Get Interactions Between Computational Intelligence and Mathematics Part 2 László T. Kóczy Free All Chapters

Download as pdf or txt
Download as pdf or txt
You are on page 1of 49

Full download textbook at textbookfull.

com

Interactions Between Computational Intelligence


and Mathematics Part 2 László T. Kóczy

https://textbookfull.com/product/interactions-between-
computational-intelligence-and-mathematics-part-2-laszlo-t-
koczy/

OR CLICK BUTTON

DOWLOAD EBOOK

Download more textbookfull from https://textbookfull.com


More products digital (pdf, epub, mobi) instant
download maybe you interests ...

Trends in Mathematics and Computational Intelligence


María Eugenia Cornejo

https://textbookfull.com/product/trends-in-mathematics-and-
computational-intelligence-maria-eugenia-cornejo/

Forging Connections between Computational Mathematics


and Computational Geometry Papers from the 3rd
International Conference on Computational Mathematics
and Computational Geometry 1st Edition Ke Chen
https://textbookfull.com/product/forging-connections-between-
computational-mathematics-and-computational-geometry-papers-from-
the-3rd-international-conference-on-computational-mathematics-
and-computational-geometry-1st-edition-ke-che/

Artificial Intelligence Foundations of Computational


Agents David L. Poole

https://textbookfull.com/product/artificial-intelligence-
foundations-of-computational-agents-david-l-poole/

Computational Intelligence Theories Applications and


Future Directions Volume I Nishchal K. Verma

https://textbookfull.com/product/computational-intelligence-
theories-applications-and-future-directions-volume-i-nishchal-k-
verma/
Computational Intelligence Theories Applications and
Future Directions Volume II ICCI 2017 Nishchal K. Verma

https://textbookfull.com/product/computational-intelligence-
theories-applications-and-future-directions-volume-ii-
icci-2017-nishchal-k-verma/

Lake Biwa Interactions between Nature and People 2nd


Edition Hiroya Kawanabe

https://textbookfull.com/product/lake-biwa-interactions-between-
nature-and-people-2nd-edition-hiroya-kawanabe/

Computational Intelligence and Sustainable Systems


Intelligence and Sustainable Computing H. Anandakumar

https://textbookfull.com/product/computational-intelligence-and-
sustainable-systems-intelligence-and-sustainable-computing-h-
anandakumar/

Recent Studies on Computational Intelligence Doctoral


Symposium on Computational Intelligence DoSCI 2020
Ashish Khanna

https://textbookfull.com/product/recent-studies-on-computational-
intelligence-doctoral-symposium-on-computational-intelligence-
dosci-2020-ashish-khanna/

Computational Intelligence and Its Applications


Abdelmalek Amine

https://textbookfull.com/product/computational-intelligence-and-
its-applications-abdelmalek-amine/
Studies in Computational Intelligence 794

László T. Kóczy
Jesús Medina-Moreno
Eloísa Ramírez-Poussa Editors

Interactions Between
Computational
Intelligence and
Mathematics Part 2
Studies in Computational Intelligence

Volume 794

Series editor
Janusz Kacprzyk, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
e-mail: [email protected]
The series “Studies in Computational Intelligence” (SCI) publishes new develop-
ments and advances in the various areas of computational intelligence—quickly and
with a high quality. The intent is to cover the theory, applications, and design
methods of computational intelligence, as embedded in the fields of engineering,
computer science, physics and life sciences, as well as the methodologies behind
them. The series contains monographs, lecture notes and edited volumes in
computational intelligence spanning the areas of neural networks, connectionist
systems, genetic algorithms, evolutionary computation, artificial intelligence,
cellular automata, self-organizing systems, soft computing, fuzzy systems, and
hybrid intelligent systems. Of particular value to both the contributors and the
readership are the short publication timeframe and the world-wide distribution,
which enable both wide and rapid dissemination of research output.

More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/7092


László T. Kóczy Jesús Medina-Moreno

Eloísa Ramírez-Poussa
Editors

Interactions Between
Computational Intelligence
and Mathematics Part 2

123
Editors
László T. Kóczy Jesús Medina-Moreno
Department of Information Technology Department of Mathematics,
Széchenyi István University Faculty of Science
Győr, Hungary University of Cádiz
Cádiz, Spain
and
Eloísa Ramírez-Poussa
Budapest University of Technology Department of Mathematics,
and Economics Faculty of Economic and
Budapest, Hungary Business Sciences
University of Cádiz
Cádiz, Spain

ISSN 1860-949X ISSN 1860-9503 (electronic)


Studies in Computational Intelligence
ISBN 978-3-030-01631-9 ISBN 978-3-030-01632-6 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01632-6

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018930367

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019


This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part
of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations,
recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission
or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar
methodology now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from
the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this
book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the
authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or
for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to
jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
Preface

The latest technological advances in handling very complex problems make nec-
essary the combination of mathematical techniques with computational intelligence
tools in order to solve these various problems emerging in many different areas.
Indeed, important funding programs are devoted to the development of new
instruments to deal with the challenges that we face in the current technological age.
Without doubt, research topics associated with the interaction between computa-
tional intelligence and mathematics play a key role at presence. In this special issue,
engineers, scientists, and mathematicians provide appealing contributions focused
on the solution of meaningful and realistic problems, which connect those two
research areas. This contributed volume presents a series of novel solutions for such
problems.
Chapter “On the Incorporation of Interval-Valued Fuzzy Sets into the Bousi-
Prolog System: Declarative Semantics, Implementation and Applications” by
Clemente Rubio-Manzano and Martín Pereira-Fariña is focused on the design and
the implementation of an interval-valued fuzzy (IVF) logic language and its
incorporation into the Bousi-Prolog system. First of all, a detailed study on the
syntax and the semantics corresponding to the IVF logic language is presented. The
formalization of the notion of least IVF Herbrand model for IVF programs plays a
key role in this research. From the implementation point of view, the main chal-
lenge is now to add an IVFSs’ arithmetic to the Warren Abstract Machine based on
similarity. By means of potential applications, the authors show that the IVF logic
programming language thus developed is very useful in modeling the uncertainty
and imprecision of the knowledge related to lexical resources.
Chapter “The Existence of Generalized Inverses of Fuzzy Matrices” by
Miroslav Ćirić and Jelena Ignjatović provides a novel approach for testing the
existence of different generalized inverses of fuzzy matrices whose entries belong to
a complete residuated lattice. An iterative method to compute these greatest gen-
eralized inverses is also proposed. In particular, this iteration ends in a finite number
of steps when the considered fuzzy matrices have their entries in a Heyting algebra.
Moreover, the problem of representing generalized inverses as a solution for linear
equation systems is discussed.

