The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1917-12-16

cause the guns and gunners were to
he furnished by the United States
Fnavy as a part of the government
lr order to retain their status as
merchant ships, their shippers were
| to continue to command and the gun
crews were to attend strictly to their
! own business of trying to sink as a
pirate any submarine which should
| fell to observe the laws of boarding
ard searching for contraband. It was
! perfectly clear that ar1ning a ship
for defense was a right and not a
tt lllgerent act, and that the pres
ence of defensive gun crews did not
make vessels either auxiliary cruis-
ers or ships of war.
The old-fashioned mariner had
no such techn;calities as these to
bother his head about. His own
crew fought his ship as well as sail
ed her, and he could find plenty of
men trained to the trade. In these
days, however the Navy is the only
resource for arming a ship. What
seems like splitting hair IN the mat
ter of EARNED guard" was therefore
a legal device to !etgthe navy do the
work and yet avoid any confusion as
to the character of the vessel. No
matter how many guns she might
mount, she was still a merchantmen.
controlled by her captain, crew, and
owners.
1t was new business for the Navy
to undertake and the demand came
at short notice, in the midst Of a
rush of routirs preparations for
war, when every officer was fair
ly working his head off. To key
the fighting feet to the highest
possible notch of efficiency was the
one thought in mind. Here was the
armed guard. to be organized over
night as separate department of
the service, liners and cargo steam
ers tied up at the docks and clam
oring for their guns and gun crews,
the country very impatient and un-
fairly accusing the government Of
going to sleep on the job. -.
To lay hands on scores Of guns Of
/. the smaller sizes required was one Of
phase Of the problem put up to the
age, like the old. IL Founders in the
East India warehouses in Salem a
! hundred years ago. War was impen-
ding, and it was known that a great
number of these secondary battery
j pieces would be needed to arm trans
ports, the larger patrol vessels. and
the rest of the auxiliary Navy list.
Aiming merchantmen was an addi-
tional task and large one. The guns
were found however, and excellent
guns they were. nor were the ships
kept waiting any longer than was
necessary to build the platforms and
mount the long wepaons in position.
When it came to getting the gun
crews there were complications. The
six men who put the or 5 inch gun
, through its play are trained to work
together in highly perfected team
play. The word went to the fleet
| that so many gun crews were to be
! drafted for the armed guard and de-
| tacied at once. There were lamenta-
tons and protests in wardroom and
on quarter deck-unofficiaL of course
and rumbling among the the chief
petty officers. A good sight set
ter or pointer was worth his weight
in gold to any strip. The destroyers
could not bear to lose any Of theirs
because they would be the first into
action when the war really broke
The rivalry among the great, gray
citadels of battleships was too keen
to suffer the loss Of a man who
could put a hole through a target.
It was situation rather up to the
commander II he had a Puritan
ancestry, be obeyed orders ana sent
a picked lot of men. If he let his
professional zeal stand in the way
bit. the draft well-not SO well
trained. Not such an easy matter
when there are never enough crack
gunners to go round.
However, there came to these first
armed merchant vessels a wonderful
ly keen lot Of youngsters, long
enough in the service to know what
was required Of them, directly in
charge of chief gunner's mates and
chief boastwain's mates with three
or four "hash marks" or enlistment
stripes on their sleeves, seasoned