New-York tribune., 1919-04-15
Victory Fleet
Arrives Here
Ahead of Time
Continued from page |

gray fighters stretched in an almost
unbroken line from Forty-seco
Street to 2O5th Street.
Another evidence that this was p
sailors holiday and not one the COB
was providing for the city was found
in the appearance of the feet at night
Instead of a highly illuminated group
of ships, such as was seen in the river
when the fleet returned for its home
coming pageant of victory on Decem-
Der 26, there were seen only the dark
sides of the big dreadnaughts, with
the white beam of searchlight or
the blue sidelights and flashes Of an
occasional wireless to mark their To-
cation.
Admiral Mayo explained that the
strands of incandescents that had at
tractcd much attention al the win
ter pageant mad been sent ashore when
the ships sailed away for their ma
npuvres. This is the play day of the
sailor and he cares nothing for the
appearance of the fleet after the first
rules Of cleanliness have been OBJ
served
Thousands Phone Arrival
Within a few hours after the fleet
fourth of its fighting strength was
asho-e making vigorous use Of the tel
ephore to announce to surprised rela-
tives and swcethearts that the war was
over for them. By tonight practically
every man of the 10000 sailors. from
Admiral Mayo down, will have been
ashore for at least few hours.
The commander of the fleet smiled
broadly during the afternoon when,
c l,0 hr,xr rl1% l..
quarter deck of the Pennsylvania, he
told how he had gained a day on
schedule of arrival and an additional
twcnty-four hours for his men,
'ln the first place the chaplain here
provided just the weather that we
ordered from him." said Admiral MAY O
of Father NJ. c. Gleeson, fleet chaplain.
1--WE told him several days ago that
nothing less than perfect weather
would be satisfactory and | see he
produced it,
Ships Go to Full Speed
eve were moving in from the Gulf
stream when, about noon yesterday, we
cleared the stream and passed Hat
teras. Then We began to put on steam.
we moved up to seventeen knots, then
nineteen, twenty-one and half and
finally the order of full speed ahead
was given. For four hours we con
tinucd at full speed ahead OF course,
the speed we made varied with tho
capabilities of the various ships, but
some of the boats were moving along
at more than twenty-five knots, while
many of them were making consider
ably moro than they made on their
trial trips.
The fleet is returning for its annual
holiday in New York after two months
of practice and hard work at Guanta-
namo Bay, Cuba. Reports of the COM
manding officers show that the morale
of the navy and the skill Of the gun
ners, even with the addition of the re-
crults added for the period of the war
only, has improved rather than dete-
riorated since the actual fighting has
ended
One Of the boasts of the gunners is
that they successfully "straddled" a
target with the first salvo of guns fired
at target practice at distance of 81,
900 yards-a greater distance than is
attempted at target practice except on
rare occasions. A "straddle" is the best
possible spread of hits across the face
of target and if applied to the side
OF an enemy ship as successfully would
effectively cut down the enemy forces
by just that ship, since nothing would
remain afloat to show where it had
stood
But all the time Of the navy was not
consumed in hard work while in Cuban
waters. There were athletic events
that aroused all the latent sporting
blood of the sailors The Pennsyl-
vania, which was fortunate enough to
number "Rabbit" Maranville, once
shortstop for the Boston Braves,