El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1916-04-01

business Of the chief spotter. up aloft.
to correct the aim, as well as the range
of the guns. But everything does not
depend upon him. for in other parts
where-there are supplementary range
finders. each of them in telephone COM
muncation with the plotting room.
While receiving information from the
plotting room, the turret officer gets
his orders from the captain OF the
ship More accurately speaking. they
are given to MIN by the gunnery Of
ficer, who. with the captain, has his
battle station in the coming tower
which is a small steel fort with peep
holes. 1t is from the coming tower
that orders come for the guns to
bark.
on top OF the mainmast is a platform
like that on top Of the foremost It.
is the station Of the relief spotter,'
who. likewise provided with range
finder, is expected 10 do the spOtting
from alOft in case the chief spotter is
killed or wounded. But in short
be occupied, because they would be
pretty sure to be shot away by a
storm Of shells from the enemy's quick
fire guns.
Armored Towers Suggested.
Under such circumstances any range
finding that might be required would
be done by instruments on deck e,
on the EuIEELH OF AupeASAt uIAuA
has been proposed to provide small
armored towers on the decks OF our
battleships, to protect range finders,
but as yet this idea has not been car
ried into effect
During the Spanish war. and for
some time later, the masts Of our bat
tleships were provided with so-called
fighting tops in which couple OF
machine guns were mounted-the us
ual arrangement being that of an up
per top for the range-finder and
lower top for the guns. The masts
were built Of steel plates, and were
hollow. so that men could ascend and
descend, or ammunition could De car
ried aloft, inside OF them,
The machine guns (which shoot rifle
bullets) were meant to sweep an
| enemys deck and kill off his per
sonnet" But IL came to be realized
that. in a sea-fight under modern con-
ditiOns. the enemy was not likely to
get close enough 10 suffer in this way
whereas he could and doubtless
would, direct a storm of small cahber
explosive shells against the fighting
tops, quickly putting them out OF
business.
The men in a fighting top occupied
the most exposed position on the ship.
Poised high and clear. the top was
tempting target for gunfire and its
occupants were doomed to certain death
if the mast was knocked down. \
single prOjectile, indeed. might easily
hlloth uONu AlAe mast.
Fighting Top Abandoned.
It was a perception Of these facts
that finally caused the abandonment OF
the fighting top in our naval construc-
ton, and brought into existence the
wire" military mast. which, invented
by clever young officer IN the ser
vice, is today peculiar to the navy OF
the United States One can tell an
American battleship anywhere by its
wire masts.
Correctly speaking. the masts are
built birdcage fashion, Of slender steel
rods At the top Of each one is
light steel platform, affording suffi--
cient space for the accommodation OF
three or four men, a range-hnder'
telephones. etc IL is simply a fire
control" perch, high in the air, ana
there are no guns.
When the contrivance was as yet
regarded as experimental. mast OF
this pattern was mounted on the
monitor Florida and many shells
were fired at 1t. targets for the pur-
pose being fastend TO it at various
heights Some Of the shells passed
through it, and some Of the steel rods
were broken, but it did not collapse
In fact, it is almost impossible TO
knock down the birdcage mast; and. II
such thing were to happen In a sea-
fight. small harm would be done and
the wire tower could be quickly cut
away and thrown overheard On the
other hand. the old-style military mast,
Of massive steel construction. would
be likely IL knocked over. to kill a
number of men and get in the way OF
( the guns.
Is OF Ancient Origin.
The military mast is Of very ancient
origin. Egyptian sculptures dating
as far back as 1000 3. G. show war
craft with fighting tops-rough
basketlike structurs in which men
might stand and assail the enemy with
arrows and spears In early Roman
times vessels were provided with ar
rangements resembling huge casks,
which when battle was imminent were
hoiSted to the mastheads with two or