History of the United States Navy the Panama Canal, which was completed in 1914. The Great White Fleet required almost 50 coaling ships, and during the cruise most of the fleet's coal was purchased from the British, who could deny access to fuel during a military crisis as they did with Russia during the Russo-Japanese War. When United States agents discovered that the German merchant ship "Ypiranga" was carrying illegal arms to Mexico, President Wilson ordered the Navy to stop the ship from docking at the port of Veracruz. On 21 April 1914, a naval brigade of marines and sailors occupied Veracruz. A total of 55
Tampico Affair destroyed to prevent their falling under U.S. control. By the spring of 1914, diplomatic relations between the US and Mexico were strained. US President Woodrow Wilson refused to recognize the presidency of Mexican General Victoriano Huerta, who had been installed as president the previous year after Huerta and the conservative rebel General Félix Díaz, a nephew of Porfirio Díaz, had signed the Embassy Pact with the approval of US Ambassador Henry Lane Wilson, who had since been removed by the president. The instability caused by the ongoing Mexican Revolution threatened US lives and economic interests in Mexico. Although Tampico was