The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1917-07-02

battleship which resembled ours as
one pea resembles another, and sew
eral far-off battleships that looked as
II they had been cut out Of cardboard.
All the time that we were out
kept away from charts and COM
passes. Only the sun by day and the
stars by night gave me any notion
Of our whereabouts.
1t was restful feeling.
We were moving at the rate Of Is
knots an hour. There was moth
ing vague about this. That was our
speed to the. inch and second. 1t was
also the leisurely rate maintained by
the closeup battleship, and his dis
lance from us at the end of a given
hour was within inches Of what 1t
had been at the beginning.
A marvel Of battleships is the pre-
cision with which they move and keep
their distances and mind their man
ners. It is only less marvellous than
the mobility of their turrets and their
great guns. A turret revolves with
out a sound. 1t may be turned so
fast that If you got In the way the
business end of the gun would knock
your head off, or it may be turned SO
slowly that to the eye it is not turn
ing at all.
That day I attached myself to a
group of boys who were learning to
be a gun crew and who that after
noon would hear gun fired for the
first time in their lives, would fire
one and would try to hit target.
Although I did none of the hard work,
I think that shared as an equal in
all their mental processes and I know
that suffered just as much as they
did when, after rehearsals and dress
rehearsals, the gun finally and very
suddenly and horribly went off.
Learning to Shoot.
First, they were taught how to
load. For this business short dunn
my gun with a genuine brush, screw
box and plug is provided. / am not
now speaking of great turret guns,
but Of lesser guns, whose bark, how
ever, is much higher pitched and less
tolerable to the ears, eyes, nose,
spleen, liver, toes, spine and scalp.
I am speaking Of gun which has
the highest muzzle velocity Of any
gun in the world, and much the most
disagreeable voice. ...,
This is how you load it.: The plug
man with his right hand swings a
lever the plug swings out Of the
breech or screw box, and to one side.
With his left hand the plugman slips
into it's chamber in the plug primer
POSSIBLY a .44-caliber blank cartridge)
to replace the exploded one which has
been automatically extracted. Then
the plugman swings his lever again
and closes the breech Of the gun.
That is what the plugman does.
While he is doing it five other
men are doing other things of equal
Importance. The moment the gun Is
open the trayman slaps into the form
box a metal contrivance which pro-
tects it's fine gears and edges from
being injured by the sharp point of
the heavy wheel, and which guides
the shell itself into the bore Of the
gun.
The brush being open and the tray
in place, the first shellman with all
his might hurls into the opening the
shell that he has been holding, the
first powderman hurls after it bag
Of powder, and then even as the
tray comes out and the breech closes,
the first shellman has turned, without
using his feet, and received from the
second shellman fresh shell, and
the first powderman has turned and
received from the second powderman
fresh bag of powder.
That is how the gun is loaded. It
Is a matter Of seconds. In practice
the shell and the powder bag (omis-
sion by censor) to keys the junction
Of two lines that cross each other at
a right angle on the exact center of
the bulls-eye. A third pointer does
the same thing with another pair OF
crossed lines, but the wheel elevates
the muzzle Of the gun end or de-
presses it. And Of all the men in
the Impairment of that particular
gun he is the luckiest, for he is the
only one who knows the exact mo-
ment when the bang is coming. He
causes it by pressing a button. At
any moment while certain buzzer Is |
buzzing, and the crossed lines are on
the bull's-eye, he is at liberty to fire
the gun.
Blast Of the Guns.
We steamed slowly down the range
a number of times, and all the COM
partment guns on our side of the
ship swung slowly from left to right,
as the pointers kept the crossed lines
on the bull's-eye. And we all got
line because we knew that each prac-
tice run brought us nearer to that
real run when the awful blasts that
we anticipated would have to be en-
dured somehow.
We turned and steamed slowly to-
ward the range. We were in the
compartment, the gun crew and the |
officer in charge. myself and twenty |