Y Year.
A Admirals.
VA Vice-Admirals.
RA Rear Admirals.
Cm Commodores.
Cp Captains.
MC Master Command’ts or Commanders.
LC Lieut. Command’rs.
Lt Lieutenants.
Mr Masters.
PM Passed Midshipmen or Ensigns.
Mm Midshipmen.
Cm Cadet Midshipmen.
Mt Mates.
TLO Total Line Officers.
-----+---+---+---+---+----+----+----+----+---+----+----+---+--+-----
Y | A |VA | RA| Cm| Cp | MC | LC | Lt | Mr| PM | Mm |CM |Mt| TLO
-----+---+---+---+---+----+----+----+----+---+----+----+---+--+-----
1815 | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
1816 | | | | | 32| 18| | 150| | | 495| | | 695
1817 | | | | | 31| 22| | 157| 87| | 415| | 4| 716
1818 | | | | | 34| 26| | 182| 83| | 404| | 7| 736
1819 | | | | | 35| 23| | 213| 76| | 362| | 7| 716
1820 | | | | | 34| 22| | 202| 76| | 350| | 4| 688
1821 | | | | | 32| 21| | 193| 62| | 364| | 2| 674
1822 | | | | | 31| 31| | 196| 58| | 336| | 1| 653
1823 | | | | | 30| 30| | 183| 53| 75| 249| | 1| 621
1824 | | | | | 28| 30| | 172| 51| 71| 312| | | 664
1825 | | | | | 24| 30| | 228| 48| | 356| | | 680
1826 | | | | | 32| 29| | 209| 43| 15| 361| | | 689
1827 | | | | | 31| 27| | 228| 36| | 374| | | 696
1828 | | | | | 33| 29| | 229| 33| | 392| | | 716
1829 | | | | | 35| 33| | 263| 30| 10| 435| | | 806
1830 | | | | | 37| 39| | 258| 32| 41| 435| | | 842
1831 | | | | | 37| 34| | 255| 31| 54| 377| | | 788
1832 | | | | | 40| 37| | 259| 32| 74| 345| | | 787
1833 | | | | | 37| 41| | 259| 31| 94| 356| | | 818
1834 | | | | | 37| 41| | 259| 29| 133| 317| | | 807
1835 | | | | | 37| 41| | 257| 27| 178| 272| | | 812
1836 | | | | | 38| 40| | 257| 27| 199| 251| | | 812
1837 | | | | | 40| 41| | 258| 27| 200| 241| | | 807
1838 | | | | | 50| 49| | 276| 27| 181| 247| | | 830
1839 | | | | | 52| 55| | 285| 27| 196| 249| | | 844
1840 | | | | | 55| 55| | 290| 29| 191| 231| | | 851
1841 | | | | | 55| 55| | 288| 28| 195| 262| | | 883
1842 | | | | | 68| 96| | 328| 30| 103| 460| | 4|1089
1843 | | | | | 67| 94| | 324| 31| 133| 410| | 7|1066
1844 | | | | | 67| 96| | 324| 30| 147| 356| |12|1032
1845 | | | | | 68| 96| | 327| 31| 159| 314| |11|1006
1846 | | | | | 67| 97| | 326| 28| 181| 264| |11| 974
1847 | | | | | 64| 97| | 324| 31| 206| 240| | 9| 970
1848 | | | | | 67| 97| | 327| 31| 208| 228| | 8| 966
1849 | | | | | 68| 97| | 327| 31| 270| 181| | 8| 982
1850 | | | | | 68| 97| | 327| 32| 208| 152| | 5| 940
1851 | | | | | 68| 97| | 327| 33| 233| 171| | 3| 932
1852 | | | | | 68| 97| | 325| 32| 205| 144| 55| 3| 929
1853 | | | | | 68| 97| | 327| 32| 197| 122| 76| 3| 892
1854 | | | | | 68| 97| | 326| 18| 198| 89| 94| 2| 892
1855 | | | | | 68| 97| | 326| 32| 190| 66|128| 2| 912
1856 | | | | | 68| 97| | 326| 19| | 46|124| 1| 681
1857 | | | | | 64| 96| | 311| 24| 24| 30|145| 1| 696
1858 | | | | | 76| 106| | 319| 1| 23| 45|174| 1| 745
1859 | | | | | 81| 116| | 338| 20| | 47|187| | 789
1860 | | | | | 80*| 114| | 325| 34| | 49|238| | 840
1861 | | | | | 79*| 114| | 321| 36| | 55|267| | 872
1862 | | | 4| 18| 40| 91| 144| 90| | | 67|220| | 664
1863 | | | 4| 14| 37| 72| 144| 96| | 30| 9|382| | 788
1864 | | | 6| 18| 36| 72| 144| 96| | 88| 2|457| | 913
1865 | | 1 | 5| 19| 35| 67| 139| 113| | 53| 31|458| | 931
1866 | | 1 | 4| 19| 35| 71| 142| 90| 11| 39| 84|450| | 946
1867 | 1 | 1 | 10| 24| 46| 90| 165| 22| 53| 54| 72|421| | 959
1868 | 1 | 1 | 9| 24| 49| 90| 136| 45| 29| 52| 157|344| | 937
1869 | 1 | 1 | 10| 25| 50| 89| 171| 46| 80| 154| 77|286| | 990
1870 | 1 | 1 | 10| 25| 50| 90| 180| 64| 99| 160| 74|251| |1103†
1871 | 1 | 1 | 12| 25| 50| 89| 178| 141|151| 69| 69|246| |1256‡
-----+---+---+---+---+----+----+----+----+---+----+----+---+--+-------
[* One senior flag officer.]
[† Including 98 mates, temporary officers not eligible for promotion and
not properly belonging to the Regular Navy, and should be classed as
Volunteers.]
[‡ Including 130 mates, temporary officers not eligible for promotion
and not properly belonging to the Regular Navy, and should be classed as
Volunteers.]
TABLE III. _Warrant or Forward Officers, and Marine Corps, 1816 to
1871._
[KEY]
Y Year.
B Boatswains.
G Gunners.
Cr Carpenters.
S Sailmakers.
C Colonels.
LC Lieut-Colonels.
M Majors.
Cp Captains.
L Lieutenants.
SL Second Lieutenants.
T Total.
-------------------------------+---------------------------------
Warranted or Forward Officers, | Officers of the United States
1815 to 1871 inclusive. | Marine Corps,
| 1815 to 1871 inclusive.
