naval out- post of the name that humbled Spain's power in the Far East. In time of war the dry docks and the floating docks are invaluable. If a ship should have her hull penetrated by a torpedo or shell, or damaged by collision, she would first flood the compartments on the other side to keep her on an even keel. Collision mats, made of canvas with one side shaggy with uncoiled manila or hemp roping, would be passed under her, the pressure of the water holding them over the damaged hull. Then, convoyed by other ships, with destroyers guard- ing her against underwater attacks, she would limp back to the nearest dock for repairs, towed or under her own steam. Copyrighl, 1S93. htj C. Klnchncr THE BATTLE OF LAKE ERIE XXXI SEVEX GREAT SEA FIGHTS THE one naval action that stands ont in the War of the American Kevolution was that in which the Bon Homme Bichard foi'ced the Scrapis to strike her colors after three hours of as deadly fighting as the sea has ever staged. Commodore John Paul Jones, the hero of this bi'illiant fight against staggering odds, had already made his name famous by raids in the Irish Sea and on the coast of England. The Bon Homme Bichard was the flagship of his makeshift squad- ron which sailed from Brest, France. She was a converted East India-man, equipped with condemned guns, some of which burst at the first fire, and manned with a crew of mixed nationalities. It was only the genius and indomitalile will of John Paul Jones that brought this unwiekly ship her victory over the well-founded British cruiser. Otf P^lamborough Head, on September l*."!, 1779, his squadron, the Bon Homme Bichard, Alliance, Pallas, Cerf, and Vengeance sighted two British cruisers, the Serapis and the Countess of Scarhoroiir/h, con- voying forty merchantmen. It was seven o'clock in the evening when 368 SEVEN GREAT SEA EIGHTS 369 the Bon Homme Richard came within pistol range of the Serapis, and for three hours and a half the fight raged between them in the moon- light. Jones' ship was no match in maneuvering, so he closed, lashing her alongside the Serapis, with yards entangled and their guns touch- ing each other's engaged sides. The fire of the Serapis was incessant and both ships were soon set on fire. THE ACTION BETWEEN THE SERAPIS AND THE 23, 1779 BON HOMME RICHARD SEPT. The Alliance appeared when the Bon Homme Richard was :n sore straits, but the treacherous Captain Landais fired three broadsides into her and then sheered off. With his ship leaking badly from the fire of the two ships, half of his crew gone, mutinous prisoners on deck, and but three of his gims fit to fire, Jones was hailed by the Serapis: "Has your ship struck?" He thundered back: •'! have just begun to fight ! ' ' 370 THK MARVEL BOOK OF AMKKMOAX SHIPS A well-directed volley of grapeshot crippled the mainmast of the Serapis, and the French marines in the Bon Hornnip Riclmrd's tops drove the crew of the Serapis from her upper deck, and dropped hmul gvoTindos that exploded with great damage below. .\ forlorn canso had ))i'cn t n r n e d into victor y by . I dues' ins]iiring ex- ample, and the Ser- (i/iis, with her main- mast ready to go by I Ii e board, struck her colors. Captain Pearson was knighted for his gal- lant resistance, and w hen Jolm Paul .Tones heard of it he said: "If I meet hira again I'll make a Loixl of him." Early in the War of ISTJ was fought the first l)ig action between an American and Brit- ish frigate, and tlie victory of the C())i- sfifiifidii over t h e (1 II (■ r r i c r e still ]• a n k s with t h e greatest ever w o n on the high seas. Shi]i for ship the advantage was slightly with tiie Cuuslltiitinii, but the losses sulTered by the Guerriere were out of all proportion to this advantage. Better gunnery and seamanship had carried the day for Old Ironsides. Early in August, 1812, the Constitution left Boston, and a Salem privateer gave her word of a lai-ge British cruiser standing to the southward. .Crowding on sail, the Constitution overtook the Gnerriere on the afternoon of the 1!Hh. By superior tactics she evaded the Xnml History .Si JOHN I'.