New Britain Herald Newspaper, May 24, 1917, Page 5

s <~ 5 P! U. S. FLEET HUMMING WITH | ANXIETY TO SEE FIGHTINC New Men Are Being Made Efficient, Big Guns Growl at Targets and “Jack” There’s Fu With the United States Atlantic Fleet, May 24.—The big ships of the mo#t powerful fleet ever under the American flag, when visited by a cor- respondent of the Assoclated Press, through arrangement with the com- mittee on public information, were working day and night to bring about the defeat of Germany on the sea. " Ready for battle, they are spending the waiting period turning out sailor men. The fleet, temporarily, is a great workshop of war. Already it is turn- ing out omo of its finished products «-men who can figsht. They are serv- ing the guns on American armed merchant ships. Its other product— men who can run the great merchant fleet the United States will use to feed the Allies—will be ready as soon as the ships. Five-inch guns, the kind prineipal- Iy used against submarines, are there by the hundreds. On the decks great turrets house long fourteen and twolve-inch rifies—three or two to a turret. On high platforms guns used for Gofense against airplanes point to the sky. Brass {s always shining, steel is always polished, paint is al- ways new. decks are always white ‘witli scrubbing. “The men hehind the guns have lost shpmates in the war—they ‘were guns’ crews on merchantmen sunk by German submarines. And other ship- mates now are on duty aboard the destroyers operating with the British and French fleets. The men with the Atinntic fleet are working to prepare themselves to avenge the killing of their mates. Here's what happened the day. A crew was practicing with a five-inch gun. A bluejacket about i Beventeen—he still had down on his ehin—was pointing. He grasped handles on a broad brass wheel; his' eye was steady at a rubber cup at the end of a long sight, through which he saw the target. His duty was to keep the gun on the target so it might be fired, any time. = A i Around this beardless youth were grouped other guns’ crews ready to] fire when his crew had completed its: period. % 7 ‘The breach snapped the load, was thrown “home, the h ‘was hurled back in place an then . buzzer, operated from the fire control station, sounded, there was a flash, a roar, the hiss of a projectile speed- ing through the air and the louder hiss of compressed air blowing smoke other Diseased Skin ‘-ltidm"&‘mlflm s Clark & Brainerd Co., Druggists. -Boss LUNCH BISCUIT POST 1CARPET (CO. 219 ASYLUM ST., CORNER HAYNES ST., HARTFORD. China Mattings for Summertime Use Mattings are the correct floor coverings for summer, This quality of Chinese mattings which we are showing is of the very highest and shown in varjety at ‘§25¢ to 50& yd. Destrable for all rooms at the summer sesson and the eoolest of all floor coverings. " Has a Busy Day—But n in it, Too. out of the gun. ' Miles away the pro- Jectlle struck the target. | “Guess that's bad,” said an man-o’-war’'s-man looking on admir- ingly at the third shot, as the gun’s crew got the range and the pillar of white water leaped into the air. “How would that do for Fritsy? Suppose that had been a submarine and——"" The buzzer, the rear of the gun and the hiss of air interrupted him. “‘Another hit! Gee whiskers that's shooting.” On the after deck latest arrivals aboard the ship were set to work that day, and every other day, in fact, up- on the loading machin They con- sist principally of a breach and block and a slide that carries away dummy projectiles and powder bags. Officers with stop watches in their hands set one crew after another to work; the dea being to develop ex- treme loading speed by competition. The newest members of the ships’ companies work for days at these loading machines. The next step in thelr training carries them to the guns. But they are not yet ready to fire. the regular charges. One pound- ers, that go off with a sharp crack, are lashed on top of the big guns and the crews go through all the motions of firing, but instead of a big shell, a little one weighing a pound speeds for the target when the buzzer sounds or when the turret captains in charge of the bigger rifles yell “Fire!” Rapid Fire Loading: After a period of firing with the sub-caliber arrangement the crews get down to real battle practice. There are few busier places than a turret in action. Concave steel walls are all around, and a steel roof is just above the heads of the gunners. The point- ers sit far forward, underneath the barrels of the guns. Little seats Hke those on a motorcycle are there for them: and -on every side are instru- ments- - As the turret begins to fire, 'a Uft, bearing the huge projecticle, gb-n-q up from below, great bags of Powder slide from the mggasines into |a long brass trough. Husky blue- jackets toss the powder into another brass -trough that is slipped. into po- sition at the gigantic breach. The ‘projecticle, almost as large as a man, meanwhile has been rolled into the trough, & long automatic rammer has Jumped from the rear and shoved it into the barrel. The powder bags are driven home, a man at the breach ‘swings a lever, a ton of steel swings. up ‘with'a hiss of compressed