HMS Challenger

“ Ladies and Gentlemen, I'd planned to speak to you tonight to report on the state of the Union, but the events of earlier today have led me to change those plans. Today is a day for mourning and remembering. Nancy and I are pained to the core by the tragedy of the shuttle Challenger. We know we share this pain with all of the people of our country. This is truly a national loss.
Nineteen years ago, almost to the day, we lost three astronauts in a terrible accident on the ground. But we've never lost an astronaut in flight; we've never had a tragedy like this. ”

“ By the time the Porcupine's survey was completed, and under the promptings of the results obtained in the previous surveys, an extensive scientific interest in work of this kind was awakened. A representation was made to the Government by the council of the Royal Society, urging that an expedition be dispatched to investigate the great oceans and take an outline survey of their bottoms. The proposition received general support, and was acceded to by the Government, who granted the Challenger, a main-deck corvette of 2,306 tons, for the use of the expedition. ”

“ June 18-24 STS-7—Robert Crippen, Frederick Hauck, Sally Ride, John Fabian, and Norman Thagard are the crew for the second flight of the Space Shuttle Challenger. June 27 Soyuz-T 9 launch—Vladimir Lyakhov and Alexander Alexandrov fly to Salyut 7. August 17- September 18 Progress 17. August 30- September 5 STS-8—Richard Truly, Dan Brandenstein, Dale Gardner, Guion Bluford, and William Thornton are the crew of Challenger. September 26 Pad Abort—Vladimir Titov and Gennadi Strekalov narrowly escape death when fire and explosion destroy their booster on the launch pad seconds before planned liftoff. ”

“ It is obvious that the Challenger has the privilege of opening a new chapter in the history of the living world. She cannot send down her dredges and her trawls into these virgin depths of the great ocean without bringing up a discovery. Even though the thing itself may be neither "rich nor rare," the fact that it came from that depth, in that particular latitude and longitude, will be a new fact in distribution, and, as such, have a certain importance. ”

“ Fauna of the Pacific Ocean.—From the splendid discoveries of the Challenger, and the supplementary observations obtained from other sources, the Pacific seems to be the ocean basin which is richest both quantitatively and qualitatively in Radiolarian life, excelling both the Indian and Atlantic Oceans in this respect. ”

“ In the department of physical geography, much interesting work has been done. Sir Wyville Thomson, as the result of observations made by him, chiefly in the scientific voyage of the Challenger, finds that many of the physical conditions of the globe depend upon its division into two hemispheres, one embracing nearly the whole of the dry land, and the other almost all the water. He says that all the vast mass of water, often two thousand fathoms in thickness, lying below what he calls the neutral land, moves slowly northward, and that this motion is due to the trade-winds. ”

“ There could be no question of the former alternative on account of the danger from submarines, defence against which was the work of the destroyers, and also because the destroyers were indispensable for battle. The Fleet was therefore dependent upon the radius of action of the destroyers. The appearance of the submarine as a defensive weapon has made it a necessity in modern times to screen the approach of a fleet with destroyers. ”

“ One man was found guarding the guns on the wharf, and was shot down. Little time is needed to spike the guns, and then those on the wharf turn in to help their comrades on the schooner. Here the fighting is sharp and hand to hand. Nearly a hundred men are crowded on the deck, and deal pistol-shots and cutlass-blows right and left. Several of the crew of the schooner have climbed into the tops, and from that point of vantage pour down on the attacking party a murderous fire. Horrid yells go up from the enraged combatants, and the roar of the musketry is deafening. ”

“ It was rather the cumulative effect of Q-ships, destroyers, mines, auxiliary patrol craft, depth charges, hydrophones, convoys, and good staff work which broke the spirit of the German submarine menace, so that if the war had continued much longer U-boats would have been thwarted except within certain limits of the North Sea. Every weapon has its rise and fall in the sphere of usefulness; the shell is repelled by armour-plate, the Zeppelin is destroyed by the aircraft, and so on. So it was with the Q-ship. ”

