The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1908-09-02
INSIDE A SUBMARINE
You Are Greeted by a 0eafe;,ing,
Ear Splitting Racket.
WORSE THAN A BOILER SHOP.
To Make Yourself Heard at All You
Must Shout Into the Ear of q Com
panion-Ths Economy Of Space and
the Simplicity of Arrangements.

Climbing down ten rungs Of an
iron ladder into the interior of sub
marine Is like going into II boiler shop
where there Is one continuous deafen-
ing, ear splitting racket like II dozen
trip hammers chattering tattoo amid
a grind and rumble and thump OF ma
chinery as II especially designed TO
burst your eardrums.
At first the noise In that narrowly
confined space Is painful and bewilder-
Ing To make yourself at all heard
you must shout into the ear OF n COM
panion. so intense Is the strain, says
writer In st. Nicholas that you mar
vel how day In and day out human
ears can withstand the ordeal.
You find yourself inside what seems
an enormous steel cigar painted neat
pearl gray, u color which Is serviceable
and does not dazzle the eye. Light
comes to you partly through portfolios
and In part from incandescent lamps
placed fore and aft In the darker parts
Of the hull.
You have expected, Of course. to
land In a tangle Of whring machinery
that fills the inside OF the boat from
stem to stern, threatening with every
revolution to take an arm or n leg off.
Instead the first thing you see Is an
uninterrupted working space" or
deck. measuring by % or 80 feet.
At the stern, far In the background.
are the machines and engines. In fact.
this section of the vessel Is nothing bu,
machinery. Il rumbling mass OF silvery
steel and glltterlng brass revolving at
the rate OF 500 times Il minute, so com
pact that you wonder how the various
parts can turn without conflicting or
how It Is possible for human hands to
squeeze through the maze to oil the
machinery.
But this economy OF space Is as moth
ing to what you will see. The floor
you stand on Is IL cover for the cells OF
the storage batteries wherein Is pent
up the electricity with which your boat
will prope herself when she runs sub
merged. The wallis amldshlps and the
| space In the bow are gigantic ballast
| tanks to be filled with water that will
these are tool boxes and hinged hunks
| for the crew to sleep In.
The four torpedoes. measuring six
teen feet three inches long. eighteen
inches In diameter and weighing Loo
pounds each. are dashed end for end in
pairs ut either side, and directly over
these are tool boxes and hinged hunks
for the crew to sleep In.
The very air which Is taken along to
keep life In you In case the boat should
be detained beneath the surface longer
than usual is compressed In Il steel cyl
| inder 1000 pounds per square inch. II
| pressure SO Intense that We're the cyl
| inder TO spring Il leak no larger than
| pin hole and We're the tiny stream of
escaping mir TO strike human being ii
would penetrate him through and
through and drill IL hole through AN
Inch thick board behind him.
And yet everything about the inte
| rior arrangements OF this boat il SO sim
| pie that you can see ut IA glance Its
purpose. Away forward, where the
tip of the cigar comes to II point. are
the two torpedo tubes out of which
the gunner Will send his deadly pro
| jectiles seething beneath the waters at
| the rate of 50 knots an hour against
an unsuspecting hull
Directly under the coming tower is
Il platform. three feet square and ele-
waited three feet from the deck, upon
| which the captain stands. head and
| shoulders extending into the tower. SO
that while ut his post he is visible to
| the crew only from the waist line
down. and at the feet OF the captain
and ON level with his platform Is
| stationed another of the officers. In
charge of the wheel that controls the
diving rudders and the gauges that
register the angle Of ascent and de
cline and show how deep the boat Is
| down
| The two officers are In personal COM
munication, SO that In case of heart
| disease OF other mishap either can
| jump to the other mans place.