The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1898-07-01
UNSEEN ENEMY TO WARSHIPS

UNSEEN ENEMY TO WARSHIPS
If Paul Jones' ghost wanders around
our new Ivy he must see many sur
prislng accessories Of the fighting and
working forces as organized in his
day. One move and necessary addi-
ton to the crew of a warship of the
present time is the submarine diver.
The Importance of this individual to
the welfare of a warship has been am
ply shown during the recent operations
against the Spanish fleets. Speed has
been the most important point in the
maneuvering during the opening events
of the war, n this has rendered it
necessary for our ships to be in the
best possible trim for the fast work.
AS, owing to the lack of foresight, we
are not provided with the necessary
dry docks to clean the foul bottoms of
our vessels when they come off a long
voyage, it has been necessary to send
divers down to do the work as best
they could.
When a ship goes into dry dock and
is then treated to a new coat of paint,
she energies from the dry dock as
clean n fit as when she made her
maiden voyage. Thes ubmarine divers
are able only to scrape away the bar
nacles and seaweed, n even then they
are so handicapped by the h~eaviness
and unhandiness of their dress that it
is impossible to do the work in any
but a clumsy and incomplete manner.
But, good or bad, the diver has be-
come a necessary part of the ships
crew. Many warships carry one or
more trained divers, and to attain to
the rating of divers requires very spe-
cial qualifications. Before being sent
for training, the man applying has to
undergo an extremely rigorous medical
examination, and is mercilessly repect-
ed unless absolutely sound in wind and
limb, possessed Of ar exceptionally
strong constitution, and, above all,
without the slightest tendency to any
heart weakness.
Every foot the diver %descends, the
greater, of course, becomes the pres
namely, 200 feet, the pressure was as
much as SS pounds to the square inch.
It is, however, only rarely that it is
necessary to go to such depths as this,
but eve working in shallow water
most men suffer very severely at first,
and emerge from their diving suit with
racking head and bleeding from the
nose and ears. In truth, every time
he descends the diver takes his life in
his hand, for anything going wrong
with the air supplying gear, would
place him in a very hopeless condition.
The diving apparatus used in our
nevy is a costly affair. The method Of
it's working is simple. A long coil of tub
ing supplies the diver with oxygen, and
by means of a coil of o attached to
his person he can signal, by pulls, to
the surface, and be raised to the sur
face when the work is done. To de-
scend, the diver has, of course, to be
heavily weighted. The weights carried
on breast and back weigh some 80
pounds, while the heavy leather boots
with their leaden soles weigh an
other twenty pounds. The weight of
the helmet, which is ingeniously fitted
with valves to allow the vitiated air to
escape, is no less than forty pounds,
and to this must be added the weight
of the rubber dress itself, and t he
weight of the heavy underclothing of
the diver.
He is not a progressing sight, this
monster with the huge head dress and
the glazing eyes, but his usefulness to
the navy is Unreasonable. He was
wanted in a hurry, and unfortunately
was not at and when the Maine went
down into the mud of Havana harbor.
He will be wanted in coming engage
ments to patch holes in the sides of
war craft, if these wounds mercifully
fall short of being mortal; he will as
sist in wrecking operations when it is
found necessary to go fishing for the
valuable portion of a Spanish fleets
equipment after we have treated it as
Dewey treated it at Manila; he will be
ready to help a United States vessel
out of a score of unforeseen troubles
that may arise when the modern war
ships get down to fighting that is not
all one-sided.
Theoretically, the submarine diver is
a formidable aid in operations against
the enemy. Whether or not he will be
so in practice remains to be SEEN. The
theorists assert that the diver can be
sent under water on dark nights to
grope his way into the mined entrance
to harbors, and cut the wires connect
ing the explosives with the shore; or
they say he can attach mines to the
keels Of anchored craft and explode
the mines when he reaches a safe dis
lance; or he can saw the cables of
anchored vessels and put their crews
to great Inconvenience, II not in a po-
sition of positive danger. There is
scarcely any limit to the theorists sug-
gestions for using the submarine diver
as q means Of offense in naval cam
paigns, but most of the plans are Wis
ionary, and 1t Is probable that the
most practical use to which the diver
can be put Is to clean and repair the
ships Of his w nation when 1t Is
necessary that the cleaning and repair,
ing be don extraneously, and facilities
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