Navy musicians play during the Great White Fleet Gala aboard USS Theodore Roosevelt. Hundreds of guests gathered aboard the Norfolk, Va. based aircraft carrier for a formal ceremony marking the centennial anniversary of the launching of the Great White Fleet. President Theodore Roosevelt sent 16 battleships and 14,000 Sailors on an around-the-world cruise to demonstrate the nation's emergence as a world power, Dec. 15, 1907. The ceremony was the first in a series of events to mark the landmark achievement.