The Sperry Service Organization is one which serves in all parts of the
world. A corps of Service Engineers, having special training at the
factory in all departments relating to the Gyro-Compass, are available
in nearly every large port of the world. These engineers are ready to
come aboard your ship, to clean, adjust and overhaul the Gyro-Compass,
thus relieving the navigator of all care other than the actual use of
the Gyro-Compass.
[Illustration: Master Compasses on Testing Machine which simulates the
Roll, Pitch and Yaw of Ship at Sea.]
During the war we had Service Engineers in every port where the ships
of the Navy were likely to call. Our men have been in many of the
naval actions and have been able to render very considerable service
on many unusual occasions. For example, it was desired to place an
equipment on a British ship which was on her way to the Dardanelles.
The Admiralty instructed us by telegram to have an equipment and a
Service Engineer meet the ship at the British Naval Station at Malta in
the Mediterranean. By sending the equipment with our Service Engineer
via a passenger train to the south of Italy and via destroyer to Malta
we were able to meet the ship there on the day she arrived. The ship
was able to stay only twenty-four hours, and as it took about four days
to install the equipment, our engineer remained on board and finished
the work while the ship was enroute from Malta to the Dardanelles.
[Illustration: The Whale-back, steadiest of all in rough weather.]
This ship, the _Inflexible_, arrived at the Dardanelles just in time
to join in the first naval action directed against the land batteries.
During the first part of the engagement our engineer remained with the
Master Compass which was installed near the dynamo room. When he saw
that it was functioning properly he left it to go on deck and view the
action, the effects of which he had become aware of, as a number of
shells from the land batteries had hit the ship. Almost immediately
after he arrived on deck a torpedo struck the ship directly under the
compartment where the Gyro-Compass was located, killing every man in
that compartment. Although badly damaged the ship was able to get
out of range of the land batteries and reach the naval base near the
Dardanelles.
The Gyro-Compass was, of course, almost totally destroyed. Shortly
after the action ended our engineer was enabled to get ashore on a
Greek island via one of the British destroyers. This island had a
telegraph station which he used to cable us that “Equipment No. 286 is
under four feet of water,” and that we should have another equipment
ready to replace it. We took this telegram to the Admiralty who
authorized us to have another equipment prepared to meet this ship
at Gibraltar. This we did, again sending a Service Engineer who met
the ship at Gibraltar, on her way back to England to be repaired and
refitted.
The Sperry Service Organization stands ready to help all ships equipped
with a Gyro-Compass at all times, even in emergencies such as those
experienced by naval vessels.