air. The -breach block turns and locks, a buz- ser sounds, the charge is ignited and with a rush of. air the guns recoll about a yard and then jump back into position. There is a loud “swish— |swish” as the guns come back and |then go forward- Inside the turret not much more than that is heard. Outside, it is much different. There is a flash, a roar, a ring of smoke and the loud whistle of the projecticle rushing through the ailr. So great is the concussion that every man out- side has cotton or some other sub- stance in his ears to save his ear drums from being broken. Fifteen seconds from ‘“Commence firing” to “Fire” is considered pretty good time for the big guns in the navy. They have new guns' crews in training now who never saw salt water until three weeks ago who are ‘| doing the thing easily in sixteen sec- onds- Some nights the ships of the fleet cruise in waters nearby for night battle practice. Other nights they are anchored In the base waters, where crews are drilled at torpedo defense. The guns are manned and dummy torpedoes and submarines are picked up by the searchlights and theoretic- ally destroyed. The fleet has gained efficiency in torpedo defense. They tel a story in the ward rooms of an American submarine which decided to change its anchorage without giving notice. The fleet is dark after a certain hour at night. Not a light shows, but the watch is intensely alert. One of the deck officers #aw the submarine outline itself and a gun quickly was trained. The submarine was hailed, but the men on it failed to hear. The fact that the submer- sible was running behind the patrols was the only thing that saved it. A five-inch gun probably would have blown it to pleces if the maneuver had taken place on the other side of ———————————————————— Too many women mistake thelr pains and aches for troubles peculiar to the sex. More often, disordered kidneys are causing the aching back, dizzy spells, headaches and irregular urination. Kidney weakness becomes dangerous if neglected. Use a time- tried kidney remedy—Doan’s Kidney | Pills. Hosts of people testify to their merit. Read a New Britain case: Miss E. Roseen, 270 Maple St., New Britain, says: was just as miser- able as could be aad had continuatl sharp, shooting pains in my back. I couldn’t move unless this pain seized me and it was just likke needles plerc- ing my back all the time. It often caused a ‘loss of sleep and made me feel tired and worn-out. I doctored | and used medicines but got only tem- porary Telief. I finally used Doan’ Kidney Pills and the second box gave me rellef. Four boxes permanently cured me.” Price 50c, at all dealers. Don't simply ask for a kidney remedy—gat Doan’s Kidney Pills—the same that cured Miss Roseen. Foster-Milburn NEW BRITAIN DAILY HERALD, TH MISERABLE FROM STOMACH TROUBLE Felt Wretched Until Ho Started To Take “Fruit-a-tives” X 594 Comanrrain Sf., MoNTREAL. “For two years, I was & miserable | sufferer from RAeumatism and Stomack old ! Zvouble. 1 had frequent Dizzy Spells, and when I took food, felt wretched | and sleepy. I suffered from Rheu- matism dreadfully, with pains in my back and joints, and my hands swollen. , A friend advised ‘Fruit-a-tives’” and from the outset, they did me good. After the, first box, Ifell I was getting well and I can truthfully say that “Fruit-a-tives’’ is the only medicine thathelpedme”. LOUIS LABRIE. 50c. a box, 6 for $2.50, trial size, 250. Atall dealers or sent postpaid by Fruit- a-tives Limited, Ogdensburg, N.Y. e —w—— the net: Now submarines don’t move around like that at night. It was dangerous business. Before the fleet is darkened, .the ships lying in every. direction present an inspiring spectacle. Lights, as ot a city, show everywhere. Blinker signals flash on and off—signalling in the dots and dashes of the Morse code. Long fingers of white from search- lights shoot up into the sky—on and oft—on and off—signalling also with dots and dashes. . Other searchlight beams pick - up boats that approach them, some il- luminate a landing wharf. Away in the distance searchlights of the pa- trol boats flash on every now and then; sweep the waters/to discover that what might have been perisecope is only a white cap. Then they fiicker out again. .From the shore at night, boats passing anywhere in the neigh- borhood suddenly find themselves in the glare of searchlights. ‘While the guns’ crews are being trained on some of the ships, aboard others are being trained men to run the hundred or more German vessels the United States will operate as soon as repairs are made to their engines, and the fleet of merchantmen being built, to carry food and supplies to the Allies. The fleet is training en- gineers, electricians—men to fill every position- ' The, ‘Atlantic fleet is con- fident that it will be able to supply a full complement for every ship, for the navy is getting men now faster than ever before, and if the officers are proud of their ships, the guns on the decks and the power of the en- gines in their hulls, they are doubly proud of, the spirit of the new men who are coming into the navy. A ranking officer said: Anxious for the Battle. “These new men have come into the navy to fight and they