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Show "Nautical Novelties" Are you informed of the fact that: The first American to lose his lift in the World War was John E Eopclucci, BMlc on the b. r. Astec. where he was doing duty m the armed guard when that ship was torpedoed on April 1, 1917. on the coast of France. The first commissioned officer oi the armed forces of the United Stales to lose his life in the war was Lieutenant Clarence E. Thomas, Thom-as, USN., who was in command of the armed guard of the S. S. Vacuum Va-cuum which was sunk on April J8, 1917, by Germr.n Submarine U-21. The first artillery shot was fired by the Navy on April 19, 1917, on the S. S. Mongolia, when the naval nav-al armed guard fired on an enemy submarine and presumably sunk her. The first American forces to report re-port for active services were a division of destroyers under Captain Cap-tain Taussig, USN., on May 4, 1917, at Queenstown, Ireland. The first armed forces of the United States to land in France were Naval Aviators in two divisions, divi-sions, June 7 at Borddeaux and June 8 at Saint Nazaire. The first shell fired in the World War from Americans, and aimed at the destruction of enemy forces on land, was Battery NO. 2 of the Naval Railroad Forces in France at Campaigne on Septem ber U, 191V. The public at large will be surprised sur-prised to discover that official records re-cords confirm the above facts and that the Navy maintained its usual usu-al status of being first to land, first to fight and first to die. The first vessel of note in the Navy was the Ranger; the first iron-clad monitor; the first submarine, sub-marine, the Holland. The U. S. S. Delaware was our first dread-naught, dread-naught, the Langley our first airplane air-plane carrier, and the ZR-1 our first dirigible. The United States built the first steam man-o-war and as such was about thirty years ahead of her time. She was commissioned just as the war of 1912 was drawing draw-ing to a close and thus never saw active service. She was named the U S. S. Princeton. In 1842 the United States put into service the first warship to employ the screw propellor, a distinct dis-tinct advance over the clumsy paddlewheels then in vogue. She was ormeel with 2-12 inch wrougnt iron .n:s, the largest size that had yet been employed at sei. The iuir.ous frigate Constitution may be rightfully called the first all big p.m ship." She had about one and one half times the turn power sre, speed of contempjrai-y foreign vessels of her day and ciass This explains the ease with which' she won her many vnt.jr-ies. vnt.jr-ies. The above "Nautical Novelties" were furnished by the U. S. Navy Recruiting Station, Salt Lake City, Utah. |