THE AMERICAN FLEET.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9315, 15 August 1908, Page 7

THE AMERICAN FLEET.

SOME IMPRESSIONS.

THE OFB'ICERS AND MEN

The great white fleet that will steam out of Auckland harbour this morning has made a deep impression on th© minds of many thousand's of New Zealanders, and it may be that the results of the visit will be seen in years to oome. Tho American fleet represents armed force on a -scale that is not familiar to most colonials, except in the form of names and figures that do not carry oonviction. The printed statement that a possible frien4 or a possible enemy owns so many battleships, capable of discharging so many tons of deadly missiles in the space of a minute, is regarded as a matter of interest, but its importance is not readily grasped. Tho many, thousand New Zealandens who during tho past week havo seen sixteen battleships flying the flag of a foreign nation in Auckland harbour will for the future have a better appreciation of the meaning of seapower and. a more personal interest in tho work that lies ahead if Britain is to retain the proud title of Mistress of the Seas. Washington /states that the battleship fleet has visited the Pacific in order that the officers and men oi' the American navy may have an opportunity to learn at sea that whioh experience has proved cannot be learned ashore or in port. The fifteen thousand Americans who man the great ships believe, apparently to a man, that they have been sent West in order that the yellow races may understand that the Pacific is a white man's ocean. Whatever is the right view, the visit of the American fleet .should draw attention to two facts — that New Zealand is dependinc ?or naval defence on the Motherland, and that the dominion is not bothering much about internal defence at all.

It is difficult, as it is in all probability quite unnecessary, to think of tho Americans as possible foes. A Now Zealander who boarded one of the battleships in Auckland harbour found himself surrounded at once by men of his own blood and his own tongue. He was received as a friend and a brother, made free of the vessel and given all the information that he cared to ask for. There was no foi--mality or restraint, no evidence of anything but friendly feelings. Yet after a little while the fact that the battleship was not British owned or intended for British purposes would begin to force itself upon the visitor's attention. Tho American navy is tho result of the growth of the national spirit in the United States and the recognition by American statesmen and the American people of the necessity for the power to enforce their decisions in world politics. The officers and men of the fleet are friendly in attitude and sentiment towards the British Empire, but they are Americans first and last and all tho time and do not hesitate to make the fact clear.

Tho most definite impression left in the minds of many people who -saw the fleet in Auckland is, therefore, that a new situation has been created in tho Pacific. The "yellow peril" has been waved in the face of Australasia on a good many occasions during tne past ten or fifteen years, and in Australia, at any rate., there has been created a distinctly nervous feeling as to what the future holds for the white mon in the South Pacific America has not generally been counted as a factor, but now there appeal's in Australasian waters a fleet that stands for an announcement by the United States that they claim a large interest in questions connected with the balance of power in the Pacific. What bearing has that announcement on the future of New_ Zealand? The most unimaginative citizen of the dominion can hardly fail to put the question to himself. The big international issue may be left for the present to the statesmen. Thero remain a score of memories of a lighter sort associated with the Fleet. First there is the American officer. He is generally young, often quite ridiculously young in British eyes, but he stands confidently on his own feet, and does his own work and any other work that he can lay his hands on. The American naval officer does not specialise like his British brother, who may know all about torpedoes, but nothing about wireless telography < or who may havo mastered the eccentricities of the 12in gun, and still be unable to handle the ship in a gale. The American system does not keep a man at one class of work all the time, but requires, on the contrary, that he should be able to take hie part in gunnery, navigation, engineering or anything else that comes along. The efficiency of the system lias not been tested in actual warfare with a power of equal strength, but there is certainly something to be said for the British view that the enormous complexity of the modern battleship calls for specialists. Many of the American officers wear glasses, another thing that is opposed to the preconceived notions of Britishers. They explain that a man whose sight is not perfect should not be required to sacrifice efficiency to appearance. On tho social side the officer is all that could be desired by his friends. His hospitality is unbounded, his desire to oblige limited scarcely even by the naval regulations, and his tales aro immense, if also distinctively American. His cocktails will live in the memories of many Pressmen whose reputations for reliableness were thereby imperilled. The American seaman is an attractive subject. He may be divided roughly into two classes, those who went ashore to get drunk, and those - who went to buy fruit and picture post-cards. The men who belonged to the first class achieved their end in Auckland with gorgeous completeness, and for their benefit there were landed patrols, consisting of muscular seamen, armed with large clubs and revolvers. Unruly seamen were clubbed with an amount of thoroughness that facilitated greatly their removal to the ships' barges. Tho 6econd class was composed of men such as are not found in any numbers in the British Navy. Quite a numbor of them carried small cameras, and showed a vast" interest in New Zealand's social conditions and legislate experiments. A reporter who met hundreds of theso seamen afloat and ashore, however, found them to bo as one mau when the subject of discus- I sion was America. They " reckoned " that America was the greatest coun- j try an earth, that she could fight all j the other countries without extending herself, and that the next ten years would see her in possession of a fleet that would make Great Britain take a back place on paper. They seemed to have come originally from all parts of the world, but they had boen consolidated into Americans.