After two years as a naval cadet, and having participated in three separate conflicts initiated by native interests opposing foreign intervention by the age of twenty-three, Taussig was commissioned ensign on 28 January 1901 to begin a series of promotions and distinctions that would underscore his service to the navy. Returning to the United States from the Asiatic Squadron in 1902, he was assigned to and next served as navigator on . In 1905 he was on , the station ship at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The following year he was navigator and executive officer on . In 1907, Taussig joined the officer staff of , one of the ships of the Great White Fleet that circumnavigated the globe in 1907 as a demonstration of U.S. Naval seapower and global presence. After the fleet rounded Cape Horn and steamed up the western coasts of South and North America, he detached from at Mare Island Navy Yard and was assigned to the staff of his father, Edward D. Taussig, by then a rear admiral and commandant of the Norfolk Navy Yard. In 1910 he was appointed flag secretary and aide to Rear Admiral Charles Vreeland, commander of the 2nd and 4th Divisions of the Atlantic Fleet.