Imperial Valley press. (El Centro, Calif.) 1907-current, 1927-08-06
Ey FREDERICK w. FISH


Sttucted by any navy soon will be
added to the fleet of the L. 8.
Eavy. They are the L. s S. Saratoga
and Lexington, airplane carriers
de luxe.
These ships are the remnants, >
so-called, of six authorized in 1917,
When Congress planned to buili
six super battleships, the Constel-
lation, Constitution, Lexington,
Ranger. Saratoga and the United
states.
The world must have drawn An
extra breath at the sheer immensely
Of the navy s dream. Each ship
vas to be nearly 900 feet long, 100
feet wide. and to have an armament
OF eight l6-inch guns, sixteen g
inch guns and eight 2l-inch torpedo
tubes. Each was to be the last word
in naval construc ton, with a com
PIGMENT of 1900 men and a speed
f 81 knots an hour.
Two Were Salvaged
Now, however, only the Saratoga
and the Lexington remain. the for
mer being complete at Camden, y.
J., and the latter at Quincy, Mass
And these have been converted
from super war ships to super air
plane ships. From what once ap
peared to be salvage material these
lave emerged, and 50 popular do
they promise to be that nearly every
aavy officer and man will seek
bcrths on them.
The Lexington and Saratoga re
present the ultimate in airplane ear
rler construction. They are i'll gen
cial sister ships. AS one can easily
imagine, building these ships has
been whale of a job, for many
things are embodied in them nc
other ship has known.
First, of course, is the peculiar
construction above the water line
\ carrier must have an adequate
place for planes to land and take
off. The L. S.S. Langley, our first
carrier, prepared her deck by tear
ing away the coaling gear top ham
per which she employed as collier
Then was built a flat deck covering
the ship. The smoke stacks on the
Langley fold out of the way and
the ship has no masts.
Now, however, the two new ships
have the regulation superstructure
without the mainmast. The carriers
have their superstructure on the
cardboard side OF the top deck, cal.
cd the flight deck. The navy calls
this grouping the ''island - and
such ii appears to be.
Cant Be Mistaken
This grouping is sufficient in it
self to identify these vessels as a
distinct type. No sailor searching
his way home after dark ever will
peer through the fog and swear 4
volume, wondering what ship looms
up ahead.
These ships literally loom up
ahead. The bow, for instance, in
stead of coming to a point, starts
from the water like a clipper and
is cut off to facilitate landings
leaving no sharp point against which
the ships of the air may strike,
Nearly 900 feet from the bow the
flight deck stretches, ending at the
stern in another novelty. Here a
ramp overhangs to permit the easier
landing of planes from that dir
cction.
In order to preserve the integ
ritv of the flight deck, all openings
with the exception of methods Of
bringing the planes up from their
storage places below are ON the
Starboard side and in line with
the superstructure OF course the
flight deck carries launching de
vices and devices for slowing the
pianes down 50 they will stop be
lore sliding off the end of the ships.
These apparati are most secret.
Viewed from the side, the ships
present another odd appearance.
Along the sides in special galleries
they carry their small boats. Such
arrangements as these are due 10
the necessity of keeping every non
essential off the flight decks.
Inside may be found other in
tcrestine development, markedly
different from common shipbuiid-
ing standards.
The planes are slowed in huge
hangar space, the immensely o.:
which hardly can be appreciated by
one who has not seen IT. When you
recall that the ships are as long as
four 2O0foo city blocks, perhaps
this size can be appreciated and un-
derstood. Figures here are forbidden.
In addition to this general stow
age place, there is room for slowing
dis assembled planes, there is a huge
power plant, which can generate
enough power to meet the needs of
n Boston, a San Francisco or any
other large city.
Luxury For The Gobs
Sailors will delight in the fact
that the deck. will be painted. Thus
they will be spared the necessity of
holystoning broad expanse of