| Show lighthouse NAVY A FLEET OP BOATS WHICH NEVER FIRES A GUN pacific dut tremendously important miss on wh eh one and tac it TV cf Uncle Sams sh ps perform for years the united states has been climbing up aa a naval power ensign of the Lighth cue fleet and now Is credited as standing sec ond in the list of the nations whose sea fighting strength places them in the forefront of the world powers and nearly every american Is familiar with the long list of names of the warships together with their fighting equipment but probably there are but few who know that uncle sam main bains another navy which boasts of no engines of death in all the ships in commission under its flag there la not a single cannon not a torpedo not a machine gun or rifle to deal death to an enemy the ships are built without turrets powder maga or tops and the sheath ing of steel upon their hulls Is so thin that a bullet from a boy s cat rifle could almost bore through the wood underneath but weak as it la no bullying pirate would be desper ate enough to give battle to its sail ors no enemy of the star and stripes will ever sink its ships it Is above all others the navy of peace tor it is the lighthouse navy and its work is for all mankind without it the fighting navies of the world near shore could never turn a pro peller after dark the commerce of the nation would be crippled it not an nihl and passenger steamers mall boats and pleasure craft would be at the mercy of the waves and reefs as soon as the sun was obscured in the heavens by the fall of night or the swoop of storm without its navy the warning beacon maintained by the lighthouse board would go out on a thousand dangerous coasts and treacherous lakes and river shores ai gatlon ifould be standing still part of the time and human knowl edge would shrink and shrivel to the proportions that measured it before the peoples of the earth were able to visit one another across the seas that separate their homes the principal ships of the light establishment are of bowse the lightships which are moored at various points dangerous to alon along the ocean coast hut there are scores of other vessels like the steam tenders which are employed la delivering to the keepers of the lights such supplies ot food fuel and cloth ing as they need and the smaller craft that the keepers their families and employed use lightships Light snips of the first class 93 la r umber including those now building are ane seagoing vessels averaging tons measurement that are pro vided with lights bells and fog whis ties smaller lightships are main talked on the lakes and rivers the oceangoing lightships cost in the 0 80 those in use on the lakes and rivers a attle less ot the vessels on the atlantic coast the older and smaller wooden ships are stationed in the bays gulfs sounds and similar sheltered waters some of these obsolescent as they are cost the government as much 50 each the latest improved models hae steel hulls the light ship at sandy hook has a revolving lens light the first ever used on a lightship in this or any other coun try another lightship at cornfield point long island was the first elec trie lighted vessel of its kind to be built anywhere the sandy hook lightship costs about 9 a apar to maintain owing to its immense u of fuel the cornfield point ship costs more than 1 a year to keep running the lights of one of these ships will bum more than 1000 gallons of oil a year to keep tog whistle of a lightship sounding alts warning requires the expenditure ofa a ton of coal a day so one can birj agane that to maintain this a peace Is in ita way a luxurious feces sity that only a nation with an ampi i pocketbook could afford |
