Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-06-29

12EbR5@
The Naval Battalion armory and dock
took on a war appearance early yester-
day morning. Things hummed all day
long down on the water 'front.' where the
local naval reserves camp" and they
will continue to hum all day today. and
tomorrow and Tuesday, up until the time
the battalion starts its march through
the streets to board the train for Balti-
more. where it will embark on the
L. s. s. Alabama for their ten-day cruise
in the north Atlantic.
The local jackies and their officers were
at the armory bright and early yesterday
morning, in compliance with orders issued
by headquarters last Saturday. Practi-
cally the whole day was given over to
drills There were boat drills drills in
heaving the lead. in rowing and sailing,
and in other matters pertaining to life
| in Uncle Sans navy. Some of the men
put In their time completing their equip
ment for a prompt start Tuesday. Some
| had their packing to do, and Commander
| Dempf saw to it that every man was
prepared for the trip.
| Today is expected to be an interesting
one for the battalion. AS on yesterday,
there will be drills of all kinds, including
| the infantry drill and manual OF arms.
and much of this Will be given on the
outside. 1t is expected that there will be
| large crowds at the Naval Battalion
| dock all day watching the men in the
drills and preparations for their annual
voyage on the ocean blue
| In order to allow the men to get their
| white clothes clean and ready for the
/ trip Commander Dempf last Monday is
| sued orders that from that time until
| the men boarded the Alabama the uni
form would be the regulation blue with
| white caps. In this way the dark blue
| will be relieved by the white caps.
| With the exception of a short time for
lunch all will be activity down in the
| vicinity of the Naval Battalion's armory
OF course. there will be very, very much
activity at lunch time. for after the men
have handled the boats and attended to
the other drills they will no doubt be a
hungry lot. And working on the water
certainly does increase hunger.
/ Tomorrow also the daily routine will be
followed, and there will be some more
drilling, drilling. drilling.
/ 4
| There will be band concert by the
Naval Battalion Band today at ) O'Clock.
| Weather permitting. 1t will be given on
have more of the naval air than ever
before. for the reason that the bands
men will have their full uniform, where
as last Sunday they had only part OF it.
Then. all of the members of the battalion
| will be present. as today they are under
orders and will be compelled to be there.
The program will be found elsewhere in
| today's Star.
| There was an unusually large crowd at
the concert last Sunday. and there were
many expressions of the noticeable i'm
provement in the bands playing. The
concerts will be a weekly feature after
the battalion returns from its cruise.
Several of the enlisted men OF the bat
talon amused themselves last Sunday
by drilling in life saving at sea, but not
without causing CONSERVATION among
the visitors on the dock. Several of the
jackies We're observed on the end OF
the dock in the afternoon, and IL was
thought that they were working on the
power launch. Suddenly a cry of Man
| overboard,' rang through the air. In
stantly every one present ran toward
the end of the dock. as they saw several
sailors dive overheard simultaneously.
When the spectators reached the end
OF the pier they looked sheepish. The
sailor boys were bringing In nice
round log and small stick. When they
came from the water they explained
that they were practicing rescues from
drowning. This large log" said one of
inc men. represents n woman, anu tH!a
stick her child Now they are both
thrown overheard and go out and
bring them in The men also spent
much time in the practice of launching
lifeboats.
In preparation for launching the power
, launch d. c. NJ. Wednesday evening,
! the officers rugged up continuance
which seemed to be a cross between a
shoot-the-chute" and marine rail
: way. After they completed II, several
of the enlisted men obtained a small
:, row boat. placed il on rollers and sho,
the chute into the river.
The resourcefunesZ of the officers
of the District Naval Battalion wa:
displayed last Sunday. when they arrived
I at the dock bright and early TO make eff
I forts to complete the repair work on the
n launch ID. c. NJ. that day When they
$ arrived IL vas raining. and. not desiring
: To work while old Jupiter Pluvius was
: making attempts to spoil their plans
Q they obtained couple of boat covers
y and several pieces of scantling With
these they built cozy shelter tent cover
ing the entire boat. on the floor of the
: dock they placed several canvas ham
f mocks. and try, he did all day ole
d Jupiter could not daunt the efforts of tn.
d | officers
: The power boat Nameess. another O
: the District Naval Battalion launches
i by Commander Dempf Ensign Harol,
e Crawford is her skipper. Mr.. Crawford
| with the aid of enlisted man spen
I much OF Sunday in efforts to fix th