Jake Teachey
March 2, 2015
US History B
Great White Fleet
I pledge
The Great White Fleet was an Armada of 16
ships that Theodore Roosevelt commenced in 1907. There were many reasons why
Theodore Roosevelt decided to send a convoy around the world, but one of the
most widely known was to show the world that America was not lacking in the
navy department, and that the other nations did not need to mess with the
United States Navy. The Great White Fleet symbolized power for the United
States.
The name
“The Great White Fleet” was not assigned until after the ships had sailed their
course. One of the more obvious reasons on why this name was chosen is because
the ships were white in color. The crew on the Great White Fleet felt famous in
a way. The fleet turned into more of a sight seeing tour than a defense
mechanism. For example, August 15 1908 the fleet arrived in Australia, and when
the ships arrived in port they were greeted by more than 250,000 people who had
stayed up the entire night before waiting on the arrival of these famous white
ships. The following 8 days after arrival the citizens of Sydney Australia
threw a 8 day non-stop party for the crew members of the fleet.
The fleet
launched on December 16, 1907 to serve as a symbol of strength and power for
the United States. Roosevelt claimed that the purpose of the fleet was to have
a fleet of military ships circumnavigate the globe. Despite what Roosevelt claimed
everyone knew that the main purpose of the fleet was for intimidation. The
fleet served more as a parade of intimidation sailing around the world from
country to country to show the world we weren’t to be messed with. This tactic
of intimidation was actually remarkably successful because word spread about
this “great white fleet” around the globe and put a sense of fear into nations
hearts.
The Great
White fleet is arguably one of the biggest most successful things that have
ever happened to the US navy. With that
being said it was not all sunshine and rainbows in the end. The construction of
the ships was not as good as they looked. From the out side the ships looked
grand and almost majestic in a way, but there were areas that lacked interest
on the inside. An example of this is two of the 16 ships did not complete the
voyage due to major mechanical malfunctions, but that also could be because not
all of the ships were brand new ships. From 1904 to 1907 the United States
built 11 brand new ships, meaning 5 out of the 16 ship in the fleet were
refurbished battle ships.
The journey
these ships went on is as great as the ships themselves. Over 14 months these
ships said 43,000 nautical miles around the globe. The voyage included over 20
stops in 6 different continents. The fleet was the first United States navy
vessel to navigate around the entire globe. This is proof that the boats were
really just used as a parade to show off to the world how “big and bad” the
States Navy was.
In
conclusion there was not really a meaningful reason on why the Great White
Fleet existed other than an intimidation factor. Although it may not of had a
credible war-related history it still served its purpose remarkably well. It
did wake up other countries and let them know that the US Navy was not one to
mess with.
The Great White Fleet Crosses The Atlantic Ocean
USS Connecticut
Great White in Color
Crew of the USS Virginia
Theodore Roosevelt with The Great White Fleet
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