The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-02-23

Southern hemlspheres; four times you have crossed the line; you have steamed through all the great oceans; you have touched the coast of every continent. Ever your general course has been westward; and now you come back to the port from which you set sal. This is the first battle fleet that has over cir- cumnavigated the globe. Those who perform the feat again can but follow in your footsteps.
 "hTe little torpedo hotilla went with you around South America. through the straits of Magellan. to our own Pa cifc Coast The armored cruiser squadron met you, and left you again, when you were half way around the world. You have falsifed every pre- diction of the prophets of failure. In all your long cruise. not an accident worthy of mention has happened to single battleship, nor yet to the cruis- CTS or torpedo boats. You left this coast in a high state of battle effi- ciency, and you return with your efh- ciency increased; better prepared than when you left, not only in personnel, but even in material During your world cruise you have taken your reg | ular gunnery practice. and skilled | though you were before with the guns. you have grown more skillfuf still; and through practice you have impfoved In | battle tactics, though here there Is more room for improvement than in your gunnery. Incidentally, I suppose, need hardly say that one measure of your fitness must be your clear recog- milton of the need always steadily to l strive to render yourselves more fit: If you ever grow to think that you are l fit enough, you can make up your | minds that from that moment you will begin to go, backwards.
 As a war machine the fleet comes back in better shape than 1t went out. In addition, you, the officers and men of this formidable fighting force. have shown yourselves the best of all pos- sible ambassadors and heraIds of peace | Wherever you have landed, you have 1 borne yourselves so as to make us at home proud of being your countrymen. You have shown that the best type Of | fighting man of the sea knows how to 1 appear to the utmost possible advant- age when his business is to behave himself on shore. and to make a good | impression in a foreign land.
 We are proud of all the ships and all the men in this whole fleet. and we | welcome you home to the country whose 1 good repute among nations has been raised by what you have done.
 Thrilling Beauty.
 The boom of the sunrise gun echoing | over the most of picturesque old Fort l ress Monroe marked the beginning of a day that added another chapter of l thrilling beauty and interest to the historic waters of Hampton Roads, first made famous by the battle of the Mon- | itor and the Merrimac.
 It required vivid imagination to | look back over a span of forty odd | years to picture the fury of that dead | ly conflict between the two first from Rclads of their way and to compare their | tiny strength with a modern battleship of the class of the Connecticut.
 In the battleship and cruiser squad rons that filed by the Mayfiower. today and saluted the Presidents flag at the main of the graceful little cruiser yacht, there were represented 2O,490 tons of water displacement. Every battleship in commission in the navy had place in the long line. There were twenty of the heavily belted ves- sels, fifteen being among the original sixteen that sailed away fourteen months ago. The only vessel missing l in the line today was the Alabama. | She came home with the Maine last l October and both of these ships had the distinction of going all around the the fleet itself. The Maine served to- day as flagship of the squadron of ves- sells sent to meet the incoming fleet and as the wireless dispatches already have told, she was greeted at sea with l all the enthusiasm of an old friend | The Alabama is in reserve at the New l York navy yard.
 The strangers in the fleet today were | the Nebraska and the Wisconsin, both built In the Pacific and today making their first appearance in an Atlantic port. The battleship fleet and it's es. corting squadron of four battleships l and five cruisers arrived at the South $ ern ocean drill grounds, fifty miles of the Virginia capes yesterday, and while there made ready for today's re- l view and inspection.
 The news that the fleet was almost | within sight of the shore caused in- tense excitement in all the cities bor- dering on Hampton Roads and at the l first streaks of the coming day resi- | dents of Norfolk, Newport News Hamp- | ton and other nearby places, began to l make their way to points of vantage along the borders of the ocean or bay
 The battleships picked up their reg ular cruising speed of ten knots an hour early this morning after a nighs of comparative rest. Brass work was polished to degree of uneaualled bril- lance and wherever paint work had been marred on the Journey home fresh coats of white and buff applied | to sides and superstructure made the ships as immaculate as they were on that beautiful day in December. 1907 when they sailed away on a cruise that was to set a new mark for the navies of the world.
 Cerem0niOus Greeting.
 When the battleships pointed their prows at daylight for the gateway oi the Roads, the Mayiower, with the President and his party on board, was steaming down Chesapeake Bay to ths anchorage ground at the Tail of the Horse Shoe" today with their splendid record of achievements and victories o1 peace behind them. the sixteen battle. ships came home to welcome and tt a ceremonious greeting which could hardly have been more jubilant an6 sincere if the fleet were returning vic. toriously from some famous battl, ground. The President addressed not only the officers of the fleet gathered upon the quarter deck of the Mayfiow. CT. but he visited as well the four di
 visional fiagships- and there he ad- dressed the crews in terms of enthu
 siastic compliments. As it was i'm
 possible for MT. Roosevelt to visit eacl of the sixteen returning vessels repre-
 sentatives of the men from each ship fl
 the four divisions were gathered upor the fiagships and they In turn took tn.
 Presidents greetings to their ship
 mates.
 The Mayfiower had not long lain a
 anchor when the tracings of smoke or
 the horizon told of the approach of tn,
 fleet and soon the mastheads of tn,
 Connecticut could be picked up witt
 glasses through the wide swung capes
 Then the white hull of the famous flag
 ship flashed into view. Out of the dist