A Fleet of Indoor Battleships 



One of the ships was mounted on a motor-truck and accompanied by six navy officers 

 it made a two-weeks' tour through New York city recruiting men for the navy 



TO TRAIN its officers and men in 

 fleet evolutions and to teach recruits 

 the nomenclature of a battleship, 

 eight miniature warships have been so 

 constructed by the Second Battalion of 

 the New York Naval Militia that they 

 can perform on an armory floor all the 

 maneuvers of a battle fleet at sea. With 

 the hulls cut off at the water line and with 

 the ships mounted on wheels located 

 inside where spectators cannot see them, 

 they look like real battleships. 



Each ship is operated by men seated 

 within its interior so that their heiids 

 come under the forward fire-control 

 masts. From the exterior they are 

 invisible, concealed as they are by the 

 bridge and by weather-cloths through 

 which pec])- holes arc cut. Two men 

 supply the motor -power. They sit 

 under the superstructure and work 

 hand-levers connected by gears with the 

 forward wheels. From the steering- 

 wheel to an axle aft run tiller ropes. 

 The axle carries a loose wheel on either 

 end and swings freely on a vertical shaft 

 so that when the helm is jiul over, the 

 stern swings lo starboard or to port. 



Night practice with the fleet of eight 

 miniature warships is carried on in the 

 armory with all lights extinguished. 

 K(|uipi)e(l with running lights, search- 

 light, trucklights and Ardois signal 

 system, all supiilied with current from 



storage-batteries, the ships make their 

 way about the armory floor in any 

 formation that may be desired. They 

 make a picturesque spectacle maneuver- 

 ing in the dark with the aid of their 

 signal lights, the flagship of the little fleet 

 blinking its instructions to those in 

 line behind it, and one after the other 

 repeating the orders. 



Large classes of naval men or recruits 

 are often seated in the galleries where 

 they watch the fleet in action and listen 

 attentively to an official explanatioit of 

 what is taking place. The exact move- 

 ments of a division of ships are carried 

 out by the same signals as at sea and the 

 ships form column, line, echelon, turn and 

 countermarch with remarkable facility 

 of movement, affording practitx- which 

 primes the men for the annual summer 

 cruises. 



The ships were constructed under the 

 direction of Commander Kingsley L. 

 Martin by the Chief (^iimner's Mate of 

 the Battalion, Williatn H. Free, and his 

 assistants at the armorx", in Brooklyn. 

 In addition to its valui- to the Naval 

 Militia, tiie fleet has interested the 

 general public. At one of the reviews 

 given by the men, at which time the 

 iniblic was invited to a demonstration 

 of the duties and activities carried on by 

 the Naval Militia, about five thousand 

 people saw for the first time how a fleet 



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