A fourteen month journey, this medal celebrates the round the world cruise of the Atlantic Squadron in 1907. The main objective of the mission being to ease tensions between the United States and Japan, and also to test the efficiency of the fleet. Sixteen battleships left Virginia, sailed around Cape Horn of South America, and docked at San Francisco. They island hopped through the Pacific, making stops at places such as Honolulu, New Zealand, and Australia before arriving in Japan. They continued the world cruise by sailing to the Indian Ocean, through the Suez Canal and into the Mediterranean Sea. Before making the final trip across the Atlantic, the fleet hurried to the city of Messina, Italy to offer aid after a tragic earthquake. The trip was a diplomatic success. 

The obverse of the medal shows Theodore Roosevelt, President at the time. He ordered the cruise to be conducted. The reverse shows Columbia waving farewell to the departing fleet.