Joplin High School - Joplimo Yearbook (Joplin, MO)

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tinction of being the first battle of ironclads, and it ushered in the iron battleship, immediately out-dating wooden vessels. Although the idea of the usefulness of ironclad vessels had been touched upon through the designs of builders in the United States and in Europe, it was the Confederacy that took the initiative and brought the first ironclad ship, the old Merrimac, into actual conflict. The Merrimac, a forty-gun frigate which had been sunk at the Norfolk navy yard, was raised, was cased with iron railroad rails, and was pierced for cannon. A strong iron ram was attached to her bow and steam was used as the motive power. It was, as we would say today, streamlined, and easily resisted bombardment. This powerful ship, rechristened the Virginia, easily destroyed two of the finest wooden ships possessed by the Navy at Hampton Roads on March 8, 1862. She was confident of victory and only waited for the next day to complete her work of destruction. On the next day, however, a new foe appeared, the Monitor. Reports of the repair and reconstruction of the old Merrimac had reached the Navy Department at Washington when the work was in its infancy, and had aroused a great amount of alarm. Federal authorities began to realize the danger of the affair, so that it does not seem strange that the Secretary of the Navy influenced Congress to create a board of naval officers who were to examine plans for iron- or steel-clad ships. The result of this was the construction of this Monitor by the ingenious Swedish John Ericsson. The Monitor, described by a spectator as a Hcheese- box on a raft, consisted of a round turret about nine feet high mounted on a flat deck. This turret revolved and carried two guns which could be aimed in any direction to combat the enemy. It was so nearly a raft that the Merrimac's ram had no effect. Then, in time of need, the Monitor might run into shallow water where the Merrimac could not follow. In spite of the facts that the Monitor had the advantage, and that the Mer- rimac finally retired from the combat, neither vessel had been able to injure the other. The main feature of the battle was that it revolutionized naval warfare. As one author has said, The day of the wooden warships was over, and the era of ironclads had come. The oak-ribbed and white-winged navies that had ruled the ocean for centuries became obsolete, and all the world began to build Heets of steel and steam. In addition to the idea of steel ships, each ship contributed another factor to modern battleships. The Merrimac gave the armored citadel, and the Monitor brought out the revolving turret. After the Civil War American citizens were so anxious for peace that they put all thought of a navy out of their minds. It was nearly twenty years before men began to realize that the United States would be helpless if attacked. In 1883 Congress ordered four armoured ships to be built, and two years later four more were ordered. Every year the number increased, and in 1890 Con- gress ordered three large battleships. The Spanish-American War convinced the government that more ships were needed, and by 1918 the United States Navy had forty battleships. Thirlw.-n

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all classes go for a three months' practice cruise on battleships, and then they receive a month's leave to visit home. THE CGMING OF STEAM The invention of the steamboat was perhaps the most important factor in all history which brought about the complete revolution of navigation. In spite of the fact that popular history has accredited Robert Fulton with the building of the first steamboat, his claim is somewhat questioned. Two years before Fulton's Clermont appeared, John Stevens of Hoboken built steamboat propelled by a screw: and even before that John Fitch of Pennsyl- vania had made a crude one and attempted to force it upon public favor. Fitch was unread and uneducated, and his invention was of the purest originality. Although struggling against poverty, he labored during his entire life in the effort to perfect his invention: but his work was in vain. He died leaving behind the bitter words that at some future date a more powerful man would be given credit for his work. In the attempt to make amends for the injustice to Fitch, some modern historians have even gone so far as to overestimate his work and give him more credit than he actually deserved. Without doubt Fitch applied steam to the propulsion of a boat long before Fulton, but it is doubtful whether Fitch himself was the first inventor. Records have been found which claim the invention of such a device as early as 1543. This is uncertain, however, and perhaps it would be better to say, as Willis J. Abbot has stated, that Fitch first scented commercial possibilities of steam navigation, while Fulton actually developed them. The first years of Robert Fulton's struggles met with the same misfortune that Fitch's had. He was faced with ridicule and scorn. Scientists on every side, including the Institute of France, opposed the work. Fulton was not doomed to failure, however, and while in France he met and formed a partner- ship with Robert Livingston, who Iinanced his invention. In 1806 Fulton came back to America to construct the Clermont. The state of New York granted him and Livingston a monopoly of steam naviga- tion on the rivers in that state, and gave them until 1807 to prove its feasibility. Since Livingston had had an engine built for it in England, it did not take so long to complete the building of the ship as might have been expected, and it was on August 7, 1807, that the Clermont made its famous voyage from New York to Albany, a distance of one hundred Hfty miles, in thirty-two hours. In less than a year steamboats were sailing up and down the river, and since Fulton and Livingston strove to protect their monopoly, a new impetus for the extension of steam navigation was aroused. Without doubt the steam- boat has proved invaluable and has made the world smaller. IRON AND STEEL FOR SHIPS The famous battle between the Monitor and the Merrimac is not im- portant merely because it was a battle of the Civil War. Indeed, it has the dis- Twclur-

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THE SHIPS OF A NAVY In a nrst-class navy there are many kinds of ships, although we often speak of the great gray battleships as though they were all of it. A monarch without his loyal subjects is without authority and power: so is a battleship without its cruisers, scout boats, gunboats, destroyers, torpedo boats, sub- marines, colliers, supply ships, hospital ships, and tugs. Nevertheless, the battleship is of primary importance. A modern bat- tleship is a very expensive mass of exceedingly complicated construction. Ma- terials must be put together and arranged for the utmost efficiency and speed, and must occupy a minimum amount of space. Since ships differ so, it is difficult to give general figures. The United States ship Arizona carries twelve fourteen-inch guns mounted by threes on a revolving turret. As a secondary battery there are twenty-two five-inch guns, besides four torpedo tubes. The shells of the great guns weigh 1,400 pounds. The boat, with a horsepower of 32,000, was designed to make twenty-one knots an hour. This is an example of one of the battleships of our navy, although there are some of greater power. A cruiser has lighter armor and fewer guns than a battleship, but greater speed, which enables it to arrive quickly at the point of danger. The cruiser can cause great damage to the enemy. The original purpose of the destroyer was to destroy the small torpedo boats. These destroyers were so superior to the small boats which fired tor- pedoes from their decks that few of the latter now exist, but every navy has many destroyers. They have no armor, but are often built to do thirty knots an hour, They carry three- or four-inch guns and torpedo tubes. Today their duties include running errands, protecting merchant vessels, locating mines and submarines, dropping depth bombs, and firing torpedoes. For battleships that use coal, Colliers are used to supply their needs, and either meet the battleship at an appointed place or stay with it. Derricks and scoops are used for loading. Supply ships are responsible for other necessities. The hospital ships often have every convenience that a modern hospital has. They relieve the battleships of their wounded, as there is neither room nor equipment for first aid in the mother ship. A great ship can neither start, turn, nor stop quickly enough to be allowed to go in and out of the dock under its own power, so the tiny tugs are indis- pensable. They are responsible for seeing the ship into the the slip or out into the water. ' e Repairs too difficult to be made on a fighting ship are turned over to vessels fitted as workshops. Submarines have complete forge and work-shop for repairs. They are equipped with guns, but are not suited for regular ocean duty. THE SHIP THAT WON A WAR The Lusitania was not a large ship, but she was a beautiful creature. The Cunard Lines operated her at a loss to regain the Atlantic record which had been lost to Germany. On her final trip she set sail with 1,257 passengers, Fourlcen