New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-09-10
Bu Cherardi Davis

/, rets are raised so as TO fire over the tops Oh
the third and fourth. These objects are
what n person looking at such ship from
a distance would notice first OF all, put @.
course ahead Of the first turret ana anal'
the fourth is a considerable stretch OF DECK
In the older ships the freeboard fore ana
aft was the same and was not sufficiently
high to prevent the ships from being swept
by even an ordinary head sea. In the modern
ships the freeboard Is much greater ana IN
many the forward deck is considerably
higher than the after deck, the turrets being
CORRESPONDENCE raised, greatly to the ad-
vantage of the guns. But at the same time
the sea is not so apt 70 come aboard. In the
most modern of our ships the bows are
curved like that of a sailing ship, with very
considerable fare, the overhanging deck stlll
further protecting the ship by not allowing
the seas to climb aboard. 1t can readily De
understood that when such a condition OF
things exists as has been shown in many
picture in The Tribune of battleships at sea
Il is wellnigh impossible to fire the forward
guns. OF course, Father Neptune will come
aboard any ship if the seas are heavy enough.
The stern Of this ship is practically yerti-
cal line.
Seen broadside on, such ship suggests
great power. She is, Of course, nothing
but a huge fighting machine, but IL cannot
be denied that some dreadnoughts, especially
those which, like the Wyoming, with six tur-
rets are seemingly very long and low, have
a certain beauty of outline. The tall lattice
masts Can American invention) with the
"tops" or stations at the top OF the mast,
above which rise tall pole masts for the
wireless apparatus, produce very Original
effect. The object Of these lattice masts IS
TO have a structure OF so many interlaced
parts that II will be all but impossible TO
knock it over Men are stationed in the box
like structures at the top of the mast, whose
duty it is, among others, to spot" the shot
az they strike the target or the water. In
the battle of Santiago we made about three
hits in a hundred with our big guns; SUCH
low average would to-day be considered dis
graceful. The very greatest care is given to
target practice, and men are carefully trained
TO spot and report the fall OF shot
whether over or inside the target, whether
to right or left. For in actions to-day what
used TO be called broadside firing still pre-
walls, only it is called salvo firing, and all
the big guns of ship are actually fired at
once. Under these conditions not to have the
correct range means the loss Of the entire
salvo, and that cannot be allowed
Guarded by SearchIights
On the masts and elsewhere along the deck
Of the central raised structure are numerous
seerchlights, for what with submarines and
torpedo boats the dreadnought must at night
be able to guard against all such attacks by
first spotting the enemy with searchliShc
and then hitting him with shot. Target
practice at night Is a very essential part oil
modern sailors routine at sea. The dis
lance Of an enemy at modern ranges Is found
by a very ingenious device known as range
finder but how men are trained to keep the
guns on a target and to hit that target, both
vessels moving, both probably rolling and
pitching the distance varying constantly, 1t
would be too lengthy to describe. Suffice 1t
to say it is done with very great skill by our
men, bat let US remember that IL was equally
we'll done, at all events at the start, by the
Germans in the Jutland battle, for they de-
stroyed a huge English battle-cruiser before
she had fred a single salvo. believe that
our men, however, will prove to have even
better nerves than the English, who appear
at sea, as we'll as on shore, to have better
nerves than the Germans.
The smokestack of q man Of war is neces-
sarily very vulnerable, for it is not practi-
cable to make il of sufficiently thick metal
to resist heavy shells. The destruction Of a
smokestack would be rather serious mat
ter, even with forced draft in the boiler