La Junta tribune., 1917-09-27
DOWN IN A SUBMARINE
Everett Edwards Writes Interesting
Story OF His First Dive in
. Submarine

-
Sans submarine. "L-s," and writes
an interesting story OF his first dive
below the surface OF the old ocean.
as we'll as narrowing tale OF his
experience In mid-ocean in a motor
boat that was out Of commission. Ev-
erett Joined the coast patrol last
March. before war was declared. while
. sophomore at Dartmouth college.
along with about 120 other students
OF that institution. The naval reserve
was abolished in July. and the COL
lege boys automatically became men,
bers Of the United States Navy. Dur
ing most Of the time since his en-
listfhent Everett has been q men,
Der OF the crew Of the gunboat.
Halcyon. = submarine tender. He Is
now . regular member Of the crew
Of the submarine. In a recent letter
to his parents. Everett says:
The last week has been rather
strenuous but with lot OF fun. Ev-
erything is SO different from what
It was up in Portsmouth.
have been down in the subma-
rine twice In the last week. We made
one dive Of eighty-five feet and were
down for about two hours without
coming to the surface. The second
trip was speed trial and we didn't
stay down very long.
1t is interesting to watch the men
work while the boat Is submerged.
Each man has his post and he takes
care Of It to perfection. The funny
part Of the trip for me came after
they had sealed everything up and
were starting to submergc. I thought
would feel myself 20 down. but !
sat still for about fifteen minutes
and then asked one Of the fellows
-V4yOss-es1ruUsUga gasvn. H ~
ssgped ~ 70 the indicator. which In
formed me that we were sixty feet
under the surface.
The submarine LIS" Il about $50
fest In length. drawing about Z feet
Of water forward and six feet AFT II
IL the first government built subma-
marine, so II is rather . question
how she will finish on her trials. I
won't 90 into detail about the gen.
eral structure. for probably you will
be more interested In hearing about
the submerging and running under
water.
Before submerging. all the air
stacks or ventilators are taken down.
the compartments are all scaled and
finally the matches are let down and
sealed from underneath. Everything
IL nov ready for the dive. All Of the
men are stationed At their respective
positions. Water IL let into the su-
perstructure and then into the for
ward and after tanks. Finally the
main ballast tank ID filled and the
planes are set. They can either 20
down on the level or they can start
the engine and u down At an angle.
While running Underneath the sur
face. the electric engines only are
used.
The interior Of . submarine to m
observer who has never before been
in one. resembles . mass OF machines
IN parallel lines. The forward part
Il taken Up with tanks. radio outfits
and four torpedo tubes with the tor
pedoss siung In front Of them. The
central part 10 . mass Of electrical
susInss and equipment. The coming
tower rests here with the periscope
on either side. On one wall 10 an in-
dicstor which records the depth to
which the boat descsnds. From this
central division the entire submarine
is controlled. The compassss are
ssss ths pssiscops on the forward
pest o. ths csatssi pIatsorm. The
afeee pest coneaias the oil sagtsss.
vhish ass uss1 while running Oh ~
epsfaes. II this reou oes ssss notA.
II ~ sagiass n pasaijsl lisss With
. nasssw paaaesvay bstvsse thso.
The sosirs subaasias = . marvel
q s1eetsseal asA mechanical skilI.
PFsvissssevn. Mass.. espesasss
I3tA.
Just returned from Previnestevn
thls svsaing. We had . fins Trip -
The vatss vas Jest - sooeth -
sjsss. We haA intsaded 70 start -
tsrdAy but there vas . tsrsifSc stssn
around Psoviscsteva aa1 we lid net
stast. Il IVES . viId night aad 1ay
eee -. don't thiak ve s,eOt ever
I've houru ths satire tine. ] haA .
~ tins - ne vay bask sheetins
- Vhalea. Ne kspt seelne tAe0 al
.aloog ~ ~. Ut Aeyee ~ 49,