The Columbus journal. (Columbus, Neb.) 1874-1911, 1911-03-08
DRESSING AsShIP.:
4 man-0f.War Wears More Than
One Suit Of Clothes.
INNER AND OUTER GARMENTS.

Besides It's Coat Of Armor Plate Il Has
Special Set Of Underelothes to Pro.
teet the Vital Parts Of It's Anatomy.
Mineral Wool Mufflers.
Battleships wear coats Of stout ar
NOR plate. as everybody knows. but
everybody docs not know that they
wear undergarments which are pro-
duced chiefly from cocoanuts. Your
most powerful man-Of-war Is really a
very delicate object and requires
special undcrclothinG so that some
vital parts Of its anatomy may not be-
come too cold and so that other equal
" vital portions may not become too
hot.
From stem to stern. which is another
way Of saying from head to toe. your
enormous super Dreadnought is envel-
opcd In an undcrSarment placed i'm
mcdiately behind its tOpcoat or armor
plate. This is its special macintosh,
or. rather. waterproof. which acts as a
protection from fire as we'll as water.
In the ordinary way if n shot pierced
the side of battleship water would
pour in at the hole and possibly the
ship might sink. but this is obviated
by providing Il backing to the armor.
Great secrecy is kept in the various
navics regarding the material used and
its arrangement.
In many of the latest battleships.
however. the coating is made Of cellu.
lose. which again is obtained from the
fibrOus cocOanut rind. CellulOse pos
sesses the peculiar property Of swell
ing Immediately if it comes in contact
with salt water Therefore the moment
that water pours i'm ut hole ut the
ships side the cellulOse almost in
stantly expands and SO closes the aper-
ture. OF course the cellulOSe, is eS-
pecially treated in order to render it
fireprOOf.
A man-Of-war has its vitality enOr-
mously diminished If certain portions
Of II become too cold. i'm much the
same way as its human tenants. Ac-
cordingly its boiler and steam pipes
are clothed with jackets" In some
cases the jackets are made of ordinary
blankctinG. others of Il tibrous clay like
composition or even of close grained
wood. In general the material used
for ships underclothing of this de-
scription consists Of mineral wool
However. the great ship is more like
~ to suffer from the effects of heat
than from those of cold. There is al
ways the danger owing TO the newer
type of machinery employed that the
powder magazines may get too hot.
In the latest men-of-war the stores
are surrounded by n thick coatin: Of
mineral wool. Mineral wool. by the
way. has nothin: whatever to do with
wool. rs II consists Of n mass of snowy
threads of kind of glass. II is made
by blowing jets Of high pressure steam
through the furnaces in the manufac-
turc Of iron and steel.
Enormous quantities of this strange
variety of wool are used OH board for
the purposes Of Undertaking the bulk
heads and the more delicate portions
OF the ships body. This invaluable
substance acts equally well as pro-
tector from heat and from cold. 1t is
such n remarkable nonconductOr Of
heat that 1t Is used for covering the |
and the cold storage |
chambers and therefore the explosive
stores.
In the dOckyards all men who are |
employed in packing the mineral wool
i'm the spaces on the ships are obliged
to wear masks. This is to prevent the
sharp needlelike particles from being |
inhaled and so causing chest troubles
Of fatal character.
The ammunition rooms themselves
are kept cool by refriseratins plant
In addition to being clothed i'm mineral
wool. the same applying to the ammu-
milton passages. The wool is also
hacked between the double bulkheads
which separate the boiler spaces from
The other portions Of the vessel. Alto
.ether the uses Of the mineral wool Oh
board are extremely numerous. Even
reindeer hair is tn be met with on
,Oard in the capacity of particular
sort Of Undertaking. This material
s very liSht-considerabl lighter than
.Ork, for inStance-and it is not so sub
ect to decay For this reason among
Is many uses it is Of great value rs
filing for the life buoys. - Boston