Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-11-23

arms" to idle Ahead" and rings the bell mott
flying each OF the ships eight engine rooms of
the order. Immediately each mechanic rings
back, with a twist Of the order arm" to idle
Ahead" and the engineer officer knows his or.
der has been received and understood Eight
propellers begin rotating slowly, some of them
in q horizontal position, ready to give an up
ward thrust to the ship in rising most of them
vertical to afford forward push.
At the ballast controls, on the port side, the
first lieutenant is ready to drop ballast at any
place in the ship, if the Akron doesn't rise
properly. At the bow, the executive officer is
coming the rudder man. The officer Of the
deck is at the telephone switchboard, star.
board aft in the control room, ready to pass
the captains orders to any place On the ship.
To alter the trim of the Akron, the captain may
want to shift his men in any of the ships
three gangways from one position to another.
"Galloping kilos" these men are called, for
they are human trimming ballast" running
up and down the gangways as commanded.
Everything set, and the captain gives the
command:
Let go!"
The mooring officer on the ground passes the
word to his men on the mast and along the
ground Immediately the mast'S pelican hook"
which holds the ships short pendant or moor
ing cable, is tripped, the men release their hold
on the ships lines, and the Akron rises slowly,
drawing its mooring cone out of the cup at the
tip of the mast and the short pendant after it.
THE Akron now is acting as q huge free
balloon, its engines only idling, giving no
forward or upward thrust to the ship. When
the airship is clear of the mast however, the
captain orders:
IAN engines ahead" "-one-thirA two
thirds, standard or full, for whatever, speed he
desires-and the engines are set to Akse power
specified by the engineer officer NORMALLY,
the speed is set at standard" or cEHfsing speed,
but this is an emergency An GnShy fleet is
advancing, and the captain soon Us the engines
going full speed ahead. Those Propellers that
have been tilted for upward thrust are turned
back to the vertical position to help move the
great bulk forward as fast as ~ nautical miles,
nearly "a land miles, an hour.
In the ship as it takes of every man of the
entire crew is at his poSt-the captain, four
officers and two men in the control room, an
officer in the chart room Immediately abaft
the control room, an officer and two men in
the radio room above, two men in each of the
eight engine rooms, other officers and men
distributed through the length of the ship on
both sides and along the gangway on top.
The control room, lined with instruments OF
all sorts for control and operation of the Akron,
is only feet wide by II feet long, about the
size of a small bed room, but seven men are
occupying it. The captain 'at the conn.," In
command of the ship, takes up his post at the
forward port window or moves about as he
pleases. In the very nose Of the room stands
the rudderman, boatswain's mate or coxswain.
Besides the rudder wheel in front of him, to
assist in controlling the ship Gin yaw" or hori-
zontally, are two rudder angle indicators that
give the exact position Of each rudder.
RESIDE these are a gyro repeater steering
compass and a magnetic steering compass.
nIto1A Inv hyYV J1ai
or bottom rudder may be "clutched out" in case
of damage leaving the control to the other rud-
der. "A bow force indicator, in the bow, shows
the vertical and horizontal thrust the ship Is
exerting when at the mast. And to the right Is
one of three drift indicators, which give the
angle between the course the ship ~ steering