100 YEARS AGO
The first in record and unrivaled in power and grandeur, the United States Atlantic Battleship Fleet enters the Bay of Tokyo today. The fleet comes as our national guest in response to a cordial invitation, and its arrival is naturally most gratifying to us. The Japanese nation rises to welcome the fleet to its shores. Full 10 months have sped by since the Atlantic Squadron of the United States Navy, re-formed into a grand fleet of battleships 250,000 tons strong, left Hampton Roads on the 16th of December last year, in the midst of the roar of guns from Fort Monroe, and its cruise, though only half finished yet, has already covered 28,500 miles.
As a people deeply interested in naval affairs, in wonder and admiration have we watched the progress of the titanic armada as it careered around the great continents of America, thence to far Australasia, up to the Philippines and finally to our shores.