California Embraces the Great White Fleet
Mar 03, 2021
John Freeman
California Embraces the Great White Fleet
John Freeman's presentation will focus on the lavish welcome the Fleet received in the Bay Area, including how Marin County participated.
Teddy Roosevelt’s Great White Fleet made a bold display of the United State’s new role as an international power 113 years ago. The fleet left Hampton Road, Virginia in December 1907 and traveled around South America, and into the Pacific Ocean.  In each of the ports it stopped along our coast, the fleet was hosted and toasted with an exuberant show of patriotism and pride, culminating with the fleet entering the Golden Gate on May 6, 1908, where an estimated crowd of a million people thronged to get a look at the 16 battleships.
 
San Francisco Bay Area hosted one of the finest receptions our navy has ever seen with spectacular parades, grand balls, banquets, and lots of exciting activities for all the sailors. The visit of the fleet was the first major public celebration of San Francisco's recovery from the earthquake and fire, and the city capitalized on the events to boast to the world about it’s rebuilding progress and it’s ability to accommodate the “grandest fleet in the finest harbor in the world.”
After two months based in San Francisco, the fleet would cross the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, through the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean Sea into the Atlantic Ocean, arriving back at Hampton Road on Washington’s Birthday, 1909, to complete this triumphant circumnavigation of the world.
 
 
Please see more pictures on Mill Valley Rotary club Facebook page: