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Each turret is manned by a division, numbered in rotation, beginning with Number One from forward aft. To the delight of Philip Morgan and Al Torrance they were both assigned to Number Two division, and would be members of the crew of a big gun in the second turret. The broadside batteries were partly manned by marines, of whom there were a large number aboard the Kennebunk.
"Of course, these huge guns of the Kennebunk mean something else again," declared Ikey. "You fellers have been playin' with popguns yet. If you get in a turret gun crew you've got to show 'em." "We'll do just that little thing," answered Torry rather boastfully. There was not likely to be practice with the big guns until the weather changed.
The superdreadnaught halted but for an hour at a port of the Azores. This was to send mail ashore. Then she picked up speed again and traveled north. She passed convoys of merchant vessels guarded by French, British and American destroyers. The Kennebunk exchanged signals with several cruisers of the United States Navy as well. Drill at the guns went on daily.
"There's something up besides the blue peter, just as sure as you're a foot high, Whistler," Al Torrance declared eagerly. "I'd give a punched nickel to know just what it is." Having nothing to occupy their time on the cutter, the four Navy boys naturally gave their attention to rumor and gossip. They believed the Kennebunk was no longer headed up the coast; but where she was going was a question.
Our crew consisted of only Spanish Joe; Big Dan; Little Dan; Stephen, the Kennebunk man; Cooper; a Swede, shipped in London; a man whose name I have forgotten; and a young man who passed by the name of Davis, but who was, in truth, , a son of the pilot who had brought us in, and taken us out, each time we passed up or down the river.
"Do you think, from what the woman on the island said, that there is some plot afoot against the Kennebunk?" went on the commander. "It's referred to right here!" declared the excited Whistler. "This 'clockwork' thing. Oh, Mr. MacMasters!" he added, turning abruptly to the ensign.
The Allied fleet moved on a certain day and at a certain hour, and with the open sea as its destination. It was a calm and utterly peaceful sea through which the Kennebunk sailed with her sister ships. The high bow of the superdreadnaught crashed through the seething waters. Her lookouts traced the course of each tiny blot upon the distant sea-line.
And poor Ikey isn't here!" "Don't worry about that," advised Mr. MacMasters. Then: "I do not think any of the men can translate German. Of course there is probably nothing on this paper of present moment to us. "What we should do first is to find the rest of our crowd and get off this island. The Kennebunk will be coming back up the coast and we'll miss her altogether."
She carried twelve 12 and 14-inch guns in her turrets on the center line, while her torpedo battery of 5 and 6-inch guns numbered twenty. The "all-big-gun" feature of our big battleships began with the construction of the dreadnaught Delaware, in 1906. The Kennebunk was heavily armored on the waterline and barbettes.
The country was at war, and it was believed that all our first line ships would soon be called into action. Germany was believed to be in such desperate straits that it was thought she would venture to send her fleet to sea after three and a half years of hiding in the Kiel Canal. High hopes and some doubt went with the Kennebunk as she steamed out of the harbor and into the storm.
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