Evening star., 1914-02-01

| (196R5@
/ ~RUISt.S are to he made by the
II Naval Battalion of the National
Guard of the District of Coluih-
bia on the l. s S. Sylvia. the
/ naval yacht assigned to the local
| naval militia for practice purposes. every
| Sunday from now on, it was declared yes
/ terday by Commander Joseph n pehPi.
| In about two weeks Commander pernr'
! also will establish the policy OF taAil'-
I the vessel on short trips down the river
! on drill nights, leaving the dock ao""e
and returning at about ":;'o. When the
! summer season comes arohnn u H
planned to have the vessel leave its dock
| on Saturday evenings and TO arrive a'
| the mouth of the river some time cariH
Sunday morning where the baiti'note
Naval Militia. on the cruiser Montsom-
ery would be met and the two coule
60 through fleet drill. and in addition
have boat races between the naval 1hlhtla
organizations of the two cities.
made last week. when the vessel left Its
dock at the foot of Water and streets
at II O'Clock and steamed down the river
as far as Marshall Hall. returning ABOUT
:: o'clock Although there was a strong
wind and the weather was cold. the Of
iicers and enlisted men declared they
thoroughly enjoyed the trip. The heavy
wind that was blowing compelled the
navigating officers to use great care IN
handling the ship and keeping IT in the
channel. In one place. where there is
turn in the river. and ordinarily II
, only requires one turn of the helm. the
heavy wind forced the heimsman to put
the wheel over several times to keep the
little vessel from going out of the chan-
mel. Commander Dempf declared that
the officers and men did creditable work
in handling the craft
The Sunday trip was the first cruise
which the Sylvia had made since she
returned from the Washington navy yard
after everything aboard her had received
a thorough overhauling. In addition to
1t being her maiden voyage since her re-
turn from the yard. it was really a shaK-
ing-doWn run Ensign Paul " Thomp-
son. one of the engineer officers OF the
battalion. declared that the vessels en-
Glnes were in fine shape and ran very
smoothly during the whole trip.
Quite number of the enlisted men
were present to make the trip on the YES
have larger number present today when
the vessel leaves her dock. On the
bridge when the vessel left were Com
mander Dempf and Ensign Frank W.
StSOurne:. commanding the I'd Division,
and Ensign Harold Crawford. lst Divi-
sion. To Ensgns crawford and Sigourney
is due the credit for navigating the yes
Sc, on the trip Ensigns Thompson and
Nudge looked after the crew in the en-
Sne room.
Official reports of these Sunday trips
will be made to the militia division of
the Navy Department. These are kept
on file and are marked up on the eff
cheney record of the organization. 1t
battalion that when the officials at the
militia division see that the local militia
organization is really making use of the
Sylvia for training purposes .hey will
later assign a ship more suitable to the
size of the organization AS il vas. the
department gave the local organization
tn. hest vessel it had at the time the re-
Quest was made.
cannot take the entire command down
at once. and he has to divide the trips
up The strength of the organization is
increasing rapidly. and it soon will be
necessary TO have each of the four di-
visions take turns in running the YES
Sc. down the river. Commander Dempf
declared yesterday that later on he will
make out schedule showing the dates
on which each division will have the ves-
sci turned over TO it. The officers and
chief petty officers however will be re-
dured to make every trip in order to
instruct the men.
The t. :. =. Wasp. now assigned to
the New Yorl. Naval Militia. is expected
here in March. Her departure from New
York is dependent upon the arrival of the
Isla de Luzon from st. Louis.
Under arrangements made yesterday the
Sylvia will leave her dock at . o'clock
IN
Indian Head. where she will turn about
and come back to Washington. where
Commander Dempf proposes to have her
dock at , o'clock She will not. however.
return to her dock at the Naval Bat
talon armory, but will go up the East
ern branch to the Washington navy
yard, where She will take on coal. The
vessel will be left at the yard and the
crew of regulars aboard her will start
coaline her Monday morning. 1t prob
ably will take about two days to coal the
vessel and as soon as her bunkers are
filed Commander Dempf will have some
of his officers and crew go down to the
navy yard. probably Wednesday after
dock.
In making the Sunday cruises Com
mander .Dempf declared that while he
wants the men to get much practice work
while on the vessel. he is not inclined
to make it tiresome. He wants to make
the trips interesting to the men. he con-
tinued. and would have them back in
| Washington early enough TO go anywhere
they wanted to in the afternoon and
evening.
The Naval Battalion will 20 to Alex
andria on February y: in true naval
style in order to participate i'll the pa
rade in connection with the George Wash
inSton birthday ceremonies. Plans al
| ready have been perfected for the vessel
to leave her doci: at about o'clock in
the afternoon of the 23d and to steam
down to Alexandria. where the Sylvia
Will be tied up to the dock long enough
to land the major part Of the battalion.
! The vessel. under present plans then
will he hauled off to an anchorage,
whence the rest Of the officers and crew
Will beelanded in short boats after the
vessel has been trimmed with signal
! flags. much after the fashion the big bat
tleships are trimmed on gala occasions
Shore boats will be kept running between
the shore and the ship. so that visitors
can inspect the vessel. The battalion.
| ii is planned will return after nightfall
| There are to be two other parades in
which the local naval battalion is sched-
uled to participate in the near future
| one is for the ceremonies in connection
with the blowing up of the battleshir
Maine to be held at Arlington February
! li. and the other parade is in connec-
ton with the unveiling of the Barry
statue In Franklin Park the date for
which has not vet been set. '.' 3.
! The strength of the battalion is fas,
climbing uD toward the 4OO mark, which
| il is hoped to reach before the battalion