The Brighton Boys with the Submarine Fleet | Page 4

the unusual activities of war times. Long freight
trains were puffing and chugging on the sidings; the air was black with
smoke, and the tracks filled everywhere with locomotives and moving
rolling stock.
In a few minutes the train slowed down into the railway terminal and
the score or more of "rookies" were soon stretching their legs on the
platform. A detail of blue jackets, spick and span in their natty
uniforms, awaited the party. Jack and Ted stared at the fine looking
escort, thinking what a wonderful thing it would be when they, too,
were decked out ready for service in such fine-looking attire.
They had not long to wait. Breakfast over, the entire party boarded
trolley cars bound for the navy yard. Soon, across the meadows,
loomed the fighting tops of battleships, and in the background the giant
antennae of the navy yard's wireless station.
"Here we are at last, chum!" chortled Ted with a broad grin, as he and
Jack piled out of the car.
Passing the armed sentries at the gate, the party of recruits were
marched first to the commandant's office, where their arrival was
officially reported. After roll call and checking up of the list of names,
the boys were all marched over to the quartermaster's depot to be fitted

for uniforms. Probably the most impressive moment of the morning to
the boys was the ceremony of swearing them into service---when they
took the oath of allegiance to their country.
Jack and Ted were anxious to get into their uniforms and were afforded
an opportunity very shortly when they were directed aboard the training
ship Exeter, where they were to be quartered for a few days until
detailed into service on one of the fighting units in the yard.
The first few days aboard the Exeter passed rapidly, the time being so
filled with drills that the boys had few idle moments. Their letters home
and to their chums at Brighton contained glowing accounts of the new
service into which they had entered.
After a week of it they were standing one afternoon on the forecastle of
the Exeter watching the coaling of a giant dreadnought from an electric
collier when a naval officer, immaculate in white linen and surrounded
by his staff, came aboard. After an exchange of salutes between the
deck officer of the Exeter and the visiting officer, and a brief chat, the
recruits were ordered to fall in. The naval officer in white stepped
forward.
"You boys will be distributed at once among the vessels now in the
yard to make up the necessary complement of crews. The department is
very anxious to put some of you aboard the submarine fleet now fitting
out here, and if there are any in the crowd who would prefer service in
the submarines to any other service you may state your preference."
Jack and Ted stepped forward immediately. Other boys followed suit.
And so it came about that Jack Hammond and Ted Wainwright found
themselves detailed to the U.S. submarine Dewey.
A young officer approached and introduced himself. "I am Executive
Officer Binns, of the Dewey. If you boys are ready we will go right
aboard. We expect to go down the bay on some maneuvers this
afternoon and want to get you fellows to your places as quickly as
possible."

The whole thing was a surprise to Ted and Jack. They had expected to
be kept in the yard a long time, quartered on the training ship. To get
into active service so soon was more than they anticipated.
Marched across the navy yard they soon came in sight of the
_Dewey_---a long cigar-shaped castle of steel, sitting low in the water,
riding easy at the end of a tow line near the drydock. Up on the conning
tower a member of the crew was making some adjustment to the
periscope case, while from astern came the hum of motors and the
clatter of machinery that bespoke action within the engine room below.
"Looks like a long narrow turtle with a hump on its back, doesn't it?"
whispered Jack as he and Ted came alongside.
They were passed aboard by the sentry and there on the deck welcomed
by the officers and members of the _Dewey's_ crew. Turned over to big
Bill Witt, one of the crew, they were directed to go below and be
assigned to their quarters.
Down through the hatchway clambered Witt, followed close by Ted
and Jack, and in another moment they found themselves in the engine
room. Electric lights glowed behind wired enclosures. Well aft were the
motors and oil engines, around them switchboards and other electrical
apparatus---a maze of intricate machinery that filled all the stern space.
The air was hazy and smelled strong of oils and gases.