\l'L JONES Cuurtisy uf tin iili/ic Amiiiraii:' Cu,,iiri!lht l,i/ Miinn <( Co., Inc. THE ■•(■ONSTITITION • AND THE ■GtEHUIEUK- SEVEN GREAT SEA FIGHTS 371 broadsides of the Gueniere and raked her fore and aft before they closed. A shot carried away the Britisher's mizzenmast, and Captain Isaac Hull shouted to his men: "Hurrah, boys; we've made a brig of her!" With her mizzenmast trailing over her quarter, the Gueniere was raked by both the port and stai'board guns of the Constitution until her bowsprit lay over the Constitution's stern and both ships called away boarders. In the heavy sea boarding was impossible, and, ■ B 1 ^K^'S^^^Br^JnK^'SXSaSK^^ p^^-^ 'r^^^^^-^r ^^ THE "COIMSTITUTION" AND THE "(iUERRIEHE' yard-ai-m to yard-arm, the fight went on for two hours. The deliberate fire of the American gunners carried away the fore and mainmasts of the Gueniere and her main deck guns rolled in the water on the star- board side as she lay a dismantled hulk. Captain Dacres hauled down his flag in surrender, liis veteran crew outmatched by the green men who made up Captain Hull's force. The war was but a few months old and the victory made the fifth in which, in single ship actions, the British ship had been captured. The Battle of Lake Erie, fought between two well-matched squad- rons, shed luster on both. Perry's great victory does not rank high in the opinion of naval experts for the strategy shown, but it was THE MARVEL BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS featured by the heroic defense of the Lawrence and the Detroit. It had a far-reaching moral effect and proved the turning-point in the military campaign on the Canadian border. Unstinted credit, too, is given Perry for the building of the greater part of his fresh-water squadron, under great handicaps, in five months. The two fleets met at daylight on Sei)tembei- 10, 1813, and the British concentrated fire on Perry's flagsliip, named the Lawrence, in honor of Captain Lawrence, killed in the fight between the Chesa- l>ea]ic and the SIkuii/dil AVitli his rigging shot awaj^ his hull pierced many times below the waterline and his guns dismount- ed one after an- other. Perry, with the aid of the pur- ser and the cliap- lain. fired the last gun himself. Over- head flew a b 1 u e flag inscribed in white with the last words of the dying Lawrence: "Don't give up the ship!" This flag Perry shifted to the Niof/ara. The other American shii)S, which had fought at long range, now closed in and the British suffered heavily. Perry turned the tide in thrilling manner by breaking the British line with the Xiaf/ara, raking it with broadsides from his port and starboard batteries. Two fell foul of each other, and tlie Niagara, luffing athwart tlieir bows, raked both with guns and musketry fire. It was only after four hours of sanguinary fighting that Captain Barclay of the Detroit, a \eteian of Trafalgar, surrendered to Captain Oliver Hazard Perry, then l)nt l.'7 years old. On every ship the fii'st or second in command had been killed or wounded. Perry's message ek'ctrified tlie American people with its terse statement: "We have met the enemy and they ai-e ours; two ships, two brigs, one schooner, and one sloop." The era of steam robbed sea fights of much nf tlieii' romance. ■at Hisloru fSorielii THE FRIGATE "cOX.STITUTIOX ' 373 374 THK .\rARVEL BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS Advance in gninnery ended the i)istol-range duels of the ohl days, and steam made the handling of a waishij) a mechanical matter. But the sea fights of the Civil "War were waged between wooden ships until the duel between the Moiiitar and the Merrimac ushered in the ironclads. Early in the second year of the war the Confederates built a powerful i-am out of the old frigate M('ni)iiac, which had been jiaitly burned and sunk at Norfolk. Foi'e and aft she had been cut away, and amidships a casemate had been erected with its sk)ping walls armored, over heavy timber, with two layers of iron plates. These plates projected over her hull to jirotect the waterline, and the hull also had been plated. On her bow, two feet below water, a heavy cast- iron ram had been bolted, and she was armed with heavy rifled guns. The Union fleet of wooden ships, both sail and steam, was lying at Hampton Roads when the Merrimac made its first appearance on March 2, 1862. The broadsides of the Congress and the Cumberland rattled harmlessly off her iron sides, and before she withdrew later in the day the Cumberland had fallen victim to her powerful ram and gone down with her flag flying; and she had wrecked the Congress, pi'o- tected bv shoal water from tlie ram, with her heavy fii-e. Tli(> Miinie- AN .