Naval Expansion Quotes
He was referring to attacking the Barbary States. The Barbary Pirates had an incredible extortion racket going in the Mediterranean. If nations would pay them an annual sum each year, they would not attack and seize merchant ships of that country and sell the ships and goods while holding the sailors for ransom. See {640846}.
Political disputes over the degree of defense spending are classic in American political history. In the early 20th century, most conservatives were opposed to government spending for the military and the President had great difficulty getting the Conservative wing of his own party to support increased military appropriations. The remains of the great naval hero John Paul Jones had just been brought to the United States from France in which he had died. A large ceremony was held in Annapolis, Maryland and most of the conservatives who had opposed the military spending proposed by Roosevelt attended the ceremony to demonstrate their patriotism. TR shocked them by turning the solemn ceremony into a political embarrassment for them.
The German naval command—without the permission of the Kaiser—at the eve of a losing war decided that the entire German navy would make a grand attack against the far superior English fleet. It was to be a virtual suicide attack on a grand scale. However, most German sailors heard about the plan and refused orders to attack in what was the largest mutiny in history. The German naval leaders then took the fleet out to sea and scuttled all the ships so that the English would not capture them. The result was the same but tens of thousands of lives were saved; many German officers felt that German naval honor had been lost.
See {629350} for his reason that we had to have a strong navy.
