Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1911-10-28
FLEETCOMPLETED TODAY
In New York Harbor l62 Vessels
Will Be In Line This Even
ing.
LINE SHIFTS TODAY.
Visitors Flock To Ships Connecticut
Proudest OF Fleet.

AAO6dCSA vi tCCAs
BY nightfall today the biggest and
finest fleet of American warships ever
got together will be assembled in the
Hudson river from West Fifty-seventh
street to Spuyten Duyvil creek, New
York. They will be on exhibition un-
til next Wednesday, when Secretary
of the Navy Meyer reviews the fleet
and speeds it out to sea.
From Rear Admiral Hugo Oster-
haus, the commander in chief of
this armada of I02 vessels, to the
youngest MILDLY out of the Naval
Academy, the officers are particularly
anxious to be nice TO the public, the
plain citizen and his wife. They want
visitors and are keen to exhibit the
ships, because, as they say, the closer
the navy is brought to the people the
better it will be for the navy and peo-
pie too.
To the grim big gun ships that have
been lying in the Hudson for several
days were added yesterday the deep
diving scrappes of the United States
navy, the submarines, a few unorna-
mental but mighty useful colliers, two
gunboats and few long, black, wick
ed looking destroyers and torpedo
boats. Just at the time yesterday
afternoon when the traffic of the
North River was heaviest up SWAN
the eight submarines, just showing
their curved whalebacks and coming
towers out of the water. They
were the Grayling, Bonita, Narwhal,
Salmon, Snapper, Stingray, Tarpon
and Octopus.
The fighting fish made headway
steadily and slowly up the river so
much submerged that unless you
knew what was coming you might
have overlooked them altogeter. But
the traffic knew what queer boats
were heading northward and gave the
submarines plenty of elbow room.
They came to anchor off West I36th
street, from West 163th street to West
l45th street. A great many thousand
people are expected to visit the sub
marines and preparations have been
made to receive all who want to look
them over. Lieut.. Donald c. Bingham
commands the division of subma-
rines.
There also arrived yesterday the
battleship New Hampshire. Capt.
Thomas S. Rodgers, commander. Peo.
pie seem to be getting used to the
great fighters of the bulk and look
of the New Hampshire, so she didn't
attract as much attention as did the
seagoing collier Neptune, built to
coal battleships at sea. The Nep-
tune looks something like a tramp
steamship rugged with travelling
cranes instead of masts. The bridge
of the ship is raised until it is al
most over her forepeak. Her tunnels
and deckhouses are unusually far
aft. The Neptune joined her division
of colliers off and to the north of
Fort Washington place The Nep-
tune and the Cyclops are the biggest
of the collier division, being more
than 19, 900 tons each.
Others to arrive and take off their
hats to Admiral Osterhaus were the
cruiser San Francisco and the gun
boats Marietta and Petrol. The little
gunboats, which not so very many
years ago would have been regarded
as regular warships will lie off West
l55th street between the line of bat
tleships and the line of destroyers
and torpedo boats.
Visitors fiocked to the ships yester-
day. Red Cross nurses inspected the
Connecticut to observe the hospital
and medical arrangements. They
were received by Lieutenant King and
shown around by Midshipmen Combs
and Gordon. After the Red Cross
nurses departed several girls schools
arrived en- masse. Entertaining these
young ladies was a duty which the
younger officers highly reiished. Sew
eral Of the girls got their dresses
daubed with war color-the slaty blue
paint which is now being literally
applied to all of the ships. So a man
was detailed to stand at the gangways
with sponge and bottle of gaso-
lene. Whenever a girl got her dress
daubed al she had to do was to trot
up to the man with the sponge and off
came the daub.
Altogether yesterday the Connecti-
cut was the proudest ship in the feet.
Under Midshipman Bully Richardson.
the old Naval Academy fullback, the
fiagship's eleven everlastingly wal
loped the Missouri's team at Van
Cortlandt Park. When the Connecti-
cuts squad turned up at the navy
landing on their way back to the
ship they rather surprised the crowd
along the waterfront by punching up
closely and giving a powerful, driv-
ing, rhythmic yell "C-o-n-n-e-c-t-i-
cut! Rah! Rahl Rah!" The Con-
necticut having won yesterday the
channionShin of fha frat di,riz;on