President Theodore Roosevelt was speaking relatively softly – but in essence he sailed a large stick around the world. Sixteen navy battleships from the Atlantic force set out from the USA in December 1907. Their hulls were painted white, the Navy’s peacetime colour, and this impressive example of diplomatic signalling became known as ‘the Great White Fleet’. Over the following fourteen months the fleet called in on twenty ports, including ones in Brazil, Chile, Mexico, New Zealand, Australia, the Philippines, Japan, China, Italy and Egypt.
