The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1907-01-12
TELEPHONES ON bATTLESH|PS
When in Port, Can Connect Up
With Central.
STEP TO MOOERN|zING Of THE NAVY
SHIPS HAVE INTERIOR TELE-
PHONES ENABLING CAPTAIN
TO TALK TO ALL PARTS

navy yard in Boston to send greet
ings home without bothering to secure
| shore leave to go to telegraph office
for the arrangements made by the navy
department to provide the squadron
now at Charlestown with long distance
| telephone facilities have been COM
pleted, and each of the big men Of war
has it's own pay station for the use of
the captain and members of his staff.
The pay station is located aft near
the officers quarters, and all the lieu
tenant or ensign need do is drop into
the booth and call up central, and ask
for New York, Chicago or ST. Louis, or
east of the Mississippi.
Five of the battleships now in COM
mission are at the yard, the Georgia.
Missouri, Indiana, Rhode Island and
Illinois, a powerful fleet by themselves
and typical Of the new navy" Be-
sides these are the cruisers New York,
Nashville AMI Detroit, and the torpedo
| training ship Vesuvius. These last
four are out Of commission for the
present
Things are done faster and probably
better than they were in the old days.
Here is an example of this. Until the
! flood tide Of business struck the
Charlestown yard the telephone was
| looked upon as limited convenience
while now it has taken it's place
among the indispensable things and
became an almost unlimited convent
ence. There were plenty Of telephones
| for yard use formerly, about $50 alto
gether, but when the cOmmandant or
the head of a department wanted to
call up Washington or New York he
, had to go to one of the yard pay sta
tions or else in some station outside
of the yard altogether
Finally these busy men realized that
such an arrangement would never
met the requirements of the press Of
business following the completion of
the mammoth drydock. 1t would be
more like the twentieth century to
! have direct outside communication.
| they felt; and with the approval of
| the navy department the telephone
company took out the thirty three tel
ephones used by the chief officers and
| department heads and put in new tel
ephones and an extra running to the
| Charlestown exchange. Since then a
call to Boston across the Charles, or
to any other point outside the yard
has gone through in half the time it
! formerly took.
Operators Enlisted Men.
The operators at the navy yard CEN
| trail are enlisted men chosen from the
marine corps. Two Of them attend
the switchbOards during the day and
another is on call all night. They do
their work well. Number" coming
from them lacks that sweet and en-
couraging quality which has made the
regular operator noted throughout the
land but it is efficient withal. 1t has
all the brevity, for one thing, of the
| response of other centrals-the time
saving, business-like brevity that APP
peals to every critical telephone user
Number" is naval-like in it's short
! ness and eXpreSSivenesS. The naval
officer, when on duty, at least, wastes
no words. Nor does central. On this
| common ground these two extremes.
! the bluff man of war and the sweet
voiced girl at the telephone exchange
meet.
The telephone exchange at the bat
tleship Rhode Island, one Of the first
class vessels put in commission with
in the past year, is situated like other
vital parts well inside the most thick
ly armored part of the craft, below the
water line, on which is called the up-
per platform deck. and directly under
the forward turret. The exchange &C.
cupies quarters some six feet long and
three feet wide. At one end. fitted
nicely into the width of the room. is
the switchboard.
The operator usually found at the
central office on the warship is
young bluejacket, but when the ship
is in action performing maneuvers in
company with other ships, the impor-
lance of the traffic passing through the
exchange requires the steady head
and hand of a more experienced man,
and the bluejacket's place is generally
| taken by an electrician.
A Nerve Center.
When the ship is playing at war on
| the high seas, the exchange is a YER
| liable nerve center. Messages
zone of them playing an important part