The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-08-25

val search problem off the New Eng
land coast was terminated at $50 this
morning by the signal surrender; de-
mand and unconditional from Rear
Admiral Higginson's flagship, and the
reply, accept surrender" from the
fore truck of the Prairie, Commander
Pillsbury's flagship.
The battle between the blue, or de-
Tending squadron, and the white, or
attacking squadron, was thus quickly
ended eight miles south of Thatcher's
island. The enemy had most signally
failed to make a harbOr, having for
its objective Salem. A preponderance
of fighting strength, relatively sixty
four points, represented by the battle
ships Kearsarge, Alabama and Mas
sachusetts, Scorpion and a torpedo
boat, had overhauled the forty-fiv
points, represented by the auxiliary
cruisers Prairie, Panther and Supply.
Destroyed theoretically.
To speak from a theoretic stand
point, the white squadron was entirely
destroyed by the guns of the defending
battleships. Thus on the fourth night
the game of naval strategy was
brought to an end, it having covered
a period of unceasing toll, sleepless
nights, anxious and wearing vigil and
grave uncertainty to its participants.
The destruction of the Pillsbury
squadron occurred at 5 40 o'clock this
morning at a point just within the
outer light of Gloucester harbor, not
more than eight miles sOutherly from
Thatcher's island, off which it had
been anchored since Wednesday, when
the war game was declared opened,
the three powerful battleships of the
blue squadron.
The surrounding and putting out
of action" of the squadron in command
of Commander Pillsbury was the cul-
minating incident in one of the most
Interesting chapters in the peace his
tory of the American navy. For the
placing in operation of the maneuVers
of the WarShipS off the coast of New
England, the navy had long prepared
Itself and had long looked forward to
them with keen anticipation. AS
planned by the naval authorities at
Washington, two sQuadrOnS were to
be put into the game, one of the blue
the defending fleet, and the other the
white, to be the hostile fleet bent upon
effecting an anchorage in some unpro-
tected harbor on the coast between
Cape Elizabeth and Cape Cod, opposed
all the time by the first named fleet.
This anchorage had to be maintained
against the defenders for a period of
six hours.
Points of Fighting Strength.
Commander Pillsbury's white SQUAD
ron consisted of the auxiliary cruisers
Prairie, the flagship, the Panther and
Supply. To each of the two former
boats were assigned twenty points of
fighting strength, while the Supply
was assumed to represent five points
Admiral Higginson's fleet was actually
superior in numbers and by the same
arrangements made as to the Pills
bury ships, it represented grand to-
tai of ninety-seven points of strength.
The Kearsarge, the Alabama and the
Massachusetts, battleships, were Civ
en- twenty each, the cruiser Brooklyn
and Olympia eight each, the Leyden
and Montgomery, Gloucester, May
flower and Scorpion three points each,
while a number of torpedo boats made
up the remaining numbers.
To win In the mimic war, the blue
squadron had to bring against the at
tacking vessels, as it did early today,
warShipS superior to their combined
assumed fighting power. Each side
had the right to capture individual
craft of the other fleet by overcoming
them in point of strength, and under
the rules of the game the captured
vessels were to retire altogether from
the field of action.
Coast Defense CreditabIe.
In the defeat of Pillsbury, the de-
fenSe, with three battleShipS, the Scor-
pion, and with a single torpedo boat,
had sixty-four points, so that the bal
ance was against the attacking squad
ron. Throughout the mimic war there
was placed in operation a system of
coast defense which was admittedly of
credit to those who engaged in it. The
problem was so complicated that on the
war vessels here tonight the week s
work is viewed with satisfaction for
the one reason, if no other, that the
squadron has had an invaluable prac-
tice.
The final event of these war moves
was the sequence of many compli-
eating developments. The capture
came at the end of a night filled with
rl1mors as to the location of the at
tacking squadron.
At $50 o'clock last night three bat
tIeships of the blue squadron got un-
der way in hurry and sailed to the
eastward The intention was to move
on to Portland and if that had been
carried out, Admiral Higginson, as it
later developed, had unconsciously
swung the balance of his fighting force
to that end of the coast line as Pills