New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1908-04-01


Roads. holding the fleet formation all
the way and making the 1900 mile
itinerary in schedule time.
Here is the problem: Sixteen battle
ships of five classes and as many sizes,
speeds and equipments, were suddenly
called upon to get ready for sea- M ost
of them were preparing for fall target
practice and had been looking forward
to the winter West Indian cruise. Most
of them had their systems of internal
communication vet to install. Under
these conditions they left for sea with
many various and important parts un-
completed. A good deal of this work
they finished during the cruise by their
own men in addition to the hundred
other duties. To take this fleet around
was the duty of some hundreds Of
officers, young and old, experienced
and otherwise, and 1900 men. of
whom half probably had never before
been to sea.
For eight weeks this feet proceeded
in formation which allowed only 25O
yards of clear water between the stern
Of one ship and the bow of the next
behind, all this time steaming at TO-,
IL or II knots an hour except on rare
occasions, when they slowed down for
some extraordinary reason, and then
only for the shortest time And that
250 yards interval had to be preserv-
ed at all hazards, for if the officer of
the deck allowed a ship to fall more
than forty yards out of position he
was compelled by the commander in
chiefs order to hoist an Indicating
pennant, which of course no officer
cared to do if he could avoid it.
Now, it did not matter whether it
was night or day, clear weather or
foul, that close interval had to be
maintained
The passage of the Magellan strait,
of the perils of which so much has
been said, was made by the feet at
regulation speed at regulation inter-
walls. The worst part of that passage,
making from the strait into the Pa
cif1c, was made at night in the usual
formation in fog and at 10 knots
an hour without one ship for a single
instant endangering the safety of the
next in line
Another thing, this feet impressed
as no one thing ever did before upon
the minds of the people of the South
American republics the military power
of the United States. This is the case
at Trinidad, Rio de Janeiro, Punta Are
mas and Callao. AT Valparaiso the
feet had not arranged to stop, but the
people We're treated to as grand a dis
play as any of the more favored ports.
They We're steamed in one side of the
harbor, across the water front and out
the other side, while 100000 people
gathered from the various parts of
Chile stood and watched No less
than the size and power of the feet
did the behavior of our sailors ashore
leave their impression upon the South
American people.
At every port the men were given
liberty. At no port did they reflect
anything but credit upon the service
and the nation. They were clean, we'll
set, intelligent looking, Well behaved
young fellows, three; or four thousand
Of them some days making the rounds
OF the shops, museums, anything, any
place that would interest the young
fellow eager to see the world And
among all these thousands so few Of
them played the rowdy that we all had
to feel proud of them.
'sThe United States must be a great
and good nation they said every
where, IF these are their young sail
ors'
The Monroe doctrine became to them
much more palpable because of the
impression made by our officers and
men. Undoubtedly we will have to in
terfere or at least be asked to inter-
fere for generations yet in South Amer
lean political affairs, and because Of
this cruise these southern people will
appeal to US with more force.
This great feet of ours in it's per-
sonnet and material is unquestionab bly,
the highest class afloat Its great
cruise just finished has furnished an
other concrete illustration of American
SiASiCAIleSy .55gS5i y ndo idiseu LIE SldAudIu
of military efficiency for the fleets Of
the world. 1t is the greatest naval
cruise of the history of the world. and
at no time could it have failed to make
faster schedule
Thus on the last leg from Callao to
Magdalena bay no trouble was expe-
rienced in beating the schedule by two
days, and even at that the fleet could
have come several knots faster. It
must also be remembered that during
all this while all branches of the serv-
ice were keyed up to the same high de-
gree OF efficiency.