-----+----+----+----+----+-----+---+---+---+----+----+-----+-----
Y | B | G | Cr | S | T | C |LC | M | Cp | L | SL | T
-----+----+----+----+----+-----+---+---+---+----+----+-----+-----
1815 | 28 | 24 | 18 | 12 | 82 | 1 | | 2 | 20 | 21 | 18 | 62
1816 | 28 | 24 | 6 | 2 | 60 | 1 | | 1 | 20 | 21 | 18 | 61
1817 | 28 | 22 | 6 | 2 | 58 | 1 | | 1 | 16 | 19 | 13 | 50
1818 | 22 | 22 | 17 | 11 | 72 | 1 | | | 9 | 23 | 16 | 49
1819 | 22 | 22 | 16 | 11 | 71 | | | | 9 | 23 | 16 | 48
1820 | 19 | 22 | 17 | 12 | 70 | | 1 | | 9 | 24 | 9 | 43
1821 | 14 | 18 | 12 | 8 | 52 | | 1 | | 8 | 24 | 16 | 49
1822 | 16 | 17 | 13 | 10 | 56 | | 1 | | 8 | 21 | 15 | 45
1823 | 16 | 18 | 13 | 11 | 58 | | 1 | | 9 | 24 | 16 | 50
1824 | 15 | 18 | 14 | 12 | 59 | | 1 | | 9 | 24 | 15 | 49
1825 | 16 | 16 | 10 | 10 | 52 | | 1 | | 9 | 24 | 14 | 48
1826 | 13 | 12 | 10 | 9 | 44 | | 1 | | 9 | 23 | 17 | 50
1827 | 15 | 14 | 11 | 9 | 49 | | 1 | | 9 | 24 | 16 | 50
1828 | 14 | 18 | 14 | 11 | 57 | | 1 | | 9 | 24 | 16 | 50
1829 | 17 | 19 | 13 | 14 | 63 | | 1 | | 9 | 24 | 16 | 50
1830 | 18 | 20 | 16 | 16 | 70 | | 1 | | 9 | 24 | 16 | 50
1831 | 18 | 19 | 13 | 17 | 67 | | 1 | | 9 | 24 | 16 | 50
1832 | 21 | 16 | 12 | 18 | 67 | | 1 | | 9 | 24 | 16 | 50
1833 | 16 | 19 | 15 | 13 | 63 | | 1 | | 10 | 24 | 16 | 50
1834 | 18 | 17 | 16 | 14 | 65 | | 1 | | 10 | 24 | 16 | 50
1835 | 18 | 20 | 20 | 19 | 77 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 13 | 20 | 19 | 58
1836 | 21 | 20 | 20 | 19 | 80 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 13 | 20 | 19 | 58
1837 | 22 | 23 | 20 | 19 | 84 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 13 | 20 | 20 | 59
1838 | 25 | 29 | 23 | 24 | 101 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 13 | 19 | 20 | 58
1839 | 32 | 35 | 27 | 26 | 120 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 13 | 20 | 19 | 58
1840 | 32 | 37 | 24 | 25 | 118 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 13 | 20 | 20 | 59
1841 | 29 | 36 | 28 | 27 | 120 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 13 | 20 | 20 | 59
1842 | 32 | 41 | 36 | 33 | 142 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 13 | 20 | 19 | 58
1843 | 37 | 40 | 38 | 35 | 150 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 13 | 20 | 20 | 59
1844 | 32 | 39 | 35 | 33 | 139 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 13 | 20 | 20 | 59
1845 | 30 | 42 | 36 | 34 | 142 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 13 | 20 | 20 | 59
1846 | 31 | 42 | 36 | 34 | 143 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 13 | 20 | 20 | 59
1847 | 32 | 42 | 36 | 31 | 141 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 13 | 20 | 20 | 59
1848 | 38 | 44 | 40 | 29 | 151 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 14 | 23 | 24 | 70
1849 | 39 | 44 | 42 | 33 | 158 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 18 | 24 | 24 | 75
1850 | 39 | 43 | 42 | 34 | 158 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 18 | 23 | 23 | 73
1851 | 43 | 46 | 45 | 37 | 171 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 17 | 23 | 21 | 70
1852 | 41 | 45 | 45 | 38 | 169 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 16 | 21 | 21 | 67
1853 | 44 | 46 | 49 | 41 | 180 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 16 | 20 | 20 | 65
1854 | 38 | 48 | 51 | 41 | 178 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 14 | 20 | 20 | 63
1855 | 37 | 45 | 32 | 40 | 174 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 14 | 19 | 20 | 62
1856 | 39 | 40 | 48 | 39 | 166 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 14 | 20 | 20 | 63
1857 | 38 | 40 | 48 | 39 | 165 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 13 | 19 | 20 | 61
1858 | 38 | 44 | 47 | 42 | 171 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 14 | 19 | 20 | 62
1859 | 40 | 44 | 48 | 41 | 173 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 15 | 20 | 19 | 63
1860 | 41 | 46 | 46 | 42 | 175 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 14 | 20 | 20 | 63
1861 | 43 | 47 | 45 | 40 | 175 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 14 | 20 | 20 | 63
1862 | 54 | 93 | 60 | 46 | 253 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 24 | 30 | 30 | 95
1863 | 53 | 84 | 56 | 45 | 238 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 20 | 28 | 29 | 88
1864 | 49 | 71 | 53 | 40 | 213 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 21 | 30 | 22 | 84
1865 | 46 | 65 | 47 | 36 | 194 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 22 | 30 | 24 | 87
1866 | 39 | 63 | 43 | 32 | 177 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 22 | 30 | 24 | 87
1867 | 52 | 59 | 40 | 30 | 181 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 22 | 30 | 30 | 93
1868 | 52 | 55 | 36 | 31 | 174 | | 2 | 7 | 21 | 30 | 27 | 88*
1869 | 51 | 50 | 32 | 30 | 163 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 22 | 30 | 23 | 86*
1870 | 46 | 52 | 38 | 31 | 167 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 23 | 30 | 26 | 90*
1871 | 46 | 57 | 39 | 34 | 176 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 22 | 30 | 30 | 93*
------------------------------------------------------------------
[* One brigadier-general since 1868. The senior officer has always been
styled the lieutenant-colonel-commandant, colonel-commandant, or
brigadier-general commandant. Since 1868, in the number of majors and
captains is included those of the staff ranking with the line. At
present there are three staff officers holding the rank of major, and
two that of captain.]
[KEY]
S Surgeons.
PAS Passed Ass’t Surgeons.
AS Assistant Surgeons.
SM Surgeons’s Mates.
PP Pursers or Paymasters.
CPT Chaplains, Professors of Mathematics, and Teachers.
T Total Staff Officers.
--------------------------------------------------------
STAFF OFFICERS, 1815 TO 1842
INCLUSIVE.
-----+---------------------------+------+-------+-------
| Medical Dep’t. | | |
+---------------------------+ | |
Year.| S | PAS | AS | SM | PP | CPT | T
-----+------+------+------+------+------+-------+-------
1815 | 43 | | | 44 | 39 | 4 | 130
1816 | 45 | | | 44 | 40 | 4 | 133
1817 | 48 | | | 72 | 53 | 7 | 180
1818 | 44 | | | 44 | 45 | 7 | 140
1819 | 52 | | | 33 | 45 | 9 | 139
1820 | 47 | | | 34 | 44 | 12 | 137
1821 | 47 | | | 46 | 44 | 13 | 150
1822 | 46 | | | 41 | 42 | 10 | 139
1823 | 42 | | | 32 | 40 | 9 | 123
1824 | 35 | | | 38 | 39 | 8 | 120
1825 | 34 | | | 40 | 40 | 10 | 124
1826 | 39 | | | 35 | 42 | 10 | 126
1827 | 40 | | | 40 | 43 | 9 | 132
1828 | 37 | | | 37 | 42 | 9 | 125
1829 | 43 | | 34 | | 41 | 9 | 127
1830 | 39 | | 58* | | 43 | 9 | 149
1831 | 37 | | 46 | | 43 | 9 | 135
1832 | 44 | | 38 | | 42 | 9 | 133
1833 | 44 | | 45 | | 43 | 9 | 141
1834 | 43 | | 46 | | 43 | 8 | 140
1835 | 44 | 15 | 31 | | 43 | 13 | 146
1836 | 43 | 15 | 35 | | 42 | 17 | 152
1837 | 44 | 26 | 23 | | 44 | 20 | 157
1838 | 49 | 20 | 37 | | 45 | 22 | 178
1839 | 60 | 16 | 51 | | 49 | 27 | 193
1840 | 61 | 17 | 53 | | 51 | 30 | 202
1841 | 59 | 17 | 57 | | 53 | 33 | 219
1842 | 69 | 11 | 55 | | 64 | 52 | 251
-----+------+------+------+------+------+-------+-------
[* Sixteen acting assistants.]
[KEY]
S Surgeons.
PAS Passed Ass’t Surgeons.
AS Assistant Surgeons.
P Paymasters.
PAP Passed Ass’t Paymasters.
AP Assistant Paymasters.
CE Chief Engineers.
1AE 1st Assistant Engineers.
2AE 2d Assistant Engineers.
3AE 3d Assistant Engineers.
Ch Chaplains.
PTL Professors and Teachers of Language.
T Total Staff Officers
----------------------------------------------------------------
STAFF OFFICERS, 1842 TO 1871 INCLUSIVE.
-----+------------+-----------+------------------+---+----+-----
| Medical | Pay | Engineer | | |
| Dep’t. | Dep’t. | Dep’t. | | |
+---+---+----+---+---+---+---+----+----+----+ | |
Year.| S |PAS| AS | P |PAP|AP | CE| 1AE| 2AE| 3AE| Ch| PTL| T
-----+---+---+----+---+---+---+---+----+----+----+---+----+-----
1843 | 69| 9| 60| 64|...|...| 5| 8| 5| 5| 22| 29| 277
1844 | 69| 26| 39| 64|...|...| 5| 9| 5| 10| 22| 26| 277
1845 | 96| 26| 41| 64|...|...| 5| 11| 9| 11| 23| 25| 286
1846 | 69| 29| 36| 64|...|...| 5| 5| 13| 13| 23| 24| 281
1847 | 69| 33| 34| 62|...|...| 4| 5| 13| 13| 22| 24| 280
1848 | 68| 41| 37| 63|...|...| 6| 9| 18| 24| 24| 23| 308
1849 | 69| 39| 41| 64|...|...| 6| 12| 17| 38| 24| 14| 325
1850 | 68| 37| 43| 64|...|...| 8| 8| 18| 33| 24| 12| 316
1851 | 68| 34| 44| 63|...|...| 9| 7| 17| 35| 23| 12| 313
1852 | 69| 34| 45| 64|...|...| 10| 19| 29| 28| 24| 12| 334
1853 | 69| 40| 37| 63|...|...| 13| 18| 34| 34| 24| 12| 345
1854 | 69| 37| 42| 64|...|...| 11| 24| 25| 44| 24| 12| 353
1855 | 69| 35| 44| 64|...|...| 12| 22| 23| 41| 24| 12| 347
1856 | 69| 36| 43| 64|...|...| 13| 21| 28| 39| 24| 12| 349
1857 | 69| 43| 37| 64|...|...| 17| 24| 20| 35| 24| 12| 345
1858 | 69| 41| 39| 62|...|...| 18| 31| 21| 54| 24| 12| 371
1859 | 69| 41| 39| 64|...|...| 21| 33| 23| 63| 24| 12| 389
1860 | 69| 37| 42| 64|...|...| 24| 36| 23| 92| 23| 11| 421
1861 | 69| 43| 36| 64|...|...| 28| 43| 20| 92| 24| 12| 450
1862 | 80| 2| 118| 62|...| 31| 48| 32| 78| 240|116| 12| 724
1863 | 80| 1| 117| 63|...| 31| 49| 32| 92| 264|118| 12| 759
1864 | 80| 7| 108| 64|...| 32| 52| 48| 149| 252|120| 12| 815
1865 | 78| 22| 108| 63|...| 33| 59| 65| 235| 115|121| 12| 811
1866 | 79| 44| 33| 62|...| 30| 54| 65| 175| 64| 19| 12| 637
1867 | 79| 38| 37| 80| 39| 11| 54| 86| 146| 37| 19| 11| 637
1868 | 80| 42| 38| 80| 39| 26| 50| 88| 131| 21| 18| 11| 617
1869 | 80| 35| 33| 79| 38| 18| 49| 91| 112| 35| 16| 11| 597
1870 | 80| 33| 35| 80| 40| 20| 48| 81| 122| 1| 21| 10| 571
1871 | 80| 32| 38| 80| 39| 20| 56| 98| 93| ...| 23| 9| 575
-----+---+---+----+---+---+---+---+----+----+----+---+----+-----
[* Also one engineer-in-chief and one principal engineer in 1843, ’44,
and ’45.]
[† Also one engineer-in-chief 1847 to 1855 inclusive.]
[KEY]
LC Acting Lieutenants and Lieut.-Commanders.
VL Acting Vol. Lieutenants.
E Acting Ensigns.
M Acting Masters.
MM Acting Master’s Mates and Mates.
BG Acting Boatswains and Gunners.
T Total.
------------------------------------------------
VOL. OFFICERS, 1862 TO 1871 INCLUSIVE.
LINE.
-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------+----+------
Year.| LC | VL | M | E | MM | BG | T
-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------+----+------
1862 | 14 | 28 | 581 | 60 | 572 | | 1255
1863 | 15 | 50 | 581 | 336 | 754 | 31 | 1767
1864 | 4 | 81 | 516 | 896 | 901 | 47 | 2445
1865 | 14 | 112 | 583 |1280 | 843 | 75 | 2907
1866 | 8 | 39 | 133 | 258 | 192 | 9 | 619
1867 | 4 | 36 | 140 | 251 | 201 | 2 | 634
1868 | 4 | 26 | 114 | 163 | 142 | 2 | 451
1869 | | | 12 | 9 | 79 | | 97
1870 | | 1 | 1 | 1 | | | 3
1871 | | 1 | 1 | 2 | | | 4
-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------+----+------
[KEY]
APAS Acting Passed Ass’t Surgeons.
AAS Acting Assistant Surgeons.
AAP Acting Assistant Paymasters.
ACE Acting Chief Engineers.
AAE Acting Assistant Engineers, 1st, 2d, & 3d.
ACp Acting Carpenters.
------------------------------------------------------
STAFF.
-----+------+------+------+------+-------+-----+------
Year.| APAS | AAS | AAP | ACE | AAE | ACp |Total
-----+------+------+------+------+-------+-----+------
1862 | | 93 | 140 | | 364 | | 597
1863 | | 142 | 217 | 21 | 665 | 16 | 1061
1864 | | 197 | 330 | 44 | 1185 | 23 | 1784
1865 | | 246 | 372 | 55 | 1761 | 28 | 2453
1866 | 12 | 60 | 80 | 14 | 301 | 1 | 408
1867 | 20 | 18 | 18 | 7 | 296 | 1 | 360
1868 | 19 | 16 | 2 | 2 | 205 | | 242
1869 | 7 | 5 | 1 | | 61 | | 74
1870 | 2 | 2 | | | 5 | | 9
1871 | 2 | 7 | | | | | 9
-----+------+------+------+------+-------+-----+------
TABLE V. _Sailing Vessels of United States Navy--1817 to 1839._
[KEY]
SL Ships of the Line.
R Razees.
F Frigates.
C Corvettes.
SW Sloops-of-War.
BW Brigs-of-War.
Sn Schooners.
Gb Gunboats.
Ga Galleys.
B Barges.
SV Store Vessels.
BS Block Ships.
UV Unarmed Vessels.
BV Bomb Vessels.
SF Steam Frigates.
SG Steam Galliops.
EV Exploring Vessels.
T Total No. of Vessels.
