WW1 Photos: The National Geographic Magazine - April 1918
Photographs and Other Images Sourced from The National Geographic Magazine Issue Dated April 1918. A part of a World War 1 Online Exhibit at the GG Archives.
Front Cover, The National Geographic Magazine, Volume XXXII, Number 4, April 1918. Published by the National Geographic Society, Washington, DC. GGA Image ID # 18338c79e0
Physical Training: Shelf Drill at a Naval Station. “In the Naval Service Men Are in Training for a Generation to Fight Perhaps for Only a Single Day.” The Training Is Mental and Physical, for a Battle Is Won or Lost in a Few Minutes, and Each Man Must Fit Perfectly Into His Place in the Fighting Machine. Photograph From US Navy Department. GGA Image ID # 1833c2ee26
Putting the Finishing Touches Upon a Dreadnaught. In the Construction of a Battleship There Is Applied the Work of More Trades Than Are Represented in Any Other Single Structure Built by Man. Photograph © Underwood & Underwood. GGA Image ID # 1833ef7075
Forward Deck of the Mississippi. The Men "on a Battleship Spend Years of Intense Practice Getting Ready for the Single Hour of a Great Sea Fight. From Early Dawn Until Long After the Shadows Have Deepened Into Darkness Every Man Among Them Is on the Job. Now Gun Drill, Now “Abandon-Ship” Practice, Now Collision Drill. Efficiency, More Efficiency, and Still More Efficiency Is the Unceasing Demand of the Navy. And if You Will Watch How Every Man Is at His Post and Doing His Allotted Task With the Assurance, the Precision, and the Case That Come Only From Untiring- Practice, You Will Understand Why Those Who Know the American Navy From the Inside Have Supreme Confidence in Its Ability. Photograph © Underwood & Underwood. GGA Image ID # 1833a58955
On the Forward Deck of a Destroyer. The Word “Periscope” From the Lookout Brings Instant Action, and Every Man Leaps to His Appointed Place. Accuracy and Eternal Wakefulness Are Making the Atlantic Sea Lanes Safer and Safer From the Submarine Peril. Photograph From US Navy Department. GGA Image ID # 1833f6da22
A Class in Engineering Afloat. The Navy as a Training School in Peace Times is a Great Institution. It Brings Discipline to the Untrained and World Views to the Untraveled. It Drives Home the Lesson of Good Citizenship, Creates Respect for Constituted Authority, and Fosters the Improvement of Head, Hand, and Heart. A Little World Within Itself, Often for Weeks With Only Sea and Sky Around and Above, the Personnel of a Modern Battleship’s Crew Develops an Esprit de Corps Seldom Equaled on Land. Photograph From US Navy Department. GGA Image ID # 183414789e
USS New Hampshire Firing a Broadside. At Every Broadside of One of Our Newer Dreadnaughts More Than Eight Tons of Metal, Driven by More Than Two Tons of Smokeless Powder, Are Discharged. Such Velocity Have the Great Shells That They Would Pierce Five Feet of Wrought Iron, the Salary of the Admiral of the Navy for a Year Is Only a Little Larger Than the Cost of One Such Broadside. One of Our New Ships Has More Fighting Power Than Dewey’s Whole Fleet at Manila. Photograph © Underwood & Underwood. GGA Image ID # 183417eba8
Battleship Pennsylvania at Sunset. Commodore Perry, “the Father of the Steam Navy,” Could Hardly Have Imagined Such a Development as This Enormous Fighting Ship Represents. Peacefully Rolling at Anchor as the Sun Goes Down, It Becomes a Silent Watchdog of the Night, but Can Burst Into Action With a Flash and Belch Forth Stupendous Destruction Upon an Enemy Threatening Our Shores. Photograph by Kadel & Herbert. GGA Image ID # 18343266fe
USS Georgia in a Typhoon in the Pacific Ocean, Near Japan. All Naval Vessels Operating in the War Zone Are Equipped With Boat or Life-Raft Capacity Sufficient for Every Person on Board. a Stock of Life-Preservers of an Improved Type Has Been Manufactured Sufficient to Supply One to Each Officer and Man on Board All Vessels. Photograph from Ernest T. Fauroat. GGA Image ID # 18343bb595
Plunging Into the Deep: USS New York in a Hurricane. Fighting Forces on Land Are Frequently Deterred From Offensive Operations by Storms, but at Sea It Often Happens That the Fouler the Weather the Greater the Possibility of a Brush With the Enemy. Photograph © Commander James B. Gilmer. GGA Image ID # 18349ecf4f
