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MARINE REVIEW. 17 OUR AMBULANCE SHIPS. THEIR HURRIED DEVELOPMENT IN THIS COUNTRY BROUGHT ON BY EXIGEN- CIES OF THE WAR,--FLOATING HOSPITALS WITH THE BEST OF MODERN EQUIPMENT'. The hospital or ambulance ship, than which no more valuable ad- junct to the United States navy has been devised, is in a large degree a direct outgrowth of the war with Spain. The idea of an ambulance ship is not new, Of course, but in its present highly developed form it is largely origina! with Surgeon-General W. K. Van Reypen of the United States navy. The surgeon-general had given special study to the matter, and had even gotten so far as to have had plans prepared, but no steps had been taken at the opening of the war to carry these plans into effect. Then with the cutbreak of the war, and the indication that the conflict would be to a great extent a naval one, came the realization of the necessity of such vessels, and here Mr. Van Reypen's thorough knowledge of the sub- ject stood him in good stead, and to it must be attributed largely the suc- cess which followed the initial effort to equip a hospital ship on short notice. The exigencies of time prevented, of course, the consummation of many of the surgeon-general's cherished plans, but his study of the subject enabled him to satisfactorily work out the idea with the material at hand in an incredibly short time. The preliminary steps looking to the equipment of the first ambulance ship were indeed taken a few days before war was formally declared. The steamship Creole of the Cromwell line was purchased by the navy depart- ment, renamed the Solace and fitted out at Newport News as a hospital ship, in so far as possible along the lines outlined in the plans by Mr. Van Reypen above mentioned. The Solace is 375 feet long over all, and 352 feet on the water line; 44 feet beam, and 32 feet 6 inches deep to the upper deck; displacement, 3,600 tons; speed, 14 knots. She has been fitted out very completely with all the appliances of a modern hospital ship, and with no armament whatever. She has two wards on the main deck, the forward one containing 104 berths, and the after one thirty-three berths. There is a large operating room on the upper deck connected with the wards by an elevator.. There is also a complete laundry plant, a refrigerating room and an ice machine. Accommodation is provided for a large medical staff and a corps of nurses. Comfortable quarters are also provided for convalescent. officers and sea- men. The operating room measures 30 by 30 feet and is well lighted and equipped with the latest pattern of aseptic hospital furniture. The floor has been paved with tiling. There is also a disinfecting room equipped with three formaldehyd generators. There are separate rooms for the wounded officers, while the men are berthed in the spacious wards for- ward and aft. Attached to the ship are four medical officers, three apothe- caries, eight graduated nurses, laundrymen, cooks, etc. The vessel, which i painted white with a green stripe, of course flies the flag of the Red ross. In this connection something should be said of the army hospital ship Relief--a picture of which, as well as of the Solace, is herewith presented-- by reason of the fact that in the readjustment of the navy following the war, the Relief will undowbtedly be assigned to that department. The Relief was formerly the John Englis of the Maine Steamship Line, built within a couple of years at the Roach ship yard, Chester, Pa., and sold to the government for $450,000. She is a steel steamer of 3,500 tons; 328 feet over all; 40 feet beam, and 16 feet draught. She can easily maintain a speed of 12 knots, and under forced draft is capable of 16 knots. The work of refitting the vessel--it embodied the almost complete transfor- mation of the entire interior--was done under the supervision of Naval Constructor Francis T. Bowles and Acting Assistant Naval Constructor William E. Winant. They embodied, however, some of the suggestions of Major George H .Torney, who has been a student of the hospital ship problem for many years and who was given carte blanche by Surgeon- General Sternberg of the war department in the fitting up of the Relief. Major Torney makes the claim that the vessel is the most perfect of the kind in the world, not excepting the finest of the seven hospital ships connected with the French navy. The Relief has been divided into five large wards, in addition to store rooms, mess rooms, operating rooms and officers' quarters. The ward at the forward end of the hurricane deck has accommodations for forty patients; the officers' ward on the main deck will accommodate thirty; the large ward in the after end of the main deck makes provision for 100 patients, and the ward at the after end of the berth deck can take as many more. The total berthing capacity for sick and wounded is about 360. The walls of the wards are painted white, the floors covered with rubber tiling, and the beds of iron enameled white. The surgical ward is in the after end of the main deck and the operating room adjoins it on the starboard side. Bath rooms are connected with ~ all the wards, with the private quarters of the medical staff and with those of the ship's officers. A special shower bath for sick officers showers hot or cold, fresh or salt water, separately or in any combination desired. All the bath rooms are floored with rubber. Tihe-electric plant, in ad tition to supplying light, furnishes the motive power for hundreds of electric fans. Other features of the equipmient of the vessel are two complete X- ray outfits in the surgical ward, a microscopic laboratory, and facilities for photographic work, including a dark room. The naval constructors who had charge of the transformation of the steamer devised a special appara- tus for hoisting and lowering the sick and wounded. On the forward side of the mainmast a steam boom has been fitted, which can be trained toward any war vessel and so deposit patients on any deck or in any ward desired. € same boom is used to hoist and lower the steam launches. The mem- bers of the medical staff have quarters on the main deck, forward. The vessel carries a crew under contract and not connected with either the army or the navy. There has been no little rivalry between'the Solace and elief, but each would seem to have some valuable features which the other does not possess. Both vessels have been used largely for conveying Wounded men from Cuba to the hospitals on the Atlantic coast, so that cae Service so far has been largely that of ambulance rather than hospital s. Mention was made above of the study given to the subject of ambu- lance ships by Mr. Willaim K. Van Reypen. surgeon-general of the navy, and special interest naturally attaches to the outline of his ideas of the requirements of a vessel