Navy to Honor Great White Fleet

Secretary of the Navy Donald C. Winter and Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead will host a ceremony to honor the 100th anniversary of President Theodore Roosevelt's Great White Fleet deployment on Dec. 15 at 6 p.m.

The ceremony will be held aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) at Naval Station Norfolk.

The Great White Fleet departed from Hampton Roads 100 years ago this month. Sixteen battleships, plus auxiliary support ships and 14,000 Sailors and Marines, embarked on the 14-month journey that covered some 43,000 miles and made 20 port calls on six continents.

The deployment demonstrated to the world that the United States had arrived as a significant, outward-looking world power with peaceful intent toward every nation.