The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1911-11-03

ing cannon. So it was with the Della
ware, the North Dakota, and the other
ships on down the line. Each In It's
turn paid compliment to the president.
Mr., Taft stood on the bridge and lifted
his hat as he passed the colors Of the
various vessels.
On board each battleship and on
board the destroyers, the sides were
manned with bluejackets, giving
living outline to the steel belted hulls.
On the quarter decks the officers in
the gold and lace of special full dress
uniforms were assembled and at at
tention. The marine guards We're
also drawn up on the quarter decks
and the ship bands, uniformed in scar
let. stood out as a bright patch of
color in the grouping Of the after
decks.
STAR sPANGLED BANNER.
AS the presidents yacht passed the
battleships close aboard there were
trumpet f1ourishes and drum muffles
from each of the ships just before the
bands crashed out with the Star
| Spangled Banner" From near and far
there came the sound of bugles to
| and the crash of the guns. AS spec
| tacle it was thrilling.
| After making a round trip Of the
| naval columns the MaytioWer drew
| clear of the fleet and steamed down
| the bay to her anchorage.
| The president lunched aboard his
| yacht Meantime, aboard the fleet, the
| most serious work or the day was u
! be performed.
| The ships, with the turning Of the
| tide. were to lift anchors and get un-
| der way. To untangle the mass o.
| lighting material was matter of n.
mean seamanship. The turn of thu
tide to an Inflow had helped solve the
| nrohlem to a large extent and the yes
| sells had swung naturally to down
| stream position. After passing in re
| view of the president at II knots al
| hour and reaching the open sea, thu
fleet disbanded, the ships going t
their several home stations to prepar'
for the winter maneuvers in the south
While the fleet reviewed by tn
president today was the most power
full ever grouped in one American
command, it was not such a homogen
eous fighting force as that compose
of sixteen battleship that sailed aroun'
the world three years ago. 1t refecte
T rather the transitory stage of the nav,
! the passing from the old line Of bat
tleships to the modern super dread
; nought or AL big gun" type. Tn
: review may be said to have offciall
f established the all big gun ship" a
the future fighting unit of the Ameri
can navy for among the twenty-fOu
/ battleships in the imposing column
t six belonged to the new class Of float
= ing fortress. Even among the dread
= noughts in the line today there wa
z evidence of the mad pace the navs
: architects of the world are settin!
e Although the first of these was com
: pleted less than two years ago, ther
= had been a jump from the sixtee
S thousand tons of the Michigan and II
f South Carolina, the first of the Amer
S lean big ships, to the 21,S25 tons
d the Utah and the Florida, fresh fro
the hands of the builders. In betwee
e the Michign type and the Utah-tlol
d ida type. there was represented tods
d the Delaware and the North Dakot
d of 10000 tons each.
t KEPT MEYER BUSY.
e President Taft was much intereStt
is in the details of the various ships al
r. kept Secretary Meyer answering
le rapid fire of questions. He learn'
h that the dreadnoughts South CaroliI
Is and Michigan, with their batteries
81 eight 12-inCh rifles, had quickly be-
i surpassed by the Delaware and Nor
! Dakota class with ten 12-inch guns