 Yorktown hosted the Secretary of the Navy , Victor H. Metcalf , to witness the arrival of the Great White Fleet — commanded by Yorktown 's former commander , Robley " Fightin ' Bob " Evans — into San Francisco . The fleet arrived on 6 May 1908 , and the flagship Connecticut saluted the secretary 's flag on Yorktown with the discharge of seventeen guns . Metcalf also boarded Yorktown on the 8th to review the assembled battleships , armored cruisers , and torpedo boats of the Pacific and Great White Fleets . On 30 May 1908 , Yorktown participated in festivities for the Rose Festival at Portland , Oregon . From June to September , Yorktown conducted seal patrols in Alaskan waters , out of Nome , Unalaska , and Sitka and , between 15 and 19 September , established a site for a wireless station at Valdez . Afterwards , Yorktown sailed south to rejoin the Pacific Fleet , conducting battle practices between 19 November and 1 December at Magdalena Bay . She later joined the armored cruisers West Virginia and Colorado and the tender Glacier at Acajutla , El Salvador , before sailing for Corinto , Nicaragua , in March 1909 . After more target practices at Magdalena Bay , Yorktown was repaired at Mare Island in June and into July before shifting to Seattle , to participate in festivities for the Alaska @-@ Yukon @-@ Pacific Exposition . Later in July , the ship visited Esquimalt , British Columbia . She subsequently cruised off the Pacific coast and participated in the Portolá Festival at San Francisco in October . 
