Cresco plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1913-1945, 1917-07-06
MODERN WARSHIPS'
Changes Half a Century Has
. Made In Naval Methods.
/ new TYPE OF AlL0RMAN.

4 new TYPE OF SAlL0RMAN
The on Time Yarn Spinning Tar Hat
Bssn Suppianted by Younger, Bet
Ter Educated and More Capable Man
III, Chances In Uncle Sans Navy.
a naval officer would have been con.
sidered as a fit subject for an insane
asylum who in 1860. the year Of my
entry into the service, had prophesled
the creation in less than half CEN
tury of q United States feet Of great
seagOdng battleships Of more than 3d.
600 tons displacement, each with sew
erai turrets. any one Of which could
throw against an enemy at one dis
charge a greater weight of metal, OF
incomparably greater destructive pow
er and range, than was possible from
the full broadside of one Of Nelson 8
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 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 fleet Of tor
pedO boat destroyers Of a thousand
tons displacement, q speed Of thirty or
thirty-f1ve 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
nave had padded cell provided for
MIN Lad he attempted to describe the
modern submarines. which are capa-
bic OF keeping the sea for many days.
which have radius Of action Of 1000
miles or more and which are able un-
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-
1ty that scouting or bomb throwing air
the fleets or foretold the influence of
electricity and the wireless upon op-
erations of the feet both in peace and
in war.
All those wonderful changes and ad-
vances in naval design, construction
and equipment have taken place with
in my period Of service. In sea power.
in military efficiency. in comforts and
~cnveniences, we have greatly gained,
but 1 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
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 as great field in the navy
today for the adventurous youngster
as ever. perhaps Il greater. Certainly
he can have as many heart thrills on
board a submarine or destroyer or fly
ing craft as he could have had on
: board q brig or schooner cruising for
pirates in the olden days.
The changes in the material of
the navy have produced corresponding
changes in its organization and per-
sonnet. You no longer see the gray
bearded boatswain's 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
ashed him. His place has been taken
by the younger. better educated man.
who in a general way Is more capable,
but who does not as a rule follow the
sea for a lifetime unless he wins early
promotion.
It is now a rare thing to see In the
Mower 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 OH shore, to hold men to It
And yet I 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
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