The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1916-03-12
HOW It FEELS
DURING BATTLE
Men on ship. Know They Would Have
slim Chance in Case Their
Vessel Started
Sinking.
NO THOUGHT OF DEFEAT
Big Battleshlp New Zealand Has
Boon In Two Encounters and
Bears Honorable
Soar.
HBy Wilbur S. Forrest, United Press
Staff CORRESPONDENT.

TBy Wilbur s. Forrest, United Press
Staff Correspondent
ABOARD H. M. S. NEW ZEALAND,
SOMEWHERE in THE NORTH
SEA, March /. (By mail.)-What are
the emotions Of men in battle: men
cooped up in big steel gun turrets;
men serving ammunition in magazines
under the waterline; men at stations
in the bowels of warship: all sub.
consciously aware that the next few.
minutes may be their last?
This query was put to officers and
men aboard this giant battle cruiser
today These men have seen and
fought in the two greatest naval bat
ties of the North sea. Now they pa
tiently wait for the enemy to come out
and fight again.
From the bottoms en-
cine rooms and magazines-to the
top-the captains coming tower and
the big gun turrets-the answer was
the same.
There Is no emotion"
Men forget all about feeling when
there is battle to do Every officer
end man has his single task. He
does it and leaves his feelings for
afterwards.
How this psychological turn is pos
sible was demonstrated today during
an inspection Of the New Zealand.
Six hundred feet of fighting ship, she
lies in a never broken battle line,
tethered by an anchor chain which
will part almost the very moment the
call of battle comes. The New Zea-
lands prov is pointed toward a deep
er part Of the North sea. So are the
prows Of all her sister cruisers and
other units Of England's great battle
cruiser squadron.
To reach the interior of the New
Zealand's forward turret, where two
massive twelve inch guns are housed,
1t is necessary to crawl through q
small hole on the under side, like
rat hole in a cheese box. This hole
is the sole entrance and exit.
Inside, the gun crews are at their
stations. A trim young naval officer
is in charge Everything is ready. A
sharp order is given. A low rllmbling
like distant thunder is the first sign
that these big guns are "going into
action" The great breech blocks, as
big as an ordinary barrel, stand open,
waiting for the shell which is to
pierce an enemy eight miles away.
The rumbling grows louder. Metal
doors cIang and bang within fifteen
seconds the projectile arrives and
automatically slides into the yawning
gun breech. 18Th
Charges of explosive follow and
slide into the gun behind the shell
No human hands. touch this shell or
the charges Of powder
Two seamen stand nearby. to see
that everything works properly. An.
other touches an electric button and
the big breeeh closes quietly and de-
liberately. Another gunner presses
bulb that sends out blast like an
auto horn.
This is the signal to the chief gun
ner that everything is ready
The chief gunner-there are two
one for each gun-sitss forward, ms
eye at a powerful telescope. At MS
left is small brass wheel. A simple
twist elevates or lowers the grea'
gun as If it were an ordinary rifle.
At. the right is something that re
sembles the stock of pistol. a
simple press Of this trigger. .Tne DIS
she'll is on its way.
The breech block swings oper
again ready for the next charge, whlct
is already rumbling upward througl
narrow shaft connecting the turre
with it's source of supply-the mag
azine, in the bottom OF the snip.
The men in this turret and mas
azines would 20 down with the shil
# she sank. The men who work the
giant turbines in another part OF the
hold would 20 too. Men scatterc
throughout the ship in 900 difereh'
stations probably would perish. One
out of ten might be saved If the shll
sank slowly and he was lucky
mo one figures in advance aoou
getting out" said an officer. whose
name admiralty regulations rule IRON
print. mo one contemplates belns
sunk. There Is an air Of confidence
Every man figures on what we Will &c
to the enemy.
TT isn't his code to figure what the
enemy might do to us. He has hi;
little bit to do and does 1t. He has
been trained to 90 that.
Such is the spirit of the British ant
Perhaps the Germans feel the same
but there is very little chance o
escaping from a modern battleshtl
II she sinks in action. EVERYBODY
aboard knows that
The New Zealand is perhaps the bes
Known British fighting ship, from
civilian standpoint, in the Brltlsi
navy. She was paid for by the domln
ion Of New Zealand but built and com
missioned in England in 1912.
To allow the people of New zeaian'
to see what their money had bought
the admiralty sent the cruiser on
trip to New Zealand ports wher'
over half of the population OF tn
Islands came aboard.
Over $4,000 persons were on poar'
at once according to the vessels rec
ords. The trip involved circuit o
the globe before the New Zealand re
turned to home waters in time 10
the opening of the present war