Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1911-11-03
GREAT REVIEW IN
new YORK HARbOR
Largest Fleet of Fighting Craft
ver Assembled
NOTABLE SPECTACLE
Thousands, Ashore and AfIoat
See Great Ships Gay In Bun
tings Of Many Hues

| New York, Oct. 31.-One hundre
and two vessels of the America
navy, the largest fleet ever assemble,
| under the stars and stripes, in thei
gayest holiday dress, were reviewe'
by Secretary of the Navy Meyer to
day, while hundreds of thousands
ashore and afloat, saw the spectacle
The aggregate tonnage of the as
sembled war vessels was over one-hal
millions as compared with less thai
one-third Of this total present at thu
naval review by President Roosevelt
in Hampton Roads five years ago
The aggregate of American dread
naughts and smaller sisters taking
part in today's spectacle represented
approximately the huge outlay Of
$3O0,00O,0
Dressed from stem to stern in q
riot of bunting, the gray lines of the
warships, with background formed
by the Palisades, beautiful in the
autumn foliage, made magnificent
spectacle as viewed from Riverside
Park and other points of vantage on
the Manhattan side OF the river
On the broad bosom of the Hudson
the vessels f1oated an anchor in three
columns, each eight miles long,
stretching from point about opposite
Fifty-seventh street up to the river
to the mouth of Spuyten Duyvil
creek. Proceeding from the lower
extremity of the columns, Secretary
Meyer, standing on the bridge of the
naval yacht Mayflower and surround
ed by his aides and a number of in
vited guests, went nOrthward
through the lines formed by the bat
tleships, cruisers, torpedo boats and
destroyers, submarines and naval
auxiliaries.
All the while the ships kept up a
roar of salutes. The ships sides
were manned by bluejackets at at
tesi ion, the quarterdecks were
thro1 ged with officers and marine
guards, relocated bands played the
national airs, while "bo'suns, whis-
ties piped out the order of the day.
At the completion of it's progress
the anchored lines the May
flower took up it's station near the
flagship Connecticut. Rear Admiral
the commander of the fleet,
and all of the flag and command Of
ficers boarded the yacht and were re-
ceived by Secretary Meyer on the
quarterback. AS the officers, in full
dress uniform, came over the side
of the yacht they were greeted by
the blast of bugles, the ruffie of
drums, and finally by cordial hand
shake from the chief officer of the
Navy Department.
Of the warships taking part in the
great demonstration six were battle
ships of the dreadnaught class. They
were the Florida, Utah. Delaware,
South Carolina, North Dakota and
Michigan. In addition there was a
splendid array of first-class battle
ships of the Connecticut type, num-
bering, all told, six ships Min
nesota, New Hampshire, Kansas, YER
mont, Louisiana and Connecticut. Ad
ded to these were the battleships of
the type represented by the Idaho
Virginia type, being, besides that
ship, the Georgia, New Jersey, Ne
braska, and Rhode Island, and of
the Missouri type, including that YES
sci, the Ohio and the Maine.
These are the ships upon which the
United States would rely in time of
war to do the actual fighting. The
tonnage of these battleships is close
to 100000, and the brOadside of
the big guns they could fire would
mean a hail of 13-inch and 12-inch
projectiles weighing approximately
10000 pounds, while broadside
of all guns of all sizes would total at
least 10000 pounds of steel.
In addition to the giant battleships
the long lines of fighting machines
included the two big armored cruis-
ers Washington and North Carolina,
the fast-aying scout cruiser Salem,
the unprotected cruisers Des Moines
and San Francisco, a fleet of gun
boats, five f1otillas of torpedo boat
destroyers and torpedo boats, eight
of the newest and finest submarines
in the world, and fleet of splendid
naval auxiliaries.
Small wonder, then, that crowd
estimated at fully 100000 persons
turned out to view the great naval
spectacle. All the vantage points
along both shores of the river were
black with masses of people, while
excursion craft of every description
carried thousands of spectators as
close to the vessels of the fleet as
the alert little patrol boats would
permit. During the early forenoon
the trains arriving in the metropolis
brought great crowds of sightseers
from all over New York, New Jersey,
Connecticut and even from distant
points in the east and in New Eng
land.
To Try Alleged Slayer