Naval academy

“ The establishment of a naval academy, furnishing the means of theoretic instruction to the youths who devote their lives to the service of their country upon the ocean, still solicits the sanction of the Legislature. Practical seamanship and the art of navigation may be acquired on the cruises of the squadrons which from time to time are dispatched to distant seas, but a competent knowledge even of the art of shipbuilding, the higher mathematics, and astronomy ”

“ It is certain that the cadet graduated now from the Naval Academy is thoroughly trained in his profession. He has never yet been shown deficient in knowledge of any duty which he has been called upon to perform, nor incapable of mastering the intricate parts of modern ships. Considering the age at which he leaves the Academy, he is better educated in his profession than the college graduate, and is also trained in those qualities for command which make the American naval service what it is to-day. He goes forth thoroughly equipped for his life-work. ”

“ But it is only since the close of the late war that by the numbers and force of the ships of which it was composed it could deserve the name of a navy. Yet it retains nearly the same organization as when it consisted only of five frigates. The rules and regulations by which it is governed earnestly call for revision, and the want of a naval school of instruction, corresponding with the Military Academy at West Point, for the formation of scientific and accomplished officers, is felt with daily increasing aggravation. ”

“ Such revision should be made of the courses of study and methods of conducting and marking examinations as will develop and bring out the average all-round ability of the midshipman rather than to give him prominence in any one particular study. The fact should be kept in mind that the Naval Academy is not a university but a school, the primary object of which is to educate boys to be efficient naval officers. ”

“ Through the long years of indifference on the part of the majority of their countrymen, these faithful guardians of the Nation’s frontier, trained at the Naval Academy to a high degree of professional skill, without which the complex organization of the fighting ships cannot function, had served with zeal, and against great odds had kept the fleet ready—kept the colossal machine intact, so that the hordes of untrained men could be assimilated with the least possible loss of time and effort. ”

“ The other corps are drawn from civil life. Promotion is strictly by seniority in all grades. All officers except those in the Constructors’ and Professors’ Corps are obliged to pass a rigid examination in being promoted from one grade to another. The course of study at the Naval Academy is four years for both executive and engineer officers; the cadet then passes into the fleet for a period of two years for active service, at the end of which time he is eligible for promotion to the next grade. ”

“ After dismissal the midshipmen rushed into their working clothes and dispersed into different shops, and great was the hammering in the blacksmith and boiler shops as the Board marched through. In this week of each year the Naval Academy is on official exhibition for this wise Board. And for its benefit sham battles are fought, young men scramble aloft on antiquated sailing ships and feverishly loose and make sail, haul on buntlines, clewlines, sheets and braces. ”

“ The professor of the naval academy is also the instructor of the shipwright apprentices, but his instructions extend only to that class who are to serve on board his Majesty's ships of war. No apprentice can be admitted to the academy under sixteen years of age ”

“ A boy who chooses the navy as his profession must leave school at the age of fourteen years, and go for nine months' training on a warship as a voluntary apprentice. At the end of this time he knows whether he likes the profession well enough to join it—if so, two years' coaching is given to enable him to pass the necessary examinations for entering the Naval Academy. ”

“ To substitute acquired common-sense—knowledge and reflection—for the cruder and tardier processes of learning by hard personal experience and mistakes, is, of course, the object of all education; and it was this which caused the foundation of the Naval Academy, behind which at its beginning lay the initiative of some of the most reputed and accomplished senior officers of the navy, conscious of the needless difficulties they themselves had had to surPage 42mount in reaching the level they had. ”

“ Officer candidates for the naval infantry, engineering, and supply corps also take a 5-year course at the Naval Academy but concentrate on subjects dealing with their special fields and undergo less shipboard training. Basic training of enlisted men devotes much time to non-naval subjects and to elementary education. Specialist schools, most of which have courses for both enlisted men and officers, offer training in various technical fields, including gunnery, electronics, communications, engineering, and amphibious warfare. ”

“ How do you propose going about it, Dick? As I have told you, there is no chance of going to the Naval Academy this year, and I understand that all marine officers are appointed to the Corps from among Annapolis graduates. For that reason I do not believe you have----"
"Excuse me, Dad, but that's just where you are mistaken. All the marine officers don't go through the Naval Academy. Some of them enlist and go up from the ranks. They win their shoulder straps on their own merit. ”

“ On the other hand, many of the older officers believe that there is too much book-learning at the Academy and too little practical instruction; but most of them are willing to admit that the naval officer of to-day must be a scientific man to properly meet requirements of modern ships, and that he cannot acquit himself properly unless he has a complete theoretical training. ”

“ The Naval Academy has had frequent difficulty, not chiefly of a money kind, but because the needed naval officers cannot always be spared from general service. A sound policy has continuously favored the employment of sea officers, where possible; not because they can often be equal in acquirement to chosen men from the special fields in question, but because through them the spirit and authority of the profession pervades the class-room as well as the drill-ground, and so forwards the highly specialized product in view. ”

“ All that has been said about the army applies with equal force to the navy. When the apprentice system was formulated there was hope expressed by hundreds of officers who had served in one branch or other of the service during the late civil war, that it might afford a stepping-stone to ambitious young men who wished to adopt a seafaring career, but were unable to obtain admission to the naval academy, or in any other way to gain a sufficient education in seamanship and gunnery, which are the two principal requirements of the American naval officer. ”