v
vi Preface

Chapter “Gender Detection of Twitter Users Based on Multiple Information


Sources” by Marco Vicente, Fernando Batista, and Joao P. Carvalho presents a
mechanism based on the combination of four different classifiers for the gender
detection of Twitter users. Each of these classifiers has been trained, under a
supervised approach, in order to analyze the most influential features in the gender
detection problem: user name, screen name, user description, content of the tweets,
and the profile picture. A final classifier, combining the results obtained from the
previous classifiers, gives a prediction about the user gender. The experiments
carried out in this paper have considered two different datasets in regard to the
nationality. According to the high percentage of accuracy, the authors conclude that
the proposed mechanism for gender detection works efficiently.
Chapter “On the n-ary Generalization of Dual Bonds” by Ondrej Krídlo and
Manuel Ojeda-Aciego deals with the problem of obtaining logical consequences
from the underlying information given as a set of tables. Specifically, this problem
is transferred to the extraction of logical consequences from a set of formal contexts.
The bonds and the Chu correspondences are two important constructions that allow
relating two formal contexts. In this contribution, the authors introduce the notion
of n-ary dual bond as a generalization of the bond between two formal contexts to
the case of n formal contexts. Furthermore, some properties of these new type
bonds are presented, together with a process for generating n-ary bonds.
Chapter “Brouwer’s Ideas and Intuitionistic Fuzziness” by Krassimir Atanassov
presents an interesting discussion about Luitzen Egbertus Jan Brouwer’s ideas, one
of the most relevant mathematicians of the twentieth century, from the intuitionistic
fuzzy point of view. Intuitionistic fuzzy sets are one of the most interesting
extensions of fuzzy sets given by Atanassov in 1983. In this study, the author shows
that intuitionistic fuzziness corresponds to Brouwer’s idea that the law of excluded
middle is not valid. In addition, the paper presents the application of Brouwer’s
fixed-point theorem for the intuitionistic fuzzy quantifiers and operators from modal
and level types.
Chapter “Nature Inspired Clustering – Use Cases of Krill Herd Algorithm and
Flower Pollination Algorithm” by Piotr A. Kowalski, Szymon Łukasik,
Małgorzata Charytanowicz, and Piotr Kulczycki studies the resolution of the data
clustering problem applying two different metaheuristic techniques such as the Krill
Herd Algorithm (KHA) and the Flower Pollination Algorithm (FPA). The inves-
tigation is formalized by means of an optimization task with a set of cluster centers
representing a single solution. Considering datasets extracted from the UCI
Machine Learning Repository, computational experiments are carried out in order
to analyze the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms. Finally, the authors eval-
uate and compare the quality of the obtained results by using the Rand index value.
As the result of this wide investigation, they conclude that both KHA and FPA can
be considered suitable tools to carry out clustering.
Chapter “On the Lower Limit for Possibilistic Correlation Coefficient with
Identical Marginal Possibility Distributions” by István Á. Harmati and
Robert Fullér studies the possibilistic correlation coefficient within possibility the-
ory. The authors have considered the works given by Fullér et al. in which two
Preface vii

questions, about a new measure on interactivity between fuzzy numbers, called the
“weighted possibilistic correlation coefficient,” were left unanswered. This paper
proves that when the marginal possibility distributions have equal, strictly
increasing or strictly decreasing membership functions, the lower limit of the
possibilistic correlation coefficient is −1. In addition, they also present an extension
of these results to the general case for fuzzy and quasi-fuzzy numbers. It is
important to highlight that the results presented in this work can be very useful in
time-series models and fuzzy statistics.
Chapter “A Generalized Net Model for the Coordination and Synchronization of
Human and Computer-Based Expert Type Decision Support Activities” by
Evdokia Sotirova, Janusz Kacprzyk, Krassimir Atanassov, and Eulalia Szmidt is
framed in the area of decision making. In this work, the authors introduce a new
approach for modeling and supporting a special class of multi-agent decision
making. The generalized net model of a decision-making process involves the
human agents (experts), some decision-making tools, and techniques exemplified
by algorithms, procedures, decision support systems, and expert systems.
Therefore, they prove that the use of the tools and techniques of the generalized nets
can organize, coordinate, and synchronize both the work of experts and
decision-making tools in order to obtain results in the most adequate, effective, and
efficient way.
Chapter “Wavelet Analysis and Structural Entropy Based Intelligent
Classification Method for Combustion Engine Cylinder Surfaces” by
Szilvia Nagy and Levente Solecki develops an intelligent fuzzy classification
method, based on structural entropy and wavelet analysis, for characterizing
combustion engine cylinder surfaces. From scanned images of the surfaces, the
proposed method is capable of identifying whether a surface is either worn or new
and if such surface can be helpful to establish the grade of wear. Specifically,
structural entropies are used to determine the general slope of the shape of the
surface. Concerning the wavelet analysis, this technique is employed to separate the
scale behavior patterns of the surfaces. The authors conclude that the developed
method can distinguish, with a good accuracy, both a worn surface scanned by a
contact stylus and a new surface scanned by an optical scanner on a silicone replica.
We wish to thank the authors for their excellent and inspiring contributions and
anonymous peer reviewers whose insight and suggestions have helped a lot to
improve the contributions. And last but not least, we wish to thank
Dr. Tom Ditzinger, Dr. Leontina di Cecco, and Mr. Holger Schaepe for their
dedication and help to implement and finish this large and ambitious publication
project.

Győr/Budapest, Hungary László T. Kóczy


Cádiz, Spain Jesús Medina-Moreno
Cádiz, Spain Eloísa Ramírez-Poussa
Contents

On the Incorporation of Interval-Valued Fuzzy Sets


into the Bousi-Prolog System: Declarative Semantics,
Implementation and Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Clemente Rubio-Manzano and Martín Pereira-Fariña
The Existence of Generalized Inverses of Fuzzy Matrices . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Miroslav Ćirić and Jelena Ignjatović
Gender Detection of Twitter Users Based on Multiple
Information Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Marco Vicente, Fernando Batista and Joao P. Carvalho
On the n-ary Generalization of Dual Bonds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Ondrej Krídlo and Manuel Ojeda-Aciego
Brouwer’s Ideas and Intuitionistic Fuzziness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Krassimir Atanassov
Nature Inspired Clustering – Use Cases of Krill Herd Algorithm
and Flower Pollination Algorithm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Piotr A. Kowalski, Szymon Łukasik, Małgorzata Charytanowicz
and Piotr Kulczycki
On the Lower Limit for Possibilistic Correlation Coefficient
with Identical Marginal Possibility Distributions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
István Á. Harmati and Robert Fullér

ix
x Contents

A Generalized Net Model for the Coordination and Synchronization


of Human and Computer-Based Expert Type Decision
Support Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Evdokia Sotirova, Janusz Kacprzyk, Krassimir Atanassov
and Eulalia Szmidt
Wavelet Analysis and Structural Entropy Based Intelligent
Classification Method for Combustion Engine Cylinder Surfaces . . . . . . 127
Szilvia Nagy and Levente Solecki
On the Incorporation of Interval-Valued
Fuzzy Sets into the Bousi-Prolog System:
Declarative Semantics, Implementation
and Applications

Clemente Rubio-Manzano and Martín Pereira-Fariña

Abstract In this paper we analyse the benefits of incorporating interval-valued fuzzy


sets into the Bousi-Prolog system. A syntax, declarative semantics and implemen-
tation for this extension is presented and formalised. We show, by using potential
applications, that fuzzy logic programming frameworks enhanced with them can
correctly work together with lexical resources and ontologies in order to improve
their capabilities for knowledge representation and reasoning.

Keywords Interval-valued fuzzy sets · Approximate reasoning · Lexical


knowledge resources · Fuzzy logic programming · Fuzzy prolog

1 Introduction and Motivation

Nowadays, lexical knowledge resources as well as ontologies of concepts are widely


employed for modelling domain independent knowledge [1, 2] or by automated
reasoners [3]. In the case of approximate reasoning, this makes possible to incorpo-
rate general knowledge into any system, which is independent of the programmer’s
background [4].
Inside the former and current frameworks of fuzzy logic programming [5–10], we
argue that lexical reasoning might be an appropriate way for tackling this challenge,
because of this type of knowledge is usually expressed linguistically. However, from

C. Rubio-Manzano (B)
Department of Information Systems, University of the Bío-Bío, Concepción, Chile
e-mail: [email protected]
M. Pereira-Fariña
Centre for Argument Technology, University of Dundee, QMB Balfour Street,
Dundee DD14HN, UK
e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]
M. Pereira-Fariña
Departamento de Filosofía e Antropoloxía, Universidade de Santiago de
Compostela, Praza de Mazarelos, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 1


