The Battleships of the Great White Fleet Go to War

America's Battleships on Their World Cruise, 1907–1909

Less than a decade before America joined the hostilities in Europe, President Theodore Roosevelt had sent a fleet of 16 pre-dreadnought battleships on a world cruise. Their journey was a public relations extravaganza, a remarkable feat of seamanship, a risky exercise in "battleship diplomacy," and a message to other great powers that not only was the United States on the rise, she now had the capability to project her power anywhere in the world. It was a success in all these dimensions.

Yet, even before the ships had departed from Hampton Roads, Virginia, with the president looking on, they were obsolete. The nation's first dreadnought-class, all big-gun battleships were already under construction. When the out-of-date vessels returned, their gaudy white paint schemes were replaced by the conventional navy grey and they were gradually phased out of the nation's main line of battle. Most, during the prewar period, were upgraded to resemble the battleships that served America up to the 21st century. Nonetheless, despite looking the role, they were no longer capable of fighting more modern battle wagons head-to-head.

Refitted USS Ohio, 1918
(Your editor's grandfather Tom Stack worked at the Union Iron Works in San Francisco when the Ohio was built.)

However, once in the Great War, the United States needed all the warships it could assemble, and the veterans of the Great White Fleet were called to action. In comparison to their spectacular world cruise, though, the old battleships had a mostly humdrum war, performing a number of necessary, but routine, missions for the rapidly expanding U.S. Navy.

Immediately after war was declared, a few helped seize German ships that had been interned. Several, like the USS Nebraska (shown below) were assigned to escort convoys to Halifax or the mid-Atlantic. On anti-submarine patrols the battleships helped rescue survivors of sinkings, and the Minnesota suffered damage when it struck a mine laid by U-117. They also joined in the operations and deployments conducted around the Caribbean while the major fighting was going on in Europe.

USS Nebraska Adorned in Dazzle Camouflage in Port
Between Convoys

The predominant role the old battleships played in the war effort, though, was in training the tens of thousands of new sailors and reserve officers needed to support the growing fleet. Then with the Armistice, the veterans of America's greatest round-the-world expedition were called on to visit Europe one last time. The last significant mission of the battleships was to help transport the troops of the AEF home from Europe.

Shortly after the war, almost all old battleships were scrapped and their war service quickly forgotten. Their days of glory as the Great War Fleet would, however, will always remain a symbol of the brash, confident nation that was America at the beginning of the 20th century.

Sources: U.S. Navy Websites and Wikipedia

See our article on the Voyage of the Great White Fleet HERE.