Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1911-11-01
READY FOR INSPECTION
The Great Atlantic Fleet In New
York Harbor Awaits Secre-
tary Meyer.
HE'LL GET NINETEEN GUNS.
House And Senate Committees Get
IL Guns.
"Build me straight, oh. worthy mas

Build me straight, oh, worthy mas
ter,
Strong and staunch, goodly vessel,
That shall laugh at all disaster,
And with wave and whirlwind wrestle"
and such vessel, or 162 of them.
have been built for the American
Navy, and await the inspection of
Secretary Meyer, of the Navy this
afternoon in New York harbor, to see
if it is good.
In some respects the inspection of
the Atlantic fleet this afternoon by
the head of the Navy Department and
by the Senate and House Committees
on Naval Affairs is considered by the
fleet officers as more important than
the review by the President tomorrow.
For it lies with the Congress COM
mittees to grant new, big gun ships,
more officers and more men and in
other ways to realize a naval ideal that
every officer of senior or junior rank
has in the vestibule of his mind.
The fleet is keyed and strung for
the inspection. From the Comma der
in-Chief, Rear Admiral Hugo C5ter-
haus, down to the pink checked mes
sengers fresh from training shiD, the
personnel of the fleet is ready 60 show
the honorable gentlemen from Senate
and House that we can't have too
much of good thing. Every ship in
the triple line has been newly painted,
scrubbed, holystoned and polished.
The feet is a machine in perfect
gear. Division by division it lies
in the Hudson from West Fifty
seventh street to Fort Washington
place tuned to high efficiency. If
the discerning Secretary finds flaws
to pick today there will be surprise
and sorrow on board the flagship.
But they are betting that he won't.
Secretary Meyer arrived in New
York yesterday with Commander
Philip Andrew, the new chief of the
Bureau of Navigation. The fleets
guns began to talk about 2
O'Clock this afternoon, when the Sec
retary and the Senators and Con-
gressmen appeared aboard the May
flower off West Fifty-seveuth street
and the flagship Connecticut. Mr..
Meyer was saluted with nineteen guns.
1t isn't certain yet whether powder
will be burned for the committee. If
they appear as committees, one from
the United States Senate and the
other from the House of Representa-
tives, each committee will be honored
with seventeen guns; if they come as
silk hated and frock coated individu-
ais not gun will speak for them.
The flagship wasn't informed yester-
day as to whether the Senators and
Congressman intended to come in their
official capacity as Naval Committee
men.
The first saluting was done by the
Mayfower at p. m in honor of the
Secretary. Promptly thereafter Ad-
miral Osterhaus and his staff left the
flagship of the fleet to call on Secre-
tary Meyer aboard the Mayfower.
Admiral Osterhaus was joined on the
Secretary's flagship by the COM
manders of the divisions of his fleet
Rear Admiral Charles j. Badger,
commanding the second division;
Rear Admiral Aaron Ward, command
ing the third division Rear Admiral
Thomas B. Howard, commanding
the fourth division; Rear Admiral
Bradley A. Fiske commanding the
fifth division; Capt. William S. Ben
son, commanding the sixth division,
and Commander E. w. Eberle, COM
manding the destroyer and torpedo
boat flotilla. AS Admiral Osterhaus
left the Mayflower he was saluted
with thirteen guns.
The Secretary of the Navy then
visited the flagship and the division
flagships, going first to the Connecti-
cut, then to the Vermont, then to the
Missouri, then to the Virginia, then to
the Washington and then to the
Utah. He visited the Dixie, which
is the tender of the destroyer and
torpedo boat fotila. In making these
visits of ceremony the Secretary used
is own barge, but when he arrived at
the northern end of the fleet a de-
stroyer was placed at his service to
hurry him back to the Mayf1ower.
Salutes were fired as he went over
| the side of each shin