Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-01-29
To Care for the Wounded in the Next
Naval Battle. =
WILL Be TRULY AN ANGEL OF MERCY
Fitted Up With All the Latest
Hospital Appliances.
UNIQUE IN HER DESIGN
Copyright, 1898. by R. G. Skerrett.)

NoPyriSht' 1870, ny H. ". okefrett.l
Written for The Evening Star.
Unique in the annals of the navy the am
bulance ship comes now to carry the min
istering succor of the Red Cross upon
blood-stained sea. Without such an angel
Of mercy one well might wonder how the
wounded are to be handled with enlighten-
ed tenderness after our next great naval
strife.
Men, then, will be pitted against more
awful odds than ever before, and, after the
wearing strain that that knowledge alone
will bring, they will the more readily sue
cumb to injury or to shock. Shudder as
one well may at the tales of the departed
cockpit" the story Of the wounded on a
modern craft in conflict will be many times
worse than in the days of wooden ships,
and that, too, even though science has
given to physician and to surgeon means
undreamed of thirty years ago.
The naval architect has built his ship to
meet. as far as human foresight can, the
perils of naval battle: while the makers
OF guns, in turn, have fashioned their
weapons so that their messengers of hard
ened metal may tear their way through
six, eight. ten or a dozen inches of tenn
pered steel a good mile distant.
Dreadful Menace.
The winding ways. the narrow passes,
the honeycomb Of water-tight walls, and
the thick masses of protecting steel that
mean SO much to the crafts own safety
are really but the promise of a dreadful
hindrance to the proper care of the in
jured in action. Doors must be closed:
Earthquakes must be screwed down, and
drmored gratings must leave room only for
the passage of air. Passages may become
piocked by plates that single shot has
ha oh rod wr-S&L
tangle OF metallic rubbish, and, above all
q rain Of small shot may sweep the only
path to proper care.
Mechanical facilities have reduced the
WORKING force to reasonable minimum
while precious space has been stocked
with those instruments and means that
above all else, are to make the shin one
great hght1ng machine. There are no ST.
pernumeries. Each man has his appointed
place to fill, and, perhaps, a station at
which he must fight, fall. or perish. Who
then, shall bear him below even il that be
possible! The guns must be worked and
a aiie ioeman FACED. The surgeons and their
assistants must reach him as best they
can ana bear him as gently and quickly
as possible to the nearest bit Of stinted
space, and there give him that immediate
reilef which may mean his life
NOW let us see how Surgeon General Van
feypens novel and noble idea has been
made wonderfully practicable by the chief
constructor.
Floating Hospital.
Picture craft 800 feet long over all,
with beam of so feet, so nodded that she
shall be easy and comfortable under the
normal stresses of weather. with an out
ward appearance not unlike a moderate
sized ocean liner. and one gets a fair no.
ton of the proposed craft. Two sets of
triple-expansion engines will turn her twin
screws and drive her along easily at a
tourteen-knot gait: and with her bunkers
lled with their 600 tons of coal. she will
De able to cover 1900 knots at full speed
OF. at ten-knot jog. will have a steaming
radius OF twenty-four days. Her limited
sail power will be for the purpose of steady-
ing her In seaway and making her more
IL feet on total displacement of 1850
tons she will be able to enter any desirable
harbor.
Beginning at the uppermost or awning
deck, one finds there four large steam cut
tiers and like number of barges intended
Tor the rapid transportation Of the wounded
from their shattered ships to this navigabIe
hospital These barges are proportional
especially for the work, and bear upon
their seats or thwarts a flying floor, upon
which dozen wounded may be stretched
in comfort. Bound in their hammocks and
adjusted in an easy position by the WELL
known service device, they will be lowered
into the waiting boats and promptly towed
to the ambulance ship, where by the aid
of the boat davits and ready power, they
Will he carefully raised, swung fnboard
amidships on the upper deck, whence they
Will be carried to the elevator on either
side and borne swiftly below to the operat-
ing room, where the attention they need
will be fully and quickly given them. Pa
tients suffering only from shock or mild
injuries need not be taken to the operating
room for treatment. This room, which is
on the main deck. L., the second deck be-
low the awning deck, is 1Sx21 feet square,
~ xxy;1I H. - L.
convenience. The floor will be tiled. the
walls entirely free of woodwork, while the
tables and their appointments will be
treated with a view to strict antisepsis.
Besides the flood of light that will come
down unhindered through the great sky
light two decks above, the windows at the
sides and an abundance of electric CLOVIS
will fill the place with sunshine or its near
est kin.
Helping the Injured.
From the operating room the patients
will be carried by the electric elevators to
the berth deck below and forward by an
overhead trolley, to any one of the 40 cots
on that deck. or. without the aid Of the
elevators. by another trolley system, for
ward to any of the 1874 cots on the main
deck. Excepting in the advance compart-
ment on the main deck, where a single tier
of IA cots is placed for the treatment and
isolation of peculiarly serious cases, the
cots elsewhere are arranged In double tiers
and supported by plain iron stanchions-
The trolley from either elevator shaft on
each decA will reach all of the berths or
cots on that side of the vessel. SO that
four lines only win be needed to handle
effectually a possible 274 wounded. There
will be hammock space besides for SO Of
the convalescents or lightly injured. The
working crew Of the ship-about 125-will
swing In hammocks on the main and the
berth decks amidships.
The dispenearies are independent OF the
Of the hospital decks. The mscicsl STAFF
will consist OF four uedtsal officers. and