Great White Fleet - Voyage

Voyage

As the Panama Canal was not yet complete, the fleet had to pass through the Straits of Magellan. The scope of such an operation was unprecedented in U.S. history, as ships had to sail from all points of the compass to rendezvous points and proceed according to a carefully orchestrated, well-conceived plan. It involved almost the entire operational capability of the U.S. Navy. Unlike the badly coordinated moves of the Russian fleet on its voyage from the Baltic to the Pacific, which eventually led to its destruction by the Japanese in 1905, the U.S. effort benefited from a peaceful environment which aided the coordination of ship movements. The voyage itself eventually set a number of world records including sheer number of ships simultaneously circumnavigating the earth.

In port after port, citizens in the thousands turned out to see and greet the fleet. In 1908 The Great White Fleet visited Monterey, California, from 1–4 May. The nearby Hotel Del Monte in Del Monte, California hosted a grand ball for the officers of the fleet. Years later the Del Monte was taken over by the U.S. Navy in 1942 for use as the Del Monte Pre-Flight School for pilots and after World War II the Naval Postgraduate School was relocated there.

In Australia the arrival of the Great White Fleet on 20 August 1908 was used to encourage support for the forming of Australia's own navy. When the fleet sailed into Yokohama, the Japanese went to extraordinary lengths to show that their country desired peace with the U.S.; thousands of Japanese schoolchildren waved American flags to greet navy officials as they came ashore. In Sicily, the sailors helped in recovery operations after the 1908 Messina earthquake.

In February 1909, Roosevelt was in Hampton Roads, Virginia, to witness the triumphant return of the fleet and indicating that he saw the fleet's long voyage as a fitting finish for his administration. To the officers and men of the fleet Roosevelt said, "Other nations may do what you have done, but they'll have to follow you." This parting act of grand strategy by Roosevelt greatly expanded the respect with which the United States was held, as well as its role in the international arena.