San Francisco

The Great White Fleet Enters San Francisco Bay
May 6, 1908
(images below text

The "Great White Fleet" sent around the world by President Theodore Roosevelt from 16 December 1907 to 22 February 1909 consisted of sixteen new battleships of the Atlantic Fleet. The battleships were painted white except for gilded scrollwork on their bows. The Atlantic Fleet battleships only later came to be known as the "Great White Fleet."

The fourteen-month long voyage was a grand pageant of American sea power. The squadrons were manned by 14,000 sailors. They covered some 43,000 miles and made twenty port calls on six continents.
The battleships were accompanied during the first leg of their voyage by a "Torpedo Flotilla" of six early destroyers, as well as by several auxiliary ships.
(above courtesy Naval Historical Center)

The fleet arrived in San Francisco on May 6, 1908 from Magdagalena Bay, Baja California, and departed for Honolulu on July 7, 1908. From Library of Congress.

Images of the Great White Fleet entering San Francisco Bay.
The City's official welcome from Municipal Reports of 1908.Panorama Index