On August 13, 1917, the first Navy electrician reported for duty and a few days later more reported. As soon as enough electricians reported, the civilian electricians were relieved from dynamo watch. Next the entire communication, lighting and power details were taken over by the Navy electricians, both regular and reserve.
When these details were arranged the Navy Yard electricians were relieved from the maintenance of the plant and attended to new installation and repair work only. It was at this point where actual headway was made in preparing the plant for sea, for under the former arrangement the Navy Yard electricians could not devote their entire time to repair work and new installation without being called off their job every little while.
The co-operation between the civilian and enlisted electricians was splendid and too much credit cannot be given to these two classes of men. It was fine to see the spirit that prevailed, for both were anxious to get the ship ready for sea. To say that this called for good hard work, hour after hour and day after day, is putting it mildly.
To describe in detail just how all this was accomplished would fill a book in itself, but it may be grouped under the following heading and then each group described in general terms.
Lighting, Ventilation and Interior Communication
The first problem was light. To solve this so as to be able to have battleship control, it was necessary to locate every light on its proper circuit. There are about fifteen thousand lights, controlled from eighty-one lighting or power stations and each station containing from eighty, the highest, to ten the lowest, local branch circuits, which in turn are supplied from seventy-six main circuit switches and these again from eight main switchboard feeder switches. When this lighting is distributed over fourteen decks, of which the main deck, at sea level, has an area of seventy-six thousand square feet, one may grasp the magnitude of the problem attempted by these men. This had to be completed without any wiring plans and without interfering with the ship’s repair work of other departments.
To crown it all, along came the wreckers. That is, the construction gang who stripped four decks of all room paneling. If it had not been for the alertness and co-operation of the electrical force, both civilian and enlisted, serious fires would have surely resulted. As it was, not a fire alarm was turned in during the entire reconstruction period, due to nothing else except the alertness of these loyal men.
Tracing the Lighting Circuit
During the day the electricians would search out lighting stations, turn off lighting switches, test out circuits and do all minor repair work. At night after the main working force had knocked off, the electricians would muster in primary station number two, main lighting distribution station. Then a main distribution switch of either general lighting, police gangway, or police cabin lighting would be cut off. Emergency lighting was never cut out. The men would then leave in squads and make note of what lighting was cut out and what remained in; and in that manner the lighting control was traced down to such a degree of safety that at dusk all lights that might be visible to the enemy and at the same time provide sufficient lighting for reasonable comfort for the crew and troops could be controlled from one central lighting station and cut out in less than a minute’s time.