Ogden Standard-Examiner | 1920-05-02 | Page 1 | Atlantic Fleet Drops Anchor in the Hudson

ATLANTIC FLEET IITHOSI Officers and Sun Tanned Gobs Rush Ashore for Little j Vacation ' SECRETARY DANIELS j TALKS BY WIRELESS j Admiral Wilson Praises Men. ! for Success Gained Under I I Difficulties j NEW YORK, May 1. Headed blithe bl-ithe flagship Pennsylvania, with the broad blue flag of the secretary of the 'navy flying at the main masthead, , nearly three score ships of the At)an- j tic fleet dropped anchor In the Hud-I Hud-I son river today, home from three J months of drills and maneuvers in Cu- ban waters. j I Eight great superdreadnaughts and ja swarm of swift destroyers rode sleepily at their moorings tonight, fair-ily fair-ily filling the river anchorage for j miles; but more than half of the, officers offi-cers and of the sunburiey-pungters I of-the" crews went ashore, epjo'ying 45? i hours of well earned liberty, j Daniels On' Board. I When the fleet steamed in past Am-j Am-j brose light early in the morning the J Pennsylvania carried the three highest officials of the naval service. Besides 1 Secretary Daniels, who boarded thej j ship off the Virginia capes yesterday (morning for the last lap of tho home-1 home-1 ward cruise, Admiral Koontz, chief of J naval operations, was a guest of Ad-j miral Wilson, commanding the Atlantic Atlan-tic fleet, and senior sea commander of the navy Mr. Daniels and Admiral Koontz stood with Admiral Wilson on the flag bridge as the great sea force 1 made its stately progress through the crowded harbor and river to its anchorage. an-chorage. 1 Speaks By Wireless. I On the way up the harbor, Mr. Daniels Dan-iels spoke by radio telephone to a crowd gathered in Times square I where amplifiers had been set up. At (first, constant interference by amateur j wireless operators broke up the novel greeting from fleet to city, but ultimately ulti-mately navy radio experts made good 1 their promise and the secretary's , words wero plainly audible in tne square, while he was still on the moving mov-ing ship down the river. In a statement regarding the work of the fleet during the winter, Admiral Wilson said he felt that much of value had been accomplished. Many Difficulties. "Officers- and men," he said, "were confrontod with many difficulties not I usually met. An unusually large proportion pro-portion of the crews wero comparatively compara-tively untrained and to carry on the work of the ships and the fleet and to train these men brought an excessive amount of work upon the officers and the older men. "It is with pride that tho commander-in-chief looks upon the results obtained ob-tained by the earnest, conscientious efforts of these officers and older men, as well as upon the spirit with which tho new men have entered upon their duties. "The target practice was, in most respects, all that could be expected un-der un-der theso conditions. The stenmlng I trials nave resulted In steady improve-:inent improve-:inent in the ability of the ships to I steam." 1