The San Francisco call., 1906-07-08
BIC FLEET
MOBIL LIED
WITH SPEED
Only Twenty-F Four Hours Re-
quired by Ships of
Great Britain.
MANEUVERS BIG SUCCESS
All Plans Carried Out as
Though the. Country
Were at War.
MANEUVERS BIG SUCCESS
SPECIAL CABLE TO THE CALL.

oI i>OlAh CAbIE ~ LIE C<Al-A-.
LONDON. July british naval au
thorities express themselves as thor
oughly satisfied with the manner in
which the naval maneuvres were car
ried out In conversation with one Of
the officers who had been most closely
concerned in the work he said:
Whether considered as a test of
the fleet for sudden mobilization or for
the purpose of seeing whether naval
establishments could efficiently cope
with an unexpected call upon their re-
sources, or regarded as trial OF ar
rangements for defense at naval ports,
the results in every case have been
most gratifying
Everything has gone to prove that
the confidence of the nation in the
organization of the fleet does not rest
upon a 1limsy foundation, and that the
British people need have no apprehen-
sion lest the glorious traditions of the
navy should not be upheld.
.It may be mentioned that there
were one or two occurrences not in the
programme. Thus the Blue COM
mander was instructed that he might
attack at any hour after o'clock on
Tuesday morning, and 1t was assumed
that he would force the hands of the
Red commander by an act of war.
LAS matter of fact it was the Red
commander in chief Lord Charles
Beresford, who cruising off Malta, dis
covered a f1otilla of Blue torpedo boats
between his fleet and his base He
promptly put them out of action, and
thereby struck the first blow in the
war
Information of what he had done
reached the Admiralty just after mid
night between Wednesday and Thurs
day. and an order to mobilize, which
was Immediately dispatched to all the
ports, was received a few moments
after o'clock. and before 3 o'clock
the men were turned out of the naval
depots and marine barracks.
The mobilization machinery was in
motion and crews were being taken
off to their respective ships in gun
boats. launches and other small craft
before noon.
Many of the ships were ready for
sea, and by Thursday night all had
been mobiilized.
This mobilization was carried out
just in time, for at midnight, between
Thursday and Friday Sheerness and
Portsmouth were attacked by ffotillas
of destroyers from the Blue base at
Alderney, and on Friday night fur
ther attack was delivered at Devon
port.
so thoroughly, however, had the
defensive arrangements been carried
out that in every case the attack is
adjudged to have failed. The attack
ing vessels were detected by search
lights of the fortresses and were sub
jected to heavy gun fire from the de-
fenses ashore and afioat.
THE manner in which the arrange
ments were carried out at each port
for placing the harbor in state of
defense was very thorough Although
the booms designed to be laid across
the entrance to the inner harbors were
not placed in position. in order to
lessen interference with port traffic,
they were got out and made ready and
everything was prepared to place them
in position.
"All the small defensive craft.
scouts, destroyers and submarines,
were sent to their proper places to
patrol the approaches to the harbors
and announce the appearance of any of
the enemys ships Furthermore, all
vessels coming into port were sub
mitted to an examination SO that all
conditions that might prevail in case
of actual hostilities should be faith
| fully carried out.
And this was so not only with that
portion of defense under immediate
direction of the naval authorities, but
the military SdrrlSOHS nldHHeO lHelT
forts, remaining by their guns, ready
! for action, all night, and with their
.searchlights prepared for use, in case,
as actually happened, the enemy at
! tackled after dark.
I'm addition to the arrangements for
mobilizing the ships in reserve and
preparing for the defense of the port
preparations were made in dockyards,
| victualing yards,2 arsenals and hos
pitals for dealing with the inevitable
| results of a great naval engagement.
"At all the workshops and store de-
| pots everything was put in readiness
| to cope with a surprise call and pre-
parations were made so that the work
men could be relied upon to be on. the
spot at any hour, day or night, when
their services might be required. Any
vessel which would have been obliged
to put into dock for repairs would
have found men ready to do the neces-
] sary work
EASHIONARIES OF PARIS