The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-02-15
is NEARING HOME
Atlantic Battleship Fleet Will
Arrive Next Monday
At Point from Which 1t Started
Around the World.
HAS SPENT IA MONTHS
On Voyage of 42,227 Miles Elk
elusive of Side Trips.
Their Anchors We're Cast in &c
Foreign Ports.

l.
Washington, Feb. 15-The most stu
pendous task of naval history will be
completed one week from today, that
! is on February %, when President
| Roosevelt steams out to sea off Cape
| Henry to review the fleet of sixteen bat
tIeships as they file into Hampton
Roads to drop anchor at the port from
| which they sailed one year and two
months before.
The homecoming will be much the
same the departure. The ships will
be the same. with the exception of the
| Nebraska and Wisconsin, which took
| the places of the Maine and Alabama.
The flag of Rear Admiral Sperry will
| fly from the Connecticut Rear Admiral
Evans Rear Admiral Emory and Rear
Admiral Thomas, who were successfully
| in command, having been placed on the
retired list. The ships will pass into the
harbor in single file, as they went out
to sea. Each will boom out its salute
| to the president as it did when they be-
gan their long journey.
There will be the same ffuttering of
flags and the same cheering of voices
Crowding the piers wives and sweet
hearts will gather to welcome those to
whom they waved their farewells from
the same spot over a year ago. And
with the rattle of chains and the splash
of anchors as the great ships wheel into
their berths. the journey of 42.227 miles
mot including the side trips in the
Mediterranean and other waters-from
zone to zone over the worlds oceans
and through foreign seas will be at an
end.
The event will mark an epoch in the
naval and diplomatic history of the
United States. AS mere physical
achievement it is a thing of enormous
proportions. AS a test of naval eff
I, linz 70 1Vn
of the feet and demonstrated to many
people the power of the United States
and it's equipment for war.
What Has Been Done
1t has been a sort of gymnastic ex-
ercise with the big stick 1t has given
the navy department the results of an
experience that will be Invaluable in the
upbuilding of future fleets and brought
out defects that must be overcome: AS
a diplomatic messenger it has dlssl-
pated international misunderstanding
and brought closer in friendly relations
the United States and many of the
worlds countries.
From the point of view OF me
around the world is no extraordinary
task But bringing sixteen battleships.
with $4,000 men. around the word
is a most gigantic naval undertaking.
Unlike the merchant ships, they are
things OF massive and intricate
mechanism. They moved in battle |
formation, maneuvering at sea, to |
simulate, as far as possible, war con-
ditions. At two stops in their Journey |
Magdalena bay and the Philippines |
the great batteries were brought into |
play for target practice, without |
preparation to prove the fitness or |
the ships for fighting at the end of a |
long cruise Two weeks after their |
arrival in America they will be sent /
down to Guantanamo again for more |
target practice before they will be al |
lowed to go to their home ports for /
rest and repairs
In 26 Foreign Ports.
The fleet visited twenty countries |
and anchored in twenty-six foreign |
ports The sixteen ships passed |
the straits at the lower ex-
tremlty of the Western hemisphere, |
made the journal through the Suez |
canal without mishap, and coaled at
Port Said in record time, to be off to
help the Italian earthquake sufferers,
all without mishap. Two passed |
the Dardanelles, the first
grave conferences between the |
vigilant powers to pick up the young
Turkish officers who are to come to |
the United States. Two sa1uted the |
dropped anchor at Annoy to do honor |
to China. Sixteen, the whole fleet, |
flew their colors in the ports of Japan.
The flags of nearly all the world were /
Numbers alone can give but a faint |
dea of the task but in this case they |
are impressive. To drive the ships 49,
100 tons of coal were used. Practically |
all of this came from America, in Or
der that there might be no variations
n quality which would interfere with |
the elaborate steaming tests to deter
mine the maximum of power to be OBJ
famed from the quantity of fuel con-
sumed. In this respect alone the ex-
oerience gained is invaluable.
Used 100, 600 Gallons of Oil.
Nearly 10000 gallons of oil were con-
sumed in lubricating the engines and
These as all other fea-
Under close scrutiny, and reports will
pc made to the department. There is
no phase of operation that was left
lnobserved during the long trip In
Iuired of the officers than would be
necessary under actual war conditions.
To supply the larders of the vessels
',469 tons of meat alone We're needed.
The board of equipment purchased sup
plies by the shipload. To season the
;ood 1S7,4SS pounds of salt and 1884
pounds of pepper were used; to sweat +
IN it, sos, IA pounds of sugar. OF de-
part of the whole quantity, 962, POS
pounds, were eaten by the men of the
1eet.
1t is as a naval test that the cruise of
the fleet takes rank as the most inter
esting and greatest achievement of modern
times. The mere navigation of sixteen
ships in battle formation was no small
matter, the apprehension with which
The department and the country at large
waited for the news of the arrival in
port at the beginning of the cruise, will
bear testimony.
Not Serious NIishap. /
There was always the danger of a col
isicn during battle practice which a single
nisstep would have brought about. There
we're the dangerous waters of the straits
.hruogh which they passed. unlocked for