Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-11-02
Army and Navy News

I.recent times. Three hundred and
forty-eight officers Of the regular es-
tablishment have rendered their resig-
nations since the signing Of the ar.
Of the previous ten years-and he As.
serted that most of those who quit did
so in order that they might be able to
meet the changed conditions of living.
lost more heavily in officers than the
medical. With 900 vacancies to be
filled in August, but 100 candidates
applied for appointment; 81 of these
appeared for examination and %
qualified. affording but little relief to
Annapolis are no exceptions Eltner
the world has gone money mad or
there must be a distressing side to
the question. OF course. some allow
ance must be made for the reaction
which enters the equation. due to the
ending of the war and the thrill in
service that it brought to so many.
but on the other hand officers find
themselves against the hard propiem
of Feeding their families and sending
the children to school.
Nearly all foreign armies nave az
vanced the pay of their men and ON
GERS. but the United States is debating
the question. Meantime the bills are
running up. the officers are discon-
tented, and the morale of the Army Is
X X X
Now. the whole world is quite we'll
assured that at about the time the
United States
The Navy ~" Gun entered the
as a Factor in War. lies were, to
tut it mildly. exercised over the
l;eh,,, Of the IL
boats to put the supply ships for Eu-
rope out of commission. The advent
of the American destroyer force, al
though not very large. was Of pre-emi-
nent value to the allies, for 1t turned
the scale in their favor. From the day
this force began to carry its aggressive
tactics into the places where the u
boats lay to torpedo incoming ships
laden with supplies for the army and
food for the British. affairs began to
take a more favorable turn against
the Huns.
After the British had once armed
their destroyers with the depth charge
the difficulty was not SO much to de-
stroy the submarine as it was to To-
cate the monster. Nevertheless. since
the search for the U-boat was very
like the hunt for the needle in the dark
"a matter of good guessing-the ord
nance sharps on both sides Of the At
lantic no sooner had the ''ashcan' than
they sought means to secure for it
wider range than the single course OF
the ship which was about its limit
when the charge was dropped over the
stern.
The English developed the Thorny-
craft gun to throw these missiles; but
it proved to be intricate, heavy and
hard to produce in numbers. 1t was
accurate and effective. 1t was the
good fortune of an American reserve
officer to discover the principle of the
'.Y'' gun, which was light. easily made
and so designed that the shock of
its discharge was barely felt on the
deck of the lightest craft in which
it was installed.
The reserve, officer who worked out
the idea for this gun was A. J. Stone.
formerly with the General Ordnance
Company. His original idea was not
for use in connection with this gun. but
for another purpose. The predominant
idea IL q gun with two barrels set at
angles with each other, with a COM
mon powder chamber at the point Of
union. The highest propelling charge
was but four pounds of black powder,
but as the general effect is that Of q
gun with two muzzles and a single
powder chamber at the center. while
II may not be a scientific way to ex-
press the idea, it may be said that the
kick Of the one shot balances the kick of
the other and that the recoil Is quite
neutralized. there being no downward
thrust from the explosion.