The Rathdrum tribune. (Rathdrum, Idaho) 1903-1963, 1917-03-16
MODERN WARSHlPS
Changes Hall a Century Has
Made In Naval Methods.
A NEW TYPE OF SalLoRMAN.

me Old lime Yarn spinning ar Has
Been Supplanted by q Younger, Bet.
ter Educated and More Capable Man.
tiis Chances In Uncle Sans Navy.
A naval officer would have been con.
sidered as fit subject for an insane
asylum who in 1869, the year Of my
entry into the service, had prophesied
the creation in less than half a CEN
fury of a United States feet of great
seagoing battleships of more than 3d.
600 tons displacement. each with sew.
eral turrets, any one Of which could
throw against an enemy at one dis
charge a greater weight of metal, OF
incomparably greater destructive pow
or and range, than was possible from
the full broadside of one of Nelson's
largest ships of the line. We may gain
some idea of the tremendous increase
In the power of fighting ships when we
realize that in a short time and with
out danger to itself one modern dread
naught could destroy the combined
fleets that fought at Trafalgar in 1905.
In the widest stretch of the imagi-
nation our prophet could not have fore
seen the addition TO the feet of tor
pedo boat destroyers of thousand
tons displacement. a speed of thirty or
Ihirty-fve knots and torpedoes of great
accuracy, high speed and an effective
range of 10000 yards A bag of pow
der on the end of spar" was our con.
ception Of an offensive torpedo In
those days. Good work could be done
even with that crude equipment as
Gushing proved when he torpedoed the
Albemarle.
| think our prophet would surely
have had a padded cell provided for
him had he attempted to describe the
modern submarines, which are capa-
BILE of keeping the sea for many days.
which have radius of action Of 1000
miles or more and which are able I'M
der favorable conditions to creep un-
seen upon the most powerful vessel
and at one discharge destroy it. He
would have found few indeed to listen
to him If he had asserted the possibil-
lily that scouting or bomb throwing air
craft would act in conjunction with
the fleets or foretold the influence of
electricity and the wireless upon op-
erations of the feet both in peace ami
in war
All those wonderful changes and ad-
yances in naval design. construction
and equipment have taken place with
In my period of service. In sea power.
In military efficiency. in comforts and
conveniences, we have greatly gained.
but think that those of us who start
ed our careers when the great naval
advance of the last generation was still
to come. who made their early cruises
in sailing ships or ships with auxiliary
steam power only, look back with ten
der memory upon the old and less me-
chanical environment.
The romance of the sea conveyed by
Marryat and others in their stories has
not really gone; the conditions only
have changed. The sea and its effect
, upon those who follow it never change,
and there Is os great field In the navy
today for the adventurous youngster
as ever, perhaps II greater. Certainly
he can have as many heart thrills on
! board a submarine or destroyer or fy-
ing craft as he could have had on
board a brig or schooner cruising for
pirates in the olden days.
, The chaLges in the material of
the navy have produced corresponding
] changes in its organization and per-
/ q a
bearded boatswains mate, quartermas-
| ter or quarter gunner about the decks
of our ships. They were brave and 10y
al to the core, and their yarns of ex-
! periences on all seas and in all wealth
ers, interspersed occasionally with a
little good advice to the young officer.
tactfully given. whiled away many an
hour of quiet night watches in port.
The old type of sailorman under
stood his duties as thoroughly and per
formed them as faithfully as any one
could desire. but machinery has BAN
ished him. His place has been taken
by the younger. better educated man.
who In general way is more capable.
but who does not as rule follow the
sea for a lifetime unless he wins early
promotion.
1t is now a rare thing to see In the
lower ratings an enlisted man who is
more than thirty years old. The great
majority are much younger. The life
is too strenuous and its conditions too
abnormal. as measured by modern con-
ditions on shore. to hold men to it.
And yet believe that no other occu-
patton open to American youth offers
them so many chances to succeed and
to acquire a provision for old age. 1t
Is in the power of any young man
of fair elementary education. industry
and good moral character to enlist in
the navy, say. at the age of twenty
and to retire at the age OF fifty with
life compensation of from $50 to 500
a month. That class does not include
the considerable number of those who
obtain warrants or commissions, which