Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-06-15
800, 924 F Street NV.

and at Fort Wool, Willoughby and other
important points. The battle commander
with the information furnished by the
scout. 1mmediat ely informs the fire COM
manders of the fire stations and gives his
directions as to the kind and condition of
the hre, with the result that the ships are
under the guns of the forts long before
they are aware of it, unless they have in
tercepted the scouts message and can in
terpret 1t. The ships also have wireless
devices and Admiral Dickins has been US
ing them frequently during his stay in
these waters. 1t is believed that he has
not only been communicating with the
ships OF the section of the fleet with him
here, but that he has maintained com
munications with the portions of the SQUAD
ron at Baltimore and Washington. 1t is
understood that the navy is using a secret
cipher, and although it is believed several
messages nave been intercepted by the
army operators at various points from the
ships, little information was gained. owing
10 the lack of the key to the code.
Other Signaling Apparatus.
The patrol boats are equipped with other
apparatus for signaling the forts In case
the wireless should not work, or for use on
vessels not equipped with wireless These
devices consist of rockets and other species
of visual signals that can be used at night
The forts also have a variety of signaling
apparatus for interbattery and interfort
communication. Telephones telegraphs
both wireless and of the old shioned
variety, are used for communication be-
tween the various divisions of the district
and telephones and lights are used for inter-
battery comm unication The idea is that
the safety and security of the works depend
On having at least one method of communi-
cation that be relied on to work all the
time. As these joint exercises are tests of
ehlclency pure and simple every variety of
apparatus for carrying messages is being
used for the purpose of determining which
Is the best adapted to the needs of the
service. The same methods prevail in the
navy, where tests are being given several
appliances that have lately been perfected
Making Out Vessel.
To the average layman 1T is difficult to
distinguish the type and class of a ship by
her appearance six or eight miles off shore
on dark murky night. Only naval man
of long experience could completely iden-
tify ship under such circumstances, and
so 1t was not expected that even the army
| officers on the lookout for the ships should
be able to distinguish them as to class
without help of some kind. To provide for
this contingency the War Department had
made a series of silhouettes of every
ship in the fe ct and on board each
patrol boat q set of these silhouettes has
been placed showing just what the ships
look like as they stand out against the
skyline. In the day time the approaches
to the forts are watched by men in obser-
walton towers equipped with powerful tele-
scopes. These observers are kept at their
posts at night also, to assist the patrol
boats and insure complete information of
the approach of the enemy. Signals be-
tween the forts are sent by lights and
wireless at night and by wireless and tele-
phone by day. Every day at noon the
time signal sent out by the observatory at
Washington is sgnaled to every section of
the artillery district with smoke bombs.
a. F. F.