Volume IV, Number 44 Long Beach, California

1.775 United States Marine Corps13 November 1937

1937The Navy GoatN OW that the football season haswell begun, the avy goat, venerableand traditional mascot of midshipmanfootball team , will be seen in action,parading the side lines robed in blan-ket of blue and gold. The annual WestPoint - Naval Academy classic couldscarcely be played in the absence ofthe goat. To be sure, his presence can-not insure a Navy victory but, on theother hand, how could a win be evenhoped for if he weren't there to bringgood luck? The first Navy goat to ap-pear at a West Point - Navy gamecame from a farm adjoining the play-ing field at West Point in 1890. He gotthere on account of a hunch of Lt.(jg) Charles H. Harlow and EnsignF. B. Sullivan. Both of the e officers,seeing so few Navy rooters en routeto the game, decided that somethinghad to be done. In this frame of mindthey saw a plain old goat in a near-by field. They paid the owner a mallprice, and on they went to the game.The Navy won to the tune of 24 to O.Some have said that the price of thegoat was one dollar. Anyway, the gamehaving been won, some of the creditwas given to the goat mascot. Everince then Navy goat has always triedto bring good luck to Navy footballteams in the annual classic.

A Houston philosopher says thatthe mo t jealous husband in the worldis the fellow who made his wife drinkblack coffee at bedtime, so she would-n't meet the man of her dreams.

One Hundred And Sixty-twoYears Of Faithful Service

THERE have been marines on ves-sels of every navy in the world sincethe first galleys of war were built bySolomon. The early Phoenicians andEgyptians carried in addition to theircrew of navigators and galley slavesa small body of soldiery used solelyfor fighting. These sea-going soldierswere a picked lot, outstanding in theirloyalty, courage and fierceness in bat-tle when engaged in sea hostilities.But after the fall of Rome, the barbar-ians produced a novelty in naval war-fare in the shape of dragon ships,manned by crews of blue-eyed Vikingswho were, in the truest sense, soldiersand sailors too. It was from the esoldier-sailors that the idea of mar-ines was conceived, and down throughthe ages marines have retained theircharacteristics as fighting men-mus-keteers, sharpshooters and well disci-plined forces furnishing spear headsfor boarding and landing forces.

As the first great modern maritimepower, Great Britain organized thefirst modern Marine Corps in 1664,and in 1740, two regiments of mar-ines were recruited from the Ameri-can colonies for service with the Bri-tish Navy.On November 10, 1775, the Contin-

ental Congress authorized organiza-tion of two battalions of marineswhich were the first United StatesMarines. From these our Marine Corpsof today is descended.

(Continued on Page 4.)

The Navy "Gunboat""THEN, in 1861, an engineer by thename of aptain Eads contracted toconstruct seven river gunboats in six-ty-five days for the Government, hecould hardly have imagined that sev-enty-six years later naval construct-ors would be taking almost two yearsto build such a "simple" thing as agunboat. What's more, he would havescoffed at the idea that a gunboatcould ever be looked upon as a "small,but formidable cruiser."In spite of Captain Ead's possible

disbelief, the United States Navy hastoday in the U.S.S. ERIE and hersister ship, the U.S.S. CHARLES-TON, gunboats which are not only"small but formidable cruisers," butare eminently capable of performingconvoy, patrol, scouting, or independ-ent duty. These ships are of an en-tirely new gunboat class, specially de-signed for the Special Service Squad-ron.After the beginning of the war be-

tween the States, it was soon discov-ered by the North that for a decisivecampaign, control of the Southernwaterways would be necessary. Thealarming number of river boats beingconverted into warships by the Con-federates spurred the Union to con-struct its own river fleet and accord-ingly men like Captain Eads were giv-en special rush orders.Modern gunboat service extends

from the rivers of China with theirprofer,sional and amateur pirates tothe waters of our southern neighbors

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Page 4 THE BLUE BO ET U.S.S. Houston-1l-13-37-900.

