The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-04-29
TRAINING MEN ID FIGHT SUBMARINES |S ITSELF EXCITING Experienced Fighters Give Lessons and Relate Se k Narrowing Experiences INHUMAN ACTIONS
 ONLY TOO COMMON Ralph Paine Gives Another Series of Incidents Taken From the
 Records of the Navy
 Department
Rr RALPH D. PAYNE


 ice are now numbered by thousands. It has swiftly expanded as a department of the naval organization, important and distinct. New merchant ships are build ing-heets of them, in the most tre- mendous increase of tonnage ever known. They will carry guns and crews trained to use them. Unless the war ends within the next year, the navy expects to furnish 25,0o0 men for this purpose, or alT Tlost half it's enlisted strength in the fogner days of peace. It wonders where the merchant seamen will be obtained to fill the forecastles of this vast argosy, but this is problem for the shipping board to wrcstle with.
 Army camps and cantonments have been constructed with magical celerity the country over, but the navy has been building on it's account and much more quietly. There were no quarters for the armed drafts as they came from the fleet and therefore quarters had to be provided. The navy yard of the port where most of them were needed had no spare space whatever. It was crowded with sailors and artisans and marines in the varied and urgent activities of war time 1t was an industrial city in it. self, toiling at top speed in a disciplined, orderly system. Nearby was a public park. a vacant place which the govern ment was reluctant to withdraw from the people who enjoyed it. The emergency justified the step, for ships must sail with gunners aboard, and tonnage afoat is the chief factor of the American conflict with Germany.
 Rows of neat wooden bui1dings-ba racks, offices, and mess hall-flled the park in a few weeks. The arrn guard had comfortably established apart from the navy yard, 2 even able to take l.es'-- - Verelow from other . gservice The mess hall. for instance, wa built to feed 5000 men three times a day under one roof without confusion, a sight worth going far to see. The quality and abundance of the bill of fare and the skill of the cooks would make rany hun gry man desire to enlist in ,The navy. Six thousand men fed from the same im- maculate kitchen is setting a pace that the army will find hard to follow
 TAKE THEM IN HAND
 These fine young navy lads came from the fleet in drafts of two or three hun dred Give them room to stow their canvas bags and sling hammocks and they are ready for the special and exact ing routine of schooling the armed guard. Chief petty officers who have crossed the Atlantic and fought the dead ly submarine take them in hand as gun crews. to be t-.. .s.,ther E Il the word comes to experience has tas all, ,-c-..s valuable le5sons. The game is no longer untried and novel to these seasoned gunners.
 In the yard are mounted guns of the type which will be used in aetira. Most of the youngsters have beeisodrilled in the fleet, but they must leafn more of it --lean that this is different business from shooting at a canvas target Hunt. ing the submarine is snap-shooting, enor- mously difficult. Incessant practice is required to master the art of training, sighting, and firing or 5-inch rifle in a few seconds There must be auto matic coordination from the spotter on the bridge with the telephone strapped to his head to the trainer, sight setter, pointer, pugman and shell handlers, who have no time for nerves or hesitation.
 More. than this the trade demands eyesight drilled to detect periscope or coming tower. sureness of vision ! which may, in an instant decide the Tissue of life and death. Here the spot ting board comes into play, a device so entertaining that tte lads flock around it out of schoc ours. It is a 5 long table upon whicH > ranges are intervals interval 0 representing s N is "Ats At one ne end is a square old Ave. on edge with narrow slir--- it, and a shutter which can be- across it.
 Upon the board is al aodeI Of a submarine as seen wher awash, it's size sealed to fit this minis ture bit of ocean. A little dab of cotton nslued to a wooden base is called ''the splash and looks very much like the foam kicked up when shell strikes the water. The navy youth who is learning to "spot' takes his stand at the end of the board and looks through the slit in the square of tin A comrade lifts the shutter and let's it drop. merely glimpse of the surface and the dot of a submarine. The pupil estimates the distance and the deflection right or left and calls oue the shot.
 INDICATES HIS GUESS
 Another member of the class places the splash" where the lad at the shut ter indicates in his guess at the range It may fall 800 yards short or go over the submarine. At the next glimpse the gunner tries to correct his error end again the splash is set to show how near he comes to the mark. If he has a quick eye and good judgment he will land the "spls sh'' within strik- ing distance of the submarine after four or five of these trial shots. This is an adaptation of the spotting board game ns used on the ships of the navy. and it is particularly valuable for training the guards of the merchant vessels. Rather dismayed at first to find how small a submarine appears when I00O yards away. like shooting at the head of a pin they soon catch the spirit of the job they are being fitted for and are keen to work everlastingly at it.
 They will not all the ''spotters" (the men who telephone the ranges to the gun crewsl, but their vision will be surer for this schooling and. besides. it is wise to train them so that they can exchange stations in crisis of an engagement. It is only by sheer luck that the gunners at sea have escaped being killed and wounded by shell fire. When a man drops. his mates will be ready to fill his place and keep the gun in action. And so at the gun drill in the yard they shift from one position to another to be prepared for bloody casualties. Such things are seldom lis cussed. but so long as the American navy floats there will live in the soul and fiber cT it the words of the dying Lawrence on the deck of the Chesapeake, Don't give up the ship"
 There are classes in signaling. sema- phore and dotter. and at night with the "blinker'' that sets the. electric lamps the Morse code. Lookout duty requires special instruction. Nothing is more important in defense against the sub marine One petty officer by way of impressing lis audience. sternly quotes this awful example, possibly true and rerhaps not: "One ship was lost be- cause a lookout rolled a cigarette Get that? Well. don't forget it."
 For this purpose the dummy com pass"4is employed. card upon which fhe circle of the horizon is marked of.