At Portland, in 1903, I saw Admiral
Barker's white battleships under the searchlights of the army at a
distance of 14,000 yards, seven sea miles, without glasses, while the
Hartford, a black ship, was never discovered at all, though she passed
within a mile and a half. I have for years, while a member of the
General Board, advocated painting the ships war color at all times, and
by this mail I am asking the Department to make the necessary change in
the Regulations and paint the ships properly. I do not know that any one
now dissents from my view. Admiral Wainwright strongly concurs, and
the War College Conference recommended it year after year without a
dissenting voice.
In the afternoons the fleet has two or three hours' practice at battle
maneuvers, which excite as keen interest as gunnery exercises.
The competition in coal economy goes on automatically and reacts in a
hundred ways. It has reduced the waste in the use of electric light and
water, and certain chief engineers are said to keep men ranging over the
ships all night turning out every light not in actual and immediate use.
Perhaps the most important effect is the keen hunt for defects in
the machinery causing waste of power.
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