The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1917-05-26

brass trough that 10 slipped into posi-
ton at the gigantic breach. The pro-
jectiie. almost az large as man,
has been rolled into tho
trough. q long automatic ranamer has
jumped from the rear and showed it
into the barrel The powder bags are
driven home. man at the breach
swings a lever. q ton of steel swings
up with hiss Of compressed air. The
breach block turns and locks. a bug
Ger sounds. the charge Is ignited and
with q rush Of air the guns recoil
about a yard and then jump back
Into position. There is a loud "swish
swish" as the guns come back and
then go forward. Inside the tur-
ret not much more than that is
heard.
Outside. it is much different. There
~ q fash, q roar. a ring of smoke
and the loud whistle of the projectile
rushing through the air. So great is
the conclusion that every man out
side has cotton or some other sub
stance In his ears to save his ear
drums from being broken.
Fifteen seconds from Commence
firing" to fire" Is considered pretty
good time for the big guns in the
navy. They have new guns crews in
training now who never saw salt wa
ter until three weeks ago who are do
ing the thing easily in sixteen Sec
onds.
Some nights the ships of the fleet
cruise in waters nearby for night bat
tie practice. Other nights they are
anchored in the base waters, where
crews are drilled at torpedo defense.
The guns are manned and dummy
torpedoes and submarines are picked
up by the searchlights and theoreti-
cally destroyed.
The fleet has gained efficiency in
defense. They tell a story i'm
the ward rooms Of an American sub
marine which decided to change its
without giving notice. The
heet Is dark after a certain hour at
night. Not a light shows. but the
watch is intensely alert.
One OF the deck officers saw the
submarine outline itself and a gun
quickly was trained. The submarine
was hailed, but the men on IL failed
to hear. The fact that the submer-
sible was running behind the patrols
was the only thing that saved it. A
hve-inch gun probably would have
blown 1t to pieces If the maneuver had
taken place on the other side of tho
net. Now submarines don't move
around like that at night. 1t was
dangerous business.
Before the fleet Is darkened, the
ships lying in every direction present
an inspiring spectacle. Lights, as Of
a city. show everywhere. Blinker
signals flash on and off-signalllng IN
the dots and dashes Of the Morse
code. Long fingers Of white from
searchlights shoot up into the sky
on and off-on and off-signalling
also with dots and dashes.
Other searchlight beams pick up
boats that approach them, some IL
illuminate a landing wharf. Away in
the distance searchlights of the pa
troll boats flash on every now and
them; sweep the waters to discover
that what might have been a peris-
cope is only white cap. Then they
flicker out again. From the shore. at
night. boats passing anywhere in the
neighbOrhood suddenly find them
selves in the glare Of searchlights.
While the guns crews are being
trained on some of the ships. aboard
others are being trained men to run
thc HuHuTcu VI InOTc 1cIHiou NSoocio
the United States will operate as soon
as repairs are made to their engines.
and the fleet of merchantmen being
built TO carry food and supplies to tho
allies. The fleet Is training engineers,
electricians-men to fill every posi-
tion. The Atlantic Fleet is confident
that 1t will be able to supply full
complement for every ship for 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
thoir hulls, they are doubly proud Of
the spirit of the new men who are
coming into the navy. A ranking
officer said:
These new men have come into
the na,y to fight and they want to