Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-03-23

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audible throughout the sub
marine and the men inside the hull stopped
talking to listen The words did not seem to
be coming from any one spot that they coulo
locate but sounded as if they might nave peen
coming from a radio loud-speaker hlooen
somewhere in the room.
The submarine commander, standing IN the
center of the room, did not move out OF his
tracks but answered in a normal tone OF voice;
Hello, U. S. S. Falcon. can hear you dis
tinctly. Can you hear me?
= YES sir; perfectly" the voice answered
SShall we proceed with some test signalS?
60 ahead" the commander replied.
VERY good sir Can you hear these num-
bers? One, five, nine, eight, four. nneteeh
twenty-eight, thirty-five The COM
mander jotted them down for further compare
son to determine the accuracy of the trans
mission.
The man at the new submarine telephone on
the mother ship above the submerged subma-
rine completed the message, paused moment
and then put the mouthpiece of the newly per-
fected apparatus to his ear to listen to WHAT
was going on in the submarine
The submarine commander took up the con-
Versation st have recorded the numbers as
you have called them. Suppose I call some
numbers to see if you get them accurately
Seven nine, fifteen ."
And so the first actual two-way telephone
communication between submerged subma-
rine and a surface ship, similar in most details
to the hundreds of conversations which go on
over our local telephones, passed into history.
The test of repeating numbers had been used
because over a telephone, numbers are the
most difficult things to hear accurately, since
no context supplies any word which might be
indistinct as SO often happens in an ordinary
conversation.
THIS new invention. recently perfected by
the Navy Department, will enable persons
aboard a rescuing vessel to communicate with
men trapped in submarine on the ocean floor
within very few minutes after the submarine
has been located.
It possesses many interesting and valuable
features. Every bit of the apparatus is car
ried on the surface vessel-nothing at all on
the submarine Conversations between those
inside a sunken submarine and men on the
rescue ship can begin as soon as "a cable can
be unwound from the ship to establish con-
tact with the submerged craft.
To the general public its most valuable fea-
ture is undoubtedly its great humanitarian
aspect. In the future men who are trapped
in disabled submarine will not have to wait
until a diver can be sent down to them and
then have to tap out their pitiful messages and
pleas for help.
That tragic question Of the men in the S-4:
"Is there any hope?" retched the hearts of
thousands of Americans. 1t had to be slowly
and painfully tapped out against the walls of
the imprisoning hull.
How pathetically meager were the simple
questions and answers which passed before
death claimed its victims!
It is hoped that no other crew will ever have
to wait for the coming of death or for rescue
without the encouraging voices of their fellow
men to comfort and cheer them, for very soon
the new telephone with few already planned
minor improvements, will be installed on all
submarine rescue vessels and ultimately upon
all submarine tenders.
There is an instrument bNc~j. Of course,