Page:America Fallen!.djvu/54

42 greatest naval force that had ever assembled under the German flag. Anchored in five long parallel lines, it covered many square miles of the calm waters of the Bight; and the ships, glistening in a new coat of paint, showed up, under the brilliant sun of that bright spring morning, with all the picturesqueness and air of gaiety befitting a great national pageant.

The first line, six miles in length, was made up of dreadnoughts and battle-cruisers, the second line of pre-dreadnought battleships, the third of armored cruisers and light cruisers, the fourth of destroyers and seagoing submarines, and the fifth of the auxiliaries.

Promptly at the hour of twelve, the Kaiser, from the bridge of the Hohenzollern, opened the review, and as he made his way up and down those far-flung lines, ship after ship thundered forth its volleys in honor of the man to whom,