Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 206, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 September 1917 — U-Boat Warfare Sounds Doom of the Old-Fashion Forecastle [ARTICLE]

U-Boat Warfare Sounds Doom of the Old-Fashion Forecastle

One interesting result of submarine frightfulness has been to provide for the comfort of crews in a way which otherwise might not have come in our time. The noisome forecastle, a tradition from the days of sails and of the small ships in which comfort could not very reasonably be expected, is eliminated in the new standardized British ships. Instead, the shipping controller. Sir Joseph Maclay, has decided that the men are to be berthed aft The primary reason was to secure increased safety from mines and torpedoes, but fmprovements are to be added which will make sea life pleasanter and which, doubtless, will be kept after the war. In place of the open forecastle, there will be doublebunked cubicles, and a messroom will be added, as well as a common smok-ing-room for sailors and firemen. With so much new shipping being constructed these Improvements can be made very rapidly, and will effect such a revolution in sea life as could not have been anticipated in our time, says the Springfield Republican. No doubt our shipping board is keeping track of all these British innovations.