The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-07-06
Fleet of Sixteen Vessels Will Sail
 for San Francisco
FINAL PLANS BEING MADE
The Voyage Will Require About Sixty Days Around the Horn-Assign- ment of Vessels and the
 Commanders.

Washington, July 5-Details of the vast
 movement of the Atlantic fleet to Pacific 1 waters have been theoretically worked out
 weeks in advance by the naval general l board But these details are necessarily l subject to constant change reaching from l the withdrawals of battieships in active
 command on account of having been de- i clared antquated or in need of repairs. l and the substitutons of other ships just l going into commission and fresh from. the l builders hands. There is in the navy l department today scarcely anyone author l ized to afford any information to the
 contemplated fleet movement. Secretary 1 Metcalf is in California Assistant Secre-
 tary Newberry Is at Watch Hill, R. l.; 1 Admiral Brownson, the chief of the navi~ ] gation bureau, has gone to New York, and the acting secretary of the navy to- l day is Rear Admiral Mason, chief of the l bureau of ordnance.
 The opinion of the officers on duty to-
 day is that but one route is feasible for 1 the big ships, and that is by way of 1 the Straits of Magellon. The route from l New York across the Atlantic and through l the Mediterranean and the Suez canal is l open to the objection that 1t would bring l the big ships almost into Japanese waters,
 and the movement might consequently be regarded as menace which Secretary 1 Metcalf has stated has never been con- l templa ted. The Suez route, too, is longer | by thousand miles than the Magellon l route This, according to the best call | culations and allowing for short visits to
 ports not on the nearest sailing route, is 1 about 13,0O0 miles in length.
 BattIeship Oregon.
 l The battleship Oregon covered the dis | tance from San Francesca to Jupiter inlet, 1 ..i iIa fs, in GiS fl 1 she was handicapped by the company of l the little bunboat Marietta, which was scarcely able to make more than eight 1 knots per hour in the heavy seas of the l South Pacific, and also by the fact that as l a precautionary measure the Oregon was l sent around the West Indies, thus length ering her route. So the opinion now is, under ordinary cruising seas, which sor
 the big battleships means about ten or l twelve knots an hour, and allowing 1 reasonable time for coaling en route, the
 Atlantic fleet can make the passage from | New York to San Francisco in less than sixty days.
 It is conceded that Rear Admiral Rob | ley D. Evans will command the fleet in l this great movement He already has
 had an extended period of sea service in | command rank, longer, perhaps, than any other admiral in recent years, but it is l known by his friends that he would like l to wind up his active career by safely 1 conducting around the American continent | the greatest fleet of warships ever gotten | together in those waters, and there Is no l disposition on the part of the officials of
 the department. who have implicit conf- dence in his ability, to deny the officer l this request.
 The Sailing Route.
 It is believed now that the sailing route | oI the ships will be about as follows: Leaving New York, or Hampton Roads, | just which poin. has not been decided, in
 the early fall, the attleships would prob l ably steam straight to Culebra where | coal wt uld be taken on. The next stop will be Rio De Janeiro, and from that 1 oint the vessels would not halt until they reached Sandy Points, in the Straits of i Magellan. Here, again the coal supply would be replenshed for the run to Cal l lao, Peru. The next stage would be
 ron Callao to Panama and from that l point the ships would proceed without a | stop Io San Francisco. It is believed that | after re eaching Peruvian waters the move 1 ments of the vessels would be much more | deliberate than up to that point. AL | though the reason for this statement Is
 not officially obtainable, 1t Is apparent
 that the explanation is to be found in
 the fact that the battleships will be with | in easy reach of S1n F'rancisco in other | | rive at that port before any other fleet
 could
 | Naturally, the question of coaling the 1 fleet Is very serious one. Two methods
 of doing this has been provided for in ] the plans of the general board, and 1t is | not possible at this moment to say which
 will be finally selected The first is 70
 send with the battleships z sufficient num- | Der of colleries. In this case fleet of | no less than twenty coleries will be nec- essary, because something like 770OO tons
 of coal will be burned on this cruise.
 MerchantabIe Coal.
 In the second case the plans provide | great free use of merchantable coal along | ths route Under the latter plan it is | probably that the five colleries already
 attached to the Atlantic fleet will be sent
 forward to Sandy Point. Coal at that | point IS not only scarce but it is extreme
 ly bad at times selling at s14 a ton as
 against B coal which the colleries would | carry.
 Admiral Evans will, it is expected, start l ou. with sixteen battleships, besides the
 colleries. which will move more or less
 independently and indeed will probably | precede him considerably The armored | cruisers Washington and Tennessee which | are now in French waters. are under
 orders to return to the United States and after refitting to proceed to the Pa | cifc coast to form part of armored
 cruiser squadron to be assembled there l It Is possible that they will be detained
 and accompany the battleships on the
 cruise. When Admiral Evans arrives off
 the Pacific coast his fleet will be increased
 by the addition of the battleship Nebras-
 ka newly commissioned. The battleships
 Wisconsin and Oregon, now at Bremen
 ton navy yard. Puget Sound, may be
 added to the feet which will then com | prise nineteen battleships, besides the l armored and protected cruisers of the
 Pacific fleet
 Composition of Fleet.
 The composition of the fleet today Is | as follows:
 Batteships: Connecticut, Capt Hugo l Osterhaus commanding; tonnage, 160OO; | guns, 24; sped IS knots Maine, Capt Nathan Niels;. tonnage, 12,- | 50O; guns, 20; speed, IS knots.
 l Louisiana, Capt. Greenlief Merriam; 1 tonnage, 125oO; guns, 20; speed IS knots. | Virginia, Capt. Schroeder; tonnage, 14,- | 94S: guns, 24 speed 19 knots.
 | Georgia, Capt. Henry McCroa. tonnage. 14.s4s; guns. 24; speed, 1s knots.
 New Jersey, Capt William Kimbau: