Toy ship, wood, painted white above and red below. One rectangular superstructure with blue roof with mast. American flag on ensign stick. Orange thread rigging. Crudely made. History: Made to represent the Great White Fleet which was 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 p9ower. 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 "Torepdo Flotilla" of six early destroyers, as well as by several auxiliary ships. The destroyers and their tender did not actually steam in company with the battleships, but followed their own itinerary from Hampton Roads to San Francisco. Two battleships were detached from the fleet at San Francisco and two other substituted.
