New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-05-25

| Iron Correspondent, Of Tie Associated Pr-ssl
With the United States Atlantic Fleet
MAY 24-The mightiest fighting fleet
ever assembled beneath the Stars and
| Stripes lies here at anchor, grea. rae
tory. turning out seamen day by day.
Eager TO fight, the big vessels are
waiting only for the command, and IN
the interval are hammering into shape
the raw recruits that are pouring
aboard in steady stream. That Is the
duty Of the feet for the present-to
turn out seamen for the undermanned
ships and gun crews for the merchant
men.
! Lads who few weeks ago were at
work on Middle Western farms are now
/ driving 5-inch shells into mile distant
/ targets. Boys fresh from civil life are
| loading the great guns.
Fifteen seconds from Commence mr.
! ing" to Fire" is considered pretty
good time for the big guns i'll the navy.
/ They have new gun crews in training
now who never saw salt water until
three weeks ago who are doing the
thing easily in sixteen seconds.
I Some nights the ships of the fleet
cruise in waters near by for night bat
tie practice. Other nights they are an
chored in the base waters, where crews
are drilled at torpedo defence. ne
guns are manned and dummy torpedoes
and submarines are picked up by the
searchlights and theoretically de-
stroyed.
Before the feet is darkened the
ships lying in every direction present
an Inspiring spectacle. Lights as OF a
citv show everywhere. Blinker signals
flash on and off signalling in the dots
and dashes of the Morse code. Long
fingers of white from searchlights
shoot up into the sky-on and of, on
and of signalling also with dots and
dashes.
New Men Learn Rapidly
Other searchlight beams pick up
boats that approach them; some illuml-
nate a landing wharf. Away in the
distance searchlghts of the patrol
boats flash on every now and then;
sweep the waters to discover that what
might have been a periscope is only
white cap. Then they flicker out again.
At night. boats passing anywhere IN
the neighborhood suddenly find them
selves in the glare of searchllghts.
While the guns crews are being in
structed on some of the ships, aboard
others men are being trained TO run
the hundred or more interned German
vessels which the United States VIII
operate as soon as repairs are made 10
their engines, and the fleet OF mer-
chantmen being built to carry food and
supplies to the Allies. The fleet IL
training engineers. electricians men
10 fill every position. The officers are
confident that they will be able to sup
ply a full complement for every ship,
for the navy is getting men now faster
than ever before, and if the officers are
proud of their ships, the guns on the
decks and the power of the engines In
their bulls. they are doubly proud oil
the spirit of the new men who are
coming into the service. "A ranking OIL
ficer said:
"These new men have come into the
navy to fight and they want TO get INTO
the thick of il. We are turning out
gun crews every day and every day we
get orders for more. In three months
from now many hundreds Of gun crews
will have left the fleet for places where
they may sink German submarines OF
cheerfully give up their lives, trying
And these boys-for most OF them are
10 more than that-can shoot.
A large majority OF the new men IN
the fleet. their officers said, have come
from farms, especially IN the Middle
West. On any ship may be found
youths who until the war began were
following ploughs.
an this fleet" said one Of the Off
GERS. more than 80 per cent of the
men are native-b born Americans"
On any ship may be heard the drawl
of a South Carolinian or Georgian,
the New Yorkese of the East Side. the
twang that is New England's. the ris-
ing intonation of Western Pennsylvania
and the tone that only comes from
west of Chicago. SO fast is the en-
listed personnel of the navy growing
that there is no room for the new men
at the training stations ashore.
One Ensign a Grandfather
Many ships have aboard them the
naval militia from the various states:
Some Of them are pronounced good
sailors
On nearly every ship are men VINO
used to be in the navy and who nave
gone back to their old, and usually low,
ranks because their country needs
them. They are regular officers:
On one Of the ships is Wall street
broker. He graduated from Annapolis
many years ago, resigned and later
came back into the service during the
Spanish American War. he com
manded the Hist in several nights IN
Cuban waters and knows how 1t feels
TO be under fire.
1.-The Navy Needs YOU was the sign
that got me back this time said he.
When read that sign knew 1t meant
me. and / fixed it right off so l could
come back. left the navy at the close
of the SPANS American War and nave
been in the brokerage business IN New
/ York ever since" o.,
On another ship is little man with
gray hair-a grandfather-who wears
| the uniform of an ensign.
81 resigned from the navy many years
ago." he said. 81 have grandchildren
now. When we went to war with Ger