On Tuesday the Special Service Squadron which is to visit
every part of the British Empire sailed under the command of Sir Frederick Field. It consists of the two battle-cruisers ' Hood ' and ' Repulse,' and four light cruisers of the ' Delhi ' class. On reaching Australia the squadron will be joined by the light cruiser ' Adelaide,' of the Australian Navy. The squadron will go first to Cape Town, where Christmas will be spent, then to the east coast ports of South Africa, then to Ceylon, Singapore and Australia, then to New Zealand, then across the Pacific to Western Canada and so to the Panama Canal. At that point the light cruisers will leave the battle cruisers and will sail along the west coast of South -America, and pass through the Straits of Magellan. Thence they will visit the Falkland Islands and Rio, and so return home across the Atlantic, visiting the Cape Verde Islands on the way. The battle-cruisers will go through the Panama Canal and will visit Jamaica, the eastern ports of Canada and Newfoundland before coming home. It is a well-planned cruise, and the effects are likely to be as satisfactory as usual, for our seamen arc the best of missionaries and diplomats.
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