When a U.S. fleet was welcome

Press, 29 March 1985, Page 14

When a U.S. fleet was welcome

ROBYN JENKIN

recalls a famous occasion

when the arrival of a fleet of United States warships off Auckland was the occasion for merriment — and only a slight apprehension. Would those Yankee sailors behave themselves in Queen Street?

Involved as we are in the ramifications of one of the most momentous decisions ever made in this country, it is perhaps interesting to take a look at another time, when the arrival of American warships in our waters made waves of a different kind — the Great White Fleet at Auckland on August 9, 1908.

Out of the fog on that grey August morning, 16 snow-white battleships made their way, single file, up the Waitemata Harbour, led by the flagship Connecticut. One hundred thousand New Zealanders from all parts of the country manned every viewing point. A special train making use of the new wide carriages made the first express trip from Wellington to Auckland, carrying parliamentarians from both houses, plus their wives, to join in the celebrations of Fleet Week. It was to be a very grand affair. When the Pacific cruise was first mooted the official statement said that it had “No international significance whatever,” and was “simply a matter of routine and drill for the Navy.” That statement deceived no-one. It was well-known that since the Sino-Japanese struggles and the Russo-Japanese war, world attention had moved to the Pacific. What had previously been merely a

conviction was becoming a certainty — that sooner or later there would be a struggle for the masten' of the Pacific. When America annexed Hawaii and Tutila (Samoa) and later, after the war with Spain, took possession of the Philippines, she began to see her changed role in the Pacific. When the anti-Japanese labour riots took place in California, President Theordore Roosevelt and his advisers realised how helpless the United States was on the Pacific side.

In opposition to the Japanese fleet the Americans had only four up-to-date ships capable of taking the battle line. This, together with the knowledge that Luzon in the Philippines was only 200 miles from Formosa, put them in a very vulnerable position. In addition, the Anglo-Japanese Treaty was due to expire in 1915 and the rate at which Japan was building new ships was limited only by her source of finance.

Britain had 50 battleships, mainly deployed in the English Channel and the Mediterranean, and seldom had more than three amourclads in the Indian Ocean or on the China coast. Viewed as an administrative undertaking, the Pacific cruise was without precedent — and what better test of the ability of the 16

warships than a cruise halfway round the world.

So they arrived in Auckland on that foggy morning in 1908 after calls to many other ports round the Pacific. And Auckland did them proud.

As the flagship Connecticut steamed up the harbour a welcoming salute was fired from the Amokura. The Premier, and several notables and reporters, sailed along the line of the fleet in the Tutanekai. Taheretikitiki, a historic canoe belonging to the Waikato tribes, carrying 60 warriors, commanded by King Mahuta, also met the great fleet in the harbour. The £5500 for decorations granted by the Government was put to good use. Every 15 or 18 metres banners stretched across Queen Street, proclaiming: “Welcome from Ashburton,” or “Welcome from Maori Hill.” or welcome from other places throughout

New Zealand. Drab facades were transformed with brilliant transparencies, bunting, fems, and nikau palms. Miniature Union Jacks and American flags hung from every vantage point and at night illuminations transformed the city into a fairyland.

Aucklanders were also filled with a certain amount of apprehension at the thought of 14,000 sailors being let loose on their streets, but the Commander of the fleet, Rear Admiral Sperry, tried to dispel the fears by describing his crews as mostly farm lads from the far west and south west and boys from the railway towns and manufacturing cities of the Mississipi valley. Prohibitionists predicted drunken orgies but the ships’ shore patrols were so strict that there were few incidents.

After a procession followed by a welcome in the Military Hall, Auckland opened its heart to the

visitors, providing entertainment to suit every taste. There was a Military Review on the grand scale, a banquet in the drill hall, rifle and football matches between the Americans and the New Zealanders. There were concerts and a pantomime, “Mother Goose”; for the punters, a race meeting at Ellerslie, and for the more adventuresome trips to Rotorua had been arranged. Among the formalities of the visit was the presentation of gifts. New Zealand’s gift to the President of the United States was a magnificent illuminated address. The covers were made of New Zealand woods, decorated with silver and gold. On a dark polished wood background, Auckland Harbour was depicted in woods of different shades and grains. In the foreground ,a fully manned Maori canoe, and in the background three battleships in silver. The picture was surrounded by an elaborately chased silver border studded with greenstone tikis; at the base, a silver cabbage tree on one side and a punga on the other. Solid gold lettering near the top read: “Visit of the American Fleet to New Zealand.”

Admiral Sperry was given a wooden casket, the lid of which was also designed in inlaid wood

and embellished in gold and silver. For those interested in the details of the ships themselves, the papers of the day obliged with descriptions of each vessel. There were six classes of battleship in the fleet.

Connecticut, Vermont, Kansas, and Louisiana were the largest and most powerful, being 16,000 tons, 137 metres long, with a beam of 23.4 metres and draught of 8.1 metres. Included in their armament were four 12in guns, eight Bin, twelve 7in, twenty 3in, eight machine guns, and two light guns for boats.

Going down through the classes the ships became lighter and smaller but all carried similar armaments though their positioning varied from ship to ship.. Others in the fleet were Ohio, Missouri, Georgia, Virginia, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Maine, Illinois, Alabama, Wisconsin, Kentucky, and Kearsage. With these was the supply ship Calgoa. After a hectic Fleet Week the battleships sailed off down the harbour on the next leg of their goodwill tour. New Zealand life settled back to the normal, made more comfortable by the thought of that great fleet ready to defend the Pacific against all would-be aggressors.