GREATEST FLEET IN HISTORY.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2574, 7 August 1909, Page 3 (Supplement)

GREATEST FLEET IN HISTORY.

Tlio inspection of the.fleet assembled at Spitbead in honor of the Imperial Press delegates will long live in the memory of ail privileged to be present. a spectacle, words cannot do jus--tice to its impressive grandeur. As the guests assembled at Victoria, Sir John Fisher, who was present on the platform showering upon the delegates kindly attentions, looked the picture of energy and animation, organiser of the greatest event of the Press Congress. Moored at the Portsmouth jetty was the steamer Volcano, which was to take the guests through the fleet. When the train arrived the sky was overcast, and there was a sharpness in the air which sorted rather with November than with June. No guest might reach the steamer without exhibiting a pass, and so energetic xvere the police that even Sir John Fisher, who was in mufti, was challenged. Out in the harbor lay the Victory, painted as when Dead Nelson and his half-dead crew, his foes from near and far, Were rolling together on the deep- that night at Trafalgar. Beflagged aloft, her sides manned with a long row of motionless dark-blue figures,, she lay, her battles done; monument of the old order passed for ever. A cloud of smoke broke from her side as a 24-pound or began a salute. The Volcano, followed the Admiralty yacht Enchantress .towards Spitbead. Far off on the horizon towered a forest of tn,ll masts and funnels and tops, multitudinous,, wonderful to see. "This was the greatest and strongest fleet ever assembled in any anchorage—the fleet which keeps watch and ward over the safety of England. The Volcano drew nearer and the sun shone. The color effects were wonderful. Now the scouts were passed, low-lying, graceful, with the air of a greyhounds, heading each division of destroyers. Their sides were manned by a row of impassive figures. They wore the sombre dress of war; khaki for the fighting man on land; lead color for the fighting ships at sea; save only the destroyers, which are black as * the night in which they use their terrible -jveapon. >r CITY OF WARSHIPS.

Y Tlie big Japs were anchored in three lines, each line close on six miles long—a muster of giants, marshalled witlFabsolute perfection. The grandeur of the sight took the breath away. Battleship on battleship, rising like immense fortresses, grim with guns, solemn with the air of force and resolution, businesslike with their absence of all adventitious trappings, a city of ships, majestic, dignified, forceful', gloomy on a gloomy sea—for the sky had once more clouded over. In that great array there were no “dummy” ships, no “duffers.” The oldest of the battleships was not eleven years launched. The vast hull of the Dreadnought towered above us with her huge tripod mast and its fire-control position and wireless network by which she can talk with Gibralta as she lies off Portsmouth. Now the eye -ooked down between the lines. It was a marvellous sight, this avenue of behemoths, interminable, unbroken. It was the road or Empire, kept by battleships of the Prince of Wales' and King Edward classes. Away to the right showed the four Dreadnoughts, the most wonderful group of ships in a wonderful fleet, with their giant guns in their large grev turrets. Nearer .was the great bulk of eight King Edwards, with their 9.2’s protruding menacingly. In each shin the marines, in red tunics and white helmets, made a little patch of color below, while aloft, against the windy sky, the flags flew out in gala fashion. Enormous armoured cruisers, succeeded the twenty-two battleships. Here, awav on the right were the three Invinciblos, the fastest armoured cruisers in the world and as fighting machines unsurpassed by anything of their kind. There was the Indomitable “cock of the Seven Seas,” with her record of the fastest Atlantic passage. There was the Invincible, which disputes the Indomitable s laurels, theie was the Inflexible. What strikes the eye is their monstrous bulk and their appearance of a speed and power. They arc floating with the air of factories, not ships; but these arc fortresses and factories that can move with the swiftness of the wind. Grey hull succeeded grey hull; one monster followed on another. At last the Volcano turned. 'The pas* sage down, the avenue of ships had taken just over half an hour. SALT OF THE SALT.

Now leaving behind the great ships of to-day we headed towards the Gosport shore, and there broke upon the gaze a number of sinister craft. These were the vessels of to-morrow —the thirty-five submarines. Far off they showed like the Monitor when she came out. for her fight with the Merrimac — “elieese-boxes on rafts.” Steaming closer the cheese,-box became an uncanny-look-ing pepper-box. of a conning tower, from which two long. periscope tubes protruded, planted on a long, low, narrow deck that ro.?o up from the cigarshaped hull. On each conning tower or deck stood twelve or fourteen officers nnd men, the men'clad in white duffle “jumpers,” blue trousers, and heavy sea boots. They are the salt of the navy, as the navy is the salt of the lace.

