USS Kearsarge (BB-5) - Pre-World War I

Pre-World War I

Kearsarge became flagship of the North Atlantic Station, cruising down the Atlantic seaboard and in the Caribbean Sea. From 3 June–26 July 1903, she served briefly as flagship of the European Squadron while on a cruise that took her first to Kiel, Germany.

She was visited by Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany on 26 June and by the Prince of Wales—who would later become King George V of the United Kingdom—on 13 July. She returned to Bar Harbor, Maine, on 26 July and resumed duties as flagship of the North Atlantic Fleet. She sailed from New York on 1 December for Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where on 10 December the United States took formal possession of the Guantanamo Naval Reservation. Following maneuvers in the Caribbean Sea, she led the North Atlantic Battleship Squadron to Lisbon, Portugal, where she entertained the King Charles of Portugal on 11 June 1904. She next steamed to Phaleron Bay, Greece, where she celebrated the Fourth of July with King George I of Greece and his son and daughter-in-law, Prince Andrew of Greece and Princess Alice of Battenberg. The squadron paid goodwill calls at Corfu, Trieste, and Fiume before returning to Newport, Rhode Island on 29 August 1904.

Kearsarge remained flagship of the North Atlantic Fleet until relieved on 31 March by Maine, but continued operations with the fleet. During target practice off Cape Cruz, Cuba on 13 April 1906, an accidental ignition of a powder charge of a 13 in (330 mm) gun killed two officers and eight men. Four men were seriously injured. Attached to the Second Squadron, Fourth Division, she sailed on 16 December 1907 with the "Great White Fleet" of battleships, sent around the world by President of the United States Theodore Roosevelt. She sailed from Hampton Roads around the coasts of South America to the Western seaboard, then to Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, and Japan. From there, Kearsarge proceeded to Ceylon, transited the Suez Canal, and visited ports of the Mediterranean Sea, before returning to the eastern seaboard of the United States. Roosevelt reviewed the Fleet as it passed into the Hampton Roads on 22 February 1909, after it completed the world cruise of overwhelming success, showing the flag and spreading goodwill. This dramatic gesture impressed the world with the power of the US Navy.