Your TR Source
Assistant Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt informs Commodore Wallace he will visit the naval station under his command, but will be unable to be his guest. Roosevelt discusses his travel plans for the trip.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1897-05-21
Assistant Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt informs Paul V. Bunn he will notify Bunn when he returns from the Norfolk Navy Yard.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1897-05-18
Theodore Roosevelt asks Senator Davis if he can accompany him to inspect the Navy Yard at Norfolk and the shipyard at Newport News. Roosevelt informs Davis that they will travel by steamer unless they are sent by a government vessel instead.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1897-05-17
Assistant Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt cannot help Lorena Butler. He cannot interfere with other departments, and the Navy Department does not turn out faithful employees. Additionally, there are only two positions Butler could hold, charwoman and seamstress at the navy yard. Roosevelt invites Butler to speak to him about getting her name on the employment list.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1897-05-03
Assistant Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt explains to John J. O’Donnell that all positions at the navy yards are under the jurisdiction of the civil service. He sends a copy of the rules governing labor appointments and suggests O’Donnell register through the Labor Board after which he will have to wait for a vacancy.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1897-04-22
Assistant Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt sent Secretary of the Navy Long a telegram about the burning of the Navy Yard. He gave President McKinley information after he inquired about the naval forces on the Pacific Coast. The “teapot tempest” about the Hydrographic Office “continues to simmer wildly.” Roosevelt made arrangements for the Navy Department for the few days he will be in New York.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1897-04-23
Assistant Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt did not connect Herbert Elliott Hamblen with the admirable book On Many Seas and wrote to Rudyard Kipling on the matter. Roosevelt will try to help Hamblen get a position at the Navy Yard if he can. However, most positions are under the civil service. He asks Hamblen to write him again in a month as a reminder.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1897-04-20
Carter H. Fitz-Hugh thanks Theodore Roosevelt for the letter and article. He wishes Roosevelt could have been at the opening of the new naval station. J. M. Dickinson is interested in the work and lets the Southern congressmen on the Committee on Naval Affairs know its value.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-11-05
General Wotherspoon attaches a memorandum by Captain Sherwood Alfred Cheney to General Bell in connection to the memorandum from Bell’s office dated March 5, 1908. Wotherspoon agrees with Cheney’s conclusions. The line of occupation and defense in Subic Bay is longer than estimated. A copy of the memorandum and duplicates of maps are filed with other papers connected with Subic Bay.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-08-19
Brigadier General Wotherspoon reports to Army Chief of Staff Bell concerning the proposition of constructing a naval base at Subic Bay in the Philippines. While Wotherspoon concedes the point that this location is very easily defended from the sea, there are many problems related to its defense from the land, which he outlines. Wotherspoon believes a base at this position would not be able to be defended long enough for reinforcements from the United States to arrive, and so recommends the construction of a base at Manila Bay or Corregidor instead.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-07-02
In accordance with a request from President Roosevelt, Fred W. Carpenter has been directed by Secretary of War William H. Taft to enclose a memorandum containing an inquiry and report about the action of various boards since October 1900 regarding the recommendation of Subic Bay as a naval base.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-04-14
Secretary of the Navy Metcalf forwards President Roosevelt a report from Admiral George Dewey and the Joint Army and Navy Board regarding the defenses of the naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-03-05
Admiral Dewey, reporting as senior member of the Joint Board, sends Secretary of the Navy Metcalf a report detailing the development of thinking regarding a proposed naval base at Subig bay in the Philippines. While this site was initially considered ideal from a purely naval perspective, this conclusion was later revised, due to increased input from army officers regarding the possibility of defending the site from landward invasions, as well as events during the Russo-Japanese War highlighting new factors that had to be taken into consideration. These developments resulted in the recent recommendation of Manila Bay as the more suitable site for a naval base.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-03-05
Army Chief of Staff James Bell Franklin requests a report regarding the construction of a naval base in the Philippines. Bell highlights several issues that should be given consideration and explained when examining the differences between Subig Bay and Manila Bay, especially highlighting several statements made in a report by the Board of Officers that should be replied to directly. This prior report, Franklin says, considered the sites for naval defense only, did not give proper consideration to inland defenses, and suggested that the entrance to Manila Bay could not be held.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-03-05
Secretary of the Navy Metcalf forwards President Roosevelt a letter from the General Board about investigations leading to the choice of Subig Bay as a naval base.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-02-19
Major General Wood informs Adjutant General of the Army Ainsworth that the matter of land and sea defenses of the Philippines has been thoroughly studied for the last six months, and describes the conclusions in detail. Wood notes that as soon as guns are installed, no more work will be done at Subic Bay, as approved by Secretary of War William H. Taft.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-11-01
Major General Wood informs Adjutant General of the Army Ainsworth that the matter of land and sea defenses of the Philippines has been thoroughly studied for the last six months, and describes the conclusions in detail. Wood notes that as soon as guns are installed, no more work will be done at Subic Bay, as approved by Secretary of War William H. Taft.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-11-01
Because of doubts regarding the Army’s capabilities in the Philippines, President Roosevelt has ordered that all construction on the proposed naval base at Subic Bay be halted until proper study is made into whether the Bay can be properly defended by land. If Subic Bay is not sufficiently defensible, the Joint Board is to give further consideration towards using Manila Bay as the location for the base.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-10-28
Retired Rear Admiral Manney outlines the reasons he believes sending the Great White Fleet to the Pacific Ocean is unwise given the tensions between the United States and Japan. Because Japan is not a wealthy nation, Manney believes it will not attack and occupy targets that would be expensive to win and maintain, and that therefore neither the Philippines nor Hawaii are in danger of attack. Rather, Manney describes in detail how the Japanese could gain control of bases from which to attack both the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of the United States, how such attacks would affect the U.S., and how long it would take the fleet to return to the Atlantic as a consequence. Because much more damage can be done to the United States on the Atlantic coast rather than the Pacific, it makes more sense to keep the fleet in the Atlantic, in case of war with Japan.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-07-19
Secretary of the Navy Bonaparte updates President Roosevelt on a number of issues that Roosevelt had inquired about. The battleships of the Asiatic Station have already been given orders to return as soon as possible–one will undergo repairs at San Francisco, and the other will return to the Atlantic Coast and join the Atlantic Fleet Battleship Force under Admiral Robley D. Evans. Bonaparte has received a report on the topic of bad meat at the New York naval yard, which he encloses. Bonaparte finally shares some plans for the posting of wage schedules, and reports on the untangling of a controversy between the Bureau of Navigation and a local Naval Militia. Plans for an upcoming naval review are going smoothly.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-08-13