Leaving the -submarines we steamed for. twenty minutes through „another avenue of monstrous . gtey hulls and made fast to the Dreadnought. On her deck was a great gathering of officers— Admiral May, the ; comm a n der-in-c h 1 e f of this . gigantic fleet, conspicuous among his staff. We were in the gieat battleship • almost, before we knew it, m John Fisher showing the waj, mastf of all ceremonies,, with words of ex-, illiination'for all who wished to ask him about his darling Dreadnought I Then, the .order “Out nets was diven. In a leiy seconds the thing was tkme. the triunfwh of electricity. Down the avenue came the submarines, moving at nine or ten knots. First were Three in criming trim, officers and men standing upon the conning towers which rose high above tiie surface and with the decks just awash. Then came a trio in diving trim, hatches closed down and periscopes up —only one periscope is prit up h Tr each boat at a time, the other being hold in reserve in case the first is shot away. In this position they ' <|an scarcely bo made out at a mile’s i Jo'-.* :' v : *. '•* ...’• : • ‘ ’’’

Review by Empire Editors.* Torpedo Attack on a Dreadnought.(By H. W. Wilson, in the “Daily Mail.”)

distance. One grasped the devilish nature of a submarine. But the last throe were the uncanniost of all. As they neared the 'battleship they dived and .motored under water but with tlio very tip of their periscope appearing. In real war, in the last minutes of the approach even this would not be seen. In manoeuvres they have again and again bagged the Dreadnought. Indeed, as an officer said, “After looking for half an hour for periscopes on the water you see them everywhere, and while you are seeing them the real submarines have slipped in and unleashed their torpedoes u n ehallen god. J ’ TORPEDO ATTACK.

The turn of the destroyers camp next. Sixteen of them were to deliver an attack on the Dreadnought, each alternate destroyer firing a torpedo. Black in hull, they tore up the avenue at eighteen knots. They were thirty-two knot boats, but they were not let out to their' full speed because of the tremendous wash which such fast motion causes in an anchorage. There was a slight puff of smoke; a bright steel something lept into tho water; and on the surface of the sea showed a straight green trail moving swiftly towards the Dreadnought—a splendid shot. The steel nose of the torpedo bobbed up angrily from -the sea and butted against the net again and again, as if trying to force a way in, while from it burst flame and smoke —- tlio phosphide of calcium attachment which is fixed for peace purpose in the torpedo’s head to enable the crew to find it and recover the weapon alter it has been fired-

Torpedo followed torpedo as the destroyers came by,, the alternate boats which did not discharge torpedoes firing guns or rockets to show that they had made their attack. Now and again a torpedo failed to take its depth at once and rose on the surface of the water as it left the tube like some gigantic fish, but for the most part they came straight as a bullet to the front of the Dreadnought’s mast. Soon there was not pne torpedo but a perfect herd of them buffeting against the steel netting, rubbing their noses upon it, smoking and flaming like a pack of horrible monsters from Dante’s “Inferno,” fighting to reach their quarry., One caught its nose in the net; the stern flow up shewing its propellers revolving with tremendous speed ; and there was a loud hiss and the compressed air came out with a rush from a valve in the stern. As a naval spectacle this tor--jedo attack was amazingly imjjressive. Tea in the Dreadnought’s wardroom and an inspection of the wonder-ship followed. The guests were taken in lifts down to her engine-rooms—rooms clear of the tangle of machinery, with only a perfect maze of dials and indicators. We entered the turrets and saw the loading arrangements. The ammunition hoist came up with a fearful crash, like the report of a gun ; another lever was touched, and the chain rammer crashed into the gun, driving' a projectile before it, and then the ammunition; another lever moved, and the immense breechblock swung home with a bang. The sixty-ton gun was handled as though it were a toy. The ship .seemed to contain everything, and Dr. Epgolenberg, present with the Boers in South Africa, was delighted to discover a complete printing press on board HANDY MAN AS ACTOR.

Sir John Fisher gathered his flock and we were steaming up to Whale Island, the famous gunnery, school of tho British Navy. Landing at a jetty, the party were driven to the scene of the .most realistic battle ever rehearsed in time of peace. On the edge of Portsmouth Harbor, hereabouts a *miet lake, was a complicated system of •entrenchments, a miniature camp, a number of field guns, and a force of bluejackets. Parallel to the water ran a line of rails. Out on tlio still water rode a number of gunboats and launches which were to deliver the attack. Here and there wero bluejackets on guard ashore, watching the enemy.

