The Washington herald., 1917-05-26
Army and Navy News
Best Service Column I'm City.

The ships that sail the seven seas are
| great gossipers. That possibly is the rea-
son they are usually referred to as she. "
But of all ships, according to Capt.
Frank E. Evans, in charge of recruiting
for the United States Marines in the
Eastern district, war vessels are the
greatest conversationalists. No rratter II
an American ship is talking to a French,
Italian or japanese ally her talk is as
readily understood as II 1t were trans
mitted to a British war vessel.
By day and night the warships talk.
When within sight OF each other they
use their visual signals such as flags and
semaphores as auxiliaries to their wire
less. When night falls they chatter by
means Of Ardois lights and "blinkers." "
At the port and starboard extremities Of
the flying bridge OF a modern man-of-
war are mechanical semaphore signals
worked by a series OF small levers. But
when the distance is too great for signal
ing by this method, a sailorman with a
small red and yellow flag in either hand
transmits the message. With the sema-
phore system each angle the arms are
given means a letter. with the wig
wag' method Of code work there are
only three motions-to the right, to the
left and to the front.
Small SearehIiEhtn.
Inc DIX SHIPS OF Ine OnlleO navy
now supplement their red and white Ar
dois signal lights with small searchlights
on the bridge. Recent experiments to
test the efficiency of this method of sig
Mailing in time OF war were conducted
between a ship of the Atlantic squadron
lying at Colon and a cruiser Of the Pa
ciic forces anchored of Panama. AL
though the length Of the Panama Canal
Is approximately forty-nine miles, the
H,rkN Ill AaA
by the signaling officers on the ships
lying at either extremity of the water
way.
The Navy Department has also been
experimenting with smoke signals" to
be operated from the bridges of all
classes of ships in the fleet These sig
mails are to be electrically operated and
the Morse code will be used. For in
stance. a short pun OF smoke from the
machine signifies a dot, while a sustained
cloud Of vapor is to be interpreted as a
dash. These signals are intended to he
operated only in case of emergency. such
as the crippling OF a ships semaphore
and wireless system or the demolition of
her electrical plant. The dynamos which
operate the "smoke guns" are entirely
independent OF the engine-room electric
equipment.
whistle Blasts.
Another method of signaling utilized
in the navy, but only in foggy or very
misty weather. is whistle blasts, given
at long or short intervals as the code
may dictate. 1t has been found possible
by this method to bring a fleet Of battle
ships, steaming In column. through a
dense fog without their respective dis
tance being in the least degree disturbed,
and any naval man can tell you that this
Is going some.
peculiar means Of communication,
which is exclusively possessed by the
American navy, Is the utilization of
small explosive bombs, so timed as to
make their detonations either long or
short, depending upon whether It is de-
sired to transmit a dash or a dot Like
the smoke guns" these conveying de-
vices are only intended to be utilized at
times when no other means of sending
messages from ship to ship, or to land
forces, Is available.