USA MILITARY: GREAT WHITE FLEET (Atlantic Fleet bound for the Pacific, 16 December 1907) The Atlantic Fleet sailed from Hampton Roads, VA on 16 December 1907. President Theodore Roosevelt sent it out as an around-the-world goodwill mission. The Atlantic Fleet consisted of sixteen new battleships painted white with gilded scrollwork on their bows, six destroyers, and several auxiliary ships. This was likely the last large fleet to sail around the Horn before the completion of the Panama Canal in 1914. This database lists the names of the men who were on those ships as they sailed in review past President Roosevelt on that December day in 1907. Each record lists the last name, initials, and ship name, thus providing a link to many of the men who served the U. S. Navy in peacetime. Honoring requests from family members who wished to serve on the same ships has long been a tradition in the Navy. It is likely that included in the crews were many brothers, fathers and sons, uncles and nephews. Battleships: USS Alabama - Captain Ten Eyck DeW. Veeder USS Connecticut - Captain Hugo Osterhaus USS Georgia - Captain Henry McCrea USS Illinois - Captain John M. Bowyer USS Kansas - Captain Charles E. Vreeland USS Kearsarge - Captain Hamilton Hutchins USS Kentucky - Captain Walter C. Cowles USS Louisiana - Captain Richard Wainwright USS Maine - Captain Giles B. Harber USS Minnesota - Captain John Hubbard USS Missouri - Captain Greenlief A. Merriam USS New Jersey - Captain William H. H. Southerland USS Ohio - Captain Charles W. Bartlett USS Rhode Island - Captain Joseph B. Murdock USS Vermont - Captain William P. Potter USS Virginia - Captain Seaton Schroeder Fleet Auxiliaries:USS Culgoa (storeship) - Lt. Commander John B. Patton USS Glacier (storeship) - Commander William S. Hogg USS Panther (repair ship) - Commander Valentine S. Nelson USS Yankton (tender/scooner) - Lt. Walter R. Gherardi Torpedo Flotilla of Destroyers: Arethusa - (tender) - Commander Albert W. Grant Hopkins - Lt. Alfred G. HoweHull - Lt. Frank McCommon Lawrence - Lt. Ernest FriedrickStewart - Lt. Julius F. Hellweg Truxton - Lt. Charles S. KerrickWhipple - Lt. Hutch I. Cone Source Information: Royal, Karen, comp. "USA Military: Great White Fleet 1907." [database online] Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 2000-. Original data: Government of Canada. "Men on Board Ships of the Atlantic Fleet, Bound for the Pacific, 16 December 1907." Department of Defense, Washington, D.C., 1907To search this database, go to: http://www.ancestry.com/search/rectype/inddbs/5542.htm Whitney A. L. B. USS Louisiana Whitney R. USS Missouri Whitney R. C. USS Ohio _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com