DIRTIEST SHIPS AFLOAT.

Taihape Daily Times, 10 April 1919, Page 3

DIRTIEST SHIPS AFLOAT.

CLEANING THE BLACK SEA FLEET

The British section of the Allied Fleet, which arrived at Sebastopol on November 26, has had pleaty of work to do. The taking over of 'the Russian Black Sea Fleet, or that portion of it which had been seized by the Germans, has proved to be no light task. It had passed through the hands of both B'olsheviks and Germans, and had been thoroughly neglected by both.

But the job was tackled, and in four or five days the first condition was an unpleasant memory. The neatest and smartest navy afloat set about the task of cleaning up the dirtiest ships ever seen, and officers and men worked like heroes. ■

The b'-ggest task of all was the conversion of the Volya to ra. condition fit for sea and for human habitation. The drinking water contained dead rats and other filth. There was a. large quantity of ammunition on board, considered to be in an unsafe condition, all of which had to be removed.

In the litter that lay in every cabin many '' blue prints" or plans were discovered. These, after being carefully translated from the Russian, gave the due to many things, and every bit of information so discovered was at once applied, and often gave the clue to something else. All the machinery was electrical, and the whole .arrangement of the ship differed from anything wc know in our navy. And yet, at the time of writing, less than a fortnight after the work was really begun, the ship is almost ready for sea. Our navy found a huge, helpless, unclean baby, and have mothered it into health and strength again.