“ The Glasgow, Carnarvon, and Bristol were of great use in the Falklands fight, the first-named having already fought against the heavy batteries of the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau off the coast of Chile, while later on she sank the Dresden; while the Sydney won undying fame by defeating and driving on shore the notorious commerce-destroyer Emden.
Another distinctly modern type of cruiser is the "light cruiser", a fast unprotected vessel with light guns of 4-inch calibre, which has proved of immense value in the area of "liveliness" in the North Sea. ”

“ Gunnery practice on a British war-ship against an aerial target. It is a difficult matter to get "war conditions", as the ordinary target, such as a towed kite, is easier to hit than an aeroplane.
Things are looking ugly. The submarines still follow astern, but are not near enough to risk a shot. We cannot steam any faster, and we are baulking the fire of our friends. We slow down, risking the submarines, to allow our consorts to get ahead of us and enable us to meet the three enemy ships on equal terms. There are many anxious looks astern while this manœuvre is in execution. ”

“ Even before the news of Coronel had reached us, the increasing strain upon our resources had made it necessary to replace these fine ships by older smaller vessels. They were now urgently required to form a combat squadron near the Cap de Verde Islands as part of the second general combination against von Spee. They were also promised to the Commander-in-Chief for the Grand Fleet at the earliest possible moment thereafter. We should have been hard pressed in these circumstances to find a new and satisfactory naval force for the defence of the Canal against the now imminent Turkish attack. ”

“ The Mediterranean was bad, the North Atlantic was worse, the west coasts of the British Islands worst of all. The American Navy came in and did splendid service off the south coast of Ireland, in the Bay of Biscay, and along the North Atlantic seaways between French and British and American ports. More and more destroyers were put into service, aided by "chasers"—very much smaller vessels with only one gun and a few men, but so cheap and easily built that they could be turned out in swarms to help in worrying the submarines to death. ”

“ The German, a much faster vessel, was made fast to a captured collier, from which she was coaling, which enabled the Highflyer, which dated from 1900, to get within range with her heavier guns. "If all British ships shoot as straight as the Highflyer," said the captain of König Wilhelm der Grosse, "I shall be sorry for our poor fellows in the North Sea." Nearly a month later the Carmania, a big armed liner, sank the Cap Trafalgar, a similar vessel—which was disguised as a "Castle" liner with grey hull and red funnels—off the Island of Trinidad to the eastward of Rio de Janeiro. ”

“ The captain and the lieutenant rushed to the gun-deck, but were unable to enter. All the gunners came running up, beside themselves with terror.
A frightful thing had just happened.
One of the carronades of the battery, a twenty-four pound cannon, had become loose.
This is perhaps the most dreadful thing that can take place at sea. Nothing more terrible can happen to a man-of-war under full sail.
A cannon that breaks loose from its fastenings is suddenly transformed into a supernatural beast. It is a monster developed from a machine. ”

“ It was Challoner's fortune to discover amid the mass of tangled vines and creepers that grew all over the walls, and even down in the curious chambers, an old brass cannon. With the aid of some of his native friends he succeeded in dragging it forth and conveying it in his boat to his house, where, upon cleaning it, he found it bore the Spanish arms over the date of its casting in Manila, in the year 1716. Much interested in this, he refused to sell the gun to several whaleship captains, who each wanted to buy it. ”

“ There is little doubt that Captain Blakeley intended to run down toward the Spanish Main, and to pass through the West Indies, in order to go into a southern port according to his orders. It is said that two English frigates chased an American sloop-of-war, off the southern coast, about the time the Wasp ought to have arrived, and that the three ships were struck with a heavy squall, in which the sloop-of-war suddenly disappeared. There is nothing surprising in a vessel of that size being capsized in a squall, especially when carrying sail hard to escape enemies. ”

