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Show QUEER LUCK FOLLOWS MANY SHIPS THROUGH GERMAN U-BOAT ZONE While in Most Dangerous Region Engines of Vessel of Ancient Vintage Fail, but Boat Escapes Submarines. "THE FIGHTING FLEETS." By EA1PH D. PAINE. (Copyright, 1918, Yy Kalph D. Paine.) iUy epecinl arniriBfment vicli Ilougliton Mifflin Co.) INSTALMENT 47. The Luck of the Navy. THE war zone would seem to swarm with submarines, after hearing the reports from many ships, and yet the luck of the navy Intervenes now and then. One chief gunner plaintively recorded: "The ship was built in 1875, and with the only engines she ever had in her. she did well to get by. We were a long time in dangerous zones, as our speed was' between five and six knots an hour.'' This ancient, rusty tramp creeping on her course no faster than a schooner, logging log-ging perhaps 125 miles in a day, had never a glimpse of a submarine. There was another instance which a bluejacket with a sense of humor described after coming ashore. "It was comical. The old bucket's engines en-gines laid down every fifteen minutes or so. This was while we were In dangerous waters, mind you, and right on edge for periscopes, five-inch shells and torpedoes. The wireless man was catching messages from other ships that had got theirs, and we were just patching up and breaking down again and floating around like a weary old derelict. Men Grin at Luck That Follows Them. "You won't believe it, but we were at this silly performance for a whole week before we went clear of the red line on the chart that marks the active area of Mr. Willie Hohenzollern's submarines. Nervous? What was the use? Some of the men got impatient and one or two were sure they could glim a periscope every time they looked over the side but there was plenty of grub and a sociable crowd." Within a year the armed guard force numbered many thousand men. It swiftly expanded as a naval department important impor-tant and distinct. New merchant fleets were building, in the most tremendous increase of tonnage ever known, and they were to carry guns and crews to light them. Quietly the navy constructed barracks bar-racks and organized training schools for this special service. The tutors were chief petty officers who had crossed the Atlantic and fought submarines. Stern experience had taught them Its invaluable lessons. The game was no longer untried and novel. In the school grounds were mounted types of the guns to be used in action. The men had been drilled in the fleet, but I there was more gunnery to learn. This was a different business from firing at a. canvas target. Hunting the submarine is snap-shooting, incredibly difficult. Incessant Inces-sant practice is required to master the art of training and sighting a four-inch or five-inch rifle in a few seconds. There must be automatic co-ordination, from the spotter on the bridge with the telephone strapped to his head to the trainer, sight-setter, sight-setter, pointer, plugman and shell-handlers shell-handlers who have no time for nerves or hesitation. More than this, the trade demands eyesight eye-sight drilled to detect a periscope or conning-tower, a sureness of vision which may, in a"n instant, decide the issue of life and death. Here the "spotting-board" "spotting-board" comes into play, a device so entertaining enter-taining that the pupils flock around it out of school hours. Ranges Are Marked Upon Long Tables. It is a long table upon which the ranges are marked by lines running both ways, at intervals representing 100 yards. At one end is a square of tin, set on edge, with a narrow slit cut in it, and a shutter which can be dropped across It. Upon the board Is a tiny model of a submarine as seen when awash, its size scaled to fit this miniature bit of ocean. A little dab of cotton glued to a wooden base is called "the splash," and looks very much like the foam kicked up when a shell strikes the water. The navy youth who is learning to "spot" takes his 'stand fit the end of the board and looks through the slit in the square of tin. A comrade lifts the shutter and lets it drop, merely a glimpse of the surrace and the dot of a submarine. The pupil estimates the distance dis-tance and the deflection right or left, and calls out the shot. Another member of the class places the "splash" where the lad at the shutter indicates, in-dicates, in his guess at the range. It may fall 500 yards short or go over the submarine. At the next glimpse the "gunner" tries to correct his error, and again the "splash" is set to show how near he comes to the mark. Good Judgment and Quick Eye Are Needed. If he has a quick eye and a good judgment, judg-ment, he will land the "splash" within striking distance of the submarine after four or five of these trial shots. This is an adaptation of the spotting-board game as used on the ships of the navy, and it is particularly valuable for training the guards of the merchant vessels, rather dismayed at first to find how very small a submarine appears when 5000 yards away like shooting at the head of a pin they soori catch the spirit of the iob they are being fitted for and are eager to work everlastingly at it. They will not all be "spotters" (the men who telephone the ranges to the gun crews), but their vision will be surer for this schooling, and, besides, it is wise to train them so that they can exchange stations sta-tions in a crisis of an engagement. It is only by sheer luck that so few gunners at sea have been killed and wounded by shell-fire. When a man drops, his mates will be ready to fill his place and keep the gun in action. And so at the drill in the yard thev shift from one position to another to be prepared for casualties. Such things are seldom discussed, but so long as the American navy floats there will live in its compelling traditions the words of the dying Lawrence on the deck of the Chesapeake, Chesa-peake, "Don't give up the ship!" There are classes in signalling, semaphore, sema-phore, and tlotter, and at night with the "blinker" that sets the electric lamps to winking and flashing the letters of the Morse code. Lookout duty requires special spe-cial instruction. Nothing is more important im-portant for defense against the submarine. One petty officer, by the way of impressing impress-ing his audience, sternly quotes this awful example, possibly true and perhaps not: "One ship was lost because a lookout rolled a cigarette. Don't forget it." "Dummy" Compass Is Used for Practice. For this purpose the "dummy compass" is employed, a card upon which the circle of the horizon is marked off in sectors like the pieces of a pie. It is vital that When a lookout sights a submarine he should be able to sing out the. position, so that the gunners may Instantly operate op-erate the training-gear and waste no precious pre-cious seconds of time before the spotter begins sending his ranges. And the crew of the gun must learn to know precisely where to look when the man in the crow's nest yells, "Periscope two points off the starboard bow!" This they practice in the yard until letter perfect, until every sector of the horizon has its definite meaning and location. There Is boat drill, more exacting than in the fleet. The armed guard service has learned that to lower away, quickly and without bungling, to avoid" capsizing in a heavy seaway, to fend off from a sinking ship whose propellers still thrash, is a race between life and death. It is part of their trade. Merchant chews are apt to be undisciplined, as the records show, nnd when panic sweeps the ship their officers cannot hold them. (To be continued.) |
