The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1907-07-06
EVAiS TO COMMAND
Fighting Bob Will Take Bat
ileships to the Pacific.
WILL. GO AROUND CAPE HORN

serhied Expected to Leave the At.
laatio ccaet Early In the Fall, Reach
Ing 5ar Francisco in Sixty Days.
Washington, July "Details of the
vast movement OF the Atlantic fleet
to Pacific waters have been theoret-
Icaiiy worked out weeks In advance
by the naval general board. But these
details are necessarily subject to con-
stant che ee resulting from the with
drawal OF battleships from active
commission on account Of having been
declared antiqEated or In need Of re-
pairs and the substitution of other
ships Just going into commission and
fresh from the builders hands. In
the opinion of officials here the only
route feasible for the big ships is by
way Of the straits of Magellan. trip
Of 10000 miles. Allowing reason
able time for coaling en- route the At
lantic feet can make the passage
from New York to San Francisco in
less than sixty days.
II is conceded that Rear Admiral
Roblay n. Evans will command ths
feet In this great movement. He al,
ready has had an extended period of
sea service in command rank and II
Is known by his friends that he would
like to wind up his active career by
safely conducting around the Amer
lean continent the greatest fleet OF
warships ever gotten together.
Admiral Evans will, it Is expected,
start cut with sixteen battleships. be-
sides twenty coiliers, which will move
more or less independently and, in
deed, will precede him considerably.
TIE armored cruisers Washington and
Tennessee, which ere now in French
waters, are under orders to return to
the United States and after refittfng to
proceed to the Pacific coast to form q
part of an armored cruiser squadron
TO be assembled there. 1t Is possible
that they will be detained and
Accompany the Batteships.
When Admiral Evans arrives OF the
Pacific coast his fleet will be In
creased by the addition Of the battle
ship Nebraska, newly commissioned
and simply awaiting the rounding out
of her skeleton crew. The battleships
Wisconsin and Oregon, now at Bremen
ton navyyard, Puget sound, will prob
ably have completed their extensive
repairs by next March SO that they too
may be added to the feet, which will
then comprise nineteen battleships,
besides the armored and protected
cruisers OF the Pacific fleet
Il is believed now that the sailing
ro@le OF the ships will be about as
follows: Leaving New York or Hamp-
ton Roads in the early fall the battle
ships would probably steam straight
to Culebra, where coal would be taken
IN. The next stop will be Rio de
Janeiro and from that point the YES
sells would not halt until they reached
Sandy Point, In the straits OF Magel-
Ian. Here again the coal supply
would be replenished for the run to
Callao, Peru The next stage would
be from Cal,ao to Panama and from
that point the ships would proceed
without stop to San Francisco. After
reaching Peruvian waters the move
ments of the vessels will be more de-
liberate. Although the reason for
this statement Is not officially obtain.
able it is apparent that the explana-
tion is to be found In the fact that the
battleships will be within easy reach.
Of San Francisco, In other words they
could In an emergency arrive at that
port before any other fleet could