L. T. Kóczy et al. (eds.), Interactions Between Computational Intelligence
and Mathematics Part 2, Studies in Computational Intelligence 794,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01632-6_1
2 C. Rubio-Manzano and M. Pereira-Fariña

a computational point of view, this source of information involves vagueness and


uncertainty and, consequently, it must be specifically addressed. Fuzzy set theory
(FS) is a good candidate, but it shows some particular limitations to this aim: (i)
sometimes, words mean different things to different people and this generates and
additional layer of uncertainty that cannot be adequately handled by FS; (ii) the
definition of membership functions for word meaning is also a debatable question
and, therefore, achieving an agreement by means of a standard fuzzy set it is difficult;
and, (iii) with respect to semantic similarity measures used in this proposal, there
is not a dominant one and, therefore, for two given words, different degrees of
resemblance can be obtained with the resulting additional level of uncertainty.
In the specific field of fuzzy logic programming and fuzzy Prolog systems, little
attention has been paid to the impact of this type of high degree of uncertainty and
vagueness inherent to lexical knowledge, which is used in the definition of knowledge
bases and inference processes. Next, a very simple example is introduced in order to
illustrate (i) and (ii) in the building of a Prolog knowledge base.
Example 1 Suppose that we extract from Internet two people’s opinions about a
particular football player. The first one says “a is a normal player” and the second
one says “a is a bad player”. If we consider the label for qualifying the highest
quality (e.g., “good”) as a basic component, this lexical knowledge could be mod-
elled by using two annotated facts as: “football_player(a, good):−0.8.” and “foot-
ball_player(a, good):−0.6.”, respectively. In this case, we use “football_player(a,
good):−0.6.” given the infimum is usually employed. However, as it can be observed,
the information of the first person is lost.
Case (iii) deserves a special attention, given it involves the use of independent
linguistic resources (such as WordNet Similarity [11]). As we said, this tool provide
us different measures according to alternative criteria for assessing the degree of
similarity between two words. In Example 2, we illustrate this situation by means of
a simple case.
Example 2 Suppose we have the fact “loves (a, b)” and we extract the closeness
between “loves” and “desires” by using two different semantics measures obtaining
0.8 and 0.6. Therefore, in order to represent this semantic knowledge we could
employ two facts either “desires(a, b):−0.8” or “desires (a, b):−0.6”.
In order to address both Examples 1 and 2 inside the same frame, we propose
to enhance the Bousi-Prolog system with interval-valued fuzzy sets (IVFSs), since
they allow us to capture the uncertainty associated to lexical knowledge better than
FS. Several advantages have pointed out for dealing with environments with high
uncertainty or imprecision using IVFSs, such as [12]; other authors have also shown
that IVFSs can generate better results than standard FSs [13]. Additionally, the use
of intervals for describing uncertain information has been successfully applied in the
realms of decision making, risk analysis, engineering design, or scheduling [14].
Both Examples 1 and 2 can be easily modelled by means of IVFSs, using and
interval for combining information of the different sources into a single fact such as
“football_player(a, good):−[0.6, 0.8]” or “desires(a, b):−[0.6, 0.8]”, respectively.
On the Incorporation of Interval-Valued Fuzzy Sets into the Bousi-Prolog System … 3

The main contribution of this paper is to design and implement an interval-valued


fuzzy logic language, and to incorporate it into the Bousi-Prolog system [15]. This
task involves different challenges both from theoretical and implementation points
of view. The former entails adding a IVFSs arithmetic into the Warren Abstract
Machine based on Similarity (SWAM) [16]; the latter, means to establish a (model-
theoretic) declarative semantics for the language in the classical way, formalising
the notion of least interval valued fuzzy Herbrand model for interval-valued fuzzy
definite programs.
This paper is divided into the following sections: Sect. 2 introduces the concepts
that support our approach; Sect. 3 describes the details of the syntax, semantics and
implementation of the proposed language; Sect. 4 analyses different realms where
this programming language can be applied; in Sect. 5, the main differences between
this proposal an others that are described in the literature are discussed; and, finally,
Sect. 6 summarizes our main conclusions and some ideas for future work.

2 Preliminary Concepts

2.1 Interval-Valued Fuzzy Sets

IVFSs are a fuzzy formalism based on two membership mappings instead of a single
one, like in standard FSs. Each one of these membership functions are called, lower
membership function and upper membership function. Both are established on a
universe of discourse X , and they map each element from X to a real number in the
[0, 1] interval, where the elements of X belongs to A according to an interval.

Definition 1 An interval-valued fuzzy set A in X is a (crisp) set of ordered triples:


A = {(x, μ A (x), μ A (x)) : x ∈ X ; μ A (x), μ A (x) : X → [0, 1]} where: μ, μ are the
lower and the upper membership functions, respectively, satisfying the following
condition: 0 ≤ μ A (x) ≤ μ A (x) ≤ 1 ∀x ∈ X

As can be observed in Definition 1, those intervals are included in [0, 1] and closed
at both ends. On the other hand, some arithmetic operations on interval-numbers have
been recalled since they are useful in operating on cardinalities of IVFSs. Let a =
[a, a], b = [b, b] be intervals in R, and r ∈ R+. The arithmetic operations ’+’, ’−’,
’·’ and power are defined as follows:
     
a, a + b, b = a + b, a + b ; (1)
     
a, a − b, b = a − b, a − b ; (2)
     
a, a · b, b = min(a · b, a · b, a · b, a · b), max(a · b, a · b, a · b, a · b) ;
(3)
  r  r r 
a, a = a , a for non-negative a, a (4)
4 C. Rubio-Manzano and M. Pereira-Fariña

The operations of union and intersection for IVFSs are defined by triangular
norms. Let A, B be IVFSs in X , t a t-norm and s a t-conorm. The union of A and
B is the interval-valued fuzzy set A ∪ B with the membership function: μ A∪B (x) =
[s(μ A (x), μ B (x)), s(μ A (x), μ B (x))]. The intersection of A and B is the IVFSs A∩B
in which μ A∩B (x) = [t (μ A (x), μ B (x)), t (μ A (x), (μ B (x))]. Thus, de Morgan’s laws
for IVFSs A,B in X are: (A ∪ B)c = Ac ∩ B c and (A ∩ B)c = Ac ∪ B c .
Let L be a lattice of intervals in [0, 1] that satisfies:

L = [x1 , x2 ] ∈ [0, 1]2 with x1 ≤ x2 ; (5)


[x1 , x2 ] ≤ L [y1 , y2 ] i f f x1 ≤ y1 and x2 ≤ y2 . (6)

Also by definition

[x1 , x2 ] < L [y1 , y2 ] ⇔ x1 < y1 , x2 ≤ y2 or x1 ≤ y1 , x2 < y2 ; (7)


[x1 , x2 ] = L [y1 , y2 ] ⇔ x1 = y1 , x2 = y2 . (8)

Hence, 0 L = [0, 0] and 1 L = [1, 1] are the smallest and the greatest elements in L.

2.2 Approximate Deductive Reasoning

When we consider a collection of imprecise premises and a possible imprecise con-


clusion inferred from them in a Prolog program, we are applying a process of approx-
imate deductive reasoning. These set of statements can be interpreted under two dif-
ferent frames [17] in a Prolog program: conditional and set-based interpretations. If
the former is assumed, an imprecise premise is an assertion qualified by a degree of
truth; e.g. “John is tall with [0.2, 0.5]” means that the degree of truthfulness of this
sentence using and IVFS is [0.2, 0.5]. On the other hand, if the latter is adopted, the
interval that qualifies the sentence means the degree of membership of an element to
a specific set; e.g., “John is tall with [0.2, 0.5]” means that the membership of John to
the set of tall people is [0.2, 0.5]. The conclusion inferred from an imprecise premise
must be also qualified by the same type of degree; e.g. “John is a good player with
[0.2, 0.5]”.
In order to preserver the coherence with classical Prolog, we adopt the propo-
sitional interpretation (the interval indicates the degree of truth of the assertion)
and, consequently, approximate deductive reasoning is based on multi-valued modus
ponens [18]:

Q, [α, α] (9)
A ← Q, [β, β] (10)
A, T ([α, α], [β, β]] (11)
On the Incorporation of Interval-Valued Fuzzy Sets into the Bousi-Prolog System … 5

If we have (9) and (10), we can deduce (11) with T a t-norm defined on the lattice
L([0, 1]).

