The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1909-06-27
FLEET TO ASSEMBLE
TWO MONTHS OF HARD WORK FOR
ATLANTIC FLEET.
Is Now Assembling At Hampton Roads.
For the First Time Firing VIII
BE Done I'm the Open

Washington, June 2e.--with two
months Of hard work before 1t. the At
iantic battleship fleet is assembling
in Hampton Roads, Va, for the sum-
mer .maneuvers,. which will be extern
sive. The fleet may be divided into two
squadrons and fight against each other
and dozen torpedo boats will make at
tacks on the big batleships, whose
officers and men will be required to
exert extreme vigilance. so as to guard
boats, four or which, with a parent
ship. are attached to the fleet.
Under Rear Admiral Seaten Schroe-
der commander in chief of the Allan
tic fleet. will be nearly half hundred
ships of war, ranging in size from the
big $1,000 ton flagship Connecticut to
the little ITO ton submarine Tarantula.
Fleet drills and exercises involving
tactical problems and battle evolutions
will be held in New England waters,
during the latter part Of July and
the early part of August. Then the
fleet win proceed to the Southern
drill grounds, south OF the Virginia
capes, for record and battle target
practice. This shooting will occupy
about two weeks beginning August 10.
At it's close the vessels will return to
Hampton Roads and go thence to their
home yards fbr arty repairs necessary,
before the winter aman@uvers in West
Indian waters Only twelve of the
battleships of the ipresent fleet made
the trip around the world, the other
four in the command ara neW-Yesaels.
The older ships have been thoroughly
repaired and the newly adopted fire
control mast, (which has been called
the inverted waite basket,~ installed.
MI. - - g..
the first opportunity for a crucial test
of these masks. '+-'---" --.'7
Four of the vessels will not be able
to leave the navy yards for week
or more. The other twelve ships will
proceed from Hampton Roads next
Tuesday for New England ports, where
the sailors and officers will be granted
liberty from July 2 to 6. Four ships
will be a Boston for Independence Day
two at Penobscot Bay two at Port
land, Maine, and one each at Marble
head, Mass, Portsmouth, N. H., East
port, Maine. Rockport Mass. Glouecs-
ter, Mass, ana Booth Bay, Maine, the
other two ships going where designat-
ed by the division commander.
With the reassembling of the battle
ships at Rockport. Mass, July Z. will
begin the work of the summer. To-
gether they will proceed to Province
til August 5. From Provincetown the
fleet will proceed to sea a week. re-
turning Saturday night On these
trips win occur the fleet drills and
evolutions, and by courtesy of the
navy department the citizen sailors of
the naval militias of several eastern
States will be taken out for a week
At Provincetown the Atlantic tor
pedo fleet will join the battleships,
consisting Of a torpedo flotilla of
twelve boats with the cruiser Dixie
as parent ship and a submarine fleet
of four new submarine torpedo boats
with the gunboat Ctstine as parent
ship. At the conclusion of the exer-
cises the big fleet VIII proceed to
Hampton Roads to coal preparatory to
target practice.
Firing On the Open Sea.
For the first time In the history
of the navy the firing will be done
on the open sea and in every condition
OF weather so as to attain practice
at as nearly battle conditions as pos
sible. Night firing under the same
conditions will be carried oM For the
target practice the two old torpedo
boats Nicholson and O'Brien have been
dismantled and prepared as targets.
Their hulls have been filed with cork
and this, 1t is expected. will keep
them afloat after they have been rid
died with proJectiles. They will be
towed at different speeds and will be
fired at by the batleships running at
varying speeds. Results of the prac-
tice will be kept secret.
1t is possible that the scout cruisers
Chester, Salem and Birmingham and
the armored cruisers North Carolina,
Montana and New York will join
the fleet at Provincetown. The cruls-
er Montgomery which has been fitted
up as torpedo experimental ship. Will
also be with the fleet. Secretary of
the Navy Meyer has been considering
going with the fleet during the man.
euvers to watch the work OF the ships
but has not yet come to a final de-
olson in the matter.
At Rockport July or later at
Provincetown. President Taft may find
II convenient to review Admiral
Schroeder's fleet from either his small
yacht Sylph or his bigger yacht May