Indianapolis becomes a presidential flagship

Indianapolis's shakedown cruise took her through the Atlantic and Guantánamo Bay before the modern cruiser moved toward the Pacific. In 1933 she carried Secretary of the Navy Claude A. Swanson on an inspection tour and became flagship of Scouting Force One. Roosevelt later used her for reviews and voyages often enough to produce the reported nickname Roosevelt's yacht. Visits to Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, and Montevideo used a modern cruiser to display American interest and naval capacity without sending a battleship. Roosevelt also underwent a two-day crossing-the-line ceremony aboard, briefly bringing presidential diplomacy into naval custom and shipboard life.