With the Battle Fleet: Cruise of the Sixteen Battleships of the United States Atlantic Fleet from Hampton Roads to the Golden Gate, December, 1907-May, 1908Matthews, Franklin
History
With the Battle Fleet: Cruise of the Sixteen Battleships of the United States Atlantic Fleet from Hampton Roads to the Golden Gate, December, 1907-May, 1908
Matthews, Franklin
United States. Navy. Atlantic Fleet -- Cruise, 1907-1909
Admiral Evans headed his ships toward the narrow entrance to the east of
the main one. It is called Boca de Navios, one of the many reminders of
the old Spanish days before England swept down through these waters. The
Admiral had ordered his ships in single file of the open order or wing
and wing formation. Approaching more closely he ordered exact column,
one directly behind another, at a distance of 400 yards. When within
three miles of the entrance he veered off to take the large passage to
the west, Boca Grande. Then he made a sharp turn after he had cleared
the entrance to the gulf. For some time he stood in toward the shore.
Then came another turn to the south, and then followed what Admiral
Evans said afterward was one of the finest naval sights he had ever
witnessed. Orders had been signalled for the four ships of the first
division of the fleet to turn to the east and come up the bay of Port of
Spain in parallel formation. The other divisions were ordered to follow
the same plan when they arrived in position. Here was a long line of
warships that had been turning and twisting around headlands and in
muddy waters, going in single file, as if headed for the Serpent's
Mouth, the other entrance to the Gulf of Paria. A flag fluttered from
the Connecticut's signal yards. At once the first four ships turned at
right angles. You could have run a tape line across the bows of the
Connecticut to the Louisiana and found the Kansas and Vermont exactly on
the mark. The change in the course came so suddenly that it made even
naval men jump. Like four chariot horses the ships stood in as if on a
battle charge.
Port of Spain could just be made out on the beach eight miles away. The
ships were pointed directly for it, and if they had intended to bombard
it they could scarcely have been more aggressive looking in the way they
swung into that bay. The second division kept on in the lead of the
single file of ships until they reached places directly behind the ships
of the first division. Then they made a dramatic swing also. The third
and fourth division in turn did the same thing.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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