Los Angeles herald., 1908-04-23
MOSQUITO FLEET
MAY DROP ANCHOR
TORPEDO BOAT DESTR0YERS
ON WAY NORTH
STOP AT SAN PEDRO LAST OF
NEXT WEEK
Second FlotilIa, Which Followed Bat
tIeships Around the Horn, Has
Story to TelI-its
Members

If the expectations of naval Officers
are borne out the fleet week. may be
extended another week. Not that the
big sixteen will remain here, but thai
new f1eet-the second torpedo fiotilla
will take its place at San Pedro when
the Connecticut and the other battle
ships leave.
Every hour San Diego is expecting
the arrival of the mosquitoes, as they
are scheduled to appear there and take
on supplies which have been purchased
for them by Lieut. Frank E. Mcmillan
of the navy purchasing department
Lieut.. Mcmillan knows nothing more
of the little fleet than that 1t Is due
April "a from Magdalena bay, where
it has been enjoying torpedo practice
and missing the fetes that have sur
feited the battleships.
The mosquito fleet is in command
of Lieut.. H. L. Cone and includes six
torpedo boat destroyers and the supply
ship Arethusa. 1t has followed the big
fleet step by step from Hampton Roads
and has been shooting at the floating
targets in Magdalena bay since April
5. AS it is not equipped with high
power wireless it has been out of the
zone of communication since the bat
tleship fleet left April IL.
In San Pedro Harbor
The belief is general that the little
fleet will drop in San Pedro harbor
after it takes on supplies at San Diego
and that the stay will be for several
days. Its orders are not known and it
might be that the stay would be for
a day only, as the flotilla is to par
ticipate in the San Francisco exercises
May 6.
But this elimination of the cruise is
far enough distant for the f1otilla to
make more than a casual visit, as the
destroyers have a cruising speed of
seventeen knots and could make the
Golden Gate easily.
Stories of the cruise of this hotilla
around the Horn have not burdened
the wires or mails. 1t has been the
forgotten part of the cruise and when
it touches American soil again 1t Will
have it's own story to tell. 1t may be
q story as interesting as that of the
saucy little Yankton. formerly the j.
Pierpont Morgan yacht Corsair, which
he gave to the government during the
Spanish war. She had dreadful time
in the semi antarctic latitudes and was
lost from the big ships several times,
once for several days. But she always
managed to stick it out and regain her
place in the column.
A Fleet of Itself
The fotilla has its own neet Or
ganization and is known as the second
torpedo flotilla attached to the Atlantic
fleet. 1t includes the Whipple, Hop
kins, Hull, Stewart. Lawrence and
Truxtun and their supply ship Are
thusa. That these small craft, so use
full in war, are capable Of long, dam
gerous trips with safety was demon
strated by Lieut. Com. l.. H. Chandler.
who is now flag officer of Admiral
Thomas ON the Connecticut. In 1908
Chandler took a flotilla Of destroyers
from Hampton Roads to Manila, dis
tance of 1880 miles, with ease and
dispatch. On that cruise Lieut.. Cone,
who is now in command, commanded
the destroyer Dale.
Additional interest attaches to the
little fleet because it is not scheduled
to make the transpacific trip, but is to
remain on this coast indefinitely
The Six Destroyers
The fleet and it's character are as
follows:
Whipple-Torpedo boat destroyer, 24S
feet long, 439 tons, $500 horse power,
twin screws, two 18-inch Whitehead
torpedo tubes, eight guns under -FOUR