\UGUST MOHNIXC WITH KAHKAIUT SEN'EN GREAT SEA FIGHTS 375 suta, the most powerful sliii) remaining, had been saved by steaming into shallow water, but her destruction the next day seemed inevitable. When the big ram steamed back the next morning to finish the fleet she made straight for the Minnesota. Out from behind its screen steamed a strange craft that had been hurried down from New York in a gale. "A cheesebox on a raft" she had been dubbed, for Erics- son's Monitor was a jest among seafaring men until she proved her worth that memorable day. Her decks were but a foot above the water- line, and from her center rose a movable turret nine feet high, and cov- ered with iron plates. Two 11-inch gams firing solid shot were mounted in the turret, and when she went into battle her smoke-stacks were taken apart and laid on the deck. She was one-fifth the size of the Merrimac, but boldly barred her path. The ram's rifled guns made no impression on the round turret, but when the Monitor opened fire she started the plates of the Mer- rimac. With this advantage of her guns, and her ability to dodge the Merrimac' s ram, the odds were too much for the latter. She with- drew, badly damaged, and the little Monitor kejat guard over the fleet. The Merrimac was blown up later by her own men to save her from capture by the advancing Union Army. THE KEARSARGE AND THE ALABAMA ;i7(i THK MAKVEL BOOK OF A.MERICAN SHIPS ADMIRAL GEORGE DEWEY's FLAGSHIP THE "OLYMPIa" Greatest of all the engagements of the Civil AVar and ranking as our greatest sea fight, was the Battle of Mobile Bay. From it Admiral David Farragut emerged second only to Nel- son. In the "War of 1812 lie li ad fought as a mid- shipman on the Essex and his ca- reer showed the inborn genius and bravery of a great sea captain. The only port left open to the Confederates in AugTist, 1864, was Mobile. Forts IMorgan and Gaines commanded the narrow entrance to Mobile Bay. Behind the channel mined with torpedoes lay a Con- federate squadron when Farragut attacked on the misty morning of the 5th. With fourteen wooden sliijis, one of which was his flagship, the Hait/unl, and four monitors, Farragut made for the entrance. His seven strongest wooden ships were on the right and to each was lashed on the left a smaller one. Between this double column and Fort ^lorgan, the more powerful of the forts, steamed the moni- tors. Close to Fort Morgan they steamed, heavy liroadsides answering the terrific fire of the forts. The Confederate ram Tennessee, one of the most formidable ironclads afloat, and the rest of the Confederate ships opened fire on the advancing fleet, and heavy losses were reg- istered eai'ly. The forts were powerless to stop the fleet in the nar- row channel, and fortune favored Farragut until his leading ship, the monitor Tecumseh, struck a torpedo and sank almost instantly. The steamer Brooklyn, backing to avoid another torpedo, halted the colunm under the fire of the forts. Farragut, heedless of the torpedo- sown channel, went full-speed-ahead, cleared the llrookJi/)! : and the col- umn, following his lead, gained the bay. .Here the smaller ships were cast off to engage the Confederate SEVEN GREAT SEA FIGHTS 377 gunboats. The Tennessee rusliod in sinnlo-liandcd. One after tlio other, FarragTit's wooden ships rannned her, and when the slow moni- tors came up their guns reduced her to impotence. In the three-hour fight that ended with the sun-ender of the Tennessee the great admiral had lost 335 killed and wounded and the monitor Tecumseh had been sunk, but his ships had silenced the foits, defeated the Confederate si|uadron and sealed to outer communication with the sea the last port of the Confederacy. It was three days after war was declared against Spain that President McKinley cabled to Commodore George Dewey to capture or destroy the Spanish fleet in the Philippines. Dewey was at Hong Kong, China, with the Asiatic Squadron comprising the flagship Olym- pia, the Baltimore, Boston, Raleigh, Concord, Petrel, and the revenue cutter McCiiUoch. Under cover of night he steamed past the Spanish batteries on Corregidor Island, and into Manila Bay, on ]\Iay 1, 1898. At daybreak the Spanish fleet was sighted lying off the navy-yard and arsenal at Cavite. Admiral ]\Iontojo was on the Reina Christina with eight other shijis under his command. At the speed of eight knots the American fleet moved to the at- farragut's flagship the HARTFORD WITH DEWEY S FLAGSHIP THE OLYMPIA IN THE BACKGROUND 378 THE MARVEL BOOK OF A:\1ERICAN SHIPS tack, led by the Olympia. Tlie heat was intense and the gun crews were stripi)ed to the waist. Two mines exi)k)ded ahead of the Olym- pia without damage to her before Commodore Dewey turned to Cap- tain Gridley with his memorable order: "You may tire when ready, Gridley." ^\n eight-inch gim in the forward turret tired the first shot at the range of 5,500 yards in the battle that was destined to make the Tnited States a world-power witii possessions in the West Indies and tlie Far East. A shell struck the water almost at the Oh/iupUrs bow, one fragment cutting the rigging above the forward bridge and another tear- ing a hole in the deck. Dewey an- swered with a port broadside and ran four times down the Spanish line with his s h i ]) s ]i o u n d i n g t h e Spanish cruisers and gunboats. On the fifth turn he h a d closed in to 2,000 yards, and even the light guns of the fleet were working havoc on tlie decks of the enemy. Three had burst into flames under the accurate fire. Then came a halt for breakfast and a count of ammunition, l)e- yond the range of the Spanish guns, and it was a quarter to eleven when the battle was renewed, with the Baltimore leading. In two hours the Spanish fleet was destroyed. All had been either sunk or burned to the water's edge by gunfire and by boats' crews. Tlie flag of Spain on the Cavite arsenal had been rejdaced by a white flag, and Manila lay under the guns of our victorious fleet. Eight of our men had been wounded, none killed, and the ships bore little more than scars. In the Spanish fleet nearly 200 had been killed and almost '300 wounded. Congress voted Dewey a sword of honor and restored for him tlie rank of Admiral of the Navy, an lionor that only Farragut and THE LrrTLE GH)L »_ t,-!.l tK E.\(iA(.KD THE SPANISH TOR- PEDO BOATS AT CLOSE RANGE SEVEN GREAT SEA FIGHTS 379 Porter had shared. His return to the United States by way of the Suez and the Mediterranean was the occasion for honors that cul- minated with a great celebration in New York on Dewey Day. On his death at Washington, January 16, 1916, the nation united in the last honors to the great sea captain who will always live in its mem- ory with Farragnat and Porter. The fight oft' Santiago, Cuba, on July 3, 1898, ranks as the great- est sea fight in American history in the power of the squadrons that were engaged. Cervera's squadron bad been "bottled up" in San- IT WAS CAPTAIN PHILIP OF THE "tEXAS" WHO SAID: "dON't CHEER, THE POOR DEVILS ARE DYING" tiago by the North Atlantic S(iuadro]i under conniiand of Rear- Admiral William T. Sampson. On the morning of the od it dashed out of the narrow entrance and in the running fight that followed evei-y ship in the luckless squadron was either captured oi' sunk. As the Sjjanish, led by Admiral Cervei-a on the flagsliii) Infanta Maria Teresa, came out they turned to the right and Hed down the coast at full speed. The American fleet was i>repared and their fire caught the leading ship and she made for the beach a mass of flames. ;5S{) TIIH MAHN'KI. I!()()K OF A^[^:RICAN SHIPS Xoxt the Oqucndo, riddled by shell-firo, was beached to save her crew. The Vizcaya, also afire, went on the reef fifteen miles west of Santiago, and her forward magazine exploded. Meanwhile the Gloucester, a converted yacht and lacking armor, had engaged the destroyers Pin- ion and Furor close inshoi'e. Lieutenant Commander Richard Wain- wright, though outmatched by either, stood direct for them. The accurate and rapid fire of his light guns destroyed first the Pluton and then the Furor, while the little Gloucester escaped unscathed. Now came the most thrilling moments of the fight, for the Colon was in full flight with the Oreffon, BrooMiin, Texas, and New York in pursuit. At the end of a three-hour chase tlie Orefjon was the first to get her range, and the roar of a 13-inch shell that barely passed over her made her strike her colors in surrender. On the BrooMyn we had lost one killed and one wounded, while the losses in the Spanish fleet were more than 250 killed and dro\\Tied, 150 wounded, and more than 1,800 prisoners. The Oregon was the hero of the fight, for after having rushed 15,000 miles around the Horn, passing through the Straits of ^lagellan in a gale, she had out- raced the rest of the fleet in the chase of the Colon. To-day her full broadside would be drowned in the roar of the Penusylvama's twelve 14-inch guns, and the Pennsylvania, single-handed, could beat a fleet of the old Oregons. The Santiago Battle ended Spain's resistance on sea; and with the menace of its fleet gone the combined military and naval opera- tions resulted in the speedy end of the war. Photo by Paul Thompson, N. Y. THE