3 Simple Interval-Valued Fuzzy Prolog: Syntax, Semantics


and Implementation

The design of a programming language involves three main steps. Firstly, the defini-
tion of the syntax; secondly, the elaboration of a formal study of its semantics; and
thirdly, an implementation of the system. In order to address the tasks related with
syntax and semantics, we will follow the guidelines established in [19, 20]1 ; for the
implementation task, we will follow the guidelines detailed in [16].

3.1 Sintax

An Interval-valued fuzzy program conveys a classical Prolog knowledge base and a


set of IVFSs, which are used for annotating the facts by means of an interval-valued
fuzzy degree: p(t1 , . . . , tn )[α, α].
Definition 2 An interval-valued fuzzy definite clause is a Horn clause of the form
A[α, α] or A ← B1 , . . . , Bn [β, β], where A is called the head, and B1 , . . . , Bn
denote a conjunction which is called the body (variables in a clause are assumed
to be universally quantified).
Definition 3 An interval-valued fuzzy definite program is a finite set of interval-
valued fuzzy clauses.
Example 3 Let  = { p(X ) ← q(X ), q(a)[0.8, 0.9], q(b)[0.7, 0.8]} be an interval-
valued fuzzy definite program,  generates a first order language, L, whose alphabet
is comprised of the set of variable symbols, X , constant symbols, C, function symbols,
F and predicate symbols, P, which appear in the clauses of . We assume that the
first order language L has, at least one constant symbol; i.e., an assertion. If there
are not constants available in the alphabet, an artificial constant “a” must be added
to it. The first order language L generated by  is: X = {x}, C = {a, b, c}, F = ∅
and P = { p, q, r }.

3.2 Declarative Semantics

In logic programming, the declarative semantics for a program is traditionally for-


mulated on the basis of the least Herbrand model (conceived as the infimum of a

1 We assume familiarity with the theory and practice of logic programming.


Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
were actually in the war when the distress calls from
sinking ships or those which were under attack by
submarines began to come hurtling through the air. This in
itself was enough to prove the priceless value of the radio
in saving life. For some time I kept a chart upon which
were plotted all the positions of vessels which transmitted
radio calls for help, but within two months so many of
these calls had been received that I had little space left in
which to record the new ones.
A typical distress call would come in like this:
SOS SOS SOS 48° 12′ North, 12° 00′ West. Torpedoed
Sinking. S.S. John Luckenbach 1025.
When a submarine was sighted by an Allied vessel, a
simple form of position report was broadcasted by the
operator at once, as follows:
Allo (French for Hello) 49° 15′ N. 09° 06′ W. 0815 MXA.
The radio operator continued to broadcast these signals
until an acknowledgment was received from one of the
larger, more powerful coastal radio stations which
immediately broadcasted the message on high power to
all ships and stations for their information. The radio
operators on vessels at sea which received this general
warning would at once notify the captain who could
thereby avoid the dangerous locality or proceed to the aid
of the ship in distress.
After we had arrived at Saint-Nazaire the work of the
radio-room did not cease, for we kept a continuous watch,
intercepting every message of importance which we were
able to copy. When the Corsair was ordered to proceed to
Brest, it was necessary to observe the regulation which
required all vessels desiring to enter that port to transmit
by radio a special form of message, addressed to the port
authorities, requesting permission. Failure to do so would
have risked bombardment by the shore batteries. The
reply from Brest stated whether or not the channel was
clear of mines and enemy submarines.
The radio shore station at Brest was about five miles
from the American naval base and was an old type, low
frequency installation. The “spark” at the time of our
arrival was very difficult to read through atmospheric
electrical disturbances, and did not have sufficient range.
However, after the American base was permanently
organized, a modern installation replaced the old one and
American naval operators were placed on duty to handle
all radio traffic that concerned our naval and other
shipping. This was a great improvement over the early
method of letting the French operators handle it.
When the Corsair went out on patrol duty, the radio
force caught many distress calls and submarine warnings,
and the information enabled the ship to render aid on
several occasions. In working with the Aphrodite when we
covered adjoining patrol areas, the captains were able to
exchange information concerning new situations to be
dealt with and to operate in concert. The messages
intercepted from the British radio station at Lands End
were particularly useful and the operators kept a sharp
lookout for them. At least one crew of survivors of a
French fishing vessel was rescued by the Corsair because
of a message intercepted from this coastal station.
In the later duty on escort with the convoys, the
amount of traffic handled by the radio force was largely
increased. Because of difficulties unforeseen, such as
stormy weather, break-downs, etc., it was rarely that a
convoy was sighted in the exact position designated. The
radio enabled the escort commander to ask the convoy for
definite information as to location, course, direction, and
speed. It also kept the convoys clear of the enemy mine-
fields. I recall an instance when the Corsair put into
Penzance. The day before sailing from that port the radio
operator on duty intercepted a message from the French
high-powered station at Nantes, stating that the entrance
to Brest had been mined by German submarines and that
all ships were forbidden to approach. The Corsair
thereupon waited at Penzance with her convoy until word
was received that the Brest channel had been swept clear.
The severest test for the radio personnel came in
December, 1917, when a hurricane almost finished the
yacht. Early in the storm it was almost impossible for the
operator on watch to stay in his chair although it was
screwed to the deck. The climax came in the dead of night
when a terrific sea struck the Corsair on the port side,
stove in bulkheads, and lifted the hatch over the radio-
room clear of the deck and allowed about a ton of icy sea
water to pour in. The operator was half-drowned, as well
as the whole installation, and the apparatus was rendered
useless for the time. As the seas got worse, the water
forced itself into the radio-room through the doors in spite
of the fact that every crack was calked as tightly as
possible. More than a foot of water piled up on the floor
and there was no system of drainage, so every time the
vessel rolled or pitched it all swashed up at one side of the
room or the other.
AT THE EMERGENCY WHEEL. HEAVY WEATHER
OFFSHORE

THE TRIM, IMMACULATE NAVY MAN. AFTER COALING


SHIP
About this time the depth charges washed overboard
and I can tell you that the “Sparks” on board the Corsair
were sure they were up against a big proposition. Here we
were, with the entire receiver swimming in water, the
transmitting panel splashed with it, the motor generator
submerged most of the time, our lead-in insulator and
lead-in frequently grounded by the huge waves which
swept clear over us, and yet facing a probable order from
the skipper to send out a distress call. We were all soaked
to the skin, impossible to brew any Java to warm us up,
and all the time working hard to get the apparatus back
into shape.
I gave up the receiver as hopeless and tried to clear the
grounds on the motor generator while the rest of the gang
tried to bale out the water, but the ocean came in faster
than they could scoop it out. However, we managed to
keep the water below the level of the commutator and the
collector rings of the motor generator, and after clearing
some of the worst grounds, during which the toilers were
most beautifully “jolted,” we gave the transmitter a short
test and it worked fairly well, considering the
circumstances. Then I made my way up to the boat deck
and between seas managed to clean a layer of salt off the
lead-in insulator and gave it a heavy coat of oil.
Plummer and the rest of the gang were drying the
various switches and other parts of the transmitter and we
managed to fix things so that an S.O.S. could have been
sent out. And all hands thought it was about time to shoot
it. The deck force succeeded in nailing up some doors and
canvas along the weather side of the radio-room, which
was all that prevented it from being smashed in. If our
bulkheads had gone there would have been no chance of
keeping the transmitter in working condition.
When we found refuge at Vigo, a survey of the damage
was made. The radio-room was simply a mess, like the
rest of the ship, but within eight hours we had the entire
installation restored to the best of health and ready for
any emergency. Considering the fact that the radio-room
had been flooded with sea water for two and a half days,
we flattered ourselves that it was mighty speedy work.
During the long stay at Lisbon for repairs, we made a
thorough overhauling of the radio equipment but had no
traffic to handle excepting the press news from the Eiffel
Tower which we copied for the crew and for the American
Legation. Our visit at Lisbon will always be remembered
as a very happy one. The people were most hospitable
and seemed to enjoy entertaining the bluejackets. The
radio-room was still in communication with Brest, 850
miles distant, but there was no occasion for talking with
the base station.
The work of the radio force while on escort duty, after
we returned to France, was much like that of the earlier
cruises. It made us proud to receive a letter of
commendation from Admiral Wilson for forwarding a
message intercepted from the Seattle. I was sorry when,
for a time, I was transferred to shore duty with the District
Commander at Cherbourg and had to leave the radio-
room of the Corsair. Plummer, my right-hand man, was
left in charge of the situation. Shortly before the yacht
sailed to the United States, I was lucky enough to make a
little visit aboard. Nothing would have pleased me more
than a chance to make the homeward bound voyage with
the old crowd.
When the Corsair went to France, she had as fine a
crew of men as were ever assembled on a deck. The radio
force, with whom I worked and lived, got on splendidly
together and made a record of successful operation which,
I feel sure, compared favorably with that of any other
naval vessel engaged in similar duties and laboring under
the same kind of difficulties.
CHAPTER XII
THE LONG ROAD HOME