(From Page 1.)

with their professional and amateurrevolutionists. Although the presentadministration disfavors interferencein South American and Caribbean dis-turbances and maintains a "goodneighbor" policy, the Navy has inother times, especially immediatelybefore the World War, played a po-liceman's part.Revolution squelching was once a

favorite Navy pastime. For manyyears, revolutions have been the na-tional sport of small countries of tem-peramental disposition and have beenexciting substitutes for such gamesas football and baseball. Naturally,when our gunboats would offer tostop the fun, their services were notalways appreciated. Our gunboat men,after a time, became used to beingdisliked by both sides in a friendlyrevolution but certain other practicescontinued to irk them. Foremost a-mong these was the practice of thetroubled. government buying off rev-olutionary leaders when they becametoo strong to crush. The United Statesforces didn't mind sending landingparties ashore to chase some outlaw,but when this outlaw would steampast several days later as the newminister of war or some such thing,why that was going a little too far.According to the account of an of-

ficer who served when the revolutionbusiness was booming, the gunboatlife was never a dull one. A gunboatmight stop to take gold to a safeplace from a bank about to be raidedby the government. An ex-presidentmight occasionally be found who hadjust escaped from somewhere andwould like to go somewhere else. Acustom collector had just unearthed anelaborate system of coffee smugglingand needs moral support. Revolution-ists surrender and give up their armsprovided they get something for them.They keep the good ones and the gun-boats collect the bad ones and the waris finished. Or perhaps the horse mar-ines farther down are short of hay oroats, so the good ship loads up likea farm wagon and goes down the line.Gunboat activities in the Far East

are confined chiefly to the YangtzeRiver and are far from being a thingof the past. At present they can beconsidered in a specially active duty

Houston Officer Weds

ooo

Gus's Weekly Letter(From Page 2.)

....

Love,

Some people cantell time accu-rately with neith-er a watch northe sun. Scien-tists in PrincetonUniversity got tothinking about this, studied humanbrain waves, and recently reportedthat we all have electric clocks in ourheads, but most of them make poortimepieces because they run too fast.These brain clocks tick from 10 to 40times a second. At each tick an elec-trical wave spreads out from the cere-bral spheres. This goes on whetheryou're awake or asleep. Some day,perhaps, we may all be walking alarmclocks.

Scientists in Pittsburgh, Pa., will soontry again to unlock the tremendousenergy in the atom. A gigantic atom-smashing gun, containing a forty fo:>tvacuum tube, is nearing completionthere, Through this tube physicistswill hurl tiny sub-atomic particles atspeeds up to one hundred million milesan hour. Propelled by five million voltsof electrical energy, these high-speed"bullets" will bombard various metals,gases, and liquids. The experimentersfigure something ought to give way.

Gus.

But something happened to tha arith-metic somewhere because it wasn'tlong until there was nothin' left buta lone fat battle scarred cat. It shoulda taught him a lesson, but he turnedhis attentions right away to makin'pancakes outa popcorn flour so theywould turn over of their own accord.I guess some folk never learn.Us hearties 0' tha sea don't worry

our elves about such things as UncleSammy has allus got enough work forus to do and such notions can't findenough room to creep into our alreadycrowded noggins.

ooo

.....While witnessing a game of base-

ball, a boy was struck on the head,the bawl coming out of the mouth.

Gob: "Ginger ale."Waiter: "Pale?"Gob: "No, just a glass."

Educational Classes AtLong Beach Navy Y.M.C.A.Classes in mathematics, blue print

reading, radio theory and code are gi-ven at the Long Beach "Y" each week-end. These classes are held at 7:00p.m. on Fridays, and 5:00 p.m. on Sat-urdays so that ony navy man interest-ed in anyone of these subjects canattend each week without interrup-tion.These classes are given by the Adult

Educational Department of the LongBeach Public School System and arefree to all who wish to attend. It isnever too late to sign up. Credit isgiven towards high school graduationto all those who wish it.This is an age of life-long learning.

Education is power. All that is requir-ed of one is the effort and ambition toget it.

.... .,

Lt. (jg) E. A. McDonald, "A" Divi-sion Officer, was united in marriageon Thursday 11 November, at Yuma,Arizona, to Miss Marie Rita Metzenof Buffalo, ew York. After the cere-mony a brief motor trip was madethrough northern Mexico and south-ern California.

status while standing by in the Shang-hai ai'ea.The taking of the ERIE and the

CHARLESTON into the naval servicegives the United States an unrivaledgunboat force. Although our gunboatsin their present connections are es-sentially peacetime warships, nothingprevents the use of the latest two andalso the slightly smaller TULSA andASHVILLE as important peacetimeunits. Our Yangtze patrol boats, withthe LUZO as flagship, being riverboats, are more rigidly limited in use.Certainly, the gunboat is again be-coming an important cog in the navalservice and without doubt the gun-boat service affords sure action to allapplicants. -Log.

avy GunboatThe