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34 FLEET TELEPHONY.* . BY COM, BRADLEY A, FISKE, U. S. NAVY. in 1895 I: went, unofficially, on board one of our new battleships, at anchor off Staten Island. I got into conversation with the captain on the quarter deck, and after awhile the conversation turned to the subject of _ fogs. Something betrayed me into the indiscretion of suggesting the scheme Tam about to describe. I had had the idea in my head for a long time, but .had not dared to mention it. The captain did not understand my plan for a few moments; but when he did, he raised both hands above his head and disappeared down the cabin hatch. The scheme I suggested was_ that, when an admiral saw a fog coming up he should make a signal, in obedi- ence to which the ships should form exact column; and pay out over the stern an insulated wire supported by a buoy, which ° buoy - should be picked up by the ship astern, and the wire connected to the end of a permanent wire which should run the length of that ship to the in- board end of the wire which that ship paid out astern. This permanent wire was to be part of a circuit, in- cluding a separate battery for each ship, and two sets of telephones, one set placed in the chart house, and the other in the cabin. In order to pre- vent the breaking of the wires between the ships, I suggested that the wire paid out astern should be about 800 yards long, and that the spare wire at the end should be put around a reel in the bow of the ship astern, which should automatically reel in the wire, or pay it out like a small towing engine. I pointed out that this wire could have marks on it; and that by noting these, and the direction in which the wire tended, one could tell the distance and direction of the ship ahead in the thickest fog with extreme accuracy. I also pointed out that, even if a wire broke between any two. ships, the ships on each side of the break could still talk together; and that the ship astern of which the wire broke could pay out another wire in a few min- utes. Since that time I have suggested the scheme occasionally, but have never got anybody to endorse it, until now. But I have just received a letter from Com- mander Oliver, suggesting the plan him- self, saying that he proposed it to Ad- miral Manney in 1903, and asking me if I could not see my way to testing it. As I cannot, it occurs to me that a sugges- tion in the Naval Institute may reach ~ somebody who can. *From the proceedings of the United States Naval Institute, copyrighted. each ship should. we THE MARINE REVIEW Last summer, when in command of the Minneapolis off Virginia Beach, I tried the plan in a crude way between the Minneapolis and a steam launch. The plan worked very well for about five minutes, during which time the Minne- apolis and the steamer were going about five knots, the steamer about 300 yds. astern. There being no reel. available for the wire, a man sat in the bow of the steamer and held the wire in his hand, having about 10 fathoms slack in the steamer, and paying out or hauling in the wire, in such a way as to keep a short slack bight under the bow of the steamer. Of course, the friction of the wire in the water kept it taut in the water; and the man in the steamer sim- ply held up the slack wire running from his hand directly down to the water, so that there was no strain on the wire, ex- cept that due to friction in pulling it through the water. But the wire was a condemned length of portable wire, about No. 16, and it had been broken in several places and spliced; therefore, it was not at all suitable for the experi- ment, and it soon broke. Last: September in New Haven, just before going to the Oyster Bay review, I described this experiment to Command- er Colwell of the Denver, and asked him if he would not fry it between the Minneapolis and the Denver after the review was over. He consented; and after the sixth division was broken up by signal, the Denver came up astern of the Minneapolis and received an _ elec- trician whom I sent on board with two telephones. We then paid out the same spliced wire that had been used off Vir- ginia Beach, which I had endeavored to re-enforce by seizing it at frequent in- tervals to a piece of signal halyard stuff. This did not work at all well; because, after the Denver had picked up the buoy, the seizings slipped, and the wire and halyard stuff got into a bad tangle. The Denver got the wire at length, however, and we steamed ahead at 400 yds. dis- tance; but no sound could be heard through the telephones. The wire had broken again. The trouble was clearly the mechanical weakness of the wire; and it occurred to me to see if the halyard stuff would stand. the strain; arguing. that, if -- it could, an electric wire could, provided it were as strong as the halyard stuff. So I steamed ahead at 10 knots, the Den- ver following, and there was no trouble whatever, and the piece of halyard stuff at no time had much strain on it. At the end of twenty minutes nothing had happened, and the experiment was stopped. Now, if the Minneapolis and Denver could steam this way for twenty minutes, why could they not do it for twenty hours? And if two ships could do it, why not eight? And if they could steam this way, using a piece of signal halyard stuff, why could they not do it using a wire? I submit this scheme simply as a sug- gestion. I do not advocate battleships being fitted with it, at once; and I can see that many objections may be made to it, and some difficulties met, in. re- ducing it to practice. At the same time, it may be pointed out that many things seem impracticable at first sight, espe- cially if they are novel, which are not impracticable at all; and which need sim- ply a little patient experiment in over- coming "bugs" in the apparatus, and a little patient drill in using that appa- ratus. ° It is easy--fatally easy sometimes--to condemn a new idea as "impracticable," and toss it aside; but it is harder to for- mulate a definite and logical objection to it. Now, what definite and logical objection can be formulated against this plan? Why should it not be tried? It can be tried very cheaply and_ very easily. If we had any plan now by which ships could steam together in a _ fog safely, we might be very haughty in re- gard to suggested schemes; but we have not. No ship knows where any other ship is, or what she is doing; and if it becomes necessary to change course or speed, or if any ship gets even partially disabled, all hands are in peril, principally because of the extreme liability of mis- understanding the steam whistle signals, and the long time required to get them down the column and back to the flag- ship. It is true that wireless telegraphy can be used for making signals in a fog; but an important dispatch may be com- ing in just at the time when a change of course is to be made; and further- more, it is an accepted principle that wireless telegraphy should not be used for signaling among the vessels of a fleet, when it can be avoided, because such a use would not be practicable in war. But if the plan herein outlined can be developed, communication among the ships will be perfect, much better than by wireless; and the admiral can give orders as to changing course or speed which cannot be mistaken by his cap- tains,,or picked up or interfered with by the enemy. One important feature may be insisted on--that, even if some accident should occur in a fleet in a fog using this plan, and even if it should become necessary to let go the connecting wires, no harm would result, and the fleet would be just as it is now. The steamer Northern King struck an obstruction out of Duluth harbor and damaged her bottom. She had to lighter part of her cargo to make repairs.