Show DR DRYDOCK DEWEY MAKES A ST ART Some Doubt as to Whether It Will WillEver WillEver Ever Reach Bay CRUISE OF MILES CERTAIN 10 TO BE TH THE SU SUBJECT OF ANXIETY i I i J I t nn po Md Dec mammoth steel floating drydock Dewey built by the Maryland Steel company for the government got under way today from the Patuxent river for tor Its long ocean voyage to o the Philippine Islands 4 where she is to be used at the naval station at Oong po pot t t I t i I I WashIngton Dec the big floating drydock Dewey today fishes up the last one of her eight pound mushroom anchors and starts off down CheSapeake bay bILY from Solo Solomons Solomons mons island bound on a cruIse to the Philippines she will be the sUbject of the deepest concern to the navy department and to every Amen Ameri American can sailor until she safely drops those ancho anchors in the quiet waters of bay For many naval say they are really very doubtful whether the trIp can he be made in safety The Ha Havana vana floating dock was towed down to that port from Scotland but that voy voyage voyage age was short In comparison with that lying before the Dewey and the perils perUs of the way were much fewer with many more chances to make safe har harbors harbors bors In case of bad weather and to en enable able the towboats to take on coal Cruise of the The tow that most nearly approximated approximated mated the Dewey In AmerIcan history was that of the big monitor in 1867 1861 She was then the very latest type of naval architecture and was sent across the Atlantic and Into the as asa asa a show ship to give the Europeans a an 1 idea of how far ahead of them th the Americans had got as n a result of sea fighting In the war One of the officers now e a re rear r admiral who helped get the monitor back to this side of the world tells an interesting story of the difficulties of that trip TIle The mon monitor could not carry enough coal to cross at full speed under her own steam S so she was loaded wi with th coal boxes on the decks until the ship was almost awash and started at a four knot lenot speed across the Atlantic It hap happens happens pens that between four and five knots is the calculated speed of the Dewey Towed by Atlanta The navy owned at that time a big the Atlanta and this ship towed and steered the clear across the Atlantic She took the course that will be followed by the Dewey In the reversed direction from Gibraltar to Cape Verde islands across to the West IndIa Islands up to the Bahamas and Ild so on to Delaware bay At Capo Cape Verde the tow was set by a schooner sent out from this side laden with coal and wIth this fresh supply the monitor was gotten across Several times the towing lines broke but there wore were no serious vicissitudes and naval officers here are hoping that the Dewey with her four towboats will do as well Estimates vary consider considerably considerably ably as to the length of the cruise but few place the time at less than three months |