NAVAL SECRETS.

Cromwell Argus, Volume L, Issue 2645, 20 October 1919, Page 7

NAVAL SECRETS.

There are some things that money cannot bny, among them the secrets of our silent Navy. There axist confidential volumes on wireless signalcodes, books,on gunnery and torpedo matters, all of which are kept as secretly under lock and key on board ship .as are treasures in the Bank of England.

The safeguarding of the Navy’s secret library on a battleship is a special little ceremony in itself. Every afficer who keeps watch has to satisfy himself when going on duty and being relieved that the books are in their respective chests. Special keys relating to these chests arc retained by the commanding officer and his second-in-command. The keys are tested • frequently by the naval stores officer in dockyard to see that they are correct, and have not been tampered with. Sometimes it is necessary to destroy a reference book. Two officers then burn the book until it is reduced to ashes. Before destroying it, the number and title must be accurately recorded and its fate entered in the ship’s register.