----+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+----
Year|SL|R |F |C |SW|BW|S |Gb|Ga|B |SV|BS|UV|BV|SF|SG|EV| T
----+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+----
1817| 5| | 9| 2|13|12|11|11| 8|24| | 1| 9| 5| 1| | |111
1818| 5| |10| 3|11|13|10| 9| 8|34| | 1| 7| 3| 1| | |115
1819| 5| | 9| 3| 5|13|13| 7| 8|21| | 1| 3| 1| 1| | | 90
1820| 5| | 9| 3| 5|13|13| 5| 8|21| | 1| 3| 1| 1| | | 88
1821| 7| | 7| 2| 4| 2| 6| 6| | | 1| | | | 1| | | 36
1822| 7| | 7| 2| 4| 2| 8| 6| | | 1| | | | 1| | | 38
1823| 7| | 8| 2| 4| 2|15| 5| | | 1| | | | 1| | | 45
1824| 7| | 8| 2| 4| 1|13| 5| 5| | 2| | | | 1| 1| | 49
1825| 7| | 8| 2| 5| 1| 8| 5| 5| | 1| | | | 1| 1| | 44
1826|12| |14| 2| 8| 1| 5| | | | 2| | | | 1| 1| | 46
1827|12| |14| 2|13| | 5| | | | 1| | | | 1| 1| | 49
1828|12| |16| |17| | 5| | | | 1| | | | 1| 1| | 53
1829|12| |16| |16| | 5| | | | 1| | | | 1| 1| | 52
1830|12| |16| |16| | 5| | | | 1| | | | | 1| | 51
1831|12| |16| |15| | 5| | | | 1| | | | | 1| | 50
1832|12| |17| |15| | 7| | | | | | | | | 1| | 52
1833|12| |17| |15| | 8| | | | | | | | | 1| | 53
1834|12| |17| |15| | 8| | | | | | | | | 1| | 53
1835|12| |17| |15| | 8| | | | | | | | | 1| | 53
1836|11| 1|16| |15| | 7| | | | | | | | | 1| | 51
1837|11| 1|16| |14| 2| 6| | | | | | | | | 1| 4| 55
1838|11| 1|16| |14| 4| 7| | | | 1| | | | | 1| | 55
1839|11| 1|16| |16| 4| 7| | | | 1| | | | 1| 1| | 56
----+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+----
TABLE VI. _Sailing and Steam Vessels_--1840 _to_ 1861.
[KEY]
Y Year.
SL Ships of the Line.
R Razees.
F Frigates.
SW Sloops-of-War.
BW Brigs-of-War.
S Schooners.
SV Store Vessels.
BV Bomb Vessels.
PR Perman’t Rec’g Vessels.
SV Total Sailing Vessels.
S1 Screw Steam’s, 1st Cl’s.
S2 Screw Steam’s, 2d Cl’s.
S3 Screw Steam’s, 3d Cl’s.
SS Screw Steamers.
W1 Side Wheeled, 1st Class.
W2 Side Wheeled, 2d Class.
W3 Side Wheeled, 3d Class.
ST Steam Tenders.
TS Total Steam Vessels.
T Total Number of Vessels.
----+-----------------------------++--------------------------++--
| SAILING VESSELS. || STEAM VESSELS. ||
+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--++--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--++--
Y |SL|R |F |SW|BW|S |SV|BV|PR|SV||S1|S2|S3|SS|W1|W2|W3|ST|TS||T
----+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--++--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--++--
1840|11| 1|16|21| 4| 8| 1| | |62|| | | | | 2| 1| 1| | 4||66
1841|11| 1|16|21| 4| 9| 1| | |63|| | | | | 2| 1| 1| | 4||67
1842|11| 1|16|21| 4| 9| 3| | |65|| | | | | 2| 1| 1| | 4||69
1843|11| 1|15|18| 8| 9| 3| | |65|| | 1| | | 2| 1| 2| | 6||71
1844|10| 1|15|22| 7| 9| 5| | |69|| | 1| | | 1| 1| 2| | 5||74
1845|10| 1|14|23| 8| 8| 4| | |68|| | 1| | | 1| 1| 5| | 8||76
1846|11| 1|14|23| 8| 6| 4| | |67|| | 1| | | 1| 1| 6| | 9||76
1847|11| 1|14|22| 5| 9| 6| | |68|| | 1| | | 1| 1|10| |13||81
1848|11| 1|14|22| 6|12| 7| 4| |77|| | 1| | | 1| 1|12| |15||92
1849|11| 1|14|22| 5| 5| 6| | |64|| | 2| | | 4| 1| 7| |14||78
1850|11| 1|14|22| 4| 5| 6| | |63|| | 2| | | 4| 1| 7| |14||77
1851|11| 1|14|21| 4| 3| 5| | |59|| | 1| | 2| 4| 3| 5| |15||74
1852|11| 1|14|21| 4| 3| 5| | |59|| 1| 2| | | 4| 3| 6| |16||75
1853|11| 1|13|21| 4| 4| 5| | |59|| 1| 1| 2| | 4| 3| 5| |16||75
1854|10| 1|13|20| 4| 1| 7| | 2|58|| 1| 2| 2| | 4| 3| 3| |15||73
1855|10| 1|13|20| 4| 1| 7| | 2|58|| 7| 1| 1| | 3| 1| 7| |20||78
1856|10| 1|12|19| 3| 1| 6| | 2|54|| 7| 1| 2| | 3| 1| 5| 3|22||76
1857|10| 1|12|19| 3| 1| 5| | |51|| 7| 1| 2| | 3| 1| 5| 3|22||73
1858|10| |10|21| 3| 1| 3| | 5|53|| 8| 6| 2| 2| 3| 1| 2| 1|25||78
1859|10| |10|21| 3| 1| 3| | 5|53|| 8| 6| 9| 2| 3| 1| 3| 1|33||86
1860|10| |10|21| 3| | 3| | 5|52|| 8| 6| 8| 5| 3| 1| 5| 3|39||91
1861|10| |10|20| 3| | 3| | 6|52|| 8| 6| 8| 7| 4| 1| 4| |38||90
----+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--++--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--++--
TABLE VII. _Sailing and Steam Vessels--1862 to 1871._
[KEY]
1R First Rates
2R Second Rates
3R Third Rates
4R Fourth Rates
TS Total Sailing
TC Total Screws
T Total
TV Total No. of Vessels in the U.S. Navy
----+-------------------------
| SAILING VESSELS.
+----+----+----+----+-----
Year| 1R | 2R | 3R | 4R | T
----+----+----+----+----+-----
1862| 7 | 10 | 19 | 65 | 101
1863| 4 | 7 | 12 | 83 | 106
1864| 3 | 5 | 16 | 84 | 108
1865| 3 | 6 | 16 | 84 | 109
1866| 1 | 6 | 16 | 19 | 42
1867| 2 | 6 | 15 | 15 | 38
1868| 6 | 9 | 12 | 5 | 32
1869| 6 | 9 | 11 | 5 | 31
1870| | 2 | 17 | 11 | 30
1871| | 2 | 17 | 10 | 29
----+----+----+----+----+-----
----+-----------------------------------------------------------+----
| STEAM VESSELS |
+-------------------+-------------------+-------------------+
| Screws | Iron Clads | Side Wheels |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
Year| 1R| 2R| 3R| 4R| T | 1R| 2R| 3R| 4R| T| 1R| 2R| 3R| 4R|T | TV
----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----
1862| 5| 16| 29| 69|119| 5| 5| 37| 6| 53| 2| 19| 40| 51|112| 383
1863| 6| 15| 24| 96|141| 4| 6| 37| 6| 53| 2| 10| 52| 85|149| 449
1864| 12| 35| 37|129|213| 9| 5| 56| 4| 74| 2| 16| 52|152|222| 617
1865| 23| 32| 42|168|265| 3| 6| 6| 56| 71| 3| 8| 56|160|236| 681
1866| 23| 31| 17| 64|135| 3| 7| 6| 53| 69| 3| 4| 47| 20| 74| 320
1867| 20| 18| 15| 53|106| 3| 6| 6| 47| 62| 3| 4| 43| 17| 67| 273
1868| 19| 21| 17| 43|100| 7| 4| 41| 3| 55| 3| 4| 23| 12| 42| 229
1869| 19| 21| 16| 40| 96| 7| 4| 38| 3| 52| 3| 1| 11| 9| 24| 203
1870| 5| 24| 19| 40| 88| | 6| 5| 40| 51| | 4| 1| 12| 17| 186
1871| 3| 24| 18| 42| 87| | 4| 6| 40| 50| | 4| | 7| 11| 177
----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----
The following Table, prepared from the official Navy Register for
January of each year, by Capt. G. H. Preble, U.S. Navy, exhibits the
number of midshipmen graduates, and midshipmen attached to the Naval
Academy, with their classification and the number of resignations,
deaths, and dismissals, from 1851 to 1871, inclusive.