A LTHOUGH foreshadowed by rumor and report, the news of the


armistice which meant the end of the war came as a certain
shock to the ships and sailors on the French coast. It was curiously
difficult to realize, because long service had made the hard routine a
matter of habit and the mind had adjusted itself to the feeling that
things were bound to go on as they were for an indefinite period.
The old life, as it had been lived in the days of peace, seemed
vaguely remote and discarded, and the Navy thought only of
guarding convoys and hunting submarines, world without end. Then,
at a word, on November 11, 1918, the great game was finished, the
U-boats turned sullenly in the direction of their own bases to harry
the seas no more as outlaws, and the darkened transports and cargo
steamers ran without fear, the cabin windows ablaze with light.
It was this which most impressed the crews of the yachts and
destroyers, that they would steer no more shrouded courses and
dice with the peril of collision while they zigzagged among the huge
ships that threatened to stamp them under, or dodged to find the
rendezvous where the routes of traffic crossed and the nights were
black and menacing. More by instinct than by sight, the Navy had
learned to feel its way in the dark, and it was actually true that the
ocean seemed unfamiliar when the running lights shone again and
the almost forgotten rules of the road had to be observed.
The job was finished. Two million soldiers were in France to testify
that the Navy had done its share. And now, as soon as the sense of
bewilderment lifted, with one common impulse all hands of this
battered, intrepid fleet that flew the Stars and Stripes talked and
dreamed of going home. There was nothing else to it. All the
sundered ties and yearnings awoke and the faces of these young
sailors were turned westward, toward Sandy Hook instead of the
roadstead of Brest and the fairway of the Gironde. Every wife and
sweetheart was tugging at the other end of the long tow-rope.
The Corsair went to sea for her last convoy cruise on October
24th. Returning from this errand, she was ordered to Bordeaux and
was moored there until November 10th for necessary repair work.
On the day of the armistice she dropped down the river to Royan
and the log-book makes no mention of one of the greatest events in
the history of mankind, excepting this entry in the “Communication
Record,” as a signal sent from shore by the Port Officer:
Have you any colors you can lend the French balloon
station to-day?
In the sailors’ diaries there was one brief note, but it concerned
itself also with a mishap to the beef stew served on that day, as a
matter of importance:
Armistice signed. Great stuff. Found a cockroach in the
mulligan. Could you beat it?
From Royan the Corsair moved to Verdon, and there received
orders on November 13th to proceed to sea and intercept incoming
ships, warning them how to keep clear of mine-fields and instructing
them as to destinations. The yacht went out, but received a radio
next day from the District Commander, telling her to return to
Pauillac. Another message set the crew to wondering:
Corsair detached from this District and will go to Brest.
State requirements.
As soon as he could get ashore, at midnight, Commander Porter
used the telephone to Rochefort and was informed by the District
Commander that the Corsair “had a fine job ahead of her,” but here
the information stopped. This was just enough to set everybody
guessing wildly and once more “the scuttle-butt was full of rumors.”
Pursuant to instructions the Corsair promptly took on supplies and
sailed for Brest, arriving on November 16th. There the other yachts
were all astir with the expectation of flying their homeward-bound
pennants. They were soon to set out on the blithe voyage across the
Atlantic, by way of the Azores and Bermuda—the first division
comprising the Vidette, Corona, Sultana, Emiline, and Nokomis; in
the second division the Christabel, May, Remlik, and Wanderer,
veterans of the coastal convoy routes and the wild weather offshore.

