Potomac from Washington), whose "antennae," uplifted on tall steel
towers, receive instantaneous war news from half the world.

Thus if (just for illustration) a blimp spies a hostile submarine, the
news is instantly transmitted to the Navy Department. The department
orders its "chasers" and warplanes nearest to the scene to go after the
undersea boat. Within a few minutes the pursuit has started, and the
U-boat finds itself in much the same situation as a fox hunted by
hounds. In this case, however, the hounds are in the air, as well as
"quartering" the aqueous terrain.

The United States' blimps are modeled on European patterns. But they are
to have special improvements of their own. To make sure of their
efficiency and structural correctness, each contractor, in offering bids
to furnish them, was required to exhibit a model, exactly like the
sausage balloons he proposed to make, but of toy size--one-thirtieth the
length of the full-sized, completely equipped aerial sea scout.

CHAPTER IX.

THE EYES OF BATTLE.

AEROPLANES AND AIRSHIPS--THEY SPY THE MOVEMENTS OF FORCES ON LAND OR
SEA--LEAD DISASTROUS BOMB ATTACKS--VALUABLE IN "SPOTTING"
SUBMARINES--THE BOMBARDMENT AT MESSINES RIDGE.

Just as the submarine has revolutionized warfare on the seas and
presented new problems for the naval experts to solve, so the aircraft
of the last decade has had its effect upon the operation of land forces.
Probably the aeroplane and the dirigible balloon have had a greater
influence on the conduct of battles and military campaigns as a whole
than any other device utilized in connection with the war.

It is significant, too, that just as America produced the first
submarine, and then failed as a nation to develop it to its highest
state of efficiency for military use, so American inventors were
pioneers in the construction and successful operation of aeroplanes, or
airplanes, which were first developed to their greatest efficiency and
utility by the French and Germans.

Some of the most striking events of the war centre around the use of the
airplanes or dirigibles, and aside from the picturesqueness and
thrilling atmosphere that seem to surround their use, the operator of
the aircraft has proved himself one of the most valuable servants in
modern warfare. He has reduced the proudest cavalry to second place in
the matter of reconnoissance, and has rendered services which have
heretofore been impossible.

The airman sa