THE MAINTENANCE OF THE FLEET. 109 



used against us as commercial supply stations or naval bases by an enterprising 

 rival or enemy. Besides, it w^ill pay us to do so. 



Suppose that on January i, 19 16, there should be assembled off Panama, in 

 the Pacific, a fleet to make a leisurely voyage to Manila and return by way of Hon- 

 olulu, Midway, and Guam. Let us assume that this fleet consists of 30 battleships, 

 20 of our largest cruisers (now mostly out of date because deficient in speed), 40 

 destroyers, 20 colliers, 3 supply ships, and the fleet repair ship Vestal. In order 

 to state the problem of supplying this fleet in its simplest form, the speed is 10 

 knots, no bad weather is encountered, there are no delays from break-downs, and 

 the time to overhaul machinery, etc., is placed at an absurdly low figure. As the 

 stretch from Panama to Honolulu is 4,685 miles and would necessitate towing 

 some of the ships of lesser coal endurance, and, as touching at Magdalena Bay 

 would only be 125 more than the direct route, this stop is made. Stopping at San 

 Diego, Cal., instead, would have made a difference of 436 miles. 



We have at Balboa a fine refueling plant and an embryo naval station, and the 

 fleet is supposed to sail from there full of coal and fuel oil. The assumption is a 

 very liberal one that 18 tons of coal and 3^ tons of oil per mile will cover the fuel 

 consumption of the battleships, cruisers, and destroyers at sea at a speed of only 

 10 knots, and that 1,000 tons of coal and 160 tons of oil will cover their daily 

 consumption in port. According to London Engineering the average collier or 

 freighter will burn 1/6 of a ton of coal per mile (or 3^ of a ton of oil) and will 

 burn about 12 tons of coal (10 tons of oil) in port per day. Our battleships carry 

 nearly forty days' fresh provisions, and five months' dry provisions, and the three 

 refrigerator supply ships Culgoa, Glacier and Celtic may be emptied on reaching 

 Guam, proceed to Sydney, Australia (3,000 miles), to fill up, and return to Guam 

 to meet the fleet on its return voyage. 



The following is the calculated coal consumption for the outward voyage : — 



Sea miles. 



Panama to Magdalena Bay. . . . 2,265 



In port 5 days 



Magdalena to Honolulu 2,543 



In port 5 days 



Honolulu to Guam via Midway. 3,450 



In port 10 days 



Guam to Manila Ij542 



In port 10 days 



Total 10,000 232,200 41,600 



Taking from the "Naval Pocket Book" the bunker capacities of all the ships 

 enumerated as comprising this fleet, adding to it the carrying capacities of coal and 



