The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1910-10-27
Secretary of Navy Meyer
Here on Inspection Tour
CONTINUED from First Paxe)


the navy yard. He inspected both
the yards and the shops and returned
to the city last evening.
The secretary 3 accompanied by
Capt. Philip Andrews, q. S. N, and
his private secretary.
The secretary and his party were
met at Flomaton, Alabama, yesterday
afternoon at 2:30 o'clock by Mr.. Henry
Horsler, secretary of the Pensacola
Merchants Association; Mr.. G. A. Wa.
terman, secretary Of the Chamber of
Commerce; Mr.. Rufus Jones, secretary
of the Progressive League, and by rep
resentatives Of the Pensacola news
papers.
On the trip from Flomaton to Pen
sacola Secretary Meyer talked freely
on the affairs Of the naval department
but said that he could not possibly
give an opinion as to what would be
the result Of his visit until he had
visited all the navy yards and had
gone over the situation with the ex-
pert engineers of the department.
HEADQUARTERS, CARIBBEAN SEA
'"This much Is certain, however"
said the secretary, 1.-The present policy
of the government is to make the
caribbean sea the rendezvous and
headquarters Of the Atlantic fleet.
The chief naval base Of the Atlantic
will be at Guantanamo, Cuba. It is
the opinion Of naval experts and en-
gfneers that this port affords the best
possible place for a naval base as it is
our closest available point to the
Panama canal. 1t is also the nearest
point to the headquarters of the fleet
in the Caribbean sea.
THE future work of the American
navy will be to protect and defend the
Panama canal. In the possible event
Of war, that will be the great strategic
point. This must always be protected
and defended.
st is the opinion of the department
that there are too many naval stations
on the gulf coast. There are at pres
ent three and the navy has no possible
use for more than one. Two of these
will probably be abandoned. The gulf
station and yard that is maintained
will be merely supplemental to the
does not mean that the Gulf Of Mexico
station will not be one Of great i'm
portance, for 1t will be. 1t will be
the nearest navy yard and naval base
to the Guantanamo station and will be
the nearest station in the United
States proper to the Panama canal"
UNCOMMITTAL AS THE SPHINx.
Every possible effort was made to
induce the secretary to say what he
thought of the advantages Of the Pen
sacola station as the gulf port to hold
the station, but he remained absolute
~ silent on the subject. However, he
did say that he was visiting all these
stations entirely without prejudice
and ne was avoiding seeing the i'm
portance of cities and ports from a
commercial standpoint. but merely
wanted to see what the government
had in the way of equipment and
other property at the different sta
tons.
In speaking Of the idle navy yards
on the Atlantic and gulf coasts, the
secretary said:
There are entirely too many navy
yards. This condition obtains on the
Atlantic coast and in New England,
as we'll as on the Pacific coast and in
the Gulf of Mexico. An idle navy
yard is Of no use to a town. On the
other hand, it is a detriment. The
valuable water front taken up by the
cial purposes to ten fold more advan-
tage.
Another thing should be consid-
cred A navy yard and it's attendant
| Notifications are no protection to a
city On the other hand they invite
attack
"In times Of war, no foreign fleet
can afford to storm an unprotected
town. The feet is too far away from
its base Of supplies to waste its am
munition and fuel in storming a town
whose capture would be no gain. In
fact I believe the last Hogue tribunal
adopted a regulation that an unpro-
tected city should not be attacked"
Reverting to the Pacific coast, the
secretary said:
The principal naval station In Pa
cific waters will be in Pearl Harbor,
Hawaii, and the supplemental stations
will be at Bremerton, Washington and
at Mare Island, in San Francisco Bay.
"These will be absolutely all the ma
val stations in the Pacific until the
orient is reached. Pearl harbor will
be the rendezvous in the Pacific just
as Guantanamo will be in the At
lantic
OLD SHIPS OBSOLETE.
In speaking of the growth Of the
navy or more properly of it's evolution
Mr. Meyer said:
None of the battleships in use ten
or twelve years ago are of any prac-
teal use now. All the ships that were
used in sinking the Spanish fleets in
the Spanish-Amerfcan war are now OBJ
solete Two or three Of them are
used as training ships for naval ca
diets, and the others are lying idle.
The celebrated Oregon is tied up in
bo praD,ort0D navy ward
The fact that all our newest and
latest ships have to be a great deal
| larger than the old ones makes some
Of the navy yards practically useless.
The navy yard at Charleston is OF no
real use to the navy"