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Developments during the five-day battle practice were to be withheld until the maneuvers ended, since either side might profit from news despatches. Outcome was expected to determine the effective ness of the Battle Force's power of attack, Hawaii's capacity for defense. As the war game began, Admiral Frank Herman Schofield, commander-in-chief of the U. S. fleet, and a corps of military and naval observers steamed into Honolulu on the U. S. S. Pennsylvania. His crew was not permitted to go ashore because of naval apprehension, born of recent civil disorders and the Kahahawai killing. Nor would shore leave be granted the Battle Force when its maneuvers conclude. Honolulu merchants grumbled. Lest timid citizens worry, with most of the U. S. fleet on the other side of the world, the Navy made known that in Atlantic waters there still remained the Scouting Force, based at Guantanamo: seven heavy cruisers (Augusta, Chester, Chicago, Louisville, Northampton, Pensacola, Salt Lake City) four light cruisers, 26 destroyers and auxiliary craft.
On Feb. 25, however, most of this force will steam through the Panama Canal to the Pacific where it will join parts of the battle fleet in more maneuvers (Problem No. 13).
Meanwhile last week from the Caribbean the entire Special Service Squadron (Rochester, Asheville, Sacramento) was ordered westward to strengthen the slim defenses of the Philippines.