The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-03-10
BRITISH SAILORS LEARNING ID SING
 AMERICAN ANTHEM
Men From Ship at Joint Base Mingle Together as
 of One Nation

Plymouth, England, February 30. .)-Hundreos of young
 English boys, in training here for the British navy, are learning 'The Star
 Spangled Banner" along with their
 own national anthems For behind the
 lines, as we'll as on the high seas where
 the ships of Great Britain and Ameri-
 ca are jointly running down the sub
 marines, they are playing the martial
 airs of both nations every day.
 This quaint, picturesque place has
 become a sort of melting pot out of
 which there are already many who
 believe will emerge the new navy of
 the proposed league of nations whose
 special mission will be to make the
 world safe for democracy"
 British and American ships come and
 go very much as if Plymouth had ever
 been common ground for the navies of
 the two great Anglo-Saxon countries
 In the spacious buildings ashore, where
 young Englishmen for many years
 have been trained for life at sea, as
 well as on the ships that fly the Brit
 ish flag, Americans apparently are as
 welcome as they would be at their own
 Annapolis or on their own warships.
 Unlike other allied bases in Euro
 pean waters, Plymouth is essentially a
 training center. It's harbors teem with
 relics of days that were proud ones in
 English history-huge frigates that
 still remind one of Nelson's triumphs,
 and countless other attributes of past glory. It is on these old ships that the English youths are learning the rudiments of seamanship. The old guns, which poked their noses so i'm pressively through the navy portholes in days gone by, have given way to newer and more modern ones, and except for exterior appearances there lis scarcly a trace of the line which separated the past from the present. Inscribed on the masthead of one of the old frigates. so that all who pass may read are those immortal words, England Expects Every Man to Do His
 Duty.'
 Apparently nothing has been left un- done that would contribute to the physI- cal as well as mental training of the youth of England. The. boys, who came from all parts of the empire, are first taught to care for their own clothes. A correspondent of the Associated Press, who was permitted to inspect the train ing schools saw scores of them, all ranging in age from 16 to IS, sewing but tons on their garments and otherwise putting their kits in order. Along with this they are taught table manners, for which prizes are regularly awarded. They also are taught to care for their teeth and their bodies, and are subjected to frequent examinations by the medical and dental authorities.
 The course of training for ordinary sea- men extends over a period of about lU months, and after the preliminary in- struction looking to the physical fitness and decorum of the young men, they are In turn drilled, taught the meaning and uses of all parts of ship, instruct ed in gunnery. swimming, first aid, sig mailing, life saving and other necessary requirements in the life of seamen. A certain period each day also is devoted to teaching them reading, writing, his- tory and geography and arithmetic. Aside from the training school for sea-