Suddenly there wore signs of movement among the gunboats. The sentinels signalled the alarm. Officers and men doubled up and lined the trenches. Then the battlo began. Field guns opened a rapid fire ashore, using black powder. Flash! Crash! Bang!— ear-splitting concussions succeeded each other;’the shore was ablaze. The rifles cracked. Smoke broke from the side of the gunboats, and tho deep note of heavy guns was heard. The enemy was bombarding the position to clear the way for the landing party.

A few seconds after they had fired, perfectly timed, their shells began to burst’ among the trenches. Now they shot up great masses of 1 turf and stones; now there wore rings and jets of shrapnel in the air overhead; now, again, there come spurts of flame in the very midst of the defenders, Charges had been laid beforehand, and these were detonated at the right moment to stimulate shell-bursts. It was wonderfully done. No words can convey a picture of the scurry .and rush, of the air of action and reality about this, mimic battle. Dim blue figures moved to and fro in dense cloud of smoke and spouts of flame. The shells -came faster and more furious from the - gunboats. Figures dropped and fell everywhere. Hero and tliijro one saw through the smoko what looked like streams of blood' on the beads of the fallen. .But oip close inspection " the .blood, resolved itself into red ink.

There was an attack and counter attack. The bluejackets entered into the spirit of the performance,’ indeed, it almost looked as.though they might ho carried away by their zeal and exchange of mimic for the reality. One saw little pictures of men with clubbed rifles striking furiously in the smoke; officers covered with, mud, leading rushes with drawn swords; the defenders being steadily driven in. Then came the tour do force. A huge 7.4 gun was landed and dragged by the assailants lip the steep bank. A trench just under the visitors’ eyes was taken and retaken; a Maxim jammed,- as is the way of Maxims. Men fell dead with a spring; the ground was covered with the fallen. ; 1 ■

But it was written in the programme that the assailants were not to win. A roar of cheering -and an armoured train lolled along and opened a tremendous fire. The assailants were

driven to the water. Tlio life, vigor, and the color of the scene carried away the spectator. Suddenly a bugle Bounded. The firing ceased; the killed returned, to life. The band played “God Save the King.” 'line display had its more solemn side. It told something of tho horrors of war. OVATION TO SIR J. FISHER. From Whale Island tho procession of guests were driven tn rough the dockyard. past the mighty hu.l of the St. Vincent, past the stern of tho newest battleship yet laid down, the Neptune. And so back to the station and the train. Punctual to the minute the “special pulled up at Victoria, and there a singular and spontaneous ovation was given to Sir John Fisher. From first to last he had been omnipresent, with a thought and a word of greeting for everyone, the most accessible and the most considerate of men. The guests assembled round him. “Three cheers for Sir John Fisher,” someone shouted, and they were giVcn__ with a will, the guests then singing “For He’s a Jolh Good Fellow” with equal spirit while ho stood bareheaded and smiling in their midst. When the cheering subsided he turned and said simply with a smile, “I hope you will all come again.” “And that, to our ears,” siTid a delegate, “is the most eloquent speech we have yet heard.” SIR. J. FISHER’S MESSAGE.

The following has been received by Mr. Kyffin-Tliomas, chairman of the delegates, in reply to a. message of thanks from them for their reception:—• From Sir J. Fisher: “Very greatly appreciate kind commendation of oversea delegates conveyed in your telegram. May I venture to hope that I have not seen the last of them ? Motto, last' verse of Chapter 18 bf Proverbs.“ The verse reads: “A man that hath friends must show himself friendly, and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.” GERMAN COMMENT.

■ The newspapers publish exhaustive accounts of the Spitbead naval review, emphasising the “stupendous impression” it made on all spectators, but without further comment. A large delegation of German journalists happened to witness the review from the deck of the new German Lloyd liner George Washington, on the way from Cherbourg to Southampton. .The “Berliner Tageblatt,” commenting on the Imperial Press Conference, under the heading “The Rising Flood,” says:—•

“Burdened with other troubles, the German public has not yet fully recognised the danger of the rising flood of British opinion. The sceptical reserve Germany is observing is well enough, because it avoids excited discussion yet it is pernicious in that only a clear perception of the situation can lead to remedial measures—namely, negotiation on tho question of naval armaments.

“We may, of course, still hope that a bloody clash of arms between us and the English will be avoided, but the antics of the peace-visitors and their compliments contribute precious little to that end.” The “Berliner Neueste Nachrichten”. publishes an angry attack on Lord Rosebery and fur Edward Grey. It declares that Lord Rosebery uttered a “downright untruth” when ho declared that Germany’s twenty-five million pounds of new taxes were for “warlike preparations.”