US Naval Reserve Midshipmens School - Capstan Yearbook (Notre Dame, IN)

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OUR months ago few among us knew there was sueh a subject as Damage Control. XVe had seen pictures of the Shaw limping into a XN'est Cfoast port with her bow shot away and we knew froin the newspaper story that she had come from Pearl Harbor but it never oceurred to us that hers was a story of Damage Control rather than good luck. We had heard engineers tell us that the l'.S.S, Lafayette, once the proud Normandie, would be eventually raised from her muddy grave in New York's Hudson river but we visualized huge cranes and dozens of Navy tugs working to right her. We never imagined that there was a specific science called Damage Control which would be used to put her back into service. But before long we learned. They taught us that we should never give up even though we were floundering and our ship was shot full of gaping holes and defeat was near. If you keep hghting, if you stay afloat, you can still do damage, and the enemy will never know your true condition unless you choose to show it to him. First they taught us how a ship is built and we all spent hours in Hlashington Hall watching a series of moving pictures that portrayed through blueprints and chalk lines the steps that are fol- lowed between the time the keel of a ship is laid and she sails out to sea. XVe learned the funda- mentals of steel construction work and we learned to distinguish between the various types of bulk- heads, decks, and frames that are built into a modern man oi war. They all looked the same to us at first but as the weeks went by we learned better. 58

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The ingenuity of modern naval architecture has devised means of keeping vessels on the surface despite the effects of collisions, torpedoes or shells. And these were the principles we were obliged to master before we were considered Wsat in Damage Control. lt was technical and intricate, dillicult and bal- lling. But we recognized its ultimate worth and plugged along spiritedly, giving it just a bit more ol' our study time than we allocated for other sub- ee ts. There were Engineering degrees amongst us who, like blister Door, climbed that Ktreew week after week and sat in it discontentedly. And then there were Fine Arts majors who flitted by unseathed, never faltering. That was Damage Control for you. ln the throes of examination hysteria, with his week-end plans hanging precariously from the limb of the 'itree , there was one fellow who re- sorted to philosophy and kept his lingers crossed he wrote, giving his interpretation of the dis- tinction between a nut and a bolt. HA boltf' he explained, 'gis a doodad like a stick of hard metal such as iron with a square bunch on one end and a lot of scratching wound around the other. A nut is similar to a bolt only just the opposite, being a hole in a chunk of iron sawed off short with wrinkles around the inside ofthe hole. Now the instructor had a sense of humor and he laughed heartily when he read the answer. ln fact, he even showed it to the rest ofthe department and they too laughed. But the .mate of the deck will refer to his log and tell you that the uninten- tional comedian was in his nest that week-end observing study hour. 'fa 59