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Show GREAT BRITAIN'S FLEET READY TO FIGHT Ian for that vital thread of shipping Every hour since the declaration oJ war in 1914 the fleet has been in readiness, readi-ness, and its maintenance under such a long strain will constitute one of the glorious chapters in the history of naval na-val affairs. Provisioned for Two Months. In the fleet are some thousands oi vessels of every kind, aside from the b attje.. c augers J huiseljivirrfieh-!) a t L'Te cruiser carries a complement ol from eight hundred to a thousand men; making in a human element well up iu-t iu-t to six figures. The exact data cannot be given, but the enormity Would al- Most Powerful Aggregation of Superfighting Vessels Ever Assembled. MD fOCK BATTLES DAILY . Is Overned by One of the Most Effi-cipt Effi-cipt Business Administrations in HUtory Every Vessel ProvJJ-,,, sioned for Two JgtoChi iTs. L'ylop ; -tiri t airing r a n d fleet is nol only the greatest and most powerful ug- most be beyond conception even if pul down in terms of hundreds of thousands. thou-sands. Just one item that seemed im pressive and which brought up visions of the herculean tasks confronting the commanders of the fleet was the statement state-ment that each cruiser must be continually contin-ually supplied with two mont'ns' provisions pro-visions of food, oil and. ft'wtrything else that vwiVi "tie needed by a small-sized -city in case of siege. His majesty's ship St. Vincent is o .' the battleship type, built in 190S, and it was aboard her that I lived during my visit. She was engaged at the tlmo in daylight target practice, carried out within the harbor in conjunction with the' other vessels that made up thu squadron. Every man was In his fighting fight-ing position, carrying out his duties just as If the squadron were attacking an enemy. They were firing small shells through sub-caliber guns insldvi the monsters that are ordinarily used In battle. Mock Engagement Every Day. Behiiles this actual practice of engaging en-gaging the enemy the entire fleet carries car-ries out daily a mock engagement directed di-rected from the flagship. This is done gregation of superfighting vessels ever assembled by a nation but is undoubtedly undoubt-edly governed by one of the most efficient effi-cient business administrations in naval history- The enormous outpouring of treasure in money and supplies required requir-ed to keep i-"-and fleet in condition to leave a f nient's notice for an cngugemeri?v ". the enemy accomplishes accom-plishes maxiTm results. After a week's visit wtriv tho flooi thit-j York Sun's co'".vsj,on,..it (TK aule to obtain a general idea of the results attained at-tained and of the plans upon which this enormous fighting force operates. Primarily the grand fleet Is protecting protect-ing England from an attack by the German Ger-man fleet. Since the beginning of the war Germany has known of the existence exist-ence of this superior force lying silently silent-ly in wait at its base lu northern waters wa-ters and the thought of contact with It has kept the Teuton navy well within protected harbors. Secondarily the British battle cruiser cruis-er squadrons are acting as a protecting force for the Scandinavian traffic, and now that America has brought into being be-ing a line of communications across the Atlantic, Britain's fleet nets as a guard- altogether on paper, the admiral of tha fleet sending out messages giving the imaginary location of bis vessels. At a given hour he sends out a message saying the enemy is sighted In a certain cer-tain position. The fleet Is supposed t; be sailing at a given speed and when the various vessels come within range they proceed to engage the enemy. On paper many German fleets have been sunk and many allied ships have sank to Davy Jones' locker. Another method meth-od of keeping the men Involved In the fighting Is through a war "game," in which the whole fleet is plotted out on charts and certain men designated to command the enemy vessels, directing their movements nnd playing (heir wits and knowledge against others who arp supposed to he commanding British cruisers. The same methods are used aboard all the hundreds of craft that dot the harbor. There is continued movement One squadron is always In actVm some place on the water between the dreary brown bills or is steaming out to sea for patrol. Submarines disappear and reappear constantly nnd are sworn at by captains who are attempting to keep some target In line. Throuchout the whole -f the seemingly seem-ingly confused mass of sfi'ps there Is order and system. Dally or weekly charts show the efficiency of each boat. Not a tin can nor a bone Is wasted, and the economy of each ship Is known down to the last penny. |