Evening star., 1915-07-04
Now Out at Sea Aboard Bat
tIeship, Doing Real Sail
orS' Work.
EXPECT TO RETURN
WITH GUNNER TROPHY
Greenies Are Initiated After All
the Militia Shake Down on
Big Ship.
From a star Correspondent.

From a STAFF Correspondent
| ON BOARD US. BATTLESHIP KEAR-
SARGE, Hampton roads. July 3.-On a
gallop Of the high seas to last for fourteen
days the officers and men of the Naval
| Battalion of the National Guard of the
District of Columbia pitched and rolled
| majestically out of Hampton roads this
afternoon aboard one of Uncle Sam S
neardreadnaughts-the battleship kear-
sarge. formerly of the Atlantic reserve
| fleet, but now in full commission.
To learn the ways of the navy is the oh
| ject of these citizen sailors Of the Dis
trct. From professional men. clerks,
stenographers. typewriters, mechanics and
| medical students yesterday wearing all
| manners and forms of clothes, they were
| transformed this morning into gunners'
mates. boatswains' mates, carpenters,
| machinists' mates, hospital stewards and
apprentices, quartermasters. signal boys,
all neatly clad in natty white work uni
| forms issued to them by Uncle Sam.
Coming aboard the big fighting craft
which rode peacefully at her anchor
in the historic Hampton roads in the
given a chance to change from their
travelling suits of blue to the cooler
uniforms of white. First of all. they
wanted their morning meal. and the
officers of the battleship provided them
with this.
Shaking-Down Process.
Then came the "shaking-down as
they call it in the navy. Every man
is given an opportunity to locate him
self. as it were. He must find a place
hi; olo hay-
hook to place his hammock upon at
night Then he must find out his sta
ton and the time he is to go on watch.
whether it be on the bridge. as a
quartermaster. helmsman or signal
boy. aloft for wd of the cage mast as
a lookout, or down in the bowels of
the ship heaving coal into the roaring
fires or watching some part Of the in
tricate machinery.
The forenoon and part of.the after
noon were taken up almost entirely in
this shaking down process. The sta
tion billets were issued the men
were lined up in their quarters. After
they had received their assignments. II
it was not time for them to go on
watch, they had chance to get ac-
quainted with the regulars. a mighty
hardy lot they are. and glad to receive
company, maybe renewing ac-
quaintances with the members of the
North Carolina naval militia. with
cruise aboard the battleship Rhode
Island last summer.
Except for little gulping noticed as the
big Norfolk and Washington steamer
slowly rounded the tail OF the horseshoe
early this morning, the fun for the men
making their first cruise will not start
until the big vessel is well out into the
ocean tonight. There's always few
of the young uns to get seasick. and
there's always some one around to sug-
gest remedy such as the swallowing of
a piece of fat pork
Hardly had the big anchor chains
clinked through the giant hawse pipe as
| the process of heaving In the anchor went
| on, when some Of the new citizen sailors.
| felt a nagging at his throat. quivering
| of his knees and a certain dizzy sensation
| In the head. Then the symptoms are
augmented and abetted by the vibration
Of the engines and smell of the oil fumes
as the big ship pointed her PROV toward
the Chesapeake capes.
Initiating Greenies.
| And the new man had to be initiated
into the ways Of the men by the older
| men There's the hammock ladder to get
and the battery controller and things Of
the sort. And the recruit not knowing
how he's going to get into his hammock
at night-being six feet approximately
above the deck-naturally looks for the
ladder And by the time he has made
several efforts to get to his bed without
Instructions he has decided that he needs
It.
For that hammock just won't swing
in the center when the weight is put
on the side. The recruit looks and
wonders, until some old timer tells hin,
to grab hold of hook. give swing
and in he goes to get a good nights
| rest as he swings back and forth with
| the motion of the ship. his lungs in
haling pounds and pounds of fine salt
air.
But the boys are all anxious to get
into action and prepare themselves for
the Runnery work-the main feature
Of the cruise The District boys An
ished third last year, and they are
going to try to bring home the trophy
this year. When the big ship stops
at Gardeners bay on return engage
ment after a trip to Newport. r. l..
they are just going to try to make the
| target look like a sieve. And judging
| from the way they are going about 1t
they will succeed.
While the sailors are learning every
thing about the running of big piece
| of machinery like that of a battleship
| they are giving the greater part OF
their attention to gunnery, for that's
what would count IL the militiamen
were called into service in time of war
w. ]. w.