Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1913-09-09
Aliseellauspus 2saaiag.
THE WONDERFUL SUBMARINE
Interior of Dreaded Craft Presents
Much Interest.

Interior of Dreaded Craft Presents
Much Interest.
Few people who stand on a pier at
the Charleston navy yard or view the
passing of the craft about the harbor'
have any knowledge Of what the inte-
rior of a submarine is like. Compare
lively few have ever been aboard OF
one of these much dreaded vessels OF
war time which sink below the surface,
slip upon the enemy and then launch a
torpedo into its side. The interior dill
fers entirely from the view that the
average person forms Of submarine
and the craft is really one Of the most
interesting of the fleet Of war vessels.
Climbing down ten rungs Of an iron
ladder into the interior Of submarine
is like going into boiler shop where
there Is one continuous, deafening, ear
splitting racket like dozen trip ham,
mers chattering a tattoo amid grind
and rumble and thump Of machinery as
IL especially designed to burst your
eardrums.
At first the noise in that narrowly
confined place is painful and DEVIL
dering. To make yourself at all heard
you must shout into the ear OF a COM
panion. So intense is the strain, says
a 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, a color which is service
able and does not dazzle the eye
Light comes to You partly through
portholes and in part from incandes-
cent lamps placed fore and aft In the
darker parts Of the hull.
You have expected, Of course, to land
in a tangle of whirling machinery that
fills the inside of the boat from stem
to stern, threatening with every revo-
luton to take an arm or a leg on. In
stead the first thing you see is an unin-
terrupted working space" or DECK
measuring by 25 or 80 feet.
At the stern, far in the background.
are the machines and engines. In fact,
this section of the vessel Is nothing put
machinery, a rumbling mass Of silvery
steel and glittering brass, revolving at
the rate Of 500 times 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 a cover for the cells of the
storage batteries wherein Is pent up
the electricity with which your boat
will propel herself when she runs sub
merged. The walls amidships and the
space in the bow are gigantic ballast
tanks to be filed with water.
The four torpedoes, measuring six
teen feet three inches long, eighteen
inches in diameter and weighing 1900
pounds each, are lashed end for end In
pairs at 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 steel
cylinder 1000 pounds per square inch,
a pressure so intense that were the CYL
lnder to spring a leak no larger than a
pin hole and were the tiny stream OF
escaping air to strike human being 1t
would penetrate him through and
through and drill hole through an
inch thick board behind him.
And yet everything about the interi-
or arrangements Of this boat is 80 sim
pie that you can see at glance its
purpose. Away forward, where the tip
of the cigar comes to point, are the
two torpedo tubes out of which the
gunner will send his deadly projectiles
seething beneath the waters at the rate
Of thirty-five knots an hour against an
unsuspecting hull.
blISSliy thS eO"SA
a 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 at his post he Is visible to
the crew only from the waist line down
and at the feet of the captain and on a
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 decline and show how
deep the boat is down.
The two officers are in personal COM
munication, so that in case Of heart
disease or other mishap either can
Jump to the other mans place.