BOATSWAIN’S MATE FRENCH “TOMMY,” THE SHIP’S CAT,


BOUGHT A PET PARROT IN WHO FINISHED STRONG IN
LISBON THE HURRICANE
“TEDDY,” WHO WAS GIVEN A MILITARY FUNERAL WHEN HE
SWALLOWED A NAIL
It was decreed otherwise for the Corsair and she was to remain
six months longer in foreign waters, thereby rounding out a service
of almost two years as a naval vessel. Captain John Halligan, chief of
staff to Admiral Wilson, was kind enough to end the suspense and
vouchsafe the information that the Corsair would go to England and
hoist the flag of Rear Admiral S. S. Robison who was about to sail for
Kiel to inspect what was left of the German Navy. This was a highly
interesting assignment and the Corsair was envied by the other
ships. In order to make her fit to serve as a flagship the depleted
stock of china, linen, and silver was replaced, after persuasive
arguments with the naval storekeeper at Brest. Several officers were
detached at this time, which made room on board for an admiral’s
staff. These were Ensign J. W. McCoy, Lieutenant S. K. Hall (J.G.),
Lieutenant C. R. Smith (J.G.), Lieutenant R. V. Dolan (J.G.), and
Ensign A. V. Mason, Assistant Engineer. The new arrivals in the war-
room were Ensign E. F. O’Shea and Lieutenant E. B. Erickson,
Assistant Paymaster.
On November 18th the Corsair sailed from Brest with the
expectation of acting as the flagship representing the United States
in the surrender and internment of the naval forces of Imperial
Germany. As passengers she carried to England Captain E. P. Jessop,
U.S.N., and Commander C. T. Hutchins, Jr., who had been
commissioned to examine the German submarines. The orders
included a stop at Saint Helens, Isle of Wight, for routing
instructions. There the Corsair was told to seek further information
from the patrol off Folkstone. War restrictions concerning war
channels, mine-fields, pilotage, and closed ports were still in force.
Commander Porter jogged along until Folkstone was reached in
the evening, and was there informed that there was no patrol, but
that the channel was clear to Dover. A fog came down thick while
the Corsair waited off Dover Breakwater for a pilot, but none
appeared, so she went on her way through the Strait and past the
Goodwin Sands, pausing to inquire at the North Gull light-ship if
anybody had seen a Thames pilot thereabouts. Deal was suggested
as a good place to look, so the Corsair returned and anchored there
at midnight. No pilot could be found, however, so at five o’clock in
the morning the skipper hove up his mud-hook and “trailed along”
as he said, with some ships that were bound to the northward.
The pace was too slow to suit him, so he joined company with
another group of vessels ahead and discovered, a little later, that
they were mine-sweepers engaged in clearing the channel. This was
considered a fairly good joke on the skipper. He said good-bye to
this dangerous flotilla and steamed along alone, anchoring twice in a
fog that was like a wool blanket, and fetched up for the night eight
miles below Sheerness.
Asking permission of the patrol next morning to proceed up the
Thames to Gravesend, the Corsair learned that her destination had
been changed to Sheerness. Here she met with a disappointment.
The cruiser Chester arrived unexpectedly and was selected as the
flagship of Rear Admiral Robison, as was quite proper. It’s an ill wind
that blows nobody good, however, and just after starting north for
Rosyth and the Grand Fleet, the Chester was compelled to return
with machinery disabled. The Corsair was ordered to proceed to
Scotland in place of the cruiser and she left the Thames on
November 30th to steam up into the gray North Sea, and the great
war base near Edinburgh.
It was fondly believed on board that the yacht would be employed
to take the American admiral across to visit the German naval ports,
but they found him in the British battleship Hercules with the other
admirals of the Allied naval commission, and they all sailed next day
in this big ship for Kiel. This was rather hard medicine for the
Corsair, to be disappointed again after singing for so long in hearty
chorus that on the Kiel Canal they’d float and likewise knock the hell
out of Heligoland, and now they were deprived of a sight of these
notorious nests of the enemy’s warships.
It was something to remember, however, this visit to the North
Sea and a sojourn with the grim squadrons of Admiral Sir David
Beatty which had, through four weary, vigilant years held the
German High Sea Fleet in check and made safe the surface of the
seas for the shipping of the world.
The Corsair dropped anchor at Rosyth on the day that the
American battleship division sailed for home, the first-class fighting
ships of Rear Admiral Hugh Rodman which had shared the vigil at
Scapa Flow in the gloomy Orkneys and had earned that farewell
tribute which Admiral Beatty paid the American officers and men
when he called them his “comrades of the mist.” A storm of British
cheers bade a fare-you-well to the New York and her sister ships as
their flag hoists and semaphores and blinkers talked for the last time
in the British signal code, which they had used because they were,
not an independent American squadron, but the Sixth Battle Division
of the Grand Fleet and gladly operating as such.
The Corsair’s crew had seen much of the French Navy on active
service, but this was the first opportunity for intimate contact with
British ships and sailors. They found a spirit of cordial welcome and
there was a pleasant interchange of calls, of entertainment on
shipboard, motion-picture shows, and inspection of the mighty
fighting craft which bore the scars of Jutland. Shore liberty at
Edinburgh was a most interesting diversion, and the American sailors
found that the Scotch people were fond of them and proud of the
record for behavior left by the thousands of their comrades who had
landed from Admiral Rodman’s battleships.
After twelve days in the Firth of Forth, the Corsair was relieved by
the Chester and received orders to report at Portland, England.
During the voyage north, Commander Porter had navigated through
four hundred miles of swept war channels where the abundance of
German mines was presumed to require the most ticklish care. The
cleared passages were strewn with wrecks and most British
merchantmen were anchoring at night. The Corsair had picked her
way, not in a reckless spirit, but because she was due to reach her
destination at a specified time and it was the habit of the ship to
arrive when she was expected. While returning south to Portland, a
pilot was taken on at Yarmouth and casual reference was made to
the fact that the yacht had chosen the north channel into the mouth
of the Thames while coming over from France.
“My word, but you are lucky beggars!” exclaimed the ruddy pilot.
“You should have gone in by the south channel, you know. The other
one is a bloomin’ muck o’ mines that ain’t been swept. You couldn’t
wait a week for a bally pilot, eh? The sportin’ chance! I fancy it’s the
proper spirit in a navy, what?”
At Portland the Corsair found the U.S.S. Bushnell which had
served as the mother ship of the American submarine flotilla in
Bantry Bay. With her waited five mine-sweepers and five submarine
chasers all ready and anxious to sail for home. The yachts Harvard
and Aphrodite had come over from Brest and were attached to the
North Sea patrol. Later in the winter they were sent to Germany. The
Aphrodite hit a mine en route, but luckily its action was delayed and,
although damaged, she was able to make port. What aroused eager
interest at Portland was a group of five German submarines, moored
close to the Bushnell, which comprised an installment of the
surrendered fleet of U-boats. Their frightfulness was done. Meekly
they had crossed the North Sea, at the bidding of the victors, to be
tied up all in a row as a rare show for the jeering comment of British
and American bluejackets.
To the sailors of the Corsair it was fascinating to inspect and
investigate these uncouth sea monsters which they had hunted and
bombed with no more mercy than if they had been vermin. Instead
of winning the war for Germany, they had turned the tide against
her by arousing the United States to launch its armed forces in the
cause of the Allies. And they had branded the German name with
infamy and reddened German hands with the blood of thousands of
slain seamen.

WITH THE GRAND FLEET AT ROSYTH


SURRENDERED GERMAN SUBMARINES TIED UP AT PORTLAND TWO
AMERICAN SUBMARINES ARE WITH THEM

Christmas Day of 1918 was spent in this English harbor of Portland


and the occasion was not as joyous as might have been, although
the Corsair’s log of December 24th contained this entry:
Received the following general stores: 118 lbs. geese,
23 lbs. ducks, 12 bunches celery, 100 lbs. cauliflower, 50
lbs. Brussels sprouts, 85 lbs. beets, 700 lbs. bread, 5040
lbs. potatoes.
The home-made poetry inspired by this Christmas in exile seemed
to lack the punch of former ballads as sung by the bluejackets’ glee
club. One of the productions went like this, with a perceptible tinge
of pathos:

“It was Christmas on the Corsair,


’Neath England’s cold, gray skies,
And one and all on board her
Hove long and pensive sighs.

“Some of us longed for our families,


Our wives and children dear,
While others wished for their sweethearts
And maybe shed a tear.

“We sailors, tho’ outwardly happy,


Were moved by memory
Of mother, home, and sweetheart,
So far beyond the sea.

“So while the war is ended


And gladness reigns supreme,
Yet to the boys on the Corsair,
Peace is an idle dream.

“Waiting for sailing orders,


The ships all on the bum,
This special duty is surely enough
To drive a man to rum.

“But the sailor believes in the doctrine


Of sunshine after rain,
And as soon as the job is over,
He is ready to try it again.

“So when we get back to the homeland,


As we will some day, we trust,
There isn’t one if called upon,
Who wouldn’t repeat or bust.

“The destroyers are gone to the west’ard,


The battleships, too, are home,
But this poor old yacht has been forgot
And is left here to finish alone!!”
On the day after this rather subdued Christmas, the Corsair was
informed of her destination, which was Queenstown, Ireland, and
her mission was to relieve the U.S.S. Melville as the flagship of
Admiral Sims, Commanding the U.S. Naval Forces in European
Waters. The Melville, the last word in naval construction as a repair
and supply ship, had been nominally the flagship during the service
of the destroyer flotillas at Queenstown, although the official
headquarters and residence of Admiral Sims were in London. During
this time the Melville had quartered Captain J. R. P. Pringle, the
American chief of staff and his organization which coöperated with
the British Admiral Sir Lewis Bayly in maintaining and directing the
destroyer force.
The elaborate and smoothly running machine of operation, supply,
equipment, and personnel had come to a halt with the armistice.
The destroyers had fled homeward. The barracks and dépôts for
material at Passage, a little way up the river, had been almost
emptied, and the great naval aviation base on the other side of
Queenstown Harbor was like a deserted city. All that remained was
what Admiral Bayly called the job of “cleaning up the mess.” For this
the American chief of staff was required to linger on the scene, but it
was decided to send the Melville home and the Corsair was elected
to take the place, or, as her men said, “it was wished on her.”
On December 27th the yacht tied up alongside the Melville in
Queenstown Harbor, and three days later Captain Pringle and his
staff transferred their offices and living quarters. This group of
officers comprised Commander A. P. Fairfield, Lieutenant
Commander D. B. Wainwright (Pay Corps), Lieutenant A. C. Davis,
Ensign W. B. Feagle. Soon the Corsair was alone as the only
American naval vessel in this port which had swarmed with the keen
activity of scores of destroyers and thousands of bluejackets. To
build up this force and keep it going at top speed had been an
enormous task, but it was no slight undertaking to pull it down
again. Winter rains and sodden skies made Queenstown even
drearier than when the liberty parties of destroyer men had piled
ashore to fill the American Sailors’ Club, or surge madly around and
around in the roller-skating rink, or live in hope of cracking the head
of a Sinn Feiner as the most zestful pastime that could be offered.
Dashing young destroyer officers no longer lingered a little in the
pub of the Queen’s Hotel for a smile from a rosy barmaid with the
gift of the blarney, and a farewell toast before going to sea again,
while the Royal Cork Yacht Club, down by the landing pier, seemed
almost forlorn without the sociable evenings when American and
British naval officers had swapped yarns of the day’s work and talked
the “hush stuff” about mystery ships and U-boats that would never
see their own ports again.
High up the steep hillside, the White Ensign flew from the mast in
front of Admiral House, and Admiral Sir Lewis Bayly, austere,
efficient, but very human, one of the ablest officers of the British
Navy, still toiled at his desk or puttered among his flower gardens in
the rare hours of leisure, but his occupation as Commander-in-Chief
of the Coasts of Ireland was mostly in the past tense. Soon he was
to retire, with the stripes of a full admiral on his sleeve and a long
list of distinctions following his name, Knight Commander of the
Bath, Companion of the Victorian Order, the Legion of Honor of
France; but more than these he valued the friendship and high
respect of the American naval force at Queenstown, memorable
because it was here that, for the first time, the British and the
American navies had worked and dared as one, salty brothers-in-
arms, to conquer the sea and make it safe against a mutual foe.
THE CORSAIR AT QUEENSTOWN, AS FLAGSHIP OF ADMIRAL SIMS

