Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-05-25

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gain a keen and lasting i'm
preston of the wonders
Il that have been achieved by
man in mechanics and science
than to visit one of the Nays
giant new airplane carriers. Even
the most perfunctory visit cannot
help but leave the layman who
looks about with any sort Of COM
prehension of what he sees bit
aweStricken.
These carriers are not merely
ships. They are literally cities of
the ultra modern type, each with
it's own airport of type more ad-
vanced than any yet dreamed of
ashore. No matter what the
angle of your approach, you are
certain to find that which will stir
your imagination.
Take the most commonplace
example of modern life, the tele-
phone, by way of illustration. The
National Capital has just wit
messed the Inauguration of the
dial telephone system and, after
days of finger-stabbing at little
holes and wrangling with special
operators, has found that august
United States Senators, selected
for their wisdom, are on a par
with other human heSh-reduced
to a common level of futility by
the little dials.
On the u. s. 8. Saratoga land
anything which is said about the
Saratoga applies as well to the
u. s. S. Lexington, its sister ship
airplane carrier, the dial system
has been in operation for two
years. But that's just the begin
ming of the Saratoga'S telephone
story. Every one in the American
city has had difficulties with busy
lines. They don't on the Saratoga
or at least the ranking officers
don't. The carriers are so huge
that telephone communication is
a vital necessity. Safety may de-
pend upon a call going through
from the bridge to some part of
the ship instantly.
No BUSY" Lines.
Busy lines don't interfere with
such emergency calls. There is a
special system of telephone used
for such emergencies, over which
calls are cut in instantly even on
busy lines. But this is not all of
the telephone story by any means.
Conferences may be held by
telephone between officers in
various parts of the vessel. For
example, the carriers are so large
that there are medical stations in
various parts Of the ship. The
chief flight surgeon can get all
these stations on the telephone at
one time and talk to the man in
each station as though all were
in the same room. And they can
talk back, If they dare. It Is the
same with other groups Of officers.
And, even though there are
something like 400 telephone sta
tons aboard the Saratoga, this
does not begin to exhaust the
communication possibilities.
So huge Is the vessel that for
one man to attempt to find an
other by merely setting out to
hopeless task. 1t Is entirely prob
able that one man might search
for another, with no aid other
than his eyes and legs, for a week
without finding him, unless he
knew definitely where the object
Of his search were to be located
at definite times. There are 10
separate decks, and each Is q
labyrinth of hopeless intricacy to
the stranger.
One officer who had been aboard
the Saratoga a year said that 1t
was two weeks before he could
even begin to find his way about
with any sort Of confidence. After
o year, he admitted, there were
portions Of the ship which he
never had seen.
Loudspeakers Everywhere.
Manifestly, there had to be some
means of locating man when
you wanted him in this maze
You can't call a man on the tele-
phone unless you know where he
is. The solution to the problem
was a loudspeaker system, with
speakers in every part of the ship
No matter where you 60 aboard
you probably will hear a great
booming voice saying: 'Lieut
WhomSoever = the = case maybe
dial number so-forth-and so.
forth" You may be sure that Il
the lieutenant Is aboard ship he
Is going to hear the booming voice
The nearest telephone then puts
him in touch with whoever seeks
him; often, perhaps, to his privat,
grief.
All that's just one phase Of car.
rier Membership communica.
ton. There are almost as many
ways of communicating between
the carrier and other vessels OF
shore Stations-radio telegraph
radio telephone, signal flags, SEM
aphores, blinker lights, heliograph
or what else do you need?
Another illustration might be
the water-pumping system, which