Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1907-12-13
Is the Signal. HOisted on.
Evans / L Big B 9 Ships
Of War 4
Ready IgIIllI to Start on n Cruise
and n for ] Anything hin /! That
May Happen
Cruise Will Be No Jolly
Iunket But /. Full Of
Hard Work

p
final word ready Z, & was flashed from
every vessel In the battleship feet
today. IN its last analysis this signal
meant that sixteensof the most pow
erful battleships Of the American
navy were ready not only to start
next Monday morning on their pro-
jected cruise to the western seas, but,
are just as ready to go anywhere In
I the twin hemisph OF the world
and do any Work.
Now that all is ready, the officers
and men alike are anxious to get.
away. The tour is to be anything but
a junket and it means long hours
and hard work for everybody in the
feet.
The orders and published itinerary
offer little prospect for entertain.
ment or amusement enfoute. al Sea
duty, drills and target practice are
i the outstanding features Of the trip
through the Magellan straits to the
sand dunes and Indian huts Of Mag
da1ena bay. 5
One OF the points OF complete
4 readiness marking the present status
\ of the feet is to be found In the
chart houses Of the navigating Of.
ficers When the feet was first or
dered to prepare for the Pacific voy-
age the navigators Of each ship were
! supplied with specially prepared
charts leading donW the south At
lantic coast through the treacherous
water Of Magellan straits and along
the Pacific coast to San francisco,
Several weeks ago these charts were
supplemented by others showing the
way to Manila. Then more recently
have come lately eyised charts capa-
Bile of guiding the feet all the way
to Gibraltar. 8
The furnishing Of these charts has
6 given rise to gossip that the fleet is
destined eventually to circle the
globe and that there may be some
thing more beyond Magdalena bay
and San Francisco.
The ordnance officers attached to
the sixteen ships have probably ac-
complisheds the most diffieult. duties
In preparing for the cruise. They
( have had to see to the storage Of
more than 2, 600 900 pounds Of amaa
munitionS in carefully protected mag
azines, and to the installation Of the
new anu secret Are control system.
Armor-p iercing projectiles filled
with explosive p, said to be the most
powerful and effective Of all secret
formulas in the possession of the
II #navy's experts, have been placed
aboard the ships and vast supplies of
81 smokeless powder charges have been
slowed away under the double pro
lection Of silken bags and copper
lined cylindrical tanks, s8
The fire control, W h1ch has peen IN
stalled on the ships, is 4 visual and
audible system of directing the fire
of all the guns In the FIRST and see
ondary batteries. From the forward
lighting top the ordnance officer Of
the ship, BY Squeezing 4 bulb gives
buzzing signal to each gun crew
- -. +.
whose pier he wishes brought into ac'
tion, the range Of the enemy is also
dashed upon an indicator. The sys,
tenn was recently tried by The Mains
~ at target practice and 9 broadside
was iiered with the roar Of sigma
gun. The rapidity Of the American
gunner Is such that the entire supply
Of ammunition carried by the larger
ships would be exhausted in from
twenty to twenty ave minutes.