| THE "GREAT WHITE" FLEET Rear Admirals Robley D. Evans, Charles Thomas, and Charles Perry In 1907, President Teddy Roosevelt, for reasons of national prestige and to test the ability of the American Navy to respond to potential crises in the Pacific, decided to dispatch the battleships of the Atlantic Fleet on what beccame an around-the-world cruise. This force, the largest concentration of American naval power sent to the Pacific to that time, was known as the Great White Fleet, due to the soon-to-be-discarded practice of painting American warships white. Commanded by RADM Robley Evans, the last Civil War veteran on active naval duty, the fleet of battleships, along with a torpedo flotilla and some auxiliaries, sailed from Hampton Roads in December 1907, arriving in San Franciso the next May after travelling around South America. In San Francisco Evans, in reality too ill to have even sailed with the fleet, turned over command, first to RADM Charles Thomas for a week, then to RADM Charles Sperry. Under Sperry the Great White Fleet sailed to New Zealand, Australia, the Philippines, China, and, most notably, Japan before returning to the US in February 1909 via Ceylon, the Suez Canal, and the Mediterranean. Listed below is the composition of the fleet during the first leg of the voyage under Evans, then the revised composition for the return leg under Sperry, with command arrangements as of Manilla. |
| FIRST DIVISION Rear Admiral Robley Evans |
| CONNECTICUT (BB) - Flagship Capt. Hugo Osterhaus KANSAS (BB) Capt. Charles Vreeland LOUISIANA (BB) Capt. Richard Wainwright VERMONT (BB) Capt. William Potter |
| GEORGIA (BB) - Flagship Capt. Henry McRea VIRGINIA (BB) Capt. Seaton Schroeder NEW JERSEY (BB) Capt. William Southerland RHODE ISLAND (BB) Capt. Joseph Murdock |
| SECOND SQUADRON Rear Admiral Charles Thomas |
| THIRD DIVISION Rear Admiral Charles Thomas |
| SECOND DIVISION Rear Admiral William Emory |
| MINNESOTA (BB) - Flagship Capt. John Hubbard MAINE (BB) Capt. Giles Harber MISSOURI (BB) Capt. Greenlief Merriam OHIO (BB) Capt. Charles Bartlett |
| FLEET AUXILIARIES |
| YANKTON Lt. Walter Gherardi GLACIER Cdr. William Hogg CULGOA Lt. Cdr. John Patton |
| Return to 1907 INTRODUCTION PAGE |
| Return to TABLE OF CONTENTS |
 |
| FIRST SQUADRON Rear Admiral Robley D. Evans |
| THE "GREAT WHITE" FLEET |
|
| ALABAMA (BB) - Flagship Capt. Ten Eyck DeW. Veeder ILLINOIS (BB) Capt. John Bowyer KEARSARGE (BB) Capt. Hamilton Hutchins KENTUCKY (BB) Capt. Walter Cowles |
| FOURTH DIVISION Rear Admiral Charles Sperry |
| PANTHER Cdr. Valentine Nelson RELIEF Surgeon Charles Stokes |
| TORPEDO FLOTILLA |
| WHIPPLE Lt. Hutch Cone HULL Lt. Frank McCommon LAWRENCE Lt. Ernest Frederick |
| ARETHUSA - tender Cdr. Albert Grant |
| TRUXTON Lt. Charles Kerrick STEWART Lt. Julius Hellweg HOPKINS Lt. Alfred Howe |
| THE "GREAT WHITE" FLEET (return leg) |
| FIRST SQUADRON Rear Admiral Charles S. Sperry |
| FIRST DIVISION Rear Admiral Charles Sperry |
| CONNECTICUT (BB) - Flagship Capt. Hugo Osterhaus KANSAS (BB) Capt. Charles Vreeland MINNESOTA (BB) Capt. John Hubbard VERMONT (BB) Capt. Frank Fletcher |
| GEORGIA (BB) - Flagship Capt. Edward Qualtrough NEBRASKA (BB) Capt. Reginald Nicholson NEW JERSEY (BB) Capt. William Southerland RHODE ISLAND (BB) Capt. Joseph Murdock |
| SECOND DIVISION Rear Admiral Richard Wainwright |
| LOUISIANA (BB) - Flagship Capt. Kossuth Niles VIRGINIA (BB) Capt. Alexander Sharp MISSOURI (BB) Capt. Robert Doyle OHIO (BB) Capt. Thomas Howard |
| SECOND SQUADRON Rear Admiral William Emory |
| THIRD DIVISION Rear Admiral Seaton Schroeder |
| FOURTH DIVISION Rear Admiral William Emory |
| WISCONSIN (BB) - Flagship Capt. Frank Beatty ILLINOIS (BB) Capt. John Bowyer KEARSARGE (BB) Capt. Hamilton Hutchins KENTUCKY (BB) Capt. Walter Cowles |
| FLEET AUXILIARIES |
| PANTHER Cdr. Valentine Nelson CULGOA Lt. Cdr. John Patton YANKTON Lt. Cdr. Charles McVay |
|
| Sources for this page include the NHC's Great White Fleet web Pages and the book Teddy Roosevelt's Great White Fleet by James Reckner. |
 |
| The Navy Rifle team after winning a competition in New Zealand during the cruise of the Great White Fleet. Photo from NHC On-Line Library. As far as I know it is in the public domain. |