 Donated by the city and citizens of Spokane, the Spokane Trophy would become the most sought after award in the U.S. Navy, though many, for a time, would forget it existed.The city was desirous to honor its sailors and President Theodore Roosevelt's “man behind the gun.” With the memory of Spokane's own John Robert Monaghan, a sailor who sacrificed his own life to save a fellow officer in a “skirmish with the natives” in Samoa in 1899, Spokane was proud of our country's navy and wanted to honor “the men who wear the blue.” Originally intended to be awarded to the best ship in the Atlantic Fleet for excellence in great-gun marksmanship in the annual target practice, Secretary of the NavyVictor H. Metcalf, suggested instead that the trophy be awarded to the battleship or armored cruiser of either fleet who exhibited the highest final record of merit with all her turret guns.Metcalf pointed out that “President [Roosevelt] interested himself personally in the question of trophies for excellence in great-gun marksmanship, and directed that the vessels of the Navy be divided into four classes, namely battleships, cruisers, gunboats, and torpedo craft and that a trophy be assigned to each.”

The Spokane Trophy was designed to embody the spirit of Spokane and its pride in the navy.