The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1915-07-03
CHAPTER Il.
The Inevitable Order to an Inferior
Fleet.


/" sea, said the news, were Gov
cred by the advancing feet.
It was a hundred miles of
steel forts, and outside OF them, dash
ing back and forth In ceaseless patrol,
were the lighter and faster craft, con-
sisting OF destroyers and small swift
cruisers.
The scout cruiser Birmingham had
spied ships inside even the inner line.
But they were not transports. They
were still warships. The troop trans
ports were so far within all the pro-
tective cordons that the American
scouts. lying far along the horizon.
could not even sight their masts.
The enemy feet scarcely made an
attempt to attack the spying vessels.
1t seemed almost that the enormous
mass was too insoIently sure of its
power to trouble about the scouts.
So. with watching cruisers and de-
gtroyers hanging to its sides day and
night, the invaders armada moved
westward as steady as a lifeless. wick
ed machine. And the outer Gordon held
true.
It did not move slowly, majestically,
like the armored line. necessarily it
swept back and forth and in and out,
patrolling the sea to distance so far
from the battleships that the American
scouts rarely could approach nearer
than to sight from their own tops the
tops Of the Dreadnoughts
q fha ox.auaU ooUarAd kha 600 - -
filed the air. Constantly all day long,
floating and drifting with the soft
white clouds far beyond the farthest
extent Of the Gordon, his aeroplanes
surveyed the water world. And all
day long and all night long the ships
wireless tore the air.
The American wireless, too, played
forth its electric waves OF air night
and day. From daring scouts to relay
ships and from relay ships to hidden
fleet and to waiting nation went the
story out OF the far sea The American
millions knew the progress Of the COM
sny enemy as II the fleet were an army
moving along q populous highway Of
the land
The nation watched the implacable,
remcrseless advance breathlessly, ap-
prehensively, but behind its apprehen-
sion there was hope. Surely, surely
men said to each other, ''Our splendid
sailors win get at them!''
Accustomed by its history to expect
thrilling deeds of dash and enterprise
that should wrest success out Of disas.
ter, the United States waited for the
deed.
It came. Out Of the far Atlantic
came the story. It came from the bat
tleship Kearsarge and went to the
Chester, it was passed on by the Ches-
ter and picked up by the Tacoma, and
the Tacoma tossed it into the air and
sent it to the coast.
Engaged" said the Kearsarge,
s'have-sunk," and then there came a
break In the message Destroyer
ight-cruiser spoke the wireless
again. and stopped. "Armored-cruis
err" spoke the wireless again In half
an hour. Professionalism led-with,
drawing - pre- Dread drought - abaft -
Ntstarboard- beam tiring-14, OO0-yards
[Dreadnought-port = beam Again
there came an abrupt check to the
wireless
To the men on the feet somewhere
Non the Virginia capes." and to the men
in newspaper offices from ocean to
ocean, it was as If they were wit
Messing the fight. Indeed, the presses
had some Of it printed and on the
streets before the battleship's story
was done
"Dreadnought'' started the wire
less again; al. 000-yards- struck
after -upper-turret-am struck
t-forward-gun = lower = turret - dis
mounted-am struck-after- gun-low-
er-turret''-
The air fell silent It was the last
word from the Kearsarge.
"As a man, said the admiral thatnighi
70 the correspondents who pressed him
for an interview, II am glad that the
Kearsarge did it. AS admiral can only
say that her destruction, old though she
was, is d heavy loss to us that would
not be balanced even If, besides the
ships she sank, she had sunk both the
Dreadnsughts We have ordered the
fleet to Keep itself intact" So
'sDoes that mean that there are to be
no raids?" k ~
ct cannot be done" answered the
admiral. with SUFFICIENT machinery
heroism can do great deeds today as
eve. without the machinery it car
only % down singing" certain naval
perb, basing their opinion on studs
q the recent naval battles. claim thai
difference of as little as 10 per cent i
efficiency between fleets otherwise alb
solutely equal means inevitable de
struction for the inferior heet.l