of this class with which he has favored the Review. Just previous to the opening of hostilities with Spain the surgeon-general found occasion to enter into this question quite fully in a special report, which was accompanied by plans of an ambulance ship. Referring par- ticularly in this report to the plans, he says: "I submit my idea of an ambulance ship arranged to include as many conveniences as is practicable in such a vessel. It is primarily. a vessel adapted for the care and welfare of sick and wounded men, and all other considerations are made subserv- ient to this end. The vessel as designed will be 3,550 tons displacement; 275 feet on the load line, and 300 feet over all; with twin screws and a speed of 14 knots; 50 feet beam, and drawing 18 feet; a coal capacity of 450 tons, giving eighteen days' steaming at 10 knots. The water tanks will hold 9,000 gallons. The ship will carry four steam launches and four barges, each barge arranged with a flying floor between the thwarts, so as to conveniently carry twelve cots on the floor. There will be beds for 274, and hammock space for thirty-six. Staterooms for eight disabled officers and cot space for twelve. The beds for the men are hair mattresses on woven wire springs, supported by a plain iron frame-work with corner stanchions. The height of the deck beams being 8 feet, allows two tiers of berths. The forward ward on the upper deck has been left with only one tier of berths, for a ward of isolation, or to accommodate more serious cases. The vessel can comfortably accommodate 330 sick or wounded men, with sufficient berthing space for the crew of the vessel. There are quarters for four medical officers, two apothecaries and twelve nurses. On the upper deck is an inclosed room, 22 by 24 feet, for convalescent officers, and a room 26 by 35 for convalescent men. On this deck also are the galley, laundry, wash room, drying room, lamp room, closets and bath rooms for both officers and men, the office of the senior medical offi- cer and of the executive officer. Dumb-waiters go from the galley to the diet kitchens on the decks below. The upper part of the operating room is also inclosed on this deck. 'Near the center of the ship, on the berth deck, is the operating room, 18 by 21 feet. It is well lighted by a large skylight and by air ports above the upper deck. On either side of this operating room is an elevator, large enough to hold a cot. The elevator runs from the upper to the lower deck and is run by electricity. A patient can be hoisted in his cot from the barge alongside the ship, placed in the elevator, lowered to the oper- ating room, and from there transferred either to a bed on the berth deck or lowered and transferred on the deck below. This transfer is accom- plished by means of an overhead trolley, which runs from the operating room and the elevator, between the rows of 'beds; and by means of which the occupant of any bed can be transferred. On the engine-room deck is an ice machine and cold storage rooms, a disinfecting chamber, Sturte- vant blowers, and ample store rooms for all departments of the ship. The ventilation is accomplished 'by two powerful blowers, with their necessary connections, and supplementary electric fans. The vessel is to be heated by steam and lighted by electricity. The constructor has so arranged the model of the hull as to insure the minimum of motion, either in a head or beam sea. There are steam winches on the upper deck for hoist- ing or lowering wounded or boats. They can be worked on both sides simultaneously. The outfit of the operating room will include two or three operating tables. These tables are of antiseptic value; are light and portable, being easily folded and carried to any part of the ship. The floor of the operating room will be tiled, and all of its appointments ar- ranged with a view to strict antisepsis. As soon as the action is over, a launch should tow its barge alongside a vessel that has been in action, the wounded should be hoisted out and into the barge by means of the apparatus already described. It should then steam with all dispatch to the ambulance ship, unload its human freight, and speed away again on its mission of humanity. In no other way could wounded men be better cared for, or a fighting vessel be more speedily disencumbered and placed again in readiness for battle." Marine Corps, Aged One Hundred. On July 11--just a month ago today--occurred the one hundredth anniversary of the birthday of the marine corps of the United States. In reality the service came into existence fifty-eight years previous to that date, but it was not known by the name formally adopted in later years, and so, strictly speaking, it has no standing in the matter. The fact re- mains, however, that three regiments were organized in New York in 1740, and then the matter seemingly languished until Nov. 10, 1775, when the Continental Congress, after having resolved that the compact between the crown and the people of Massachusetts 'bay was dissolved, provided for the raising of two battalions of marines. It was not until April 30, 1798, however, that a regular navy department was established, and on July 11 of the same year an act was approved for the establishment and organization of the marine corps. It was to consist of several officers and 720 privates. The first major commandant was William W. Burrows. The corps consists today of 4,720 men, of which Col. Charles Heywood is the colonel commandant, with five officers of the general staff, one colonel, two lieutenant-colonels, four majors, twenty captains, thirty first- lieutenants, nine second-lieutenants, and twenty-four additional second- lieutenants added during the continuance of the war. The positions held by marine corps men are among those selected for readjustment at an early date, when in all probability higher ranks will be accorded the com- maniding officers, resulting in a general move up all along the line. Honors. to the Oregon... Secretary Long of the navy some time ago sent a letter to the Union Iron Works of San Francisco, commending the firm on the splendid record made by the battleship Oregon, which they built, on her trip around the Horn. The secretary has just received an acknowledgement from the officers of the company, in which they say: "American-designed and Amecican -built, she has offered a new lesson to older nations regarding the functions of a battleship, and we are proud in the fact that under the most trying circumstances it has been demonstrated to your satisfaction and approval that our contract has been well and conscientiously per- formed. But with all this, we believe that much of the success of all ves- sels is based on their intelligent handling by their skilled officers, sub- ordinates and men, without which their usefulness would be greatly im- paired if not wholly destroyed."