want to get into the thick of it ‘We are turn- ing out guns' crews every day and every day we get orders for more. In three months from now many hun- dreds of guns’ crews will have left the fleet for places where they may sink German submarine or cheerfully give up their lives trying. And these boys—for most of them are no more than that—can shoot.” s A large majority of the new men in the fleet, their officers sald, have come from farms, especially in the Middle West. On any ship may be found youths who until the war be- gan were following plows. “In this fleet,” said one of the offi- cers, “more than ninety per cent. of the men are native-born Americans. There are few foreign-born men here.” On any ship may be heard the drawl of a Southern Carolinian or a Georgian, the New Yorkers of the East Side; the twang that is New BEng- land’s the rising intonation of western Pennsylvania and the tone that only comes from west of Chicago. So fast is the enlisted personnel of the navy growing that there is no room for the new men at the training stations ashore. A man enlists one day in Kentucky and three days later finds himself at a loading machine on the deck of a dreadnaught. Many ships have aboard them the naval militia from the various states. Some of the militia are pronounced good sailors. On nearly every ship are men who used to be in the navy and who have gone back to their old, and usually low, ranks because their country needs them. They are regular officers. On one of the ships is & Wall Street broker. He graduated from An- napolis many years ago, resigned and later came back into the service dur- ing the Spanish-American war. He commended the Hist in several fights in Cuban waters and knows how it feels to be under fire. * “The Navy Needs You' was the sign that got me back this time,” sald he. “When I read that sign I knew it meant me and I fixed it right off so I could come back. I left the navy at the close of the Spanish- American war and have been in the brokerage business in New York ever since.” Ensign a Grandfather. On another ship is & little man with gray hair—a grandfather—who wears the uniform of an ensign. “I resigned from the navy many years ago,” he said. “I have grand- children now. When we went to war with Germany I knew the navy need- ed trained men and I offered myself. They accepted me and here I am with e junior officers. I suppose I am the only grandfather ensign in the navy. The “grandfather ensign” is just as anxious as the newest recruit at the loading machines, and he is cap- able, too. ° They've sot a slight attack of spy scare in the navy. Officers said that it was quite possible there were Ger- mans on the ships. The spy who is caught is very likely to find himsolf looking into the business ends of the rifles of & fAring squad. ‘Every now URSDAY, o8 i MAY 2, 1017, 'MILES per GALLON there is no gasoline as cheap and ’ efficient as SOCONY. Because SOCONY is not only pure an powerful, but uniform. Every gallon is like every other gallon, no matter where you buy it The Sign SOCONY —quick starting and chock full of energy. The SOCONY seal means that the gasoline it marks is the best that extensive sources of sup- ply and highly scientific refining can produce. SOCONY is so different from the inert mixtures that are often sold as gasoline that it pays to be par- ticular what. goes into your tank. Say “So-CO-ny” and look for the Red, White and Blue SOCONY sign. Charles Bence Central Auto Cor. Honeyman's City Service Siation, Corbin Motor Vehicle Co., 128 Chestnut Dennison’s Garage, of a Relisble Dealer and the World’s Best Gasoline: \DEALERS WHO SELL MOTOR GASOLINE G it st New Britatn. . Station, 236 Maln St., New Britaln. % Hartford Ave. & Stavley St, New Britain. St., New Britatn. i 430" Maln ‘St New Britain. / Garage, 183 Main St., New Britain. Wm. F. Keeley's Garage, Cor. Elm New Britajn J. Ravizzs, 9. 0. Mills & v 80 George Rapely, & Frankin' St., New Britain. West Main 8¢, New Britais. Morrin's Garage. . oy o b, Garage, 10 Chestout &, Neow Britats. F. E. Purinton Garae, New Beitatn) 256 Park St., New Britain. 160 Arch St., 200 Park 8t, New Beitain. South Main & Brooks Sts. New Britaln. . ‘Willilams Aute Co., 257 Elm St., New Britain. .J. ‘W. Woodruff, E. W. Bowers, Standard Oil Co. of New York and then suspicions of the officers and men are asoused and a quiet investi- gation is conducted. Bluejackets are suspicious of anything unusual. Oune new recruit brought suspicion against himself because he carried aboard ship ‘with him a geometry book. A magazine writer enlisted to gain first hand information about the lifo of an enlisted man. He had an agreement with the navy department through which he was to get out of the navy in a couple of weeks and en- listed as a yoeman. His second day on the ship he started to look around and finally appeared in the boiler room. The firemen chased him out and one of the coal passers informed the boatswain, adding, ‘“A yoeman has no business in the boiler room. :If he comes down there again—the sneaking spy—I'll brain him with a shovel. That ought to save a firing squad a lot of trouble.” The president’s yacht Mayflower has just visited the fleet. Aboard ‘it were Secretary Daniels and Secretary Baker. The presidential yacht, glis- tening white in sharp contrast to the dirty business-looking gray of the fighting ships, slipped into the bast waters one Sunday morning. Except for the strains of the national anthem, first from one ship and then from another, as the Mayflower, the two secretaries’ flags flying from her masts, passed down mile after mile of war vessels, there was quiet. Puffing ships’ launches and boats going to and from shore lay to as the glistening 'bow of the yacht cut through the wa- ter. Two navy airplanes circled high in the air. HFUMATIC TORTURE Take “Neutrone Prescription 99” and the Pain and Aching Will Vanish. Rheumatic misery is now a thing of the past. It matters not how sore your joints are, or how swollen and painful, one bottle of ‘“Neutrone Prescription 99" will make you feel fine and comfort- able 4 “Neutrone Prescription 99" is a dif- ferent remedy. It is a liquid that eliminates uric acid by . absorption through the blood and quickly soothes and heals the inflammation. L It quickly takes the agony out of Joints and muscles and makes them like new. “Neutrone Prescription 99" is a good thing to have on hand at all times. It is especlally efficacious when an attack is coming on as in al- most every instance it will, after a few doses, rid the system of rheumatic poisons. 50c and $1.00 the bottle. Seltzer Drug Co., and leading druggists everywhere. | - The two secretaries inspected some of the ships and men and then board- jed the admiral's gig, which carried them to a new recreation fleld fixed up for the many thousand men of the fleet by the Navy league. Baseball dia- monds cover acres of ground and they are wel] patronized; many games ‘were in progress when the secretaries arrived. Secretary Baker got so interested in a game that he stepped over the foul line. A husky sailor, not recognizing the visitor, addressed him by yelling ““Hey!"” and then followed it up with a demand that he get back in a hurry, several choice abjectives being added for the sake of force. The secretary moved, and right smartly, too. Several bluejackets stepped up and were recognized as boys from Cleve- land where Secretary Baker formerly was mayor. All shook hands and the secretary of war chatted with them for some time. “Movies” for the Evening. There are other recreations besides those found ashore at the base of the fleet. Every day mail comes and goes. There are band concerts each evening, and every ship has a moving picture machine. Screens are set up on the decks and for an hour and'a half comedies, dramas and dark mys- teries ‘are shown. The men crave amusement after a hard day's work and they get it. Pictures of children are especially popular and loud “Ha-Ha's” resound from each ship showing a drama as the villain is foiled. So-called custard ple com- edies are greeted with howls of de- light. Every ship has a mascot. Some- times it is a goat; more often it is a dog, or several dogs. One big dread- naught has aboard a litter of. bull puppies, sons and daughters of the ship’s chief mascot. When the ship rolls the puppies slide across the decks and into the scuppers, to be fished out and set on their feet again by the: bluejackets, their mother ail the while watching the proceeding with a critical eye from around the corner of a hatchway. Then there is a dog, half fox ter- rier and half something else, that answers to the name of “Pork Chops.” He follow squads of sailors all over the ship, but he hasn’t become used to the guns yet. ‘When a five-inch gun went off al- most over his head, he lit owm for the crew’s galley, skidded around the door and disappeared for the rest of the day. Whereupon the crew began to “run” his owner. “A._hell of a fine mutt to be afloat in this packet,” yelled one sailor. The owner, himself, had no reply. ‘The disgrace of “Pork Chop’s” retreat had overwhelmed him. It s tion that the American navy runs away from anything, and 'dog shouldn’t-violate traditiom. . SEEMS EVERYONE IS " ANXIOUS TO TRY Good news spreads rapidly druggists here are kept busy pensing freezone, the recent disc jof a Cincinnati man, which is § loosen any corn so it lifts out with'y fingers. . Ny 5 A quarter of an ounce. costs little at any pharmacy, but is sa | be sufficient to rid 'one’s feet of hard or coft corn or callus You apply just a few drops tender, aching corn and in soreness is relieved, corn is so shriveled that it without pain. It is a sticky's ‘which dries when applied inflames or even irritates ing tissué. 3 K. This discovery will sands of deaths mnwm' jaw and infection he; 3 from the suicidal habit of corns. IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT e COHEN MOTOR CO. will open new quarters at 86 Arch Street. Will carry stock Dodge Bros.” Pleasure cars, Republic Trucks; also used and Seconds, at low prices, and Auto Supplies. WELDING IN ALL ITS BRANCHE! ing Co. ¢ NELS J. NELSON will personally supervise all repairing and welding also removal of Carbon by Oxygen. Expert attention on Self Starters and Ignition. All work satisfactory or no charge. NELS J. NELSON GUH[N MoTUH cu. A.E,COHEN 86 Arch Street S—former business of ‘American ‘Wi