Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1919-06-06

Navy Was built div. and our improve
mert III Workmanship began when
we began making use or our guns and
not letting them lie idle. even IL IT
did decrease their life Fame and
fortune await the man wlio viii de-
yise some means al overcoming this
erosion that arises from the use of
higls explosives and huge proiectiles
Great progress has Leen made IN
ship building ard the standardized,
fabricated ship did much toward IN
ereasing our ouiput ii tile days when
rapid cons ruction vas worid4ne-
cagshy Iii order 10 repair the rayages
made by the boats HUI every SHIP
builder knows that tie limit 0f gEI-
prevemeni in that line has by no
means hcen reached There are many
proIieins for us 10 soiye Iii the effi-.
Client operation Of The vast merchant
neet We are building MP Much has
been dome I'd increase cargo space, 30
that vessels may carry larger loads
mauy improvements have been made
III devices for the more rapid loading
and unloading ~ sllius. and tic time
oT the iuril-arsnnd has heen radically
reduced Yet every sllip-owner and
* porter, every traffic expert knox 4.
that he must have better terminals and
better machinery for tike development
.of orr ports The Navy IS So closely
Allied With the merchant marine that
slicse problems interest aIl Of as We
*
ahat pertains 10 the sea and the air.
nn. under and OYER the water
I1o not pay any attention u the
.skentics who tell you. IT can't be
done They are the men who never
get anywhere II Fulton had listened
.to them we never would have had the
steamboat: II Ericsson had needed
them, We would never have had the
monitor and the revolving turret that
houses the big guns on our IRON
clads: II the Wright Brothers had 81
lowed The Dayton seoifers 70 dannt
them We might never have had the
aeroplane. When d great idea comes
into your head, say to yourself 81
ean he done, and i'll do III; for most
of the things that must be done can
be done
When the Germans shelled the
towns and cities III France with their
immense Big Terthas' and long dis
tanee guns on fixed emplacements Il
was realized tina. We needed huge
guns thai would send 4 big projcctile
many miles. and needed them on mos
bile mounts that could be moved rap
idly from place 60 place The Navy
met that challenge with IT'S Naval Rail-
FAY Batteries. those long 14ineh. 5ti-
caltBre guns that moved from place 60
place on the railroads of France, h1rl-
ing their 400 pound shells fifteen to
Twenty-Five miles, and doing destrHc-
ton far behind the enerly's lines.
There Iii nothing iii ordnance that the
Navy dares not attempt.
When We went into the war. Il was
asked Why should We devote AL our
energies to chasing the willy u-hoats
az they 70 about their destructive
work, sinking vessels BY the score and
scattering death over the seas2 Why
not pen them up SO that II will be DIFF
licult for them to get out Of their home
ports, and hard for them to set back,
once they start to return from their
raids? The difficulties were SO nu-
merous that some Of the ah1est au-
tEorities had been deferred from the
III involved the largest ord 4
nance enterprise III the kind ever I'M
dertaken A new type Of mines had to
he invented: there were none then In
existence entirely suited I'd the puT-l
pose. Mines had 10 be manufactured
and laid on scale far larger than
had ever before been attempted But
the type Of mine needed was devised,
they were manufactured by the thons
and We built i mine-iiliing plant that
would MI i thousand times q day: We
created fret 81 naine-layers and
mine ranspurts. thousands upon
thousands Of mines we're nude IN
America, transported three thousand
miles across the Atlantic and, with
the cooperation Of our British 90
workers. we're laid III the North Sea
until chains of mines we're placed
from the 0rkneys 10 the coast Of Nor
way. the great North Sea mine barrage
was completed and the itlgress and
egress of submarines was made 50
difficult that the Germans feared this
barrier as much as the fleets that
hunted them Iii the open seas, and
not few of these undersea assassfns
met their fate in that maze of death
that stretched between their hs,nse
ports and the ships against wliieh
they wagetl ruthless warfare
a notable case IN which American
and engineering triumnhed
over Teuton destructiyeness was n
the repair 81 the German ships in
termed IN our ports. gu recall that
Just before We declared war. the
crews OF those vessels smashed TIER
machinery and damaged them, They
hoped and believed. beyond repair
They hoasted that they had rendered
these large ships valueless 20 the