TABLE VIII. _Midshipmen in Naval Academy._
[KEY]
M Midshipmen
1 First Class
2 Second Class
3 Third Class
4 Fourth Class
T Total
R Resignations
D Deaths
Dm Dismissals
-----+-----+----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+---+----
Year | M | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T | R | D |Dm
-----+-----+----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+---+----
1851 | 171 | | | | | 171 | 14 | 5 | 13
1852 | 144 | | | | 28 | 172 | 7 | | 16
1853 | 122 | | | 28 | 48 | 198 | 17 | 1 | 13
1854 | 89 | 6 | 16 | 30 | 42 | 183 | 9 | 3 | 17
1855 | 66 | 12 | 26 | 16 | 74 | 194 | 23 | 1 | 15
1856 | 47 | 20 | 17 | 38 | 49 | 171 | 31 | 4 | 2
1857 | 30 | 15 | 24 | 28 | 78 | 175 | 34 | 1 | 2
1858 | 45 | 15 | 24 | 35 | 100 | 219 | 38 | | 7
1859 | 47 | 20 | 28 | 56 | 83 | 234 | 30 | | 1
1860 | 49 | 25 | 39 | 57 | 117 | 287 | 22 | | 3
1861 | 55 | 35 | 38 | 70 | 124 | 324 | 33 | 3 | 4
1862 | 67 | 21 | 31 | 120 | 79 | 318 | 112 | 1 | 14
1863 | 9 | 21 | 31 | 118 | 212 | 391 | 45 | 2 | 14
1864 | 2 | 39 | 63 | 137 | 218 | 489 | 20 | 4 | 53
1865 | 31 | 60 | 99 | 133 | 163 | 486 | 74 | | 53
1866 | 84 | 78 | 110 | 115 | 147 | 534 | 70 | 2 | 12
1867 | 72 | 89 | 87 | 98 | 147 | 493 | 68 | 2 | 7
1868 | 157 | 81 | 82 | 88 | 93 | 501 | 57 | 2 | 3
1869 | 77 | 80 | 77 | 76 | 53 | 363 | 25 | 1 | 5
1870 | 74 | 68 | 54 | 37 | 92 | 325 | 45 | 1 | 4
1871 | 69 | 51 | 33 | 48 | 108 | 309 | 42 | 1 | 3
-----+-----+----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+---+----
U.S. NAVAL ACADEMY AT ANNAPOLIS.
I. HISTORICAL NOTICE.
The history of the United States Naval Academy, as an institution, opens
October, 1845, but its germ and growth in suggestions, for the practical
instruction of midshipmen, dates back to the beginning of the century.
A school of the Navy constituted one of the departments, or group of
schools, in the plan of a Military Academy drawn up by Alexander
Hamilton, as Inspector General of the Army, and submitted to Congress,
January, 1800, in the Report of the Secretary of War (James McHenry),
whose department was at that time charged with the management of naval
affairs.
In 1808, General Williams, in a report on the enlargement of the
Military Academy at West Point, of which he was Superintendent,
recommended “that nautical astronomy, geography, and navigation should
be taught by the professor of mathematics,” and that the plan of the
institution should “take in the minor offices of the navy; but also any
youths from any of the States who might wish for such an education,
whether designated for the army or navy, or neither, and to let these be
assessed to the value of their education.” This plan was doubtless
suggested by the Polytechnic School of France, and if adopted at the
time, would have not only have given to the army and navy a much broader
and firmer basis of scientific attainments, but would have hastened the
construction of roads, bridges, canals, and railroads, and the
development of the mineral and other industrial resources of the
country, by turning out every year a number of young men, qualified in
scientific culture, to enter on the duties of civil, mining and
mechanical engineers, and become superintendents of manufacturing and
other corporate enterprises. In the absence of any special school of
preparation for such civil services, officers of the army were induced
to resign their commissions to superintend the construction of canals
and railroads under state and corporate auspices.
In the measures which grew out of the war of 1812, was the act of
January, 1813, “to increase the Navy of the United States,” in which
authority was given to the Secretary of the Department to employ a
schoolmaster for each vessel to which 12 midshipmen were assigned. By
these, so far as appears in any published document, was given the first
formal employment of this class of officers.
In 1814 the Secretary (William Jones) suggested “the establishment of a
Naval Academy with suitable professors, for the instruction of the
officers of the Navy in those branches of Mathematics and experimental
philosophy, and in the service and practice of gunnery, theory of naval
architecture, and art of mechanical drawing, which are necessary to the
accomplishment of the naval officer.” This suggestion was renewed by his
successor, Smith Thompson, of New York, and a distinct proposition to
locate it on Governor’s Island, in the harbor of New York, by Secretary
S. L. Southard, in 1824. In a special communication to the Senate in
1825, he says:
The younger officers enter at so early an age, that they can not be
accomplished, or even moderately accurate scholars. They are constantly
employed on ship-board, or in our navy-yards, where much achievement in
learning can not be expected. And yet the American naval officer is, in
fact, the representative of his country in every port to which he goes,
and by him is that country in greater or less degree estimated. “The
science and information requisite for a navy officer,” he repeats in his
Report for 1827, “is in no respect inferior to that required by the army
officers and engineers, and the interest as well as the honor of the
country are not less concerned in the correct performance of their
duties.”
President Adams (J. Q.) in his Annual Message, Dec. 5, 1825, remarks
that “the want of a Naval School of instruction corresponding with the
Military Academy at West Point, for the promotion of scientific and
accomplished officers, is felt with daily increasing aggravation.” In
his message, Dec. 4, 1827, he returns to the subject “as still
soliciting the sanction of the legislature,” adding--
Practical seamanship, and the art of navigation, may be acquired upon
the cruises of the squadrons, which, from time to time, are dispatched
to distant seas; but a competent knowledge, even of the art of
ship-building, the higher mathematics and astronomy; the literature
which can place our officers on a level of polished education with the
officers of other maritime nations; the knowledge of the laws, municipal
and national, which in their intercourse with foreign states and their
governments, are continually called into operation; and above all, that
acquaintance with the principles of honor and justice, with the higher
obligations of morals, and of general laws, human and divine, which
constitute the great distinction between the warrior patriot and the
licensed robber and pirate; these can be systematically taught and
eminently acquired only in a permanent school, stationed upon the shore,
and provided with the teachers, the instruments, and the books, adapted
to the communication of these principles to the youthful and inquiring
mind.
In 1841, Secretary Upshur renewed the recommendation of his
predecessors, and a bill to establish a naval school at or near Fortress
Monroe, passed the Senate, but was not acted upon in the House.
The nucleus of a school was formed when the midshipmen were first
ordered to the Naval Asylums at Philadelphia and other places, to
prepare for their examination, and several of the professors of
Mathematics repaired there to give instruction.
In 1845 the Secretary of the Navy (George Bancroft), inaugurated and
completed in four months an arrangement by which a Naval School, with
its corps of professors, was instituted in a suitable location, without
any special appropriation, and with only the existing authority of acts
of Congress. The original plan is best set forth in Mr. Bancroft’s
letter to Commodore Franklin Buchanan, whom he appointed superintendent
of the institution.
NAVY DEPARTMENT, August 7th, 1845.
SIR:
The Secretary of War, with the assent of the President, is prepared to
transfer Fort Severn to the Navy Department, for the purpose of
establishing there a school for midshipmen.