S. S. "titanic" LEAVING SOUTHAMPTON ON HER MAIDEN VOYAGE XXXII TRAGEDIES OF THE SEA THE sea takes heavy toll with its countless shipwrecks. Hurri- canes, typhoons, mountainous icebergs, treacherous shoals, tidal waves and the gales of midwinter all contribute to their shai'e of marine disasters. In foggy or misty weather comes the added danger of collisions. Only a few of the most famous disasters that have befallen American ships and passengers need be told to illustrate the dangers that lurk at sea. One of the most remarkable accidents that ever befell any ship, but which, happily, entailed but little loss of life, wrecked the U.S.S. Mononf/ahela in West Indian waters. She was at anchor in the road- stead of Fredericksted, then the port of the Danish island of St. Croix, on Xovember 18, 1867, when suddenly she began to (|uiver from stem m 382 TJ1I-; MARVEL !'>()( )K OF AMEKICAX SHIPS to stern. The sea was calm but immediately the water began to recede from shore. It came back with such a strong current that the Monon- f/aJicla's chain cal)le was torn adrift and ran out through the hawse- pipe. Another anchor was let go, and an effort made to pay her head offshore to take advantage of the checking of the current and a light offshore breeze. She was making headway into deeper water when a great tidal wave, twenty-five feet high, rushed in fi-om the sea. It carried tlie ship bodily over the warehouses on the shore and landed her on her keel in the street fronting the water. By an odd chance she lay di- rectly in front of the store in which Alexander Hamilton had once worked as a clerk. On the retui'n of the tidal wave the Monongahela was once more thrown back toward the beach. AVhen the wall of water had receded, and the sea was again calm, the stranded vessel lay keeled over at an angle of fifteen degrees on a coral reef. In this precarious i)osition the MonutifinlieJa appeared to be doomed. Three men who were in boats tied up at the boom were lost, but THE "vANDALIa" WAS A VICTIM OF THE SAMOAN HURRICANE 384 THE jMARVEL book of AMERICAN SHIPS those on board escaped without injury. Commodore S. B. Bissell, who was in command, began repairs to his ship and from tlio United States, under whose control St. Croix and the other islands of the Danish AVest Indies passed eai'ly in 1917, eight anchors and a thousand fathoms of chain cable were supplied. Launching ways were built and with the anchors and cable the Monongahela was hauled into deep water. Twenty-five days from the dramatic appearance of the tidal wave she was afloat, and soon after left for New York under her own power. One of the most tragic disasters ever enacted at sea was that of the Samoan hurricane of Mai-ch 16, 1889. At the time there was fric- tion between the United States and Germany over Samoan matters. In the unprotected anchorage of Apia lay the United States ships Trenton, Vandalia, and Nipsic, the German Eber and Adler, and the British Calliope. After a day of heavy seas combed by a northerly gale the hurricane broke in full force over Apia soon after midnight of the 16th. As the hurricane swelled to its height the danger of collision in the crowded anchorage, and the ])roximity of the coi-al THE CUUISER HE ROCKS IN SANTO DOMINGO BY TIDAL WAV8 TRAGEDIES OF THE SEA 385 reefs that guarded its entrance, added to the dangers of the terrify- ing wind and the seas that broke over the decks. The Trenton's chain cables parted on three of her anchors, one by one. Her wheel w^as wrecked, and water in her hold gained on the pumps. Hand pumps were manned to save the fires from the water, and then, through the sheets of flying water that obscured the anchorage, the crew of the Trenton saw the British steam frigate Calliope standing out to sea. She passed so close that her foreyard lay over the Trenton's deck, clearing her by inches. As her powerful engines fought against the hurricane Rear-Admiral L. A. Kiniberly of the Trento)i called for three hearty cheers. They came with a will, "the doomed saluting the saved," and the Trenton's band struck up "God Save the Queen" as the Calliope, fighting inch by inch for the open sea, forged ahead. When the Calliope passed her the Trenton's fires had gone out, and she lay helpless, her doom apparently a question of hours. Every man on board knew it, yet in the face of death they gave their tribute to the magnificent effort of the British ship. Captain Kane of the Calliope afterward said: "Every man on board the Calliope felt as I