The Colorado statesman., 1922-03-25
SEA CAREER Of
ST. LOUIS CLOSED
FlRST-cLAsS CRUISER WITH AN
INTERESTING HISTORY is
OUT OF COMM sSIoN.
FRUSTRATED A GERMAN PLOT
How Her Crew Prevented the De-
struction of the lnterned Gunboat
Geier at Honolulu-Convoyed Many
American Troops to Europe.
BY EDWARD 3. CLARK

Washington.-One of the former
prides of the United States navy has
just ended her long career at sea. The
cruiser st. Louis, until recently flag
ship in Turkish waters, has been
placed out of commission at the Phila-
delphia navy yard.
The st. Louis is Il protected cruiser
of the tirst-class type, with a displace-
ment of 10,50U tons. A number of
guns were removed to make way for
troop spaces, but originally the cruis-
ers main battery consisted of Ii six
inch 5O-callber guns and secondary
battery of 1S three-inch 50-caliber guns.
She was named for the city of st.
Louis. She was launched at Phila-
delphia on May g. 1905. She was first
commissioned on August IS, 1905, at
the Philadelphia navy yard, League
Island, Pa, with Commander Nathan
iel E. Usher in command.
After visiting Brazil, Chile, Peru
and other ports along the Atlantic
and Pacific coasts. she arrived at San
Francisco on September 6, 1907 Be
fore the war with Germany was de-
clared the st. Louis entered in her log
an account of warlike service in frus-
trating a German plot and saving the
wharyes and shipping of Honolulu
from destruction.
On February 4, 1917, the German
gunboat Geier, which was interned at
Honolulu in August, 1914, started fire
in her boilers and column of smoke
nj or
the actions of the crew about the
decks were suspicious.
Ready to Fire on German.
The st. Louis, then in the harbor,
cleared for action and party showed
off to board the Geier. Two of her
officers went aboard and Informed her
German commander that they had
come to take possession of the gun
boat and extinguish the blaze for the
protection of the water front.
One section of the party sent to Sc
cure the magazines found shrapnel
fuses scattered about, ammunition
hoists dismantled and food cocks bat
tered into uselessness, with sea valves
closed. A fire of wood and oil-soaked
waste had been started under dry
boiler. The decks above and woodwork
were abl"ze, and the danger of ex
ploding the dry boiler made it impos-
Sible to use water in eXtinguiShing the
fire.
The crew of the st. Louis used lines
from bow to stern of the gunboat and
warped her across to another pier,
where she was more accessible to the
chemical engines of the fire depart
ment and less a menace to adjacent
shipping. After an all-duy fight with
the blaze 1t was eXtinguished without
damage to other property.
The st. Louis was again commits
stoned on April 6, 1917, and 70 hours
after war was declared left her peace
time station at Honolulu for Pacific
to-Atlantic voyage. After passing
through the Panama canal she visited
Guantanamo, Cuba, to take on board
more than 400 marines and went to
the Philadelphia navy yard. She
steamed more than 100000 miles dur
ing her two years of war service, par
ticipating in eight outgoing conveys
which accompanied transports and car
go ships carrying thousands of troops
and vast amounts of supplies.
She trained more than 1,2O0 men
and 80 officers, for the armed guard
and other duty.
New Calendar Is Urged.
Can you tell what a month is?
Our months vary from 2S TO 81
days-11 per cent difference. Yet
the same monthly salaries and rents
are inequitably paid. Monthly busi-
ness charges for maintenance, depre-
citation, etc, are in that crude way un
fairly proportioned; camouflaging
monthly profits as though each month
was productivity one-twelfth of the
year-a fallacy refuted by March of
this year, which has IA per cent more
earning power than February, which
is only one-thirteenth of the year.
These are but few of the argu-
ments of proponents of the plan of
calendar reform embodied in the bill
recently introduced by Representative
Schall of Minnesota. Numerous other
reasons are presented by the advo-
Gates to support the need for substi-
tuition of the present time calendar by
dividing the year into 13 months of 2S
days each.
The Liberty Calendar Association of
America, which recently held con-
vention in Washington, is supporting
the liberty calendar biz, which would
put the new time schedule into eff
feet in 1928, as affording standard
time schedule every year, which would
definitely fix for all time the dates of
every day of the week by the uniform
2S-day month division and thus dis
pense with the need of yearly calen-
dars and end the inconvenience of hav-
ing to refer to these to establish the
coincidence of days and dates.
"NeM Year Day" to Stand Alone.