“ Now, unless the place could be made safe for the entire fleet, its value as a base for anti-submarine operations was seriously impaired, for if a fleet of chasers set out from Punta Delgada to hunt in the direction of Gibraltar and no powerful ships were within call, a detachment of enemy cruisers could come out and destroy them. Destroyers supported by fast scout cruisers could sally forth in comparative safety, for their speed would enable them to retreat under the cover of the coast-defense guns if pursued by a superior force of the enemy. ”

“ Five officers and forty-six men lost their lives in this catastrophe. Nothing that skill and experience could suggest was left undone to avert the disaster, but the vessels were equipped with old-fashioned engines, whose steam-power was not strong enough to withstand the fury of the gale. The value of high-pressure engines in war vessels was illustrated by the British ship "Calliope," which was able to steam out to sea, and thus escaped destruction on the reefs. ”

“ But no resource can rob war of risk—and if it were made a working principle that risks from torpedoes and mines were never to be faced, then the clearing of the British Fleet out of the North Sea would be a very simple process. It would only be necessary for the enemy to send out a score or so of submarines to advance in line abreast when, ex hypothesi, the Fleet would have no choice but incontinent flight. ”

“ Nowadays the ship armed with the heaviest and longest-ranged guns—if her gunners know their work—seems to be able to "knock out" a slightly less powerfully gunned opponent before she can get in any effective reply. The present war has given us many illustrations of this fact. The Scharnhorst—a crack gunnery ship—with her heavier broadside, was able to sink the Good Hope with little or no damage to herself, and in her turn she was simply demolished by the heavy guns of the Inflexible and the Invincible off the Falkland Islands. ”

“ General Contamin, who commanded the land forces embarked in the combined fleets, was also taken prisoner.
On the return of Admiral Gravina to Cadiz, he was immediately ordered to sea; and Vice-Admiral Collingwood, on whom the command of the British fleet had devolved, found it necessary to form a line, in order to cover his disabled ships and the prizes; a heavy gale, however, prevented a renewal of the action; the Spanish Admiral’s ship was dismasted, and he again put into port, leaving in possession of his adversaries a twentieth ship, El Rayo, of 100 guns. ”

“ Who can avoid a feeling of intense admiration for the men who, year after year, were willing and eager to roll about the sea in a small sailing ship looking for the enemy, well knowing that the enemy had all the advantage of speed, handiness, and armament? Even the motor was not powerful, and would give her not much more than steerage way in a calm. The submarine could always creep up submerged, using his periscope but now and then: the schooner, however, was a conspicuous target all the time, and her masts and sails advertised her presence from the19 horizon. ”

“ And if that threatened squall should burst its bonds and come shrieking and howling in fury across the surface of the sea, scourging it into a mad turmoil of foaming, leaping water and blinding spindrift, while the burnt-out crew of the schooner were making their passage across to the Mercury, it might be very bad for them; for even should they be fortunate enough to avoid capsizal, it might be exceedingly difficult, if not altogether impossible, for the ship, smitten and bowed down by the might of the tempest, to pause and pick them up. ”

“ It seems not improbable, therefore, that the dangerous system of exposing two-thirds of the ship’s length to destruction from all kinds and every system of naval guns, even the smallest, which prevailed in the British navy for more than twelve years, and which has now happily been superseded in the powerful new ships Nile and Trafalgar, obtained but little more than momentary approval in France, and is likely to have led to the condemnation of the only two ships in which it was attempted—a result which is creditable alike to French science and to French sagacity. ”

“ As a result of these conflicting reports, two American fleets were reduced to impotence. The "flying squadron" of fast cruisers under Commodore Schley was kept for weeks at moorings in Hampton Roads ready to be dispatched for protection of our northern coasts, while the squadron of battle-ships under Admiral Sampson was made to steam hither and yon in the Caribbean Sea looking for an enemy's fleet which much of the time lay snugly on the other side of the Atlantic. Accordingly, up to June 15, the results of naval operations in West Indian waters were almost nil. ”