Veracruz patrols and the Atlantic Fleet's war training

North Dakota and Delaware steamed off Veracruz during the Mexican Revolution in 1914, placing the new dreadnoughts close to an immediate American foreign-policy crisis. The Atlantic Fleet then trained heavily after war began in Europe and before the United States entered it. That preparation reflected an expectation that the country might eventually join the conflict despite its formal neutrality. For early turbine ships, sustained exercises also exposed machinery to unusually hard use and helped reveal reliability problems. Readiness policy and the practical durability of a new propulsion technology became closely connected.