PORT ANGELES — More than 50 people gathered at City Pier on Saturday to recognize the 100th anniversary of a visit from a contingent of The Great White Fleet.
In 1907, U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt sent 16 Navy battleships, eight cruisers, seven destroyers and nine support ships to circumnavigate the globe in a show of military strength.
The voyage of the ships, which were painted white to show they were not at war, lasted from Dec. 16, 1907, to Feb. 22, 1909.
It featured stops in six Puget Sound cities in 1908 — both Port Angeles and Port Townsend, as well as Seattle, Bremerton, Bellingham and Tacoma
As the visit to Port Angeles was remembered on Saturday, Dennis Carpenter, commanding officer of the nuclear-powered submarine USS Ohio, which carries conventional weapons, told the crowd, “Let no one forget we are, and always will be, a maritime nation.”
The USS Ohio is a namesake of one of the four Great White Fleet battleships that visited Port Angeles, along with the USS Missouri, USS Louisiana and USS Virginia.
In Port Townsend an hour later, about 50 people gathered with sailors from the USS Nebraska; Dick Devlin, president of the Oak Harbor Council of the Navy League; Mayor Michelle Sandoval and U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Belfair, who represents the 6th Congressional District.
“I think President Roosevelt would be pleased to know that 100 years later, we would still be celebrating this event,” Dicks said.
Those visiting Port Townsend 100 years ago were the USS Illinois and USS Kearsarge.
Although the original USS Nebraska did not go to Port Townsend, it was part of the Great White Fleet, and so sailors on the ship’s namesake, which is based at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, celebrated in Port Townsend on Saturday.