A “Movie” Show on a Battleship. the Motion-Picture Screen Is a Medium of Education in the Science of Warfare as Well as a Means of Entertaining the Youths Who Man Our Warships. Photograph © Underwood & Underwood. GGA Image ID # 1834d7c1fd
USS Arizona at Sea. the Business End of This Great American Battleship, Coming Head on, Is a Formidable Sight; Broad of Beam, Bristling With Guns, and Manned by a Thousand of the Bravest of the Brave, and Every Mother’s Son of Them Trained for His Work. Photograph by Burnell Poole. GGA Image ID # 1834f3b222
Getting Ready to Go Over the Top. The Navy Afloat Never Loses Sight of the Fact That It May Have Duties Ashore; Therefore the Men Are as Well Trained for Participation in Landing Operations as in Sea Fighting. GGA Image ID # 1834fbf0c0
The Official Family of the USS Texas. Photograph © O. W. Waterman. GGA Image ID # 18356b3200
For the first time in our history, a United States fighting vessel has been named to commemorate the heroism of an enlisted man. Through the prompt action of Chief Gunner’s Mate Osmun K. Ingram and the Cassin’s officers and crew, that destroyer was brought safely to port after having been torpedoed by a German submarine.
Engaged on patrol duty, the Cassin located the undersea boat and gave chase. The submarine fled, but discharged a torpedo at its pursuer. Seeing that the deadly missile would strike his vessel amidships, the Cassin’s commander rang for extra speed.
Ingram, realizing that the torpedo would strike in the vicinity of a quantity of high explosives on deck, which if set off would destroy the vessel, jumped to the spot, threw the dangerous freight overboard, but was killed at his self-appointed task. Secretary Daniels has recently named a new destroyer the “Ingram” as a tribute to this deed.
Camouflage of the Sea: A Destroyer Throwing Out a Smoke Screen. Concealed Behind the Thick Smoke of Their Convoying Warships, Merchant Vessels Are Crossing and Recrossing in Safety the Zone Wherein the Hun Submarine Lurks on the Lookout for Its Prey. Photograph © O. W. Waterman. GGA Image ID # 183577e7ad
An American Submarine Submerging. In Conjunction With the Undersea Flotillas of Great Britain, America’s Submarines Are Waging Ceaseless Warfare on the German U-Boats on Several Occasions It Has Been Demonstrated That Sometimes “It Takes a Submarine to Catch a Submarine." Photograph from M. Rosenfeld. GGA Image ID # 1835a5ae78
Liberty and Her Defenders. “Never Did a Nation Have More Right to Be Proud of Its Navy Than Now, and Never Were Fighting Ships Manned by Men of Such Skill and Valor as Our Fleet Is Today.” Photograph by Edwin Levick. GGA Image ID # 1835f216db
A Precious Moment Saved: Laundry Work Done Without Waiting. Shore Leave Is Universally Desired Whenever a Ship Arrives in Port, and the Launches Ply Back and Forth, From the Great Gray Bulldogs of the Sea to the Landing Places, Pulling Barges Behind Them Loaded to the Gunwales With Bluejackets on Furlough. Photograph © Underwood Underwood. GGA Image ID # 1835f74819
An American Battleship Using a Smoke Screen in the War Zone. in Previous Wars a Battleship’s Smoke Has Always Been Considered a Necessary Evil, Betraying the Vessel’s Approach to the Enemy; Nowadays the Tell-Tale Smoke Is Employed as a Veil to Conceal Secret Maneuvers. Photograph © Underwood & Underwood. GGA Image ID # 1836398039
A Crew in a Ship's Reading Room. Here Is No Sight in the American Navy That Is More Gratifying Than to Go Through the Quarters of the Men and Watch Them Studying. For Many Years They Had Been Taking Correspondence Courses With Remarkable Success, but When Secretary Daniels Came Into Office He Broadened This Work and Has Made It Possible for an Enlisted Man to Win an Appointment to the Naval Academy, Thus Once More Opening the Honored Road That Leads From the Forecastle to the Quarterdeck. Photograph From U. S. Navy Department. GGA Image ID # 1836703e5a