In carrying this design into effect, it is my desire to avoid all
unnecessary expense--to create no places of easy service--no commands
that are not strictly necessary--to incur no charge that may demand new
annual appropriations; but, by a more wise application of moneys already
appropriated, and officers already authorized, to provide for the better
education of the young officers of the navy. It is my design not to
create new officers, but, by economy of administration, to give vigor of
action to those which at present are available; not to invoke new
legislation, but to execute more effectually existing laws. Placed by
their profession in connection with the world, visiting in their career
of service every climate and every leading people, the officers of the
American navy, if they gain but opportunity for scientific instruction,
may make themselves as distinguished for culture as they have been for
gallant conduct.
To this end it is proposed to collect the midshipmen who from time to
time are on shore, and give them occupation during their stay on land in
the study of mathematics, nautical astronomy, theory of morals,
international law, gunnery, use of steam, the Spanish and the French
languages, and other branches essential, in the present day, to the
accomplishment of a naval officer.
The effect of such an employment of the midshipmen, can not but be
favorable to them and to the service. At present they are left, when
waiting orders on shore, masters of their own motions, without steady
occupation, young, and exulting in the relief from the restraint of
discipline on shipboard.
In collecting them at Annapolis for purposes of instruction, you will
begin with the principle that a warrant in the navy, far from being an
excuse for licentious freedom, is to be held a pledge for subordination,
industry and regularity,--for sobriety, and assiduous attention to duty.
Far from consenting that the tone of the discipline and morality, should
be less than at the universities or colleges of our country, the
President expects such supervision and management as shall make of them
an exemplary body, of which the country may be proud.
To this end you have all the powers for discipline conferred by the
laws of the United States, and the certainty that the department will
recommend no one for promotion, who is proved unworthy of it from
idleness or ill-conduct or continuing ignorance, and who can not bear
the test of a rigid examination.
For the purpose of instruction, the department can select from among
twenty-two professors and three teachers of languages. This force, which
is now almost wasted by the manner in which it is applied, may be
concentrated in such a manner as to produce the most satisfactory
results. Besides, the list of chaplains is so great that they can not
all be employed at sea, and the range of selection of teachers may be
enlarged by taking from their number some who would prefer giving
instruction at the school to serving afloat. The object of the
department being to make the simplest and most effective arrangement for
a school; you will be the highest officer in the establishment, and will
be intrusted with its government. It is my wish, if it be possible, to
send no other naval officer to the school, except such as may be able
and willing to give instruction. Among the officers junior to yourself,
there are many whose acquisitions and tastes may lead them to desire
such situation. For this end the department would cheerfully detach
three or four of the lieutenants and passed midshipmen, who, while they
would give instruction, would be ready to aid you in affairs of
discipline and government. Thus the means for a good naval school are
abundant, though they have not yet been collected together and applied.
One great difficulty remains to be considered. At our colleges and at
West Point, young men are trained in a series of consecutive years; the
laws of the United States do not sanction a preliminary school for the
navy; they only provide for the instruction of officers who already are
in the navy. The pupils of the naval school being, therefore, officers
in the public service, will be liable at all times to be called from
their studies and sent on public duty. Midshipmen, too, on their return
from the sea, at whatever season of the year, will be sent to the
school. Under these circumstances, you will be obliged to arrange your
classes in such a manner as will leave opportunity for those who arrive,
to be attached to classes suited to the stage of their progress in their
studies. It will be difficult to arrange a system of studies which will
meet this emergency; but with the fixed resolve which you will bring to
the work, and with perseverance, you will succeed.
Having thus expressed to you some general views, I leave you, with
such assistance as you may require, to prepare and lay before this
department for its approbation a plan for the organization of the naval
school at Fort Severn, Annapolis.
The posts to which you and those associated with you will be called
are intended to be posts of labor; but they will also be posts of the
highest usefulness and consideration. To yourself, to whose diligence
and care the organization of the school is intrusted, will belong, in a
good degree, the responsibility of a wise arrangement. Do not be
discouraged by the many inconveniences and difficulties which you will
certainly encounter, and rely implicitly on this department as disposed
to second and sustain you, under the law, in every effort to improve the
character of the younger branch of the service.
I am, respectfully, your obedient servant,
GEORGE BANCROFT.
Com’r FRANKLIN BUCHANAN,
United States Navy, Washington.
Under these instructions the school was duly organized at Fort Severn,
Annapolis, and formally opened, October 10, 1846, with 36 midshipmen,
appointed in 1840, and who were, before resorting to Annapolis,
preparing for examination at the Naval Asylum at Philadelphia; 13 of the
date of 1841, who were to remain at their studies until drafted for sea,
and 7 acting midshipmen, appointed in 1845. The first staff of
instruction consisted, besides Commander Buchanan, of Lieutenant James
H. Ward, in gunnery and steam; Surgeon J. L. Lockwood, in chemistry;
Chaplain George Jones, in English studies; Prof. Henry H. Lockwood, in
natural philosophy; and Prof. Girault, in French.
In 1846, Congress appropriated an amount not exceeding $28,000 for
repairs, improvements, and instruction at Fort Severn, Annapolis, Md.;
and a like amount in 1847 for the same objects, “including a purchase of
land not exceeding 12 acres, for the use of the Naval School.” In the
same year (Dec. 1847), Secretary Mason recommended a practice ship.
Down to 1849, the regulations provided for two years’ study at the
School, followed by three years’ service at sea, and then two years’
study at the School. This alternation of study and practice--of practice
at sea associated with opportunities of study, and of study at school
with many advantages of testing principles by experiments and the
observations of professors and officers of experience, possessed
advantages which still commend it to the minds of many officers over
that of longer continuous study at school before practice in earnest is
begun. The old system had its shortcomings, but it turned out good
seamen and gallant officers, and its best features ought to be again
engrafted on the new.
In 1849, a board of officers was directed by the Secretary of the Navy
to consider the organization of the school at Annapolis, and report to
the department. This was done, and new regulations were matured, and
ordered to go into effect on the first of July, 1850. The teachers’
staff was enlarged, and a practice ship, the Preble, a sloop-of-war of
the third class, was attached for the purpose of a summer cruise, and
the institution was henceforth styled in Acts of Congress and Reports of
the Secretary, the Naval Academy. The course of instruction was arranged
for four years, with an interval of two or three months in the summer
devoted to a practice cruise for two of the classes. The President was
authorized to appoint a Board of Visitors, whose functions were “to
witness the examinations of the several classes, and examine into the
police, discipline, and general management of the Academy.”
The new system began in October, 1850, under Commander C. K. Stribling,
as Superintendent, who was relieved in 1853 by Commander L. M.
Goldsborough, who was in turn relieved by Captain George S. Blake, in
1857, who continued in the superintendence till 1867, when Admiral
Porter was assigned to the position, which he held till 1870, when
Commodore J. L. Worden succeeded him.
The first or lowest class in the four years’ course, entered in October,
1851, and graduated in June, 1854, having had two summer cruises of
practice, and a long period of continuous study.
The necessities of the War, which as early as April, 1861, had made
Annapolis the seat of military operations, caused the removal of the
Academy--its professors, students, library and apparatus--in the month
of May, to Newport, first to Fort Adams, and afterwards to the Atlantic
House in the town, and to the _Constitution_ and other ships, which were
not fit for active service, in the inner harbor. All the members of the
three highest classes were ordered into active service, and with the
fourth class, and 200 newly appointed, the system of instruction went on
as in times of peace.
_Course of Studies in 1864._
In the organization of the Naval School at Annapolis, in 1845, the
ordering of the course of studies was left practically with Prof.
William Chauvenet, a graduate of Yale College, who had been commissioned
professor of mathematics in 1841, and had acted as such in the
instruction of midshipmen in the Naval Asylum at Philadelphia. The
following is substantially the arrangement proposed by him for the
classes when fully organized--the main deviation in the course as
followed in 1864 was in the assignment of text-books.
FIRST CLASS--FOURTH YEAR.
