The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1909-02-15
HALF WAY ACROSS ATLANTIC
OCEAN, is sATTLEsHIPs Ap
PRoAcH AMERICA.
RECORD OF CRUISE GOOD
Miles Have Been Covered, No Evil
Has Befailen Vessels Of the Crest
Squadron, and Men, o'-War Are Fit
for "a Froic or FIGHT" ..

Old Point Comfort, Va, Feb. IA
Half across the Atlantic ocean on the
cruise around the world, the Is bat
tleships of the United States Atlantic
fleet are steaming today in leisurely
fashion towards the anchorage
grounds of Hampton Roads, whence
they sailed just IL mouths ago. Dur
ing these months OF record steaming
the heavily armored lighting vessels
have travelled approximately $1,000
miles and are returning in condition
still fit for "a frolic or fight" The
cruise has been veritable expedition
of the seven. seas and tasks heretofore
deemed impossible for the modern
ironciad have been accomplished with
an ease bordering on the common
place.
The stories of the cruise have been
succeeding chapters of receptions,
banquets. balls and merrymaking, but
back of all this relaxation and enter
talning in the hospitable ports Of the
two hemispheres has been a test OF
men and material which has placed
the American navy in an enviable po-
,sition before all the world. The en-
gine room efficiency in the longer
legs of the journey developing a new
and Unexpectedly wide steaming
radius for a battleship; the facility in
following the motions of the flagship
in the fleet, squadron and divisional
maneuvers which came with constant
experience at sea, and above all the
marvellous records made at the tar
gets in Magdalena and Manila bays
tell of the real work and the substan-
tial accomplishments that have
marked this most notable of peace
demonstrations among the navies Of
the world.
Follow Schedule.
The previously arranged schedules
of the journeys from port to port has
been adhered to in remarkable man
ner except in two instances, when vio-
lent storms made fun speed too dan
gerous and uncomfortable. To offset
these lapses from punctuality the fleet
has made some of it's longest runs two
whole days ahead of time. None OF
the undertakings imposed upon the
ships or the men has been too diff
cult The cruise, however, was not in
augurated without serious misgivings
at home and abroad. Victor d. Met
calf of California was secretary Of
the navy when the cruise began.
After the ships had set sail from Ma
Mia with homeward bound pennants
flying, Mr.. Metcalf said:
When the purpose OF giving this
assemblage of battleships the privi-
leges and advantages of practical
cruise was announced. criticism from
high technical quarters were heard
II was suggested that the undertaking
was too monumental; that battle
ship is too vast and complicated a
piece of mechanism to send around
the globe on ordinary occasion; that
dangers more than multiplied with
numbers in such a case; that disaster
lurked on every submerged ledge and
was borne on every unknown tidal
current; that the skeleton of some of
the ships would doubtless be left in
the straits of Magellan; that, if the
fleet should succeed in rounding South
America it was reasonably certain
that the individual ships would, one
by one. arrive with machinery loose
and almost unserviceable, with crews
reflecting the demolarized condition
of the material, and that a woefuf
spectacle of failure would thus be pre-
sented
"As to the material, the cold facts
are that the ships have practically
taken care of their own repairs on
this cruise. The repair lists turned in
at the Cavite naval station were mega
ligible."
Cruise Of Benefit.
That the experience gained on the
cruise will be of unendlng benefit to
the navy is indicated from the fact
that probably one-half of the entire
personnel of the naval establishment
in the epoch making
trip. Three of the 16 captains who
sailed in command of vessels are re-
turning home as rear admirals. Eight
other captains are returning in COM
mand of the same ship on which they
began their journey of the world.
From rear admiral down to midship-
man the training has been such as no
other naval cruise ever afforded.
Among the enlisted men the training
has been even more valuable. Lands
men shipped just before the start and
utterly green in the ways of the deep,
are coming home an integral part of
a wonderful fleet efficiency and loyal
believers in all that the American
navy stands for Desertions on the
trip have been few. The men have
taken a pride in the cruise, and it
will be a constant boast with them
that they started to the west from
Hampton Roads and came home with
prows still turned in that direction.
They know that the world is round.
and they know what it is to work and
play over $4,000 miles OF the watered
surface of the globe.
The Officers.
To Rear Admiral Charles S. Sperry.
a strict discjplinarian man of few