The New York herald., 1921-04-24
so FIGHTING SHIPS
TOPASS in REVIEW
BEFORE PRESIDENT
Atlantic Fleet Will Sail
From Guantanamo Bay,
! Cuba, for Home This
( Morning.
INSPECTION TUESDAY
Harding to See Big Array
of War Vessels for First
Time as Their Com
mander.
WORLD RECORDS MADE
Remarkable Scores Registered
at Target Shooting-Work
Of Airplanes One of Fea-
lures of Man9uvres.
WORLD RECORDS MADE

Special Despatch to THE NEw YORK HERALD
NORFOLK, Va, April 23.-When the
bhttleship Pennsylvania, flagship Of
the Atlantic fleet, displays "set sail
for home" signals in Guantanamo
Bay, Cuba. at 10 o'clock tomorrow
morning, she will be followed out to
sea by fifty fighting ships that have
made probably the greatest record
at target shooting with large and
small guns in the history Of the
world.
When the fleet left American
waters last January programme
calling for the most extensive ma
n9uvres ever planned for an Amer
lean fleet was in possession of Ad-
miral Wilson on board the Pennsyl
vania. This programme has been
carried out to the letter, and the
craftsmanship displayed by gunners
or ships Of this wonderful fleet prob
ably will win for them official rec
ognition from the Navy Department
and from President Harding himself.
President Harding, who will re-
view the fleet as it passes the yir-
ginia Capes Tuesday morning, will
for the first time in his life see the
most formidable array of sea fighters
in the world, of which he Is the Com
mander In Chief.
DENLY Is Enthusiastic.
Secretary of the Navy DENLY, who
witnessed the closing features of the
winter man9uvres in Cuban waters,
was so enthusiastic over what he saw
and of the records Of the men behind
the guns that he told the President
ard invited him to see these great
sea fighters and meet Admiral Will
son, under whose directions such
wonderful things were accomplished.
One Of the features OF the Cuban
manmuvres was the part airplanes,
seaplanes and bomb throwing aircraft
took For the first time in the his
tory of the navy the aerial squadron
had a special place on the programme
There were a score or more OF air
craft engaged in night and day firing.
and target after target was smashed
by the deadly aim of gunners thou
sands OF feet I'm the air.
Norfolk sent to the fleet while 1t
was In Cuban waters several hundred
targets constructed at the local navy
yard There also was sent 10, 900 parts
Af vfal In ~,
and repairing targets. Supply ships
returning from Cuba brought back
with them bits of targets that had been
shot to pieces by the deadly aim of
American gunners and stories Of how
almost unheard of hits were made at
great distances under the most trying
circumstances.
Some Remarkab BILE Shooting.
Gunners of the battleshlp Utah. shoot
ing at a moving target at night. scored
three hits IN rapid succession with the
object 10000 yards AVA. Only the
glare of the searchIght from their own
ship showed the target to their steady
eye and before the illumination could
be removed three huge shells had shat
tered various parts of the floating object.
Cmpires declared had these same shells
struck an enemy warship II would have
been put out OF commission. Gunners on
the Utah also made a good record shoot
Ing AT targets $4,000 yards away.
Gunners on the battleships Florida,
Pennsylvania, Delaware and Arizona
also made wonderful records nj long
and short range firing. The best records
were made with big guns. which naval
experts declare proves beyond the shadow
OF doubt that American gunners are
the best in the world In years gone
by, when the biggest shell was twelve
inches best records were made by
smaller guns. That Is the record OF
every navy In tho world. This year
American gunners have reversed things
and they smashed targets with fourteen
and sixteen inch shells At greater dis
tances than were ever attempted by any
navy.
Some of the wonderful records made
by tho feet while In Cuban waters are
Government secrets and will remain so.
They will not be made public for the
reason that other nations might obtain
information that would be valuable
Remarkable hits were scored by air
craft nying In groups of five and nine.
Passing over n target or n series OF
targets each Of the aerial fighters would
drop a she'll and discharge gun. The
hits were frequent and average IN most
sAsas much better than was expected.
Planes Make Good scouts.
Box kites made fast to the decks OF
battleships by ropes were subjected TO
fire from antl-aircraft guns and small
arms on board the sea fighters. Nine
ships engaged i'm practice almost stimuli
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