The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-10-18
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|: Army and :
! Navy News !

Continued from Page Nine.)

Continued from Page Nine.)
ring, which is repeated during target
work to such an extent the guns seem
to be alive, so rapidly are they served
and fired. The men and officers are in
the field of the "blast.'' Not only
rupture of the tympanus. but trau-
matte myringitis results.
These injuries may often be avoid
ed, he says. by keeping the mouth
open, so as to let the air conclusion
pass through the eustaehian tube. He
calls attention to a fact not hitherto
made known here, namely, that a re-
cent examination of fifty naval men by
the British admiralty showed they had
been made deaf by gun practise. The
admiralty board has advised the use
of an ear plug. Another device, the
blast SCREEN is also being tried in
the English navy. 1t is made of steel
and rubber, seventeen feet deep, and
is said to shield the men from the
blasts of the 4-inch guns. Naval ex-
perts say it does not really preserve
the hearing, but gives the enemy a
bigger target to shoot at. One of
used on the British battleship Infex-
ible, it is said. The ear plug, while
it stops the vibration of air from can
non discharge, does not prevent the
men from hearing orders. But the sea
men and officers do not like it, be-
cause they like to be considered "Kard
as nails''
Passing of the Am1nen Ram.
The ram Katahdin, from which so
much was expected as an engine of
war, is about to come to an ignomin-
ious end. Instead of creeping up to
monster battleships and sending them
to the bottom of the sea, which work
she was designed to perform, she will
herself become the object of attack
The Katahdin s doom was sealed when
the secretary of the navy ordered that
she be towed from the navy yard at
Philadelphia to Hampton Roads, Vir-
ginia, as soon as possible, and thence
to Washington to be prepared for the
sacrifice. While here all machinery
and useful material will be removed.
and then the hull will be lowed to
the proving grounds at Indian Head,
Md, to be used as target for Uncle
Sam s big battleships.
The Katahdin is relic of the old
days when the ram was seriously con-
sidered in naval warfare. The yes
sci did not fulfill the hopes of her
designers, and therefore never has
been put to practical use. The Ka- |
tahdin was designed to be one Of the |
most formidable vessels in the Navy. |
She was made practically shellproof |
low her to strike and sink her |
enemies.
Her only chance for action came in |
the Spanish-American war, when she !
was comparatively new ship. The |
ram was found to be unseaworthy, |
however, and at the close of the war |
was sent to the Philadelphia navy |
yard, where she has been ever since |
The old ironclad will be fitted up WITH |
various compartments filed with cork |
and sawdust. All the additional buoy
ancy possible will be given the Katah-
din in order that she may carry new
modern plate of armor on each side
This armor, which will be |
twelve inches in thickness, will be the
target for the big guns, which will be
tested at the Indian Head proving
grounds.
In Cavalry Forty Years.
Brigadier General Winfield s. Ed
gerly, commanding the mounted SER
vice school at Fort Riley, Kansas, has
been relieved from that command and
ordered to his home to await retire |
ment December % next. He has been
granted leave of absence until that
date. General Edgerly was recently
examined by a retiring board at his
own request, and the board reported
that he was physically incapacitated