The patriot. [volume] (Indiana, Pa.) 1914-1955, 1917-12-15

old Atlantic liner which has been con- 4
verted into a mother ship for sea
planes guarding the fleet and scouting
ahead in times of peril.
The New York sun correspondent
visiting the grand fleet was taken
aboard and saw the wonderful work
of reconstruction done by the admir-
atty in transforming a vessel which att
the outbreak of the war had been
Scrapped rs absolutely useless. To-
day she houses scores of aircraft.
grading from small baby seaplanes to
the big American type capable of car
rying three passengers.
1t is almost with the sense of enter
ing an old cathedral that one boards
today this rejuyenated liner and passes
down the long aisles which formerly
held hundreds of passengers travelling
between New York and Liverpool. The
cabins now house in the spacious quar-
ters forward men who operate bal
looms or pilot aircraft. All the after
portion of this vessel is occupied with
giant gas bags, which are used for
observation purposes.
Can Speed AT te Knots.
Decks and cabins are filed with the
paraphernalin of flying. So far In this
war there has been little said of the
work Of the grand feet, but a visit to
this ship gives an idea of the efficiency
to which its work has been carried
This high-speed mother ship is capa-
BILE of housing aircraft for all neces-
Sary observation work. She speeds
into the wind at rate of Is knots I'M
til the air pressure Of her Roadway, i'm
combination with the speed devel-
oped by the huge seaplane motors is
sufficient to carry them from the deck
before they reach the end of the float
ing ship. Big derricks hoist planes
from a portion of the deck upon which
passengers formerly played quoits or
shufilebOardE THEN engines are start
ed and keyed up to flying pitch while
deckhands hold to the stays or wheels
attached to the floats until the signal
Is given for starting. Then the re-
leased plane scars from the deck out
over the harb@E
1t Is almost uncanny to sail out over
vessels which looked huge when tend
ers were alongside, then watch them
gradually. diminish in size until they
become mere pygmies dwarfed by dis
tance and lowered into lnsigniflcance
by the great altitude. AS we ascend
ed a battle cruisers siren screamed
out and could be heard even above the
roar of our engine, We clrcled about
the battle cruiser squadron, looking
down upon ships which ordinarily
would, have been impressive, but now
were tiny elipses on the broad expanse
Of the harbOr.
Visiting the Battle Cruisers.
another plane, just leaving the wa
ter, looked like fly attempting to get
above the smoke of the surrounding
vessels. All the auxiliary craft dis
appeared or became mere dots upOnE
harbor entrance long lane Of smokeE
marked approaching vessels.
We eircled down toward the smokel
and made a line toward the battleE
cruisers we knew were returning FROM
patrol duty In the North sea. Il wasl
the perfect alignment of the. battlel
feet which struck the observer most
forclbly, each vessel taking O. positionl
exactly to the rear Of the one aheadl
and giving some idea of the perfectl
system of cooperation between thei
units which has made the British
grand fleet supreme In, naval affairs,
Outspread upon the forbiddlng-loOk-
! ing harbor was the entire feet Of veS-
sells which has been guarding Eng
lands shores for the last three years,
although the harbor looked small from
a distance Of 1900 feet.
This is the greatest mobile eoneen-
tration Of fighting vessels in the his
/ tory of the world. Even when seem
! together it is hard to realize that this
aggregation has kept England safe
| from attack and has prevented the
/ German high seas feet from coming
/ from it's harbor. Considering its size
! from the great height aided materially
! ly in realizing what an enormous
! treasure Britain has poured out I'M
/ building such a tremendous fighting
| machine and what fortunes are being
spent daily in maintaining 1t. In-l
! spired by the spectacle, 1t was POSSIBLE
to visualize this greatest unit of the
British sea force cooperating with the
! American warships in making the wa-
terways of the earth safe for all traf-
fic.
Just as in the days gone by, when
Britain conquered piracy and made
the lanes places of comfortable travel
for American clippers, the same out
rageous piracy exists today and 1T is
with the help Of American men-of-War
that the British grand feet once morel
will make the water routes immune
from base depredations.
An+hraN GApna In Bandades