did; it made us work to win. I can only say, 'God bless America and her noble sailors ! ' " All day the Trenton dragged, barely missing reefs that would have torn her sides open, until she struck bottom. Here she brought up alongside the wrecked Vandalia, whose masts were all that showed above water. Lines were shot across and the crew and officers in the Vandalia' s rigging and tops were saved by superhuman efforts. The ^spot that marked the Vandalia' s death soon claimed the Trenton. The Nipsic went hard aground but was afterward salvaged. Through the surf sailors and natives formed human chains and saved many who had been washed overboard as the American and Gei'man ships pounded to pieces. The little Eber had gone down almost instantly after the hurri- cane broke. The Adler had been lifted by a giant wave over the edge of the reef and toppled over on its deck well inshore, with part of the keel torn off. The Nipsic suffered our heaviest loss, with forty-three men and four officers, including her captain; but none escaped unscathed. The sea exacted its toll from all but the Calliope. Waves tore men out of the rigging and dashed them onto the decks. Others were swept from the decks, and many drowned before the men battling in the surf could reach them. 386 THE MARVEL BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS The sinking of the second-class battleship Maine in the harbor of Havana in 1898 was without parallel in its staging and its results. It made war between the United States and Spain inevitable. The rallying cry of that war on land and sea was, "Remember the Maine!" To-day the exact truth of the blowing up of the Maine is still wrapped in mystery, but the finding of the Naval Court of Inquiry, held at Key West, announced to the world that "In the ojjinion of the Court the Maine was destroyed by the explosion of a submarine mine, which caused the partial explosion of two or more of her forward maga- zines." This opinion is generally held. Conditions in Havana were much disturbed early in 1898, and the Maine steamed into the harbor, past Morro Castle and Cabanas fortress, on January 25th. Consul General Fitzhugh Lee had reported that Americans were in danger of mobs and without a place of refuge. She was taken to a mooring buoy dii'ectly off the center of the city by a Government pilot ; and then followed the usual visits of courtesy between Captain Charles D. Sigsbee and the Governor-General of Cuba, and lesser officials. It was evident that the presence of the Maine was not popular, but there were no untoward incidents until the night of February RAISING THE MAINE 388 THE ^[ARVEL BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS 15th. It was exactly 9:40 o'clock when the shock of an explosion lifted her bow out of water. There followed a second shock, and then a tremendous explosion forward blew up her decks and the Maine settled in the water. Private Anthony, the Captain's marine orderly, imme- diately searched in the darkness for Captain Sigsbee and, when he found him, following the formula of the sea that everything must be reported, saluted and said: "Sir, the ship has blown up and is sink- Fire broke out and the uninjured boats were lowered and the ship abandoned after a thorough search for wounded men. The Spanish warship Alfonso XII and the American merchantman City of Wash- ington took aboard the survivors. Divers were sent to Havana by the Navy Department and their report was made known to the Court of Inquiry at Key West. The total loss of officers and men on the Maine was 267, and the nation was plunged into mourning. Sixty- four days later war was declared by Congress. The Maine was afterward raised by action of Congress, her sJiat- tered hull patched up, and she was then towed to sea and sunk with her flag flying. Her dead were buried at the Arlington National Cemotcrv with fitting ceremonies. rWKILIXd THE .MAI.NIO M U \ L' M E N T teaCtEDIp]s of the sea 389 When tlie Wlaite Star liner Titanic sailed from Southampton, Enoland, for New York on April 10, 1912, on her maiden trip, she was the largest steamship in the world. Her cabins were hlled with men and women of distinction, and Americans were prominent among them She was considered to be the last word in ocean liners, and unsinkable with her fifteen watertight bulkheads and a watertight inner bottom. With a displacement of 46,000 tons, length of 88o feet beam of 92 feet, and triple screws, she held within her steel hull all that science, lux- ury, and