The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1915-09-02

Points in General About the COnStruc-
tiOn aud Parts Of Uncle Sans
Sea Fighters.

The following from Samuel w.
Peck in the Radio Electrical De-
partment on the U. S. S. Ver-
mont, gives a glimpse Of what
a dreadnaught or super-dread-
naught is like;
what with Haiti and Mexico
threatening on the south and the
warcloud of Europe driving in
from the east, the question Of
national preparedness has been
often discussed by thinking folks
everywhere. So it has occurred
to me that a little talk on the
memo war who patrol our coast
and stand in readiness for every
emergency would not be out Of
order.
1T is a far cry from the wood
en- frigates of 1872 to the Won
derfully complex machine Of all
steel and brass, the superdread-
naught of today. when the great
new battleship Arizona was
launched recently, she marked
the highest point in naval con-
struction which any nation in the
world had attained. And at this
moment there are others under
construction, her sister ships
which equal her in every detail.
Zone is very much impressed
with his first view of a man-o'-
war. Her slate-colored sides
bristle with guns guns on her
upper decks guns at her bow and
stern, big guns, little guns and
middle-sized guns. Her masts
loom up, two hundred feet high,
and made of interviewer steel
tubes, basket-like in order that
the enemy's shells may not easi-
ly cut them down. For it is in
the tops of these masts that all
ranges are found and the intri-
cate problems of battle are work
ed out. And there are giant
cranes, too motor driven, which
are used to hoist out and in the
ships boats and to bring aboard
the heavy sacks filled with coal
when all hands coal Ship And
the stacks, three of them, and
any one big enough to lead your
family Dobbin through.
Visitors tell me that when
they come aboard, the thing
which impresses them most is
the clean whiteness Of the decks
and the paintwork betweendecks.
We are used to that, of course,
and lie about anywhere with per-
feet freedom. One of the iron
laws of the service is Clean and
keep clean," for the men who
seek for efficiency know that
cleanliness means health and at
tention to duty.
There are four upper decks
on a man-o'-war, besides a num-
Der of others below the water
line and not quite so roomy. The
outer deck, or top side" as it is
called, is laid with heavy pine
strips the cracks between which
are caulked with oakum and
pitch. All lower decks are of
steel alone, and are laid with
heavy linoleum which is torn up
in time Of battle. Ladders Of
el--everything is of steel-lead
from one deck to another and are
so steep that one needs quite a
little practice before being care
less of accident. Each door is
edged with rubber flanges and a
device for closing it automatical-
ly connects with the bridge so
that any part of the ship may be
cut off from the rest by merely
pushing a button. The two up
per decks are used for sleeping
and eating and are the living
quarters of the crew. The Of
ficers have quarters aft, in a
separate part of the ship.
Perhaps the engine and dy-
namo rooms are the most inter-
esting parts of the ship. No
visitors is allowed in them, how
ever. There is too much COM
plicated machinery Of interest to
unauthorized persons to permit
their admission there.
ITO be below among sweating
firemen and busy oilers with tur-