The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1919-11-30

During the period of preparation there
were certain essential preliminaries; it
was necessary to make and to receive
many calls, certain amount of tea
drinking was inevitable, and there
were many invitations to dinners and
10 clubs that could not be ignored. Our
officers made state visit.to Cork, go
ing up in Adrimal Bayiy's barge. and
returned the Fluctuations of the mayor
and his retinue~
Naturally both the Americans and
their ships became an object of great
interest to their new allies. 1t was, I
think, the first time that a destroyer
flotilla had ever visited Great Britain,
and the very appearance of the vessels
themselves aroused the greatest curl
osity. They bore only a general resem-
blance to the destroyers of the British
navy. The shape of their hulls, the
number and location of smoke pipes,
the positions of guns, torpedo tubes,
bridges, deekhouse, and other details
gave them quite contrasting profile.
The fact that they We're designed to
operate under different conditions from
the British ships accounted for many
of these Emergencies. We build our
destroyers with the widest possible
cruising radius; they are expected to
go to the West Indies, to operate from
the Atlantic to the Pacific. and in gen
era1 to feel at home anywhere in the
great stretch of waters that surround
our continent. British destroyers, on
the other hand, are intended to operate
chiefly in the restricted waters around
the British Isles, where the fueling
and refitting facilities are so extensive
that they do not have to devote much
space to supplies of this kind. The
result is that our destroyers can keep
the sea longer than the British; on the
other hand, the British are faster than
ours. and they can also turn more
quickly.
These differences We're Of course a 4
subject of much discussion among the
observers at Queenstown, and even of
animated argument. Naturally, the
interest of the destroyer officers of the
two services in the respective merits
of their vessels was very keen. They
examined infinitely all features that
were new to them in the design and
arrangement of guns, torpedoes depth
charges and machines. freely exchang
ed information and discussed proposed
improvements in the friendliest pos
sibie spirit. Strangely enough, al
though the American destroyers car
ried greater fuel supplies than the
British. they were rather more dainty
and graceful in their lines-a fact
(which inspired a famous retort which
rapidly passed through the ranks of
both navies.
The Feminine" American Destroyers.
You know" remarked a British Of
ficer to an American, Il like the Brit
ish destroyers better than the Ameri-
can. They look so much sturdier. |
Yours seem to me rather feminine in |
appearance"
Yes, replied the American. that's |
so, but YOU must remember what Kip i
ling says: The female of the species |
is more deadly than the maIe.''
The work of the Americans really
began on the Sunday following their
arrival; by this time they had estab-
hshed cordial relations with Admiral
Bayly and Were prepared to trust
themselves unreservedly in his hands
He summoned the officers on this
Sunday morning to have a short talk
with them before they started for the
submarine zone; the time of their de-
parture had been definitely fixed for
the next day. In the matter of cere-
monial greetings the Admiral was not
s.fong but when it came to discussing
the business in hand he was the mast
or or a convincing eloquence. The
SUBJECT of his discourse was the re-
sponsibiiity that lay before our men;
ne spoke in sharp, staccato tones, max
ing his points with the utmost preci-
sion, using no verbal flourishes or
unnecessary woodworking at our
men perhaps little fierceIy, and GER
tainly impressing them with the fact
that the work which lay before them
was to be no summer holiday.
What Bayly Said to Our Officers.
As soon as the destroyers passed
beyond the harbor defences. the ad-
miral began death constantly lay be-
fore the mn until they returned There
was only one safe rule TO follow. davs
and even weeks might go by without
their seeing submarine. but the men