Battleship Posing For Her Picture. With Her Crew Dressed in Summer White and Standing at Attention, Her Nose Kicking up Just the Right Amount of Gleaming Spray, Her Ensign Flying Outstretched, and the Smoke From Her Funnels of Just the Proper Density, This American Battleship Is Showing Herself to the Best Advantage for the Photographer. Photograph © O. W. Waterman. GGA Image ID # 1836727096
Men on the USS North Dakota Turned in on Billets in Casemates. When Gun Drills Are. Over, Mess Gear Is Put Away, Darkness Overmasters the Sea, and Taps Are Sounded, Our Sailor Boy Climbs Into His Hammock and Is Rocked in This Literal Cradle of the Deep. and Does He Sleep? Well, Jack Is a Busy Chap All Day Long, and Who Knows So Well the Sweetness of Slumber as He Who Has a Rested Mind and a Tired Body? Photograph From U. S. Navy Department. GGA Image ID # 1836ca3502
Sick Bay on the USS Florida. “Not in the Most Crowded Portions of Our Most Congested Cities Will There Be Found So Many Souls Living, Breathing, and Having Their Being in a Given Space as on a Large Naval Vessel, With Its Crew of More Than One Thousand. Yet on Battleships the Health and Comfort of the Crews Are at a Maximum.” GGA Image ID # 1837314d5f
Going to School for Uncle Sam. Under the Present Policy the Boys Who Volunteer Their Lives in the Defense of Their Country Are Valued as Units in the Great War Machine, as Well as Collectively. Each Sailor Counts for Something. He Is a Twice-Prized Citizen, for He Is Sturdy in His Manhood and Patriotic in His Heart. When He Leaves the Navy He Goes Hack to Private Life With the Pride of One Who Counts His Country Above Himself. Photograph From U. S. Navy Department. GGA Image ID # 1837602ed9
Active Service in European Waters: Machine-Gun Ready for Business. On 4 May 1917, 28 Days After the Declaration of War, American Destroyers Arrived at a British Port to Assist in Patrolling European Waters. the United States Navy Was Prepared for Whatever Might Come. Photograph © Underwood & Underwood. GGA Image ID # 183798ae2f
The Ablest Educators of the Country Are Now Engaged in Devising the Quickest and Easiest Methods of Teaching the Immigrant the Language of the Country of His Adoption. “The Native Americans Are Primarily Responsible for Whatever Indifference Has Been Shown by This Nation in the Education and Enlightenment of Those Whom We Have Invited to These Shores.” Photograph From U. S. Bureau of Education. GGA Image ID # 1837c16835
Teaching English, Sanitation, and Hygiene to a Class of New Americans and Future American Citizens. Five and a Half Million Persons More Than Ten Years of Age in the United States Are Unable to Read or Write in Any Language. There Were 1,650,000 Foreign-Born Illiterates in 1910. Five Years Later That Number Had Increased to 2,461,000. Photograph From U. S. Bureau of Education. GGA Image ID # 1837e9a98d
Forty-Four Nationalities Merged Into One Through Education. Here Is a Class of Happy Americans. Nine Months Before, They Knew No Common Language and Could Not Appreciate or Profit by the Opportunities Offered Them in Free America. Today They Can Speak the Common Language of the Country and Are, Therefore, Equipped With One of the First Essentials of Good Citizenship. Photograph From U. S. Bureau of Education. GGA Image ID # 1837f08de7
Pupils "Punch the Clock" at This Efficient American School for Foreign-Born Laborers and Mechanics. Each Pupil Has a Card, and His School Attendance Record Is Kept With the Same Accuracy That His “Time” Is Kept in the Factory. This System of Recording the Hours Spent by Each Man in the Classroom Is Said to Have Increased the Efficiency of the Educational Institution 100 Percent. Photograph From U. S. Bureau of Education. GGA Image ID # 183828419b
A Convalescent Ward in the United States Military Hospital No. I. Many of the Knitted and Crocheted Comforts Which Will Be Used in the National Geographic Society Wards of This Hospital Are the Handiwork of the 250 Young Ladies Employed at the Headquarters of the Society in Washington. GGA Image ID # 183847b641
Serving Dinner From a Perambulating Steamtable in a Ward of the United States Military Hospital No. I, at Neuilly, Paris. In the Splendidly Equipped Building at Neuilly, One of the Suburbs of Paris, the Wounded Are Given Every Care Which Modern Science Can Provide and Every Comfort Which Money Can Buy. It Is a Model Base Hospital. GGA Image ID # 183863ee24