All of this the Corsair perceived in retrospect while Captain Pringle


finished his fine record of service by disposing of all the odds and
ends of work demanded of him before the Stars and Stripes could be
hauled down and Queenstown finally abandoned as a base. As soon
as the Corsair arrived in port, opportunity was offered the Reserve
officers and men to quit the ship and go home, instead of detaining
them longer on foreign service. Three officers and thirty men took
advantage of the chance and felt, fairly enough, that the war was
over and the call of duty no longer imperative. Other officers came
to the ship in their places—A. T. Agnew, Assistant Surgeon, who had
joined at Rosyth, Ensign C. R. Bloomer, Boatswain A. R. Beach, and
Boatswain H. W. Honeck.
It was a long and tedious duty, lasting almost three months, this
serving as the flagship at Queenstown, but he also serves who only
stands and waits, and this was true of the Corsair. The aftermath of
the war was mostly drudgery, with all the fiery incentive and thrilling
stimulus removed, but the need was just as urgent and the Navy
responded, displaying the spirit which was best exemplified by Rear
Admiral Strauss and his mine-laying fleet which placed a barrier of
forty thousand mines across the upper end of the North Sea and
then manfully, uncomplainingly, spent a whole year in sweeping
them up again.
One pleasant souvenir of the stay at Queenstown was a copy of
the following letter from Admiral Sir Lewis Bayly:
The Captain of the Dockyard has informed me that
valuable assistance was given by officers and men of the
U.S. Navy in extinguishing the fire in the Dockyard
yesterday, Tuesday. I desire to thank you very much for
the assistance so smartly and ably given.
On March 20th the Corsair left Queenstown for Spithead and
Cowes to meet a number of large German merchant ships and, as
the flagship of Admiral Sims, represent the United States in the
business of transfer to the American flag, as provided in the terms of
the armistice. The departure from Ireland caused no heart-breaking
regrets, although many congenial friendships had been formed
ashore. For weeks the crew had been more interested in sewing
stitches in the homeward-bound pennant than in any attractions that
foreign ports could afford. Rumor had been misleading as usual, and
hopes often deferred.
At Cowes the Corsair found four American destroyers, the
Woolsey, Lea, Yarnell, and Tarbell, and the naval tug Gypsum Queen
which had been sent to do the work in hand. Drafts of American
sailors had been brought from Brest, La Pallice, Queenstown, and
English ports to man the German liners after their own crews had
been taken out of them. Commander T. G. Ellyson, U.S.N., acted as
the representative of Admiral Sims and was in charge of the transfer.
While at Cowes he lived on board the Corsair, with his staff. The
London Times described the episode as follows:
During the last few days a number of German merchant
ships which have been surrendered to the Allies under the
Armistice conditions have arrived at Cowes roadstead. The
Hamburg-American liners Cleveland and Patricia were the
first to arrive, and they were followed by the Cap
Finisterre, the Kaiserin Auguste Victoria, the Graf
Waldersee, the Zeppelin, and the Kronprinz Friedrich
Wilhelm, making seven of the eight expected at this port.
The La Plata is expected to arrive in a day or two.
In place of the smart, spick-and-span German merchant
sailors of pre-war days, these large vessels, ranging up to
24,500 tons, were mostly manned by motley crews of
Germans, many wearing bowler hats and untidy civilian
dress. Many of them speak English and in conversation
showed that they were familiar with the Solent and local
shipping, while others had been to Cowes in Regatta
times. One officer stated that he had been there on the
ex-Kaiser’s yacht Meteor. These Germans are not allowed
ashore but are transferred to the Cap Finisterre, in which
they will return to Germany when the La Plata arrives.
They have brought their own provisions with them but
they have been reprovisioned here.
New crews have been provided for the surrendered
ships by the American Navy, representatives of which are
superintending the transfer of the crews and the dispersal
of the German ships which have left for other ports. The
Cleveland, Kronprinz Friedrich Wilhelm, and Pretoria have
sailed for Liverpool, the Kaiserin Auguste Victoria and Graf
Waldersee for Brest and the Zeppelin for Plymouth. The
German ships fly the blue and white flag of the Inter-Allied
Nations and have an American escort, including the armed
yacht Corsair, destroyers, submarine chasers, and store-
ships.
The North German Lloyd liner Zeppelin, with an
American crew on board, arrived at Devonport yesterday.
The remainder of the American naval forces at Plymouth
will embark on her to-day, and after coaling and taking on
stores, the Zeppelin will leave for Brest and the United
States.
Up to yesterday twenty-four of the one hundred
German vessels allocated to Leith had arrived there. A
number of the ships were new; in fact this voyage was
their maiden one. When the total is complete, the vessels
will form a very handsome addition to the shipping in the
port. The conduct of the sailors is said to be satisfactory.
There were rumors that there was among the crews of
some of the vessels a revolutionary spirit, but these had
no foundation. The crews are reported to be eager and
willing to do all that is required of them.
The duty of taking part in the distribution of German shipping, in
which the naval representatives of the United States were
concerned, took the Corsair next to Harwich, the important East
Coast base of England, at which the main fleet of German
submarines was surrendered to Rear Admiral Sir Reginald Tyrwhitt,
R.N. It was at Harwich that the British submarines had rested and
refitted between their perilous patrol tours across the North Sea
when they stalked the U-boat in a deadly game of hide-and-seek
which Fritz lacked the courage to play. The British losses had been
heavy, many a gallant submarine erased from the list as missing with
all hands, but the toll of U-boats had been much greater and the
results were worth the price they cost.
SEAMAN HENRY BARRY, GUNNER’S MATE SIMPSON
BEFORE THEY WISHED HOPES TO SPOT THAT SUB
ANOTHER JOB ON HIM

