Deployed to the Mediterranean for the first five months of 1906, the ship visited Tangier, Algiers, Ville-Franche, Naples, and Genoa. After a trip to Grand Canary Island, she returned to the Mediterranean and visited Alexandria and Port Said before returning to the U.S. in June. For the next ten years, except for an eight-month period in reserve at Philadelphia in 1911 and 1912, Tacoma alternated service along the east coast with cruises to the Caribbean and West Indies protecting American citizens and interests there during this turbulent period. In late 1906 and early 1907, Cuba was the major trouble spot; and the cruiser operated along her coasts from late September until mid-November and again from late December until June, visiting Havana, Tunas, Manzanilla, Santiago de Cuba, Cienfuegos, and Guantanamo Bay. She returned to the West Indies again in the spring of 1908 for stops at St. Thomas, St. Christopher, Martinique, Margarita Island, Port Mochima, Cunamá, La Guaira, and Curaçao. During the second half of 1908 and the first half of 1909, she observed political conditions in Haiti and Honduras. From July to September 1909, the cruiser operated of Nicaragua. Later, her itinerary included a visit to Costa Rica and a return to Honduras, all in an effort to bring the steadying influence of American military power to the volatile Latin American republics. Between January and March 1910, Tacoma cruised off the coast of Nicaragua and visited the Canal Zone and Costa Rica. After a spring voyage to the east coast of the United States, the ship headed back to Central America to protect United States interests there. During the following nine months, she visited Panama, Honduras, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Guatemala. In January 1911, pursuant to the orders of the senior naval officer present embarked in the gunboat , Tacoma prevented the converted yacht Hornet from participating in an insurrection against the government financed by U.S. banana baron Samuel Zemurray. Later that month, she landed a force of marines at Puerto Cortés, Honduras, to protect American banana companies. Negotiations were held aboard which resulted in Francisco Bertrand being named interim President of Honduras. In February, her deck was the scene of a peace conference conducted by special commissioner T. C. Dawson. The negotiations brought the revolution to a close and established a new provisional government in Honduras. That summer, Tacoma steamed — via Puerto Mexico and Galveston — to New