The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-02-23

either side of the incoming armada were gathered scores of excursion steamers which grew constantly thicker and thick CT as the warships ploughed through waves to a home anchorage. The excur- sion steamers, the tugs and the launches were keeping up a continuing roar of salutes from their vari-toned whistles.
 Filing In Review.
 The Connecticut and all the ships in her furrowed wake were dressed in eruis- ing fashion for filing In review. At each masthead of the succeeding ship huge American flags stood out in the breeze. The Union Jack was afutter at each stem and streaming flags were in place at every lofty gaff
 It was not until the ships had come to anchor off 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 Presi- dent of the United States, and which were hoisted as well today in honor of George Washington. Majestically the Connecticut steamed toward the May flower, a seven mile line of fighting yes sels at her heels. Bugles aboard the flagship were calling the sailors and the marine guard to attention. In their natty uniforms of blue the sailors of the Con necticut were manning the rails "close aboard"
 Shoulder to shoulder they stood. stiffly at attention along the sides of the 16,0O0- ton ship, an almost unbroken human line from forecaste to quarterback.
 On the quarterback the marine guard was drawn up. Officers on the bridge and decks stood with swords drawn and in special full dress uniform.
 Salutng the Flag. ba y,rot,y of tha Coppaefjcut Yaaabad the bridge of the Maynower the band on board the flagship began to play the Star Spangled Banner" The President doffed his silk hat and stood at attention in salute to the flag. There were no cheers, but a lump was in the throat of every one aboard the Presidents yacht, and cheers would have been a welcome relief. As the last strains of the national anthem died away the roar of another sa- lute shook the air. This time 1t was the Connecticut alone that fired. A ship of beautiful lines. accentuated by the white and buff paint she is soon to lose, the Connecticut, probably the most famous flagship among the navies of the world, never appeared to better advantage. For midable. self-radiant, fairly bristling with ! high-calibred guns, and as graceful and as immaculate as pampered yacht, she steamed by the Maydower, splendid example of American naval architecture. In the wage 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 Kan sas Is counterpart of the Connecticut in every detail. As she passed the same ceremonies set by the flagship were fol- lowed. 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 21 guns to PraSiHnnftS
 First Division Passes.
 The Minnesota and Vermont in turn, all sisters to the Connecticut completed the passage of the first division. The Vermont, in addition with her other flags flew at the fore the battle trophy won last fall at the targets in Manila bay
 Eight hundred yards separated the first and second divisions. As Rear Admiral Sperry, commander in chief of the feet had stood upon the afterbridge of the Connecticut, so stood Read Admiral Vain wright upon the afterbridge of the Geor- gia, flagship of the second division, which included also the battleships Nebraska. New Jersey and Rhode Island. Here again the wonderful, homogenlety of the fleet was strikingly illustrated.
 All four of the ships of the division are of exactly the same design.
 Following the second division. which
 
 second squadron, composed of the third and fourth divisions Admiral Shroder's flag was flying today. He stood on the afterbridge of the Louisiana, a ship of the Connecticut class. The other three ships of the division are the Missouri and Oho of similar design, and the Vir- ginia, which belongs to the- Georgia class.
 Last of the Ships.
 To with the fourth division, commanded by Rear Admiral William P. Potter who sailed away as the captain of the Yer mont, and returned today with his two- starred flag at the main mast of the Wisconsin. After the Wisconsin steamed the Illinois, a sister ship, and last in the returning line, as they were the last to leave came the Kearsarge and Ken lucky, the oldest ships in the fleet. The last two vessels named are to be taken out of the fleet to undergo a practical rebuilding. Their places while they are being modernized are to be taken by the New Hampshire, the sixth ship of the Connecticut class sthe Idaho and the Mississippi. All three of these vessels were in the line of welcoming ships to- day.
 Appearing vastly warlike and grim in spite of the big fluttering flags at her masthead the Maine in her new dress ing of gray, followed 800 yards in the wake of the Kentucky. She was entitled to and received from the saluting cursion ships and the vast throng aboard all the honors accorded the yes sells of the ome-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 battle ships in line and were followed by the impressive looking armored cruisers North Carolina and Montana, which took President-elect Taft and his party of en- gineers to Panama and back, and lastly, by the ksh-looking little scout cruisers Chester, Salem and Birmingham. With scant 1000 tons displacement, but with horsepower equal to those of the 16,000 tons of the Connecticut, the scout cruisers have the speed of the wind.
 The little tender Yankton, which pre- ceded the fleet into Hampton Roads last Wednesday and since that time had gone to Washington to bring a ransom of gold to pay off the officers and men of the homecoming vessels, met the battle ships inside the capes this morning and steamed proudly by the Mayfiower with saluting cannon roaring tribute to the Presidents flag as loud as any in the power of the column.
 When the last of the cruisers in the splendid pageant had passed the May flower the Connecticut was steaming by the Old Point pier, more than seven miles away, and the great crowds gathered there were cheering and waving flags, handkerchefs and hats in a perfect ec-