p w e r could combine in a single ship. Five days later she was at the bottom of the ocean. Out of her complement of 2201 passengers and crew only 711 were saved. It was night when the Titanic, running at the speed of twenty knots, struck a giant iceberg. There was a sud- den shock, but at the time the pas- sengers didnot . ,, a A dream that a berg had been struck. Small bits of ice on the forward deck were the only outward sign at first. The band began playing, and meanwhile tons of icv water were pouring into the holds. The ice was far south of its usual haunts, but the air had been unusually cold and the steamers Caronia and Baltic had that morning wirelessed warnings of icebergs. Secure in the belief of her invincibihty, however, the Titanic' s course had not been altered and she had steamed to her rum. Her wireless operator sent the call of S. O. S. throbbing into the black night. She settled slowly by the head, listing to port, but when it was seen that her end was sure there was no panic on board. Ofli- cers armed with revolvers took stations at the boat falls and the women and children were hurried off. There were not enough boats to take DIVERS LOCATING THE ¥-i 390 THE MAEVEL BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPS all the passengers. An attempted rush for the boats by a few steerage passengers was stopped by a few warning shots. When the last boat left there were fifteen hundred on the Titanic' s slanting decks. She sank by the head, slowly at first, then dived almost vertically. Lighted as brilliantly as the night she left England, the Titanic went down in that last plunge, and from her decks men and women slid down into the vortex. Her boilers burst as she sank and nothing was left to mark where the pride of the seas had been but drifting wreckage and THE F-4 WHICH WAS LOST OFF HONOLULU small boats in which women took their places at the oars to keep from freezing. The Carpathia and Olympic had been the first to answer her wireless and, boatload by boatload, picked up the survivors and then steamed to the westward with the tragic news. The loss of the submarine F-4 off Honolulu is a typical tale of the dangers that submarines run even in the carrying out of routine maneuveis. Ti'apped in the hull of a sunken submarine death comes as the only relief while the outside world counts the days until hope is abandoned. Following the raising of the ill-fated craft to the sur- face with its crew of dead men, naval experts generally derive some TRAGEDIES OF THE SEA 391 new lesson in the building of undersea craft that will make them more safe. The F-4 stood out of Honolulu Harbor with the F-1 and the F-3 for a submerged run on the morning of March 25, 1915. She sub- merged off Diamond Head and never came to the surface until the salvage crew raised her more than five months later. Wlien the other two submarines returned within an hour the non-appearance of the F-4 caused alarm. It was noon when a motorboat sighted air bubbles and the slick of oil on the surface a mile from the channel entrance in water two hundred fathoms deep. Other bubbles showed closer inshore where the water shoaled rapidly. Divers wore sent down to a depth of 300 feet in diving-suits after two expert divers without suits, but wearing divers' helmets, had gone down to a depth ranging from 190 to 215 feet. It was seen that the only chance of rescue lay in dragging the F-4 into shallow water where the rescue work could be better carried on. Dragging failed and then the salvagers passed chains under her and she was lifted and towed into shallow water. It took three days to place the chains because of the swells and heavy undertow. By this time all hope of saving the lives of the F-4's crew had to be aban- doned. Only after months of preparation, delayed by broken haws- ers, snapped chains and storms was the submarine finally brought to the surface. She was so badly damaged that, while the bodies were rescued, the cause of the accident that held her on the bottom of the harbor for five months will never be clearly known. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY ^^7-1''( - BERKELEY t '^ '^'T Return to desk from which borrowed. This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. UFebSWB MAY 71955.LU R£C D Lp 0CT28'64-1U REC'D LD SEP16'65-2PH MAR 2 7 1966 1 6 JUL 28 1988 VZ7 i>M % LD 21-100m-ll,'49(B7146sl6)47 AUG 24 1989 (JCT 011989 ij'ilj Disc OCT 2 1989 YD \5(-22 IvISOMSl 'v^ ^j.,' U.C. BERKELEY LIBRARIES CD0S3=mbn