Connecticut western news., 1916-08-31

Game Ever Played by United States
 Navy Announced by Umpire-Sub-
 marines as Last Line of Defense
 Proved Intellectual.
 The greatest war game ever under taken by the American navy ended with a victory for Admiral Mayo's "red' fleet, which theoretically wiped eut the defending blue" fleet and landed an invading army at Far Rock away beach, N. I.
 Rear Admiral Knight. acting as um- pire, announced the result in this re- port to the navy department:
 "Maneuver completed. Red and blue bodies engaged 9:3O to 1O:30 this morn ing ten miles southeast of Ambrose nghtship. Blue decisively defeated red gaining command of sea. Red eff fects landing at Far Rockaway and secures base"
 The final report closely followed one announcing that Rear Admiral Helms blue defending fleet virtually had been anihilated in a dramatic fight off Scotland lightship at the entrance to New York harbor.
 Submarines Poor Defense.
 With Admiral Helms fleet out of the way only a thin line of subma- rines remained to protect the coast. These, too, were quickly disposed of by the "red"+ fleet, and with nothing left to interrupt the landing of troops from his transports Admiral Mayo was declared victor in the game, and the ships. fred" and "blue" alike, started for Newport after four days of ardu- GUS duty at sea.
 The story of the game as pieced to- gether from the radio reports to the navy department indicates that the tactics of Admiral Mayo completely puzzled Admiral Helm and forced him to accept battle in a position from which there was no hope of escape. The umpire declared the "blue' fleet was destroyed hours before the time limit of the action expired.
 When the game began Admiral Helms fleet was assembled at Narra- gansett, while Admiral Mayo with his fleet and long transport train were 600 miles off Cape Hatteras. At a. m. on Aug. p Admiral Helm received word of his enemy's location, and his seventeen scouts swept out to sea in long circling line. An hour later the blue battleshfps also were at sea following the scouts.
 "Reds" Outmatch "Blues."
 The cruiser Baltimore sighted five Dattleships, two cruisers and three oth er units of the "red" fleet at D. m. Aug. 23. They were 800 miles off the coast, steaming west. The Baltimore dared not attack such force and pre- sumably fled for safety. It was II a. m. Aug. 25 before the ''red" force again was sighted. This time it was a battleship which was picked up f2O miles off New York. Again the blue scout was outmatched.
 At 5:30 D. m. Aug 25 the destroyer Benham, later reported destroyed in action, sighted the red transport train seventy-fve miles off the New Jersey coast. Relying on her speed to escape the conveying warship, the Benham followed the transports, keep ing Admiral Helm informed. At that time the "blue'' battle fleet was fifteen miles farther inshore, steaming in a hne parallel to the transport train At 6:3O the same evening the Benham re- ported that three enemy battleships and the transport train had headed in- shore to make a landing
 Admiral Helm drove his battle fleet forward to intercept the enemy at daylight. He sighted the fred" ships at o'clock. The transport train was steaming in toward the Long Island coast, with it's destroyer screen thrown out to southward. During the night however, the ''red' battle fleet also had come up and, steaming parallel to the transports and between them and the "blue" fleet, interposed itself to cut off Admiral Helms attack.
 "Rlue" Position Hopeless.
 The fleets engaged promptly, but the ~blue" position was hopeless. To cut off the rush of the transports for the coast it had to swing sharply to the west. As the "blue'' ships came to the turn they filed in one at time and caught the concentrated fire of Admi- ral Mayo's guns.
 While the battle still was in progress Admiral Helm played his last card The seventeen submarines were fol. lowing the movements of the red transports, but keeping well inshore as a last line of defense. Daylight found them within an hour or two of the ehosen landing point of the invaders Admiral Helm ordered them forward in a desperate effort to destroy the troop ships, but they were not equal tt the task, and the transports and theil shielding fighting ships steamed by victorious.