At the Midway Read Online Free PDF

May - Fire - When - Ready" Dewey the equivalent of five stars, Congress had had its fill of sea - going prima donnas.  They refused the president's request to grant Evans a promotion. This meant that in the upcoming journey he would have to sit below the salt at banquets.  When he entered foreign ports, the gun salutes his two stars drew would be over before the echoes came back.  All of which could have been forgiven, had his most fervent secret prayer been answered:
    God, deliver me from this gout , was Rear Admiral Evans' foremost thought as he hobbled forward to grasp the president's firm hand.
    The president glowered at the reporters clustered on the gangway.  This was a surprising expression from someone who'd won the Nobel Peace Prize.  It was also a caution to the photographers to be ready next time.
    Evans could not keep from casting nervous glances about him.  A great many of his boys were fresh from the Midwest, where Navy recruiters had gone to flush out good-looking, all-American types.  Officially, the upcoming voyage was slated for the training of personnel and the testing of new equipment.  Unofficially, everyone knew that Teddy was whipping out his 'big stick' and showing it for all the world to see.  In which case, it would hardly do to have foreigners observe the average American sailor--hardened, tattooed and blemished with poor teeth if he was lucky enough to have any remaining.  The thousands of scrubbed-pink faces that had been poured into the Fleet had not yet won their sea legs.  Standing before Roosevelt, Evans wondered which of the green lads around him would puke in front of the president.
    "Bob," Roosevelt declaimed, "you know this is a peaceful mission I'm sending you on.  But there's always the unexpected.  If it comes to a fight, I know I can count on you."
    "Good God, what's he saying ?" some of the correspondents whispered among themselves.  "Is he challenging the Japs ?"
    Fighting Bob smiled with grim equanimity and matched the firmness of the president's grasp.  The possibility that they would lock horns with the Japanese was an ironic testament to the fluid world.  He had been commander of the Asiatic Fleet when the Naval War College recommended its withdrawal from the Far East in 1903.  The Japanese Embassy had lodged a protest.  They felt that a strong American presence in the region preserved the peace.
    Apparently, that was no longer their belief.
    "Well vittled, are you?" the president inquired.
    "Captain Ingersoll has the figures."
    Evans summoned his chief of staff.  Ingersoll, prepared, recited, "Mr. President, the Bureau of Supplies and Accounts has supplied us with more than six million pounds of provisions, excluding fifteen thousand pounds of English plum pudding, just arrived and to be stowed aboard this evening."
    Evans noted Roosevelt's keen interest.  They all understood this was the tender prelude to the best statistic of all.  The admiral nodded for Ingersoll to continue.
    "For the pleasure of the men, there are included four hundred sheets of popular music, thirty-two pianos, two hundred sets of boxing gloves, one hundred sets of quoits, three hundred handballs and horse billiards, sixteen tridents and sets of whiskers--for the Neptunes, when we cross the Line--eight hundred packs of playing cards, sixty phonographs, uncounted Bibles, and three hundred copies of your latest State of the Union Address."
    "Bully!"
    Now... the moment....
    "Mr. President, the combined weight of the fighting Grand Atlantic Fleet is two hundred and twenty-three thousand tons.  On the sixteen ships there is a total of nine hundred and twenty-five naval guns, perhaps the greatest concentration of firepower in history.  Some of the ships mount thirteen-inchers, but just as effective are the twelve-inch guns.  In all, one hundred and forty-four guns of major caliber.  In five minutes of firing, one of the newer ships, such as the Georgia , can develop 3,927,172 foot-tons of