Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-05-31
GREAT SEA RACE
SECOND FLOTILLA TO ENTER A
REMARKABLE SPEED TEST.

NEW YORK, May 31.-Vesse,s coming
along the Atlantic coast next Thursday are
likely to catch fleeing glimpses of one of
the most remarkable races ever run in those
or any other waters.
Driven to their topmost speed, under full
service conditions, with forced draft under
all four of their powerful boilers, the six
big torpedo-bOat destroyers comprising the
second destroyer fiotila, attached to Rear
Admiral Evans North Atlantic squadron.
will try conclusions over a race course 24O
miles long, beginning off the Scotland light
ship and ending at the Cape Charles light
ship, off the Virginia coast.
Snugly berthed side by side with the
cruiser Newark, at the foot of West 10Th
street lie the destroyers of the second flo
tilla their officers and crews already MAX
ing ready for the severe test. They are
the Whpple, the Truxtun, the Worden,
the Stewart, the Hopkins and the Hull.
Lieut.. Commander +. \. Anderson is in
command Of the fiotilla. They will move
out into the river on the afternoon of next
"Wednesday and at o'clock Thursday
morning will begin their cruise back to
Hampton roads. When off Scotland light
ship the six fleet rivals will line up and
the race for Virginia will begin.
Will Use All Their Power.
Under ordinary cruising conditions vessels
their four boilers On the run south each
will have her four boilers all in commits
sion. All six of the destroyers were de-
signed to show 5000 horse power, and al
though the six represent three different
types of construction their differences are
not sufficiently radical to prevent them
from being fairly well matched in SO long
a continuous run The TruXton, the Whip
pie and the Worden are of one type, and
are somewhat longer than the Hull and
the Hopkins, which are sister vessels, and
have greater beam in proportion to their
length than have the deStroyers of the
Truxton type. The Stewart differs from
the other five in having fiat deck for
ward instead of a turtleback.
navy, officially speaking, do not indulge in
steaming races one with another. They
are only speed runs under strict service
conditions but the fact remains that when
tests of this kinds are ordered it,~is eX
pected that the men of each vessel will
spare no effort to be first at the goal. and
they enter so heartily into the spirit of
the competition that the result of next
Thursdays test is likely to be the most
spirited kind of a race.
Largest Flotilla on Record.
The second fotilla is the largest in point
of number, displacement and power ever
assembled in the United States navy. No
speed trial of any such distance has ever
been attempted before between many
well matched destroyers, either in the
American or any other navy. The longest
run of the kind heretofore is said to have
lasted eight hours.
officers of the fiotilla yesterday were reti
cent as to what speed would probably be
made. But the consensus Of opinion APP
peared to be that, barring accidents, the
Worden ought to win, for the very inn
portant reason that she is the only craft
in the fiotilla which has been recently
cleaned.
When new the Stewart was credited with
being the fastest of the lot, as she could
easily develop from twenty-eight to twenty
nine knots hour