El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-01-10
ADMIRAL AND
HIS FLEET ARE
ALWAYSREADY
Man Who Commands on the
Mexican East Coast Is an
Inventor.
MAKES MANY NEW
NAVAL DEVICES
RevolutiOnizes Use OF Tor
pedoes;; Makes Marvellous
New Gun Mount.
NY AsHNGTON D. c., Jan 10
w An inventor, a really great in

w An inventor, really great in
ventor, directs the United
States fleet off the Atlantic coast Of
Mexico. Also Frank Friday Fletcher,
rear admiral. is a lawyer and diplo.
mat Besides which, he is an excellent
sea commander and a fighter Of &C
knowledged ability. With Fletcher on
the bridge Of the flagship, Washington
does not worry.
The navy demands considerable OF
a man today. He must be sailor, me-
chantc, student Of international law,
society man, dipIOmatist, sanitarian,
and few more OF course some
naval officers are deficient in certain
of these points and make up for their
lacks by excellence in others. Fletcher
IS great in all these lines and in ad-
ditiOn he has added to the efficiency
Of our navy by a series of remarkab bic
inventions. Some Of the most valuable
cOntrivances in use aboard craft Of
our fleets originated in his fertile
brain.
Invents Breeeh Closing Device.
He viii long be known among navy
men-if he dies tomorrow, for the
Fletcher breech closing mechanism
this viii probably last many decades.
The device IS a wonder Of efficiency.
1t shuts the breech Of a rapid fire gun
in the quickest imaginable time and
with the feWest possible motions.
Also a Gun Mount.
Then he has invented a gun mount
an arrangement Of truncated cones on
a roller path by which friction IS re-
duced to such point that a weapon
weighing thousands OF pounds can be
trained literally with one finger and
clamped instantly to fix it upon the
target.
Masters TorpedOes.
He has also revolutiOnized the use
Of tOrpedOes with his researches into
the behavior Of these dread messen-
gers Of the sea He has corrected
many grieTous errors Of range.
All Of these things count when the
successor Of rear admiral Badger in
command Of the Atlantic fleet comes
to be chosen next spring. Rear ad-
miraI Cameron MGR. WinsloW might
succeed him, but a few stirring events
in Mexican waters may change the
plans and hand the plum over to the
marvellous Fletcher
1t IS remarkable that a man with
such truly great attainments as a
scientist should have taken five years
to go through the Naval academy at
Annapolis, yet such is the case.
Friday a Nickname.
His middle name, by the way IS half
nickname He was born in Oskaloosa,
Ia, on November %, 1885 which was
Friday. On this account his father
used to dub him my little man Fri
seven, but the name stuck He was
appointed to Annapolis at the age OF
IA and escorted to the academy by an
elder brother The latter when called
upon to put the youngsters name ,
down on the roster of boys entering
the Naval academy wrote frank Fri
day Fletcher" And so the name was
carried along into the academy. The
bearer has never been able to shake
it off.
ride E1afrHar az he uas now
called. graduated from Annapolis June
21 1875. after q course in which he
showed no special brilliance. His first
Job showed the kind OF talent that was
board the United States steamer Tus-
earOra, engaged in surveying q sub
marine route for a projected cable TO
connect California with Japan. This
involved an exploration OF the ocean
depths. Just east Of Japan the Tus-
3arOra discovered the deepest hole
hat exists anywhere in the world
This marine abyss, called the Ius-
'arora Deep. goes at least down five
and a quarter miles. The soundings
vent that deep and failed to touch
bottom.
Starts to Inventing.
Thus introduced to the scientific
side Of the navy. Fletcher started
light out in the Invention line. He
iandWiched periods of invention be-
-ween cruises which brought him most
Varied sea service
In 1S79-18S1 he was aboard the Tt
,onderOga, a steam sloOp commanded
~ commodore r. W. Shufeldt which
congress sent around the world on a
commercial and diplomatic cruise
The vessel sought especially a treaty
With COrea which would protect the
ives and property of Americans When
he TiconderOEa entered the harbOr Of
Tusan, May IA. 1880, the officials
would not receive a letter from COM
nodore Shufeldt because the king OF
yOrea had not been correctly des-
gnated as king Of ChO-Sen-"King Of
he Land of the Morning Calm" With
derisive salute from the COrean forts
he Ticonderoga departed. She pro-
eeded to China, COrea's suzerain, and
pent a year there in diplomatic work
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