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208 THE MARINE REVIEW _THE FLORIDA PITCHING, Sete Ae KEEL AND THE UNDERSIDE OF op of. the Maryland' Reserve. After dinner was over the four of us went to: the «cabin to make our official call on Captain Van Duzer, who very graciously and with apparent sincer- ity, welcomed us to his ship and to his organization. On the following morning. the executive officer detailed us to our various stations, Admiral Badger having insisted that all naval militia officers be treated not as pas- sengers, but as men who desired to increase their knowledge by active work. It was worthy of note that ereat care was taken to.see that we were assigned to work corresponding to our relative rank, and that in every way we were treated as officers in the regular service of a correspond- ing rank would be treated. I was greatly pleased to find that my own assignment was that of assistant navi- gator, under a man who had proven to 'be a good friend on the previous cruise. The Utah is comparatively a new ship, having been commissioned in the autumn of 1911. Her overall dimensions, except for her draft of 291%4 feet, are, roughly speaking, ap- proximately those of the City of De- troit IIl., 523 feet extreme length, 881%4 feet beam. Her four screws are driven by four Parsons turbines, fed by twelve Babcock: and Wilcox watertube boilers, developing theoreti- cally 28,000 horse power, but actually being capable of 'being pushed very much beyond this figure... Her - trial speed was a little better than 21 knots, while her ordinary displace- ment is 21,800 tons, about that of the Wm P. Snyder Jr., under. full. load. Her main battery consists of ten 12 in. guns mounted on five armored turrets, two being placed forward of the bridge and three aft, while her torpedo defense battery consists of sixteen 5 in. guns, and, in. addition, she carries two torpedo tubes. Her complement is about 1,000 officers and men, who are adepts at practically UTAH DIVING INTO THE SEAS. ARKANSAS IN THE DISTANCE June, 1914 all the trades found in a small city, A small machine shop with a limited number of good machines and tools, a brass foundry, printing office, large distilling and refrigerating plants, a mechanical store room containing over 1,500 articles, a bakery capable of producing 600 loaves of bread per day, a good. sized butcher shop, barber shop, large stores of clothing and shoes of all kinds, together with men to repair them and keep them in order, are a part of her equipment, All in all, she is a fine big ship, but I could not help but feel that her mere size was less impressive to a man used to the big side-wheeled passenger steamers and 600-ft. freight- ers of the lakes: than to the men who are used to the much smaller tramp steamers: of the coast. Saturday afternoon, Oct. 25, the nine ships composing the fleet and the train, consisting of the hospital ship Solace and three colliers, got under way at 1:30 and steamed out of Hampton Roads, saluting the as- Sistant secretary of the navy, Mr, F. B. Roosevelt, who bade us good-bye with the following words: "In sending you off today as representatives of the United States navy, we hope to show the Old World that the achievements and traditions of the past are being sustained and carried forward to a still more splendid future. Good luck and God speed." At 4:50 Cape Henry was abeam and the fleet was headed on the great circle course to Gibralter, north ¥0 deg. east, speed 12% 'knots or 143 miles. Darkness soon shut out the sight of land, and save for a couple of ships, we saw nothing outside of our own fleet until we picked up Cape St. Vincent on the west coast of. Spain, a week from the following Wednesday. Midnight that night took us through the straits of Gibral- ter, about 11% miles wide, and the fleet immediately broke up into five units; the Wyoming going to Malta, the Arkansas and Florida to Naples, the Utah and Delaware to «+ Ville: franche, the Kansas and Connecticut to Genoa and the Vermont and Ohio to Marseilles. At 8.15 on Saturday, Nov. 8, our unit entered the pic- turesque harbor of Villefranche, saluted the French flag with 21 guns and tied up to our mooring--our engines slowing down for the first time since they were started at Hamp- ton Roads--after an exceedingly busy and interesting but comparatively un- eventful cruise of 4,700 miles. The avowed purpose of the cruise was to give the men an opportunity to visit Europe; in other words, to keep the promise made by the deparl- she cigatiy cD Soltaen Sac ea