MOTHER-BOATS FOR AIRPLANES
Armed with such powerful guns as these, the "hush ships" would have been very formidable indeed; but when the guns were mounted on one of the cruisers, the Furious, they were found too powerful for the vessel. It was evident that the monsters would very seriously rack their own ship. So the guns were taken off the cruiser and it was turned into a mother-ship for airplanes. A broad, unobstructed deck was built on the ship which provided a runway from which airplanes could be launched, and this runway was actually broad enough to permit airplanes to land upon it. Under the runway were the hangars in which the airplanes were housed. Other "hush ships" were also converted into airplane mother-boats and there were special boats built for this very purpose, although they were not able to make the speed of the "hush ships." One of these special boats had funnels that turned horizontally to carry off the furnace smoke over the stern and leave a perfectly clear flying-deck, 330 feet long.