Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1898-05-13
pEWEY'SREC0RD IN TIE NAVY.

DEWEI'S RECORD IN TIE NAVY.
Commander Gi"orgc Dewey, who has
Just achieved the glorious victory at
Manila, is an old warrior OF the navy,
who got his christening OF fire aboard
the old steam >l"op Mississippi, under
Farra.ut, IN the early days ri the civil
war. Comm"dorc Dewey is now about
81 wears old. He belongs in Vermont,
and he was appointed to the naval
academy from that state in september,
, 1874. Four years later he WAS
graduated, and was sent aboard the
steam irigatc Wabash for cruise in
the Mediterranean. Dewey got his
commission a. lieutenant on April IL,
1861, eight days after Fort Sumter was
fired upon, and he was Immediately
assigned to join the Mississippi and do
duty with the gulf squadron. He WAS
on the Mississippi when she took part
with Farragut's other vessels in forcing
al entrance to the Mississippi river,
and again when the fleet ran the
gauntlet OF fire from the forts below
New Orleans in April, 1862, and forced
the surrender of the city. The ship
he was in belonged to Captain Bailey S
division of the fleet which attacked
Fort St. Philip.
The hottest fight that the Missis-
sippi ever engaged in was her last one,
and this was perhaps as hot rs any OF
the war. In March, 1868, the fleet
tried to run by the Confederate
batteries almost muzzlc to muzzle,
and they were forced to retreat. The
Mississippi did not get as far as this.
A foggy day had been chosen for the
attack, and this was soon made more
obscure by the smoke of battle, and
amid this the Mississippi lost her bear
ings and ran ashore.
Her officers found that she had
struck just under the guns of battery
in the middle Of the line of fortifica-
tons and one of the strongest of the lot.
In half an hour % shots struck the
vessel and she was riddled from end to
end. There was no chance to save
her, and her crew took to their boats
and landed on the opposite side of the
river, after setting her ON fire. Soon,
lightened by the loss of the crew and
the fire, she drifted off, and blazing
and saluting with bursting shells, she
drifted down the river, until finally
the fire reached her magazine, and her
career was ended in one great ex-
plosion. Dewey was next attached to
the steam gunboat Agawam, of the
North Atlantic squadron, and he took
park in two attacks on Fort Fisher in
December 1864, and January 1865.
In March 1865, he got his commission
as lieutenant-comman and as such
served on the famous old kearsarge
and on the Colorado, the flagship of
the United States navy, is that she
has the power to shoot her charge-can
under a warship that has torpedo
net out, that she carries her propelling
power aboard Of her in storage batteries,
and does not need dynamo on land,
and that she is a marvel OF SIM
plicity. She can be handled from any
point, and if necessary she can tow a
small boat after her, in which the
operator can sit at a distance of two
and half miles and direct her move
ments. She can run twelve miles and
be started, stopped and backed by
only pressing small button. There
are two wire cables, each two and a
half miles in length, aboard, which
uncoil and connect her with the
operator. One of the cables controls
the boat while the other steers her,
She carries two lights, which reflect
their lights backward, so they are seen
by the operator only, and not by the
hostile ships, keeping the operator in
formed as to the actions Of the boat.
If one is above the other she is going
ahead. If sideways she is making for
the stern or bow of q warship. No light,
the boat has stopped. She runs with
but three inches showing above water,
and can be submerged to fifteen feet.
Extending from her bow is long spar
with two arms extended. Extended
again from these are steel harpoons
with two arms on each, lying fiat.
The harpoon is forced through the
net; the arms unloosened, spring upon
the inside of the net and keep it
fastened there. The open arms of the
spar strike the net on the outside and
drive the spar back into the boat,
which strikes the trigger. The can,
attached to the harpoon by chain,
falls and is swung under the vessel to
be destroyed. At the same time the
leather cap is torn off the top of the
charge-can. This action lets out the
potassium, which, on meeting with the
water, ignites the rocket, exhaling the
gas from the can and exploding the
charge-can.
Meanwhile the boat itsef has been