Colombo Newspaper

Colombo Newspaper

Colombo Newspaper

On this day in history, February 22:

The Great White Fleet -- a naval task force of 16 new battleships painted white except for the gilded scrollwork on their bows sent to circumnavigate the globe by President Theodore Roosevelt -- returned to Virginia in 1909 after more than a year at sea.

The United States had made its debut on the world stage a decade earlier as the victor in the Spanish-American War, acquiring the Philippines, Guam, Puerto Rico and Cuba, and Roosevelt sought to demonstrate his "Big Stick" gunboat diplomacy that would cement the country’s new imperial role as a world power.

He had expanded the fleet in order to protect U.S. interests abroad. From 1904-07, American shipyards built 11 new battleships to give the Navy greater capability. This was timely because in 1906 hostilities with Japan seemed possible.