The Flagship of the Great White Fleet, the USS Connecitcut (notice the ornate decorative design on its bow, along with its four 12″ guns)!
Imagine giant death dealing behemoths, bellowing smoke and drawing attention from around the world… I am quite confident that most readers of this blog would probably think of a giant steampowered tripod or an armored sky ship, but in our reality, it was known as the “Great White Fleet”, the first major excursion of the US Navy in a “Blue Water” capacity.
Unfortunatly, I had failed to remember that the 22nd of February was the 100th year anniversary of its accomplishment, but nonetheless, I found a very good site on the US Navy’s website that has an extensive history about the GWF, accompanied with photos and video… (a warning, the video is a bit loud)!
The USS California steaming off the coast of San Diego, prior to setting off to Hawaii
In a Steampunk sense, the Great White Fleet merged cutting-edge era technology with style and panache, and accomplishing a feat that had never been previously accomplished (the coordinated circumnavigation of a major naval force). Gears, steam, smoke, adventure, foreign destinations (to Americans, at least) all make this voyage legendary. For more information on the Great White Fleet, please turn to the US Navy’s website, at:
http://www.navy.mil/gwf/index.htm
For further background, please do visit:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_White_Fleet
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/agency/navy/great-white-fleet.htm
http://www.greatwhitefleet.org/
http://www.greatwhitefleet.info/
