The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-02-23

the departure of the fleet, was one which the President probably never will forget It set nerves tinghng with patriotic pride, for there Is no I more inspiring sight than long col umn of well drilled fighting ships. on either side of the incoming armada were gathered scores of excursion steamers which grew constantly thicker and thicker as the warships ploughed their way to home anchor | age. The excursion steamers. the tugs and the launches were keeping up continuing roar of salutes from their vari-toned whistles and the crowds | aboard, as well as the throng ashore, were cheering fin a chorus which car ried its welcome home far across the | waters to ears that had not heard so | sweet a sound fin all their forty-thou- | sand miles of cruising through the seven seas of the world.
 The Connecticut and all the ships in her furrowed wake. were dressed in cruising fashion for filing in review. At each masthead of the succeeding shfps, huge American flags stood out ' In the breeze. The Union Jack was | ahutter at each stem and stretching fags were In place at every lofty gaff It was not until the ships had come to anchor of the Old Point pier. hours later, that the rainbow dressing lines were strung from stem to stern across the mastheads and the ships took on the full dress which the presence of the President of the United States de- mands when ships are resting in port and which were hoisted as well to-day in honor of George Washington. | Majestically the Connecticut steAm- ed toward the Mayfiower, a seven mile line Of fighting vessels at her heels. Bugles aboard the flagship were call- I hn cnf nVx1 |, rtx.n to attention. In their natty uniforms Of blue. the sailors of the Connecticut were manning the rails "close aboard"
 Shoulder to shoulder they stood. stiffly at attention along the sides of the 16o00 tonned ship-an almost un- broken human line from forecastle to quarter deck.
 On the quarter deck. the marine guard was drawn up. Officers on the bridge and decks stood with swords drawn and in special full dress uni form.
 AS the brow of the Connecticut reached the bridge of the Mayfower. me band on board the flagship began to play the Star Spangled Banner !" Ihe President doffed his silk hat and stood at attention in salute to the flag. There were no cheers but a lump was Tn the throat of every one aboard the President's yacht and cheering would have been welcoming relief. As the last strains of the national anthem died away, the roar of another salute shook the ocean. this time it was the Connecticut alone that fred ship or beautiful lines. accentuated by the white and buff paint she is soon to lose, the Connecticut-probably the most famous flagship among the na- Yies of the world-never appeared to better advantage. Formidable. self-re- liant. fairly bristling with high-cali- bred guns. and withal as graceful and as immaculate as pampered yacht, she steamed by the Mayfiower. a splen-' did example of American naval archi- lecture.
 CIeanest Ship in Navy.
 In the wake of the Connecticut. with only 400 yards separating her bows from those of the flagship. came the | Kansas. the cleanest ship in the navy -the Kansas is counterpart of the Connecticut in every detail. AS she l passed, the same ceremonies set by the flagship were followed. The band played, the men manned the rails and as the saluting guns cleared the bridge | of the Mayfower, where the President stood. salute of twenty-one guns to the Presidents flag was fired. The Minnesota and the Vermont in turn, all sisters to the Connecticut, completed the passage of the first di- vision. The Vermont, in addition with her other flags. flew at the fore the beautiful trophy won last fall at the targets in Manila Bay.
 Right hundred yards separated the first and second divisions. As Rear Admiral Sperry, commander-in-chiefo of the fleet, had stood upon the after I bridge of the Connecticut, so stood Rear Admiral Richard Wainwright up- on the after-bridge of the Georgia. fla oohi nf hn mh hioh included also the battleships Nebras- ka, New Jersey and Rhode Island. Here again the wonderful homogenity of the fleet was strikingly illustrated.
 All four ships of the division are of exactly the same design.
 | Following the second division, which lcoppleted the first squadron, came the second squadron, composed of the third divisions, commanded by Admiral Schroeder.
 Admiral Schroeder's flag was flying by. He stood on the after-bridge of the Louisiana, a ship of the Connecti- cut class. The other three ships of the similar design, and the Virginia, which belongs to the Georgia class.
 The last of the returning ships pass ed with the fourth division. command ed by Rear Admiral William P. Pot ter, who sailed away as Lieutenant of | the vermont, anu EeluTHeu tOQdy WllIl his two-starred flag with the mainmast of the Wisconsin. After the Wiscop- sin steamed the Illinois, a sister ship, and last in the returning line as they were the last to leave, came the Ker- sarge and Kentucky, the oldest ships in the line.
 Appearing very war-like and grim In spite of the big fiuttering flags at her mastheads the Maine fin her new dress ing of gray, followed 800 yards in the
 wake of the Kentucky. She was en- titled to and received from the salut- ing excursion ships and the throngs aboard, all honors accorded the vessels
 of the home coming fleet.
 Rear Admiral Arnold. commanding the third squadron of the Atlantic fleet was on the bridge of the Maine. The Idaho the Mississippi and the New Hampshire, were the last of the
 battleships in line. and were followed
 by the impressive looking armoret cruisers North Carolina and Montana
 which took President-elect Taft and hi. party of engineers to Panama and back
 ad lastly by the rakish-l looking lit tie scout cruisers. Chester. Salem ant Birmingham. With scant 4.000 tons dis placement, but with horse power equa to that of the 160 900 tons of the Con necticut the scout cruisers have tht
 speed of the wind.
 The little tender Yankton. whicl preceded the fleet into Hampton Road . last Wednesday, and since that tim, } has gone to Washington to bring ran som of gold to pay off the officers anC
 men of the home coming vessels. me the battleships inside the Capes thii , morning and steamed proudly by tn,