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

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eamanalzip dab LT. G. A., WALRATH, USNR Bettineau, N. D. Mr. Walrath, head of the Seamanship department, is a graduate of North Dakota State college and holds an M.S. degree in engineering from Iowa State college. He entered the teaching profession on leaving Iowa State and was head of the Engineering department of the North Dakota School of Forestry prior to entering the Navy in August of 1942. After indoctrination at the Naval Reserve Ofhceras Training school in New York, Mr. Walrath was assigned to the Ordnance department of the Naval Training School at Columbia and was transferred to Notre Dame on March 1, 1943. x Lt.J. R. Grandfield, USNR Lt. H. S. Faust, USNR 1220 Ocean Ave. ' 220 E. Fourth St. Brooklyn, N. Y. Lewistown, Pa. New York Universigl Susquehanna, ,26 'Tvvi if ' Lt. fjgj R. W. Ludlum, USNR Lt. fjgj W. H. Raleigh, USNR Chester, N. Y. 2635 Farwell Ave. Cornell, '37 Milwaukee, Wis. U. af Wz':corLrz'n, '29 and '40 'ew fvi Lt. flgl L- Broyvnley, USNR Ens. W. H. Gregory, USNR Ens. C. L. Bryner, USNR Ens. D. D. Stolz, USNR 3 E. William St. 1963 Plymouth St. Dunbar, Pa. 412 N. Wiegel Ave. Bath, N- Y- Philadelphia, Pa. Waynexboro, '40 Watonga, Okla. Bfoown Law Sfhoafy '30 Temple '35 oklahoma C29 U. 240 321

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Urclnance IDSHIPMAN S. Gish, after studying Ordnance, found himself a compatriot of that Greek who knew 20,000 of his fellow country- men by name, for he discovered that the 5 -38 had nearly that many parts, each with a diHnerent name and the smaller the part, the bigger the name. Living on the fourth deck, Gish customarily studied in the shower-the only place free from the constant din of Now Hear Thisf'-and was one night trying to remember whether a semi-fixed mousetrap would be painted a green cheese color, or the usual Navy blue and gold. The steam grew thicker, he found himself unsteady, and to save himself turned on the cold water. The fog lifts. The wide-open breech of a sixteen inch gun yawns its hungered and smoking mouth toward him. Kamaira vis, e katrista katrianaf' thinks Ensign Gish, Ordnance instructor said I didn't have to know anything about turrets ex- cept the four structural parts and the three com- partments? But thereiis his crew before him, waiting impatiently for the next order. Joe wishes for the little red Ordnance book, and to quiet his nerves starts reciting the five advantages and seven disadvantages of a turret gun, finds him- self stymied at No. 3, quickly switches off into the six parts of a Mark XIV firing lock, which he is fairly certain is used on bag guns. By this time he observes several bags on the deck: ammunition. f Bag gun, separate loading, projectile goes in first. Where's the projectile? Order more from handling room. Keep talking to crew.j 31 This is a radial-expansion gun. Incremental differences of radii in any circumferential metallic body under internal hydraulic compression create- dynamical tensions according to Lame's first law which states that 'at any point whatever in a cylinder under fluid pressure, the sum of the tangential ten- sion and the radial expansion varies inversely as the square of the radius,' which cause one radius to bear upon a lesser but vectorially similar radius, extending it in a peri- pheral direction, producing maximum strength with minimum weight effectively abolishing all reticulated or alveolar internal stress. Or am I esoteric? The gun captain yells Load Gun , Joe is rammed into the breach, in tumbles the powder, the Smith-Asbury system changes translational into rotational motion, and the breech clangs shut. A slight click tells Joe that a combination lock primer Cwith its wisp of guncottonj has been inserted, the muffled cry of Fih-er is heard in the blackness, and Ensign Gish passes out. J. S., opening his eyes, found himself lying on the tile floor of the shower, feeling very hot and very wet, steam surrounding him, water pouring down upon him, and at his feet the red Ordnance book. A quick look at his waterproof watch told him that he had a classification interview in five minutes-which realization quickly got the water turned off and clothes on. Yessir, I know I put down armed guard in my questionnaire, but after thinking it over, I think Iid like to go to Harvard Supply School.

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ealnanahip IDSHIPMAN S. Gish, whom all of you have undoubtedly met at one time or an- other during your midshipman career, excelled in all branches of 'study at Notre DZUUC, FCPOYYS to contrary notwithstanding, but his particular glow was Seamanship. joe fancied himself quite adept at mooring, sig- naling, etc., Qhaving once wandered over the Brooklyn Navy Yard for an entire day while work- ing for Western Unionl and gave numerous in- structors merry ned and sleepless nights with his innovations of Corp, Turn, Form and Posit, and the curious sealore he dug from Popular Science dur- ing his spare moments. - 'To Hnd out what sailing with an old salt is like we'll follow joe through a day's journey. joe knows all about mother told me I'd have days like this, and is about to prove they do happen. joeis ordinary place of abode being in the lower' bunk, just abaft the locker and slightly to star- board, the day begins as roomie hops lightly down on his shoulders at 0610 and utters a bright morn- ing greeting while joe shivers out of pajamas and into' undress blues. First classes are boring but joe is game and with no little effort keeps a fair. sense of humor well into the afternoon. ' 1 Seamanship is the coup de grace. Stanislaus, as his father always calls him, forgets to sound off as all section leaders should . . . and with his ego dented by public rebuke, sinks to his chair-de- 34 pressed, despondent, beaten-with his mother,s voice ringing in his ears, . ,Ioey, you now realize that your mother was right. lf mamais baby had gotten into the Quartermaster Corps, as Uncle Philbert advised, he wouldn't have Seamanshipf' Exhausted, reverie is in order and joe slowly leaves Plan Zand his classmates in the wake of a mythical ship. They don't appreciate me around here, they don't. Yes, and sure' as Mohammed, theylll end up some day all aurrounded by japs, and then I'll steam in and rescue 'em, and they'll be sorry for always putting melon report. The blinker merrily flashes short-long incompre- hensible messages from the wall, but the sea is choppy, land far beyond the horizon, and joe's brain swirling. ' Flukes, pendants, in again, out again, blinker, scuppers, runways and plugs . . . meanwhile the patient instructor plods- wearilylon, beating into civilian minds phraseology that swells B.j.M. to seven hundred odd pages and Knight's to many hundred more. Questions with little or no point are asked constantly . . . XNhat do you do when your landing barge runs aground? . . . Does the chain of command bear any resemblance to 'at short stay'?U . . . c'How many stars did Old Glory have in l873?', . . . On, on, endlessly into the night . . . or at least for nearly an entire hour. Yes, the naval phraseology and the devilish.in- tricacies of naval law and communications kept the dust off the books governed by the Seamanship department. joels only regret at the end of the course was that he could not go back to the days of windjammersland shout at the top of his voice, '4Avast, you lubbers, reef the topsailsln