next few years, Taylor served on several ships: Commanding officer, from March 1900 to 1902 during the Philippine–American War. Commanding officer, gunboat , from 1903 to 1905. Commanding officer, tender Commanding officer, 2nd Torpedo Flotilla, United States Atlantic Fleet, from 1905 to 1906. Commanding officer, receiving ship , from 1906 to 1908. Executive officer, scout cruiser , from 1908 to 1909. Executive officer, protected cruiser , from 1909 to 1910. Commanding officer, gunboat , from 1910 to 1911. Talor was promoted to lieutenant commander on 1 July 1905 and to commander on 4 March 1911. Rise in the ranks After 21 years at sea, Taylor received his first land assignment. He was appointed aide to the Commandant of the Brooklyn Navy Yard in Brooklyn, New York, in 1911, and served there until 1913. He was given command of the auxiliary cruiser in 1913, serving until 1915. Buffalo cruised through the Caribbean Sea and along the west coast of Central America before being ordered to Alaska. While in port at Kodiak, Alaska, Taylor learned that World War I had broken out in Europe in 1914. From 1915 to 1916, Taylor attended the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, with orders to report to the armored cruiser to serve as her commanding officer in the event of a national emergency. After graduating in 1916, he was promoted to captain on 16 August 1916 and given command of the battleship . After the United States entered World War I in 1917, Taylor was assigned duties in the Office of Naval Operations at the United States Department of the Navy. He took command of the battleship in 1918. Florida operated in cooperation with the British Grand Fleet during the war, and Taylor received the Navy Distinguished Service Medal for this service. Taylor was assigned to the staff of the Naval War College from 1919 to 1921. In June 1922 he became commander of the 15th Naval District and of the Naval Operating Base at Coco Solo in the Panama Canal Zone. Taylor returned to the United States in 1923 and was appointed a member of the Naval Examining and Retiring Board in the Department of the Navy. In June 1923, he was appointed commander of the Control Fleet, a unit consisting of submarines, destroyers, and Marine Corps units designed to control sea lanes after they had been cleared of enemy forces by the