The Brighton Boys with the Submarine Fleet | Page 7

A
peep into the tube showed only a greenish haze as the rays of the sun
seemed trying to follow the Dewey into the depths. Against the eye of
the periscope streamed a faint flicker of greenish particles in the water
that reminded the boy of myriad shooting stars. And then---nothing but
a blur of black!
"What do you know about that?" gasped Ted, turning to his old school
pal. The boys were keyed to a high pitch by this time as a result of their
first experience in a deep-sea dive. So tense were they with excitement
that they marveled at the care-free attitude of the crew. Some of them
were humming nonchalantly; others chatting and laughing as though on
an excursion on a river steamboat.
"What do you feel like, chum?" began Ted, as the two settled into a
conversation over their wonderful exploit.
"Well, I've been up in the tower of the Woolworth Building and down
in a coal mine and up in a Ferris wheel and once I had a ride with Uncle
Jim in the cab of a locomotive---but this beats anything I ever had
anything to do with!" exclaimed Jack, all in one breath.
Ted was gulping a bit. "I feel as though I had left my heart and stomach
up there on top of the ocean," he stammered.
Bill Witt grinned from ear to ear; the remark was reminiscent of other
"rookies" and their first experiences at sea.
"You'll probably think you've completely lost some parts of your
department of internal affairs before you get rightly acquainted with
your new friend Mr. Neptune," offered Bill by way of a gentle
reminder.
So far the new members of the _Dewey's_ crew had been unaffected by
the terrors of seasickness. Bill's remark drove the import of it home

pretty hard. "I hope, if we are going to get it," interjected Ted
philosophically, "we get it soon and get over with it."
They had little time to ponder over the possibilities of gastronomic
disturbances, for there was much going on that occupied their attention.
The Dewey was now running entirely submerged, testing out her
electric batteries.
"How do they steer the vessel down here under the sea?" asked Jack.
"By the gyrocompass," answered Bill Witt, pointing to where
Executive Officer Binns and Commander McClure stood in the
conning tower. "We are running blind down here, except that the
skipper knows from his compass which direction we are going, and he
has charts that tell him the depth of the sea at this point. They know the
longitude and latitude and can easily determine on their maps and
charts just where we are."
"How deep down can we go?" inquired Ted.
"Most of the boats have to be tested at a depth of two hundred feet
before they are accepted by the government from the builders," replied
Bill. "But you can bet your life we don't often go down that far. When
we do, the water is oozing through the thin steel hull and dropping in
globules from the sides and top of the vessel. From sixty to a hundred
feet is our average plunge."
Even at that moment the boys noticed that the Dewey was "sweating" a
little bit, the vaulted steel above them, coated with a composition that
contained cork, being dotted here and there with drops of water. Jack
craned his neck to look at the depth dial and noted the indicator hand
was pointing at seventy-two feet.
Mess was served at noon while the Dewey kept on her run. Coffee and
biscuits made up the frugal meal this time, the officers and crew being
anxious to prove the submersible ready for any emergency call that
Uncle Sam might make, and not desiring to spare the men from their
posts longer than possible.

All afternoon the Dewey ploughed the waves, sometimes running
submerged, other times on the surface. About five o'clock the boys
perceived the lighthouse at the bay entrance, and soon they were back
in the navy yard. Their letters home that night thrilled with accounts of
their first dive under the ocean, and in their dreams the boys were
sharing all manner of wonderful exploits against the foe on the
boundless sea.
For several weeks the Brighton recruits were kept busily at the business
of mastering submarine navigation. In the distribution of the crew
throughout the vessel Jack and Ted found themselves assigned under
the leadership of Chief Gunner Mowrey. In turn the boys were drilled
in the forms for loading and firing torpedoes from the chambers in the
bow of the boat, and in manning the four-inch guns above deck, as well
as the anti-aircraft guns that poked their noses straight up in the air and
sent up shells much after the fashion