“ It is asked that if cadets are to man steamships without sails, what is the use of educating them to officer sailing-vessels? What was the necessity of building the “Bancroft,” if she was not to be used for the practice-cruises of the cadets? Why has it been proposed to build wooden vessels for their instruction? The superintendent of the Naval Academy, Captain Cooper, Secretary Herbert, and Secretary Long have contended that officer-like qualities can best be attained by experience in sailing-vessels. They believe [247] that intrepidity and alertness come from the old school of sailing-ships. ”

“ RULES AND ORDERS FOR THE NAVAL ACADEMY
(issued from the Admiralty, November 1st, 1773) . Article I.
Sons of noblemen and gentlemen only are eligible for admission, not under twelve or over fifteen; except fifteen sons of commissioned officers of H.M. Fleet, who are to be educated at the public expense, and (by Order in Council of October 8th, 1773) may be admitted from eleven to fourteen years of age.
Article II.
Every scholar is to pass a preliminary examination, to show that he is qualified to enter upon the plan of education adopted at the Academy. ”

“ That's almost too much of a brag to make, Belle. The truth is, no fellow is safe until he has been commissioned as an ensign, and that's at least two years after he has graduated from the Naval Academy. Why even after examination, you know, a fellow has to go to sea for two years, as a midshipman, and then take another and final examination at sea. ”

“ It should be a real auxiliary to the naval seagoing peace establishment, and offer material to be drawn on at once for manning our ships in time of war. It should be composed of graduates of the Naval Academy, graduates of the Naval Militia, officers and crews of coast-line steamers, longshore schooners, fishing vessels, and steam yachts, together with the coast population about such centers as lifesaving stations and light-houses. ”

“ Independent of the democratic tendency of all boys' schools, where each individual finds his level by natural gravitation, the Naval Academy, for reasons before alluded to, has been remarkably successful in assimilating its heterogeneous raw material and turning out a finished product of a good average social quality. Beyond this, social success or failure depends everywhere upon personal aptitudes which no training can bestow. But as officers we were nondescript. ”

“ The centre of social gayety, therefore, is to be found in the Naval Academy.
The social feature of the life of the cadet must not be underestimated. The youngsters who present themselves as candidates for admission, [233] appointed politically, come from all parts of the country, and represent every shade of opinion and training in the United States. ”

“ Vessels for practice work of midshipmen in the first, second, and third year classes are attached to the academy during the academic year, and from early in une to September of each year the midshipmen are engaged in practice cruises. ”

“ The course of instruction is for four years—“final graduation” comes only after six years, the additional years being spent at sea—and is in eleven departments: discipline, seamanship, ordnance and gunnery, navigation, marine engineering and naval construction, mathematics and mechanics, physics and chemistry, electrical engineering, English, modern languages, naval hygiene and physiology. ”

“ The system of professional training for officers of the Imperial Navy is not yet matured. The Naval School at Kiel is still recognized. Aspirants enter as naval cadets after passing an examination equivalent to the requirements of a gymnasial maturity certificate, which in general education is superior to the requirements of graduation of either our Naval or Military Academy. Before entering on their professional studies, the cadet is first sent on a cruise to test his aptitude for sea-service. ”

“ The highest educational institution for the navy is the naval staff college, in which there are five courses for officers alone. The gunnery and torpedo schools are attended by officers, and also by selected warrant-officers and bluejackets, who consent to extend their service. There is also Naval Education. a mechanical school for junior engineers, warrant-officers and ordinary artificers.
At the naval cadet academy—originally situated in Tōkyō but now at Etajima near Kure—aspirants for service as naval officers receive a 3 years’ academical course and 1 year’s training at sea ”

“ In 1919 the civilian corps of instructors was reorganized with increased pay and systematic promotion. The staff of the Academy increased from 146 officers and civilian instructors in 1910 to nearly 300 in 1921. ”

“ If the Academy can be relieved of the large amount of merely elementary general education which every graduate of the common schools of the country ought to have received, and which in a few years every aspirant to the privileges of this school would contrive to get, if the law made its acquisition necessary as a preliminary to a competitive examination—then the whole general scientific course could be mastered in two years, with a large amount of military and naval tactics, as well as of practical seamanship in the two summer cruises. ”

“ In this way 1,622 officers were added to the service as temporary ensigns. The post-graduate school for officers, established in 1912 in the former marine barracks near the Academy, was suspended during the World War, but reopened in 1919 with about 50 student-officers. These spend a half-year or year at the post-graduate school before continuing their studies in civilian technical institutions. ”

“ This effected, the man became a "passed" midshipman. Beginning with 1851, the system was changed. Four years at the Academy were required, after which two at sea, and then examination. This, being a clean break with the past, outraged conservatism; it introduced such abominations as French and extended mathematics; much attention was paid to infantry drill—soldiering; the scheme was not "practical;" and it was doubtless true that the young graduate, despite six months of summer cruising interposed between academic terms, came comparatively green to shipboard. ”

“ Thus the total number of authorized appointments reached 3,126; and the number of midshipmen increased from 758 in 1910 to 1,230 in 1916, and in 1920 to about 2,200. Since 1920, physically qualified candidates have been allowed to enter either by examination or by certificate from a recognized school. ”

“ To return to the shore drills: these were then committed to one of the civil professors of the Academy, a fact which itself spoke for the familiarity with them of the sea lieutenants. As these always exercised us at ships' guns, the different estimation which the two obtained in the outside service was too obvious to escape quick-witted young fellows, and it was difficult to overcome the resultant disrespect. The professor was not one to effect the impossible. He was a graduate of West Point, a man of ability, not lacking in dignity, and personally worthy of all respect ”