The USS Oregon's epic 14,000-mile voyage around South America during the Spanish-American War in 1898 dramatically demonstrated the strategic necessity of a quicker route between the U.S. Pacific and Atlantic coasts. The ship took 66 days to reach Florida from San Francisco, revealing how impractical and dangerous it was for the U.S. Navy to move warships around the long southern tip of South America in times of emergency. This voyage became a powerful impetus for the construction of the Panama Canal, as it clearly showed that the U.S. could not afford to take two months to redeploy naval forces between oceans, fueling political and public support to build the canal that would drastically shorten this transit time. Consequently, within a few years after the voyage, under President Theodore Roosevelt's administration, construction of the Panama Canal began, with the canal later serving as a crucial passageway for military ships and trade. The Oregon's journey provided the practical example that swept away opposition and solidified the canal as a national priority.