The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1915-02-06
MONSTER FLEET
NOW ASSEMBLED
FOR MANEUvERS
United States Warshlps in for
Month Of Hardest Kind
of Drilling.
COMMANDED BY FLETCHER
Largest and Most Powerful Fleet Ever
Assembled Under the stars and
strlpes-May Solve Efficiency
Of Our Navy.


Washington.-The largest and most
powerful feet ever assembled under
the Stars and Stripes is now gathered
OF Guantanamo, on the North coast of
Cuba, for a month of the hardest kind
of drilling. 1t will be a great spectacle
for the few civilians who will see 1t,
but for the more than n thousand
officers and $4,000 enlisted men it
work, u~nceasing labor, to fit the
American navy for battle.
Yet every Jack Tar is glad he is
there. Great fascination surrounds the
m~aneuvers, tho orderly marching and
counter-marching oyer the parade
ground of the ocean,, ~dreadnaughts and
cruisers taking the place of individual
soldiers, but obeying the orders sent
by wireless and wigwag just as i'm
plicitly and readily as a squadron of
well-drilled cavalry.
The firing of the great guns is fun
for officer and man, too. Target prac-
tice Is a great game. Every nerve is
strained to make the enormous rifles
do their best, and hot rivalry is exhib-
tied by the gun crews. Business is
pleasure when the heart is in it.
The eyes of the whole United States
are directed to Rear Admiral Frank
Friday. Fletcher and his ships today.
A great wave of criticism has swept
over the country. The European war
has created interest in the army and
navy; and every patriot feels that II
not the greatest we should have the
best navy in the world.
Is the navy up to scratch?
This is the question the neuve
may solve and at the same time dc a
great deal toward making it possible
to answer in the affirmative. The navy
needs maneuvers, just as an army
needs drills. A fleet will be awkward
in forming in battle line in time of
war If the superior officers have not
performed all the evolutions often in
time of peace.
Much Practicing Necessary.
Partly due to the use of the big
ships OFF the coast of Mexico, the
have been neglected. This
is the first time in three years that the
entire fleet will be assembled for bat
tie practice. Three years means a
long while when one considers how
fast the art of naval warfare is de
veloping. Just to mention one item.
Naval guns of 14-inch caliber we're car
ried on no ship in the world three
years ago. Now the Texas and the
New York carry these mammoth
rifles, and it is currently reported
that Great Britain's new Queen Eliza
beth class, now building, will have 15-
inch guns.
When n considers that the fleets
of Great Britain, Germany, France,
Austria, Russia and Japan are now
engaged in actual war work every
day in the year.. it is easy to see that
the United States must do a lot of
practicing even to approximate the de-
gree of efficiency to which the fighting
navies of the world are arriving.
The Guantanamo maneuvers will be
the most extensive target and feet
practice the American navy has ever
gone through. They will last through
the greater part of the month. and
will be followed by the Panama canal
opening exercises. which may involve
some maneuvers of value, too.
The armored feet (the biggest
ships) will be in four divisions of 81
vessels. Ten will be of the so-called
<"dreadnaught" class and IL of the pre-
d~readnaught type. Besides these, two
of the our armored cruisers of the
fleet and all of the torpedo iotillas,
aypaDt those in raCorva u,;II ~
ent.
Never before did the feet contain
practically two complete divisions OF
the dreadnaught class. The first diyi-
sion consists of d~readnaughts of the
most powerful type and the second
division is made up of these powerful
vessels except one battleship.
In addition to the battleships. five
of the seven divisions of torpedo
boat destroyers will have a part in
the exercises. This means 81 more
craft. There will be ten a1xiliaries
and the scout cruiser Birmingham.
which is the flagship of the torpedo
hotilla.
Directs 1903 Vessels.
This does not mean that all the
vessels under Admiral Fetcher's COM
mand will be at Guantanamo. There
will be missing all the submarines,
as well as all the smaller cruisers
and gunboats and two divisions of the
destroyer fiotilla. Admiral Fletcher
directs 103 vessels, OF which 55 will
be at Guantanamo.
1t was figured by a naval officer
here that the 12-inch guns of the feet
can fire a broadside OF los. 400 pounds
and the l4-inch guns bring this up to
133,400 pounds. There are 1874 10.
inch guns in the recognized feet,
all of which are placed SO that thew
can be fired in a single b~roadside.
The New York and the Texas each