Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 274, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 November 1913 — GOING ON A PLEASURE TRIP. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

GOING ON A PLEASURE TRIP.

UNCLE’ SAM’S blue - jacketed sailor men, to the number of about eight thousand, are going on a pleasure tour. Tha contemplated outing throws down the gauntlet to well-laid plans of millionaire yacht owners who seek to amuse themselves in regions where the world is most prone to smile. These light-hearted, frolicsome American boys are to be turned loose in the ports of the Mediterranean with their pockets full of mopey, and admonished to have the time of their lives. They are to be conducted to the pleasure land on craft each unit of which represents a value of $12,000,000. The ships are to be tied up in the various harbors* with sleeping quarters and food always ready when purses are empty. No man need have a care in the world, for his own ship lies ready to bear him back to America in time for a Christmas at home when his money is spent. This cruise of the great men-of-war is made to redeem campaign pledges, as it were. Agents of the navy department have been going forth throughout the land and asking young men to enlist for service at sea. They have told these young men of the opportunities to learn trades in the navy, of the sport that is to be had in maneuvers at Newport and Guantanimo, of the opportunities that the service* offers to see the world. The Recruiting officers have not merely told them that they would see the ports of this nation and the 'Caribbean, hut the charm of foreign lands also has been held out as an inducement for enlistments. To Redeem Pledges. And how the department proposes to make good on these claims. Every effort is being made to increase the facilities for learning trades in the navy. Life aboard ship is being made healthful, stimulating and attractive. But navy programs of late have included little cruising abroad. The sailor man has known little except Newport, Norfolk and Guantanimo and a touch of Vera Cruz or Panama. w So it was determined that a trip to the Mediterranean should be made this fall. Pledges of recruiting campaigns should be redeemed. Secretary Daniels holds that men of the navy are better sailors and better citizens when they go back into private life because of these trips abroad. Likewise is the popularity of the navy increased, and this makes it possible to fill the service with better and better men all the time. When the trip to the Mediterranean was first planned it was proposed that the entire Atlantic fleet should go. Then conditions became so unsettled in Mexico that four battleships were assigned to those waters. Tha navy department contemplates the relief of those four ships by four others by November 1. This eliminates eight battleships. Then there is the regular work In the navy yards which calls for the overhauling of ships with a certain degree of regularity that the working force may be maintained. This fall there will be four battleships in those navy yards. So are twelve ships of the Atlantic fleet eliminated from the Mediterranean cruise. There remain nine great vessels that are at liberty to go. It was at first thought that some twenty destroyers would cross the Atlantic. These little, high-speed ships, the daredevils of the service, do not take the waves of the mighty main with the same degree of ease as do the dreadnoughts. They are entirely seaworthy, but in stormy weather they roll and plunge and inflict great hardship upon men and officers. As the Atlantic Is to be crossed at the season when gales are frequent, it was thought advisable to leave the destroyers at home But all those ships that are not allowed to make the present cruise are to be given later opportunity for cruising in foreign waters, and some of them are to have the privilege of first passing through the Panama canal, an event that will transpire before the new year. They will go abroad at other times. A trip to Scandinavian waters is being talked of for next summer. The torpedo flotilla will likewise be given its chance pleasure jaunt that will be as gopd us the best. n So it comes to pass that which will sail from Hamptdn roads about November 1 will b& the Wyoming, flagship; the Vermoht, the Ohio, the Arkansas the Florida, the Utah, the Delaware and two as yet not framed. Carry Ail Supplies. With these battleships will go three new colliers, the Orloo, the Jason and MWSwMkT ’

the Cyclops. The bunkers of the battleships will be full of coal when they leave Hampton roads. With the three new Coal ships plowing in its wake, the fleet of dreadnoughts will demonstrate its ability to subsist for a threemonth cruise without calling in any outside source of supply whatever. No ship will take on coal other than from the accompanying colliers from the time it leaves Hampton roads until its return, a period of nearly three months. The same Is true with reference to supplies for the 8,500 men who are making the cruise. The larder of all the ships will be full when the cruise is begun. The great cold storage compartments will be stocked with frozen meat and throughout the trip the men will have as good food as when in a home port. The supply ship Celtic, which is the last word in the way of an up-to-date refrigeration plant afloat, will accompany the fleet, and from its stores the v dreadnoughts will draw men necessary, although it is figured that the three-month cruise could be made even without the supply ship. This self-dependence of the fleet is intended as a demonstration of the possibilities in time of need. The fleet wants to show that it can go forth and give an account of itself for three months without the necessity of returning to the home port. There are few campaigns at sea that would require more than three months. Conflicts at sea that would make world history could be Initiated and brought to a conclusion in less time. Almost any point in the world could be reached from our supply bases and the force of the whole navy hurled against it without any occasion to worry about food and fuel. When nine of the great dreadnoughts of the Atlantic fleet steam out of Hampton roads a force will have been set in motion that is almost beyond conception. Each of these nine vessels will represent a weight of 20,000 tons. The nine, together with, .the colliers and supply ship, would weigh more than 200,000 tons. To carry the weight here represented would require 3,500 freight cars, which, strung out on the tracks, would make a line thirty .miles long. When steam is up and these ships are moving at the rate of twenty knots an hour there is a force in motion that comes near being irresistible.

PART of ATLANTIC FLEET