Out of Harwich had dashed that wonderful light cruiser division


under Admiral Tyrwhitt, always under two hours’ steaming notice to
run north as a tactical unit of the Grand Fleet or to tear at thirty
knots for the Strait of Dover to help defend and keep clear the main
road to France. And now the cruisers and destroyers and submarines
no longer moved restlessly in and out of Harwich Harbor to patrol
the North Sea, and Harwich was again a railway terminus on the
route to Antwerp and the Hook of Holland. As the American flagship,
the Corsair tarried there through part of April before sailing to
Southend to execute similar orders and duties. England was green
and blooming with the loveliness of its rare springtime, and the men
of the lonely American yacht were more than ever absorbed in
thoughts of flying that homeward-bound pennant.
At length there came an order from London, transmitted through
the cruiser Galveston which was also at Southend, that seemed to
promise the Corsair a start on the long road home:
On completion of transfer of stores and quota of draft of
the German steamship Brandenburg, you will proceed to
Plymouth, England, with the vessel under your command,
arranging to arrive in the afternoon of May 7th. On arrival
report to the Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Naval Forces,
European Waters, for use of the Secretary of the Navy.
Secretary Daniels and his party were at this time on their way to
France and the United States after visiting the Allied naval
organizations. The Corsair was designated to carry them from
Plymouth to Brest, and the British Admiralty carried out its part of
the programme with the most punctilious attention to detail, as is
shown in the printed memorandum under “Devonport General
Orders” which was signed by Admiral Cecil F. Thursby:
Embarkation of Mr. J. Daniels, Secretary of the U.S.
Navy.
U.S. Yacht Corsair and one U.S.T.B.D. will arrive p.m. 7th
May and will be berthed as follows,—Corsair alongside
Resolution, bows to southward, if possible. T.B.D.
alongside No. 1 wharf, unless she requires oil when she
will proceed to Orangeleaf and complete with fuel.
The train conveying Mr. Daniels and party will arrive at
No. 6 wharf at 0800 on Thursday, 8th May. The
Commander-in-Chief will receive Mr. Daniels. The Vice
Admiral Commanding First Battle Squadron and staff and
the Admiral Superintendent are requested also to be
present at the wharf. (Dress No. 5 without swords.)
A working party of three petty officers and twenty men
in No. 5 dress, in charge of a warrant officer, is to be
provided by Depot, and to be at No. 6 wharf by 0745 to
transfer baggage from train to Corsair. As soon as Mr.
Daniels and party and all baggage have been embarked,
Corsair will proceed down harbor. Admiral Superintendent
is requested to arrange for a tug to be in attendance.
The Corsair arrived punctually at Plymouth and was waiting to
obey the foregoing instructions when, at midnight, there came a
telegram which quite overshadowed the episode of carrying the
Secretary of the Navy, with all due respect to the dignity of his
office. The message, for which the yacht had waited so long, came
in the form of a smudged carbon copy as sent through the U.S.
Naval Post-Office, but in the eyes of those who scanned it the
document was beautiful. It read:
U.S.S. Corsair hereby detached duty European Waters.
Proceed Brest with Secretary of Navy and report to
Admiral Halstead. Load any personnel for which space is
available and then proceed New York, touching at Azores
if necessary. Transfer any flag records to U.S.S.
Chattanooga before leaving Plymouth.
Escorted by the American destroyer Conner, the Corsair made a
fast and comfortable run to Brest. The passengers were the
Secretary and Mrs. Daniels; Rear Admiral David W. Taylor, Chief of
the Bureau of Construction and Repair; Rear Admiral Robert S.
Griffin, Chief of the Bureau of Steam Engineering; Rear Admiral
Ralph Earle, Chief of the Bureau of Ordnance; Commander Stewart
E. Barber, Pay Corps, who was officially attached to the Corsair;
Commander Percy W. Foote, personal aide to the Secretary; and
Private Secretary May.
Brest Harbor was a familiar panorama to the few men aboard the
Corsair who had shared the toil and excitement of those early
months of patrol work offshore, almost a year before. Now, however,
the transports were crammed with troops homeward bound, and
there was no more convoying the “empty buckets” out of Saint-
Nazaire and Bordeaux and Quiberon Bay, nor was there any chance
of a brush with the persistent U-boat which had been dubbed
“Penmarch Pete.”
The Corsair undertook her good-bye courtesies and ceremonies,
one of them a luncheon party on board, at which the guests were
Rear Admiral A. S. Halstead who succeeded Admiral Wilson as
commander of the naval forces in France; Major General Smedley D.
Butler, commanding the embarkation camp at Brest; Vice-Admiral
Moreau and Rear Admiral Grout of the French Navy and Mme. Grout;
and Commander Robert E. Tod, Director of Public Works at Brest.

THE HOMEWARD-BOUND PENNANT. “WE’RE OFF FOR LITTLE OLD


NEW YORK, THANK GOD”

Not much time was wasted in port. Two days after arriving, on
May 10th, the bunkers were filled with coal, and there was precious
little cursing over the hard and dirty job which had so often caused
the crew to agree that what General Sherman said about war was
absurdly inadequate. It was different now. Every shovel and basket
of coal meant steam to shove the old boat nearer home. That
homeward-bound pennant trailed jubilantly from the masthead, a
silk streamer of red, white, and blue, one hundred and eighty feet
long, into whose folds had been fondly stitched the desires, the
yearnings, the anticipations of every man in the ship. Only a few of
them had stood, with bared heads, on the Corsair’s deck when she
had been formally commissioned as a fourth-rate gunboat of the
United States Navy in May of 1917, and the bright ensign had
whipped in the breeze.
Many of that company had seen service in other ships and some
were civilians again, but memory was apt to hark back to the Corsair
with a certain affection and regret. And wherever they were to be,
these youthful sailors would feel a thrill of pride and kinship at sight
of a Navy man and they would kindle to the sentiment:

“But there’s something at the heart-strings that tautens when


I meet
A blue-clad sailor-man adrift, on shore leave from the fleet.”

Lieutenant McGuire, bred to the sea and experienced in ships,


thought it over after he came home and wrote these opinions of the
Corsair’s company and the work they did:
It was a pleasure to watch how eagerly the boys took
hold of their new jobs and how rapidly they became good
sailors. For a comrade to stand by in danger, give me first
of all a plain, every-day, American gob. He is not so much
on the parade stuff, but offer him a chance to risk his skin
or his life for his friend or his flag and he is there every
time.
If this war has helped us as a nation in no other way, it
has, I believe, taught hundreds of thousands of men the
meaning of their country’s flag, taught them to love it as
their own, and that to die for it is an honor to be prized.
While the duty abroad was pretty strenuous at times,
yet the average American has the faculty of making
friends in every port, which helped to pass the few hours
at his disposal when not engaged in coaling ship. How we
did envy the boys in the oil-burners!
The chief petty officers and petty officers of the
American Navy are exceptionally intelligent and proficient
in their duties, and on many occasions helped the average
Reserve officer over rough places. I also felt great
admiration for the officers with whom I served and came
in contact, both Regular and Reserve.
CHAPTER XIII
HONORABLY DISCHARGED

O F the old crew, the crew which had sailed with Pershing’s First
Expeditionary Force, only two officers and eighteen men
watched the frowning headlands of Brittany sink into the sea as the
Corsair turned her bow to follow the long trail that led to the twin
lights of Navesink and the skyline of New York. A day at the Azores
for coal and she laid a course for Bermuda and another brief call
before straightening out for the last stretch of the journey. On May
28th she steamed into her home port after an absence just a little
short of two years. There was no uproarious welcome when the gray
Corsair slipped through the Narrows and sought a berth at the
Brooklyn Navy Yard. The war had ended more than half a year
earlier. It was already an old story, but the ship had done her duty
and was content with this.
A few days later she ceased to be enrolled in the United States
Navy. There was no ceremonious formality and the documents in the
case were exceedingly brief, but they signified the end of a story
which had added a worthy page to the annals of American
manhood. “Ships are all right. It is the men in them,” said one of
Joseph Conrad’s wise old mariners. This was true of the Corsair and
the other yachts of the Breton Patrol. And so the Navy Department
spoke the last word in this concise order:
Headquarters of the Third Naval
District, Brooklyn, New York
June 6, 1919
From: Officer in Charge, Material Department.
To: Commanding Officer U.S.S. Corsair, S.P. 159.
Subject: Orders.
Proceed to W. & A. Fletcher Shipyard, Hoboken, N.J.,
June 9, 1919. Place the vessel out of commission in

You might also like