"Temperature Lower This Morning, Nurse?” The Splendid Courage Which Sustains the Soldier of the Allies in the Field Is Ever Manifest in the Hospital, and, Though the Bed Be One of Pain, a Smile Greets the Nurse Upon Her Hourly Round. This Is a Scene in One of the Military Hospitals in Paris Administered by the American Red Cross. GGA Image ID # 1838adb3fd
Once the Den of Smugglers, Now a Refuge for Innocents From the Air Raids of the Ruthless. This Subterranean Retreat Shelters 70 Children From the Dynamite Death Rained From the Sky Whenever the Boche Flies Over the British Isles. GGA Image ID # 1838e952fd
National Surgical Dressings Department at Rome: Showing a Stock of Surgical Dressings. Each Morning the Masses of Whiteness Mount Ceiling High, Only to Melt Away Like Snow by Nightfall. GGA Image ID # 1838ec0a5d
Dining Room of the Red Cross Canteen at the Gare de L'Est, Paris. the Stars and Stripes and the Tricolor, Which Decorate the Walls of This Boon to Tired Troops, Are Indicative of the Fact That All the Canteens in Paris, as Well as Those at the Front and at Junction Points Along the Lines of Communication, Are Conducted Under the Joint Direction of the American Red Cross and the French Government or the French Red Cross. GGA Image ID # 183914fae1
Recreation Room of One of the American Red Cross Metropolitan Canteens for French Soldiers. Cooperating With the French Army, One of the First Activities of the American Red Cross in France Was the Organization of Canteens, Rest Stations, and Steeping Quarters for Men on Their Way to and From the Fighting Front. GGA Image ID # 183978a81c
A Cup to Cheer the Wounded Soldier on His Road to Recovery. In the Refreshment Hall of an Evacuation Hospital Scenes Such as These Are Almost Hourly Occurrences, as Men Who Are Not Seriously Wounded Are Dismissed. the Evacuation Hospital Is the Institution Through Which the Men Customarily Pass on Their Way to the Base Hospital. GGA Image ID # 1839f02148
Serving a Hot Meal to Weary Soldiers in the Gare de L'Est Canteen, Paris. There Are Three Types of Canteens Operated or Subsidized by the American Red Cross in France. The First Is Known as the Rolling Canteen, Just Behind the Front Line, Where Hot Drinks, Bouillon, Lemonade, and Mint Are Served to the Men Who Are Fighting or Working Close to the Firing Lines. The Second Class Is Known as the Line of Communication Canteen. In Four Canteens of This Class 88 American Women Serve 20,000 Soldiers Daily. The Third Class of Canteen Is Known as the Metropolitan, Established in the Principal Railway Stations of Paris. GGA Image ID # 183a728b68
Winning the Hearts of Soldiers by Service. Before the Establishment of Canteens It Frequently Happened That Soldiers Waiting for Trains at Junction Points Would Spend From 24 to 48 Hours Without Any Comforts, Sleeping on the Ground and Getting Practically No Food. Now, Thanks to the Cooperation of the American Red Cross With the French Army, the Men From the Front Are Given Wholesome Meals Below Cost (15 Cents per Meal) and Are Provided With Places to Bathe and Sleep. GGA Image ID # 183a79c7be
A Red Cross Supper for War-Zone Refugees in the Cellar of One of the Great Railway Stations of Paris. While Organized Primarily to Minister to the Needs of French Soldiers on Their Way Back to the Trenches or Upon Arriving From the Front, the American Red Cross Not Infrequently Acts the Role of Host to a Gathering Such as This in the Care Montparnasse. GGA Image ID # 183a930dae
Volunteer Workers in the Kitchen of One of the Twelve Canteens Controlled or Subsidized by the American Red Cross in Paris. In the Metropolitan Canteens Alone Nearly 3,000,000 Soldiers Have Been Fed During the Last Four Months. Up to the Present Time, the Number of American Soldiers Entertained at the Paris Canteens Has Been Comparatively Small, but It Is Constantly Increasing. GGA Image ID # 183ab0b663
Under Three Flags in Italy. The Stars and Stripes and the Banner of the American Red Cross Hang Side by Side With Italy’s Ensign, Which Displays the Cross of the House of Savoy, in the Warehouse at Rome Where Red Cross Supplies Are Stored. GGA Image ID # 183b2b1929