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
MV Morning Glory was seized by rebel gunmen. Flying the flag of North Korea the vessel then entered the port of Sidra, Libya in early March 2014. North Korea, however, disavowed the ship once it learned that the ship was under rebel control. Sidra is under control of an eastern Libyan militia group that under the leadership of Ibrahim Jathran defies the central government and aims for greater autonomy. At Sidra the tanker was loaded with 234,000 barrel of state-owned crude oil that had been seized by the rebels. The Libyan government intended to prevent the ship from leaving the port on March