_Department of Practical Seamanship, Naval Gunnery and Naval
Tactics._--Seamanship, Naval Tactics. Naval Gunnery; Simpson’s Ordnance
and Gunnery. Simpson’s Translation of Page’s Theory of Pointing.
Dahlgren’s Boat Howitzer.
_Department of Astronomy, Navigation and Surveying._--Theory of
Navigation. Practical Astronomy. Marine Surveying.
_Department of Natural and Experimental Philosophy._--Lardner on Heat.
Wells’ Chemistry. Main & Brown on the Steam-Engine.
_Department of Ethics and English Studies._--Constitution U.S.; Kent on
International Law, Vol. I.
_Department of Spanish._--Ollendorff.
SECOND CLASS--THIRD YEAR.
_Department of Practical Seamanship, Naval Gunnery and Naval
Tactics._--Seamanship. Simpson’s Naval Gunnery.
_Department of Mathematics._--Smyth’s Analytical Geometry. Smith’s
Differential and Integral Calculus.
_Department of Astronomy, Navigation and Surveying._--Davies’ Surveying.
Herschel’s Astronomy. Bowditch’s Navigation.
_Department of Natural and Experimental Philosophy._--Lardner’s Optics,
Acoustics, Electricity, and Magnetism. Smith’s Mechanics.
_Department of Field Artillery and Infantry Tactics._--Hardee’s Light
Infantry Drill. Instruction in Field Artillery.
_Department of Ethics and English Studies._--Wayland’s Moral Science.
_Department of French._--Girault’s French Student’s Manual. Dumas’ Vie
de Napoleon. Manesca’s Reader.
THIRD CLASS--SECOND YEAR.
_Department of Practical Seamanship, Naval Gunnery and Naval
Tactics._--Seamanship.
_Department of Mathematics._--Davies’ Legendre’s Geometry. Chauvenet’s
Trigonometry. Davies’ Mensuration.
_Department of Ethics and English Studies._--Eliot’s History U.S.
Quackenbos’ Rhetoric. Composition.
_Department of French._--Girault’s French Student’s Manual. Girault’s
Vie de Washington.
_Department of Drawing and Draughting._--Line Drawing.
FOURTH CLASS--FIRST YEAR.
_Department of Mathematics._--Greenleaf’s Arithmetic. Davies’ Algebra.
Davies’ Legendre’s Geometry.
_Department of Ethics and English Studies._--Bullions’ English Grammar.
Cornell’s Geography. Worcester’s and Lord’s History. Composition.
_Department of Drawing and Draughting._--Sketching.
CONDITION IN 1864.
The following Report, drawn up by the author of this Treatise, after a
residence of several weeks in the institution, as one of the Board of
Visitors, exhibits its condition in 1864, and contains suggestions on
the educational improvement of the military and commercial marine, which
met the approbation of the Board.
_Report of the Board of Visitors to the Secretary of the Navy._
SIR:--The Visitors, appointed “to witness the examination of the several
classes and to examine into the state of the police, discipline, and
general management of the Naval Academy,” for 1864, report as follows:--
I. THEIR OWN PROCEEDINGS.
The regular session of the Board, although several members were in
attendance earlier, commenced on Monday, the 20th of May, and continued
from day to day until Friday, June 10th. Their investigations as a
Board, embraced--
_First._--A thorough inspection of the buildings, ships, and material
equipment provided by the Department for the residence, subsistence,
health, and instruction of the several classes.
_Second._--An attendance of the whole or a portion of the Visitors, for
a brief period at least, on the examination conducted by the Academic
Board, of one or more sections of each class in each study professedly
attended to during the year.
_Third._--An exhibition of the professional knowledge and skill
attained, including the parade, evolutions, tactics, and drill as a
military corps--the uses of the rapier, cutlass, musket, and cannon,
great and small--the handling of ropes, sails, spars, boats, and
everything included in practical seamanship in harbor, afloat, and in
action.
_Fourth._--Inquiries into the mode of conducting the entrance
examination, and the results--the classification and programme of
studies for each class--Scholarship and conduct rolls--causes of failure
to graduate, and system of punishment--chapel exercises, morality,
manners, and personal habits of the midshipmen--the accounts and
vouchers for the expenditure of government appropriations, including
payments made for the use of the cadets--in fine, into the police,
discipline, and general management of the institution.
A committee of the Board was authorized and requested to attend the
entrance examination of the new class, as well as the final examination
of the graduating class, in order that the report required of the
Visitors might cover the operations of the Academy for the year 1864.
Every facility for prosecuting their investigations was extended to the
Visitors by the Superintendent, Officers, Professors, and Students.
II. CONDITION OF THE NAVAL ACADEMY IN 1864.
In presenting some details of the condition of the Naval Academy as they
found it, and in offering suggestions for its improvement, which the
submitting of a report implies, the Visitors are not unmindful that the
institution is not at present furnished with permanent buildings and
equipments in all respects adapted to its purpose;--that even such as
are furnished were selected with reference to a smaller than the present
number of pupils;--that its staff of instructors and course of
instruction have been disturbed by the pressing exigencies of a great
war, calling off into actual service some of its most experienced
teachers;--that the education which it aims to give is not general but
special, not covering the whole ground of a generous culture, but
particularly adapted to make accomplished seamen and midshipmen;--and,
moreover, that in an educational field so wide and subjects of inquiry
so numerous as attach themselves to the details of such a school, a
brief visit, made while the institution is not following its usual daily
routine, is not in all respects the most favorable to the formation of
just and reliable opinions. They at the same time believe that the
government and people expect that the liberal appropriations in its
favor will be expended with a judicious economy, and that the knowledge
imparted will be accurate, thorough, and professional, and that its
graduates will be really fitted for that rank of the service for which
they are professedly trained. They recognize the fact that the school is
yet in the youth of its development, and also that its purpose is not
only to perpetuate naval science as it has been taught, but to maintain
a progressive course of instruction, engrafting thereon all necessary or
possible improvements.
_Organization for Administration and Instruction._
The Visitors find the Naval Academy, subordinate to the direct
supervision of the Department, under the immediate government of a
Superintendent, Commodore George S. Blake, who is held responsible for
its discipline and management. He is assisted as chief executive officer
by the Commandant of Midshipmen, Commander Donald M. Fairfax, who
resides in the Academy building on shore, and is also head of the
department of Seamanship, Naval Gunnery, and Naval and Infantry Tactics.
The Commandant is assisted in the different departments of his duty on
ship and shore by three senior assistants and eleven assistants, nine of
the latter being of the rank of lieutenant, and the remainder
lieutenant-commanders. Two of the senior assistants have charge of the
Practice-ships Marion and Macedonian, and also assist in instruction;
six of the assistants are engaged in executive duty on board the
School-ships Constitution and Santee, while the others, as well as
these, are charged with certain branches of instruction in the
department of which the Commandant is chief.
There are also attached to the Academic Staff one Professor of
Astronomy, Navigation, and Surveying; two Professors of Mathematics,
with six assistants in the same department; one Professor of Natural and
Experimental Philosophy, with two assistants; one Professor of Ethics
and English Studies, with nine assistants; one Professor of the French
language, with an assistant; one Professor of the Spanish language; one
Professor of Drawing and Draughting, with an assistant; one
Sword-master, with an assistant; and one Librarian, who acts also as
assistant in Mathematics, and Ethics and English studies. The officers
not attached to the Academic Staff include a Paymaster, a Surgeon, with
two assistants, a Chaplain, (with three, who are engaged as
instructors,) a Commissary, Storekeeper, Secretary, Treasurer, and
clerks to the Superintendent and Commandant.
