The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-11-07

military foremast The battleship Ida
no, attached to the newly organized
third squadron of the Atlantic fleet, is
the first of the new vessels to be
equipped with the new skeleton mast,
which is to be part of the gunfre control
equipment of all battleships. The ships
which are now building have two such
masts, taking the place of the older
so-called military mast, which is heavier
and now declared to serve no useful
purpose The merit of the new mast
is that it offers the greatest resistance
to damage by gunfre, being constructed
of heavy strands of metal so arranged
as to maintain adequate support of OBJ
servers at the top, some hundred and
fifty feet above the sea level, even after
part of the mast has been shot away.
The experiments conducted with the
monitor Florida at Hampton Roads
some months ago demonstrated that this
type of mast could not be brought down
early in an action at least.
War Color for Warships.
The next American battleship viii
visit Honolulu in the new war color
garb adopted by the Navy Department.
Orders have already been issued by the
department for some of the vessels to
don the regulation war paint This
is not because there is expectation of
hostilities, but because the mixture be-
tween dark gray and drab color, known
now as the American color of warfare,
has been adopted also as the navy s
color in time of peace.
The first naval vessel to be CARRIED
thus is the Castine, gunboat. Then the
new battleships, the Mississippi, New
Hampshire, Idaho, North Carolina and
Montana and the three new scout cruis-
ers will be similarly painted. When the
Atlantic feet passes into the Atlantic
ocean in February the Atlantic third
squadron win meet it in war paint. The
change of paint has long been under
discussion by the Navy Department,
and the present decision comes from a
recommendation by Rear Admiral Ev-
ans after his cruise around South Amer
lea, being the result of observations on
the action of the various waters on the
bulls of the battleships. If the new
paint on the Atlantic fleet vessels is
found satisfactory all vessels win go
into drab The new paint will decorate
the vessels from waterline to the tip of
the topmast.
Navy Boy Gets Kahuku.
The Kahuku wireless station, one of
the largest in the world, and recently
completed under the direction of expert
Isbell, is to be in charge of Mr.. Branch,
who, until a few weeks since, was a
wireless operator in the United States
Navy. Mr.. Branch was in charge of
the naval wireless station and when his
term of enlistment expired he was
promptly engaged by the local wireless
company. AS the Kahuku station is.
now fitted with powerful apparatus, and
capable of receiving and sending mes
sages from and to the coast, Mr.. Branch
who is yet a young man, is honored, and
his selection for this post indicates,
also, that his training in the navy was
worth while.
Inspectors First Work.
When the japanese liner Hongkong
Maru came into port October 81, the
newly arrived Inspectors of Steam YES
sells, who had just opened up permanent
headquarters in the Alexander Young
building, had no idea that she was
the first vessel they would examine,
and foreign passenger vessel at that.
But her American certificate to carry
passengers had just expired, so the ex-
An1 W ONCl lAO NCSSSl W
see whether her equipment was in con-
formity with the certificate issued by
the Japanese government. The exami-
nation was satisfactory and certificate
was issued which viii expire with the
Japanese certificate next July Had
the inspectors not been established in
Honolulu at that time, the vessel would
have faced fine at San Francisco, or
at least would have been put to some
trouble making an explanation. So the
value of the inspectors, as a local per-
manent establishment, is already mani
fest.
The Intrepid was the first local yes
sci to be inspected and passed The
Mauna Loa was examined on the marine
and repairs to the J. A. Cum
Minis were also inspected, and gradually
the entire island feet will pass under |
critical inspection.
The Inspectors are also being called