Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1907-12-13
Great Battleship Fleet
Completes Preparations
for Pacific Cruise.
SIGNAL is FLASHED
Serious Problem of Storing All
Necessary Supplies Salts
factoriIy Solved.

Old Point Comfort, Va, Dec. 13.-l
Ready was flashed from every YES |
sci in the battleship fleet yesterday. |
The signal means that the 16 most |
powerful armorclads of the American |
navy are not only prepared to start |
Monday morning on their projected |
cruise to the western seas. but are
just as ready to go anywhere in the |
world and TO face any task If the |
ships were destined for immediate
conflict little could be done to make |
them ready for the fray.
Enthusiasm Absent.
Now that all is ready, officers and
men alike are anxious to get away.
though the tour is to be anything but
a Junket and it means long hours and
hard work for everybody in the fleet.
There is an absence of enthusiasm,
but a manifest atmosphere of serious
devotion to duty surrounding the de-
parture. The orders and the publish
ed itinerary offer little prospect of en-
Itertainment or amusement en- route
Sea duty, drills and target practice
are the outstanding features of the
trip through Magellan straits to the
sand dunes and Indian huts of Mag
ldalena bay.
| May Circle the Globe.
One point of readiness marking the
status of the fleet is to be found in
the chart houses of the navigating Of
ficers. When first ordered to prepare
for the Pacific voyage the navigators
of each ship were supplied with spe-
cially prepared charts of -the->soatr'
Atlantic coast leading through the
treacherous water of the straits and
along the Pacific coast to San Fran
cisco. Several weeks ago these charts
were supplemented by others show
ing the way to Manila. Then more re-
cently have come lately revised charts
capable of guiding the fleet all the
, way to Gibraltar. The furnishing of
those charts has given rise to gossip
! that the fleet is destined eventually
E to circle the globe.
Task for Ordnance Men.
Ordnance officers attached to the 16
!, ships have probably accomplished the
= most difficult duties in preparation.
They have had to see to the storage
:, of more than 100000 pounds of am
l munition in the carefully protected
/ magazines and to the installation of a
new and secret fire control system.
The magazines recently were emp
tied of all old powder and shell. to
, make room for a supply fresh from
! the naval arsenals Armor piercing
lprojectiles filled with explosive d,
said to be the most powerful and eff
Elective of all the secret formulas in
= the possession of the navy's experts
have been placed aboard the ships
and vast supplies of smokeless powder
= charges have been slowed away un.
a der the double protection of silken
# bags and copper lined cylindrical
r tanks. Extra gears for the big guns
have also been taken aboard several
-elof the ships
l. Guncotton i'm Officers Quarters.
= One of the greatest problems which
= confronted ordnance experts had to dc
/ with the storage of the heavy charges
u of guncotton taken to- load the score
te of harbor mines which each battleshir
II carries. The solution has been founo
IN in the distribution of the deadly ex
,e plosive in small portions Throughout
the officers quarters. Little wooder
= boxes, Is inches long and six inches il
:, depth and breadth, containing severa
bottles of guncotton have been PLACED
about five feet apart in the wardroon
and steerage dining rooms and ever
in the officers staterooms. The effor
has been to keep the delicate explosiv
as far as possible from the magazine
and from the shock of the big guns
At the same time it is believed tha
the system adopted is such that shoul
one portion of the guncotton accider
tally explode it would not set off tn
|, general supply.
New Fire Control Effective.
II The fire control which has been il
| stalled on the ships is azlvisual an
! audible system of directing the fire G
) all guns in the first and secondar
batteries From the forward fightin
top the ordnance officer by squeezin
5 a bulb gives buzzing signal to eac
: gun crew whose piece he wishe
$ | brought into action. The range of tn
, enemy is also flashed upon an iId
S Gator. The system was recently trie
/ by the Maine at target practice. an
a broadside was fired with the roar (
Il single gun. The rapidity OF Amer