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44 the Red fleet will await further orders, which will reach it in due course by wireless from the Commander-in-Chief of the Blue fleet."

Thirty-six hours after the sailing of the Red fleet the Blue fleet set sail. It consisted of the nine dreadnoughts of the Koenig and Kaiser classes, the armored cruisers, twelve light cruisers of 23 to 27 knots' speed, forty destroyers, and the whole of the thirty seagoing submarines. The sealed orders of the admiral read as follows: "After clearing the English Channel, the Blue fleet will proceed on a course midway between the frequented lines of steamship travel, until it reaches the thirty-fifth parallel. It will then proceed due west until it reaches a point of rendezvous 250 miles from the coast of the United States. Here it will meet a fleet of transports carrying 20,000 troops. At the point of rendezvous the