Editing Great White Fleet (section)

==Background and purpose==
[[File:PostcardUSSConnecticutBB18No1268.jpg|thumb|Flagship {{USS|Connecticut|BB-18|2}}: one of a set of commemorative postcards of the ships of the Great White Fleet]]
{{Further|Foreign policy of the Theodore Roosevelt administration#Troubled relations with Japan}}

United States President Theodore Roosevelt dispatched 16 U.S. Navy battleships of the [[Atlantic Fleet (United States)|Atlantic Fleet]] on a worldwide voyage of circumnavigation from 16 December 1907 to 22 February 1909.<ref name=GWF-H-00/><ref name=GWF-H-01/> The hulls were painted white, the Navy's peacetime color scheme, and decorated with gilded [[Scroll (art)|scrollwork]] with a red, white, and blue banner on their [[Bow (ship)|bows]]. The superstructures were painted [[Buff (colour)|buff]]. These ships later came to be known as the Great White Fleet.

The purpose of the fleet deployment was multifaceted. Ostensibly, it served as a showpiece of American goodwill, as the fleet visited numerous countries and harbors. In this, the voyage was not unprecedented. [[Courtesy call#Naval|Naval courtesy calls]], many times in conjunction with the birthdays of various monarchs and other foreign celebrations, had become common in the 19th century. Port calls showcased pomp, ceremony, and militarism during a period of rising prewar nationalism. In 1891, a large [[French Navy]] fleet visited [[Kronstadt]], [[Russian Empire|Russia]], in conjunction with negotiations between the two nations. Although [[French Third Republic|France]] and Russia had been hostile to each other for at least three decades prior, the significance of the call was not lost on Russia, and [[Tsar]] [[Nicholas II of Russia|Nicholas II]] signed a treaty of alliance with France in 1894. As navies grew larger, naval pageants grew longer, more elaborate, and more frequent. The United States began participating in these events in 1902, when Roosevelt invited [[Kaiser]] [[Wilhelm II of Germany]] to send a squadron for a courtesy call to New York City. Invitations for U.S. Navy ships to participate in fleet celebrations in the United Kingdom, France, and [[German Empire|Germany]] followed.{{sfn|Hart|1965|pp=15–21}}

Additionally, the voyage of the Great White Fleet demonstrated both at home and on the world stage that the U.S. had become a major sea power in the years after its triumph in the [[Spanish–American War]], with possessions that included [[Guam]], the [[Insular Government of the Philippine Islands|Philippines]], and [[Puerto Rico]].<ref name=GWF-H-03>[http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/battleswars1900s/p/greatwhitefleet.htm Circling the Globe: The Voyage of the Great White Fleet] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130514100002/http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/battleswars1900s/p/greatwhitefleet.htm |date=14 May 2013 }} by Kennedy Hickman, About.com</ref> This was not the first demonstration of U.S. naval power; during the [[Algeciras Conference]] in 1906, which was convened to settle a diplomatic crisis between France and Germany over the fate of [[Morocco]], Roosevelt had ordered eight battleships to maintain a presence in the [[Mediterranean|Mediterranean Sea]].{{sfn|Hart|1965|p=21}} Since [[Empire of Japan|Japan]] had arisen as a major sea power with the 1905 annihilation of the Russian fleet at [[Battle of Tsushima|Tsushima]], the deployment of the Great White Fleet was therefore intended, at least in part, to send a message to Japan that the American fleet could be deployed anywhere, even from its Atlantic ports, and would be able to defend American interests in the Philippines and the Pacific.<ref name=peacefulsea>{{cite web |author=The Peaceful Sea |title=The Great White Fleet Visits Japan 1908 |url=http://www.thepeacefulsea.com/great-white-fleet.html |access-date=24 February 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=Global Security Org |title=Great White Fleet (16 December 1907 – 22 February 1909) |url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/agency/navy/great-white-fleet.htm |access-date=24 February 2011}}</ref>

The most serious tensions between the United States and Japan came in 1907, leading to widespread speculation among experts that war was imminent between the two. The main cause was intense Japanese resentment against the mistreatment of [[Japanese Americans]] in California. Pulitzer prize-winning biographer [[Henry Pringle]] states that sending Great White Fleet so dramatically to Japan in 1908 was, "the direct result of the Japanese trouble."<ref>Henry Pringle, ''Theodore Roosevelt'' (1956) p. 288.</ref> Tensions rapidly de-escalated after the fleet's very friendly reception in Yokohama.  Thus, the gesture neutralized the diplomatic trouble that had resulted from [[Pacific Coast race riots of 1907|anti-Japanese riots in San Francisco]]. Those problems had been resolved by the [[Gentlemen's Agreement of 1907]] and the fleet visit was a friendly gesture to Japan. The Japanese welcomed it.<ref>Charles E. Neu, ''An Uncertain Friendship; Theodore Roosevelt and Japan, 1906–1909'' (1968) pp. 116–22.</ref> Roosevelt saw the deployment as one that would encourage patriotism, and give the impression that he would teach Japan "a lesson in polite behavior", as historian Robert A. Hart phrased it.{{sfn|Hart|1965|p=24}}  After the fleet had crossed the Pacific, Japanese statesmen realized that the [[Balance of power (international relations)|balance of power]] in the East had changed.<ref name=peacefulsea/>

The voyage also provided an opportunity to improve the sea- and battle-worthiness of the fleet. While earlier capital-ship classes such as the {{sclass|Kearsarge|battleship|5}}, {{sclass|Illinois|battleship|5}} and {{sclass|Maine|battleship|5}} were designed primarily for coastal defense, later classes such as the {{sclass|Virginia|battleship|5}} and {{sclass|Connecticut|battleship|5}} incorporated lessons learned from the Spanish–American War and were conceived as ships with "the highest practicable speed and the greatest radius of action", in the words of the appropriation bills approved by the [[United States Congress]] for their construction. They were intended as modern warships capable of long-range operations. Nevertheless, the experience gained in the recent war with [[Restoration (Spain)|Spain]] had been limited.{{sfn|Crawford|2008|p=12}}