The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-07-06

 NsREADINESS WIZ Proceed to the :. Pacific Coast. EVANS WILL BE IN COMMAND Looks Like War, Despite All
 Denials. Fleet is Being Concentrated and Will be Composed of sixteen Bat
 tie ships and Five Pro-
 tected Cruisers.
EVANS WILL BE IN COMMAND

Washington. July 5-Details of the l vast movement of the Atlantic fleet to Pacific waters have been theoretical ly worked out weeks in advance by the naval board. But these details neces- sarily are subject to constant change | owing to the withdrawal of battle ships from active commission owing to having been declared antiquated, or in need of repairs. and the substi- tuition of other ships just going into commission and fresh fom the builders hands.
 There is in the navy department today. scarcely any one authorized to afford any Information as to the contemplat- | ed fleet movement. Secretary Metcalf is in California, Assistant Secretary Newberry Is at watch Hill. R. l.. Admiral Brownson. the chief of the | navigation bureau has gone to New York and the, acting secretary of the navy today is Rear Admiral Mason. chief of the bureau of ordnance.
 The opinion of the officers on duty today is that but one route Is feasible for the big ships, and that Is by way of the straits of Magellan. The route | from New York across the Atlantic and through the Mediterranean and the Suez canal issopen to the obejction that | it would bring the big ships almost into Japanese waters and the move- ment might consequently be regarded as a menance. which Secretary Metcalf has stated has never been contem- plated.
 1 The Suez route too Is longer by a thousand miles than the Magellan route. This. according to the best calculations and allowing for short visits to ports. not on the nearest sail- ing route. is about 1s.ooo miles in length. The battleship Oregon cover ed the distance from San Francisco to Jupiter Inlet. Florida in 1898 in 6s days. But she was handicapped by the company of the little gunboat Marietta which scarcely able to make more than knots per hour in the heavy seas of the South Pacific and also by the fact that as a precautionary measure the oregon was sent around the West Indies, sensibly lengthening her route. So the opinion now is under ordinary I cruising seass which for the big battle ships. mean about 10 or l2 Knots an I hour and allowing a reasonable time for coming en route. the Atlantic fleet can make the passage from New York to San Francisco in less than sixty days.
 Evans in Command.
 It Is conceded that Rear Admiral Robley D. Evans will command the fleet in this great movement. He already has had an extended period of sea service In command rank--lonEer perhaps than any other admiral in recent years-but 1t Is known by his friends that he would like to wind up his active career by safely conducting around the American continent the greatest fleet of warships ever gotten together in. these waters and there is no disposition on the part of the of- ficials of the department who have implicit confidence in his ability to deny the officer this request.
 It Is believed now that the sailing route of the ships will be about as follows:
 Sailing Route.
 Leaving New York or Hampton Roads. just which point has not been decided, from the early fall, the bat heships would probably steam straight to Culebra, where coal would be taken on. The next stop will be Rio de Ja- neiro and from that point the vessels 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 Callao to Panama and from that point the ships would proceed without stop from Callao to San Francisco. It Is believed that after reaching Peruvian waters the movement of the vessel will be much more deliberate than up to that point Although the reason for this statement is not officially obtain able 1t is apparent that the explana- toin Is to be found in the fact that the battleships will be in easy reach of San Francisco; in other words, they could in an emergency arrive at that port before any other fleet could.
 Naturally the question of coaling the fleet is a very serious one. Two meth | e ID the plans of the general board and it Is not possible at this moment to say which will be finally selected. NThe first Is to send with the battleships a sufficient number of colliers. In this case a fleet of no less than twenty colliers will be necessary because something like 77 000 tons of coal will be burned on this cruise. In the sec ond case the plans proyils great free use of merchantable coal along the route. Under the latter plan it Is probable that the five colliers already attached to the Atlantic fleet will be sent forward to Sandy Point. Coal at that point is not only scarce but 1t is extremely bad, at times selling at $14 a ton as against s coal which the col Hers would carry.
 Sixteen BattIeships.
 Admiral Evans, will. 1t Is expected, start out with sixteen battleships be- i sides the collters, which 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 refitted to pro- ceed to the Pacific coast to form part of an armored cruiser squadron to be assembled there. 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 Nebraska, newly commissioned. The battleship Wisconsin, now at Bremerton navy yard, Puget Sound, may be added which will then comprise nineteen bat tleships besides the armored and pro tected cruisers of the Pacific fleet.
 Competition of Fleet.
 The composition of the fleet today Is as follows:
 1 Rattleships: