Teddy Roosevelt's Great White Fleet by Reckner, James R - 1988

Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1988. Presumed First Edition, First printing. Hardcover. Very good [ink check mark in index at page 216]/Good [DJ has minor wear, edge tears and soiling.]. xii, [2], 221, [5] pages. Endpaper map. Illustrations. Notes. Bibliography. Index. The author was a U. S. Navy Lieutenant Commander (retired) who earned a Ph.D. from the University of Auckland, which he earned after 20 years of distinguished naval service. He served two tours of duty in Vietnam and received two Bronze Starts, two Navy Commendation Medals, and a Meritorious Service Medal. He was later an intelligence analyst with the Allied Forces in Southern Europe. "James Reckner was singularly responsible for the creation, growth and development of the Vietnam Center at Texas Tech," said Donald Haragan, Texas Tech president emeritus. "The center's mission was focused on the history and analysis of the war, its cause and ultimate aftermath. Jim's outstanding work lead to the development of an annual symposium at the university. His efforts had a significant impact on community studying the Vietnam conflict." Drawing on previously untapped sources, naval historian James Reckner provides a complete picture of the fleet that thrust the United States into the ranks of great world naval powers. His fresh interpretations of the fleet's historic 1907-09 world cruise, which won him the 1989 Roosevelt Naval History Prize, allow today's readers to fully appreciate the significance of the famous fleet that set sail during Teddy Roosevelt's second term as president. Reckner recreates the pageantry of the event--sixteen U.S. battleships on a fourteen-month voyage around the world--that drew thousands of sightseers at every port of call. His main emphasis is on the cruise's long-range impact on the Navy. He shows how the cruise revealed the fleet's shortcomings and forced the naval establishment to acknowledge the faults and make changes that led to permanent benefits. Reckner gives a detailed account of the fleet as it traveled from Hampton Roads, around Cape Horn, across the Pacific, and then home via the Suez Canal and Mediterranean.