Even then, there was insufficient space for coaling near Honolulu without difficult maneuvers four of the ships had to travel 70 miles to the Island of Maui to refuel, while others were only able to squeeze one-by-one into the Honolulu harbor. The fleet was forced to drop their anchors in open water near Honolulu as there was not enough room for all 16 ships in the city’s harbor. There was just one problem: the Great White Fleet had nowhere to dock in Honolulu. Hawaii, then a territory of the United States and recognized as the “crossroads of the Pacific” for its position between the West Coast and the United States’ colonial and territorial possessions in the Philippines and Guam, was a natural stopping point for the fleet, reflecting America’s expanding geographical reach. Crowds gathered to witness what was to be America’s answer to Britain’s dominant sea power in a new age of imperial expansion. In July of 1908, the Great White Fleet-President Theodore Roosevelt’s impressive armada of 16 dazzling white battleships under the command of Rear Admiral Robley “Fighting Bob” Evans-stopped at Honolulu, Hawaii on its global tour. Once both the Senate and House pass their versions of the National Defense Authorization Act, they must be reconciled by a bicameral conference committee, and then approved by each chamber before a final version is sent to the President to be signed into law.Top Image: A “Map of the Pacific” featuring Hawaii published in the Illinois Evening Bulletin in 1911. House of Representatives will debate and advance its own separate bill. The bill will next be debated and voted on by the full Senate, and the U.S.
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