The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-01-08
UNITED STATES FLEET OFF FOR
 NEW MANOEUVRES

Old Point Comfort, Va, Jan. 8. Fl The main body of the Atlantic fleet, including seven dreadnoughts, 35 de- stroyers and a number of subma- rines and auxiliary vessels, under command of Admiral Henry B. Will son, sails today from Hampton Roads for Guantanamo, Cuba for the an- nual winter manoeuvreS and exer- ciSes.
 The fleet as constituted is relative ly smaller than previous years due to the fact that lack of men kept the number of pre-dreadnoughtS, battle ships, several cruisers and a large number of destroyers in port. Of the 10S destroyers attached to the At lantic fleet, only 35 have large enough crews to warrant sending them to sea.
 Admiral Wilson's flag flies from the main of the dreadnought Penn sylvania, wartime flagship or the United States fleet. The other dread.' thoughts in the fleet are the Okla homa, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Florida and Delaware.
 The North Dakota, recently at Con stantinople, Is en route to Cuba to join the fleet.
 Despite handicaps of depleted and | untra1ned personnel, the fleet this year faces the most extensive and 1 comprehensive schedule of winter l manoeuvres in history. Particular at 1 tention will be given to working out l lessons and problems resulting from 1 the war and in giving 8 careful test 1 to wartime mechanical innovations. ! Cooperation between naval aviation forces and the fleet, experiments in 1 submarine attack problems and tao tlcal manoeuvres under high speed l in addition to the usual strenuous program of target practice, are ex- pected to keep officers and men busy night and day during the stay al 1 Guantanamo.
 fleet were to give the first oppor- tuntty to experiment with the practf- cability of large tactical units carry l ing their own flying forces
 After spending a month at Guan. tanamo the crews will be given g 1 brief respite from the strenuous round of drills when the seventh di. vision of dreadnoughts goes to Bar. bados and the fifth to Trinidad, per. 1 forming tactical manoeuvres ef route. Various smaller craft will ac eompo,ny the two divisions. On Feb ruary 25 the units will be joined a l SOtOn WIISIG LItGy VIII remain unti March 4, giving all hands an op portunity for shore leave at tn, Canal. Leaving Colon, March 4, tn, fleet will return to Cuba and con tinue exercises and nnanoeuvres. in ding main battery target practice
 until April 26 when the homeward bound pennants will be broken GU
 and the return voyage started. Afte arriving in home waters the vessel
 will scatter to various navy wards o
 the Atlantic Coast for the annua
 overhaul period.
 The greatest problem the flee
 will face during the winter drills
 naval officers said today, was the pre-
 ponderance of untrained men in tn lcrews, This is particularly true o
 the engineers and artifcers branches they said.
 Due to the rapid demobilization c t the navy, the highly trained and ex
 pert gun pointers and turret trainer 5 developed during the war are no7 for the most part civilians. Man [ months of hard work will be neces
 sary to train men to take the
 places.
 Consequently it is not expecte
 that Atlantic fleet which has led tf
 world in target practice will this yes
 achieve splendid results. IT
 average age of the crews of the shi. going south today was i9 years.