The Academic Board is composed of the Superintendent, the officers in
charge of the Practice and School-ships, and the professors, except that
the professors of French, Spanish, and Drawing take part only upon
matters pertaining to their own departments. The Board is required to
conduct and regulate all examinations of candidates and students,
preparing the necessary papers and reports in connection therewith, to
prescribe the order and times of instruction, to recommend text-books
for the approval of the Naval Department, and books, instruments, and
other necessary material for instruction, to recommend at pleasure the
restoration or farther trial of students that have been dismissed or
found deficient in scholarship, to grant certificates of graduation, and
to report from time to time, on the system of studies and instruction
pursued, and propose such improvements as experience may suggest.
_Buildings and Material Equipment._
The material arrangements for the accommodation of the Academy, for the
lodging, subsistence, and comfort of the pupils in health and sickness,
and for study and instruction, both scientific and professional,
although made on a sudden emergency, for temporary occupancy, and for a
smaller number, are far from being insufficient in extent, or
particularly objectionable, when compared with similar arrangements for
other great schools. The main building on shore is of wood, originally
intended to lodge and board a large number of guests, and as adapted to
the uses of the Academy, accommodates about half of the classes as well
as most boarding schools provide for their pupils. The arrangements are
not as convenient or as safe from fire as those at Annapolis; but they
are too good to be complained of, even if they do require a strict
observance of regulations, or special organization and diligence to
protect from fire, which would carry mourning into many homes. Good
discipline and good recitations, and a large amount of military and
naval knowledge are secured under the difficulties such as they are,
which the Department, be they great or small, will, doubtless, remove at
the earliest possible moment. In any permanent or temporary arrangement,
on ship or shore, while the privacy and comfort of separate lodgings for
pupils should as far as practicable be secured, the Visitors recommend
that convenient halls be provided, properly ventilated, warmed and
lighted, and supplied with the best dictionaries, encyclopedias, and
naval histories and biographies--to be occupied for study at certain
hours by such pupils as have not acquired the power of concentrating
attention, and the habit of solitary study--a power and habit of the
highest importance, but very rarely attained. The same rooms might be
open to the pupils at certain hours every day for the purpose of reading
naval histories and biographies, and for consulting the encyclopedias
and other books of reference. The formation of right habits of study and
the habit and mode of reading such books to the best advantage should be
made a matter of special and frequent inculcation by the head of each
department of study.
The lack of suitable buildings for lodging, subsistence, and study, for
a portion of the pupils, is supplied by an extension of the School-ship
System, first inaugurated on board of the “Plymouth,” at Annapolis, in
1849, in our system, although always the main feature in the French
system of naval education. The old “Constitution” and the “Santee,”
properly moored in the harbor of Newport and adapted, are used for the
residence and study of the younger classes, which are in this way
brought more readily into the daily routine of the school and the
service without the vulgar annoyances, to which the youngest classes are
almost universally subjected, when lodged in the immediate neighborhood
of the next older class. If School-ships are to constitute a permanent,
integral feature of the Academy, the details of arrangements for
separate lodging and class study require additional attention. For the
present, recitations are attended in suitable buildings on Goat Island,
near which the ships are moored and reached by covered passages. On this
island is sufficient room for all sorts of athletic sports, military
drill, and target practice.
The “Macedonian” and “Marion” are used for practice in the evolution of
guns and other naval tactics by the several classes. To these are added,
at least for the purposes of the summer cruise, the screw steamer
“Marblehead” and the yacht “America.”
_Number of Pupils--Entrance Examination._
The number of pupils belonging to the Naval Academy in the year closing
June, 1864, was 458, distributed into four classes, generally according
to the period of their connection with the institution, with a staff of
57 officers and instructors. This is an astonishing development of the
Academy in respect to pupils, as well as in the number of the teaching
staff, and equipment for professional training, since Oct. 10th, 1845,
when the Academy found a location at Fort Severn in Annapolis, or since
January 1st, 1846, when it was reported to have 36 midshipmen and six
professors and instructors, including the Superintendent. To judge of
the progressive development of the institution, and of the results of
the annual examination which they were appointed to witness, the
Visitors deemed it necessary to ascertain the average condition of each
class as to age and attainments, at the time of becoming connected with
the Academy, and with the general results of the entrance
examination--this examination being the only check on the admission of
unqualified candidates--no previous examination being held in the
districts or States from which they come.
By law and regulations governing the admission of candidates into the
Academy, the maximum number of pupils is limited to 526, viz., two for
every Congressional district or territory, appointed on the nomination
of the member or delegate, from actual residents of the district, if
such nomination is made to fill a vacancy duly notified, prior to the
first day of July in any year, and if not so made, by the Secretary of
the Navy; and twenty-five more appointed by the President, two for and
from the District of Columbia, ten from the country at large, ten from
the sons of officers of the army and navy, and three from the enlisted
boys of the navy. All candidates who receive notice of their provisional
appointment must present themselves to the Superintendent for
examination between the 20th and 31st of July, or September in case of
second appointments. The examination is twofold; first, before a medical
board, consisting of the surgeon resident and two other medical officers
designated by the Department; and second, before the Academic Board. The
candidate must be found, according to the law of 1864, to be between the
ages of fourteen and eighteen years--of good moral character--physically
sound, well formed, and of robust constitution--and pass a satisfactory
examination in reading, writing, spelling, arithmetic, geography and
English grammar.
The requisition as to age was advanced from 16 in 1861, to its present
maximum in 1864, while the Board was in session, and conforms in that
respect to the age which they had decided to recommend. The traveling
expenses of the successful candidates are paid.
The Visitors were furnished on application with tables exhibiting the
statistics of these entrance examinations from 1851 to 1863 inclusive.
From these tables it appears that out of 1,522 candidates, nominated and
appointed conditionally, but afterwards examined, 313 or one-fifth of
the whole were rejected as unqualified, although the attainments
required were such as any graduate of a common school should possess. Of
the number (1,209) admitted, 466, more than one-third, failed on the
first year’s course. Out of the number who failed at the earlier
examinations, three hundred and thirty-one were turned back for a second
trial, and after floundering along in the lower sections, only a very
small per cent. succeeded in graduating. Of the whole number admitted,
(1,209,) only 269 graduated, including 93 who were received into the
service from 1861 to 1864 before completing their studies.
From another table, covering the entrance examinations from 1860 to 1864
inclusive, it appears that out of 1,093 candidates who presented
themselves for admission, 807 were admitted, while 53 were rejected by
the Medical Board, 219 by the Academic Board, 11 withdrew, and 3 were
found to be over the maximum age.
From another table, exhibiting the ages of the successful and
unsuccessful candidates, it appears that out of 1,141 candidates
examined, 201 (18 per cent.) were rejected, and of the number rejected,
177 were under 17 years of age. Of the 940 admitted, 313 (33 per cent.)
failed the first year, and of the number that failed, 254 were under 17
years of age. The average age of the candidates admitted was 16 years
and 2 months, and of those who failed, 15 years and 10 months.
The fact that one-fifth of the whole number nominated failed to pass the
examination in the most rudimentary branches of a common English
education--and in only the most elementary portions of these
branches--indicates unmistakably how little regard has been paid to
school attendance and proficiency in the selection of candidates. To
judge how far these failures might be attributed to a laudable
strictness on the part of the Academic Board, the entrance examination
papers, which are filed away from year to year, were called for, and
from those it appears that the questions asked and exercises required
were few and simple--far too few and simple--far below the requirements
of any Public High School; and yet such wretched perversions of the
orthography of the most common words, such mistakes in American
geography, such bungling use of the English language in the composition
of a simple letter, such numerous failures in arithmetical operations
not going beyond the elementary rules and simple exercises in fractions
and proportion, it would be difficult to gather from all the Public High
School entrance examinations of the country. More strictness on the part
of the Academic Board would have saved the government hundreds of
thousands of dollars, for of the candidates allowed to pass, two-fifths
fail on the studies of the first year, although these studies belong to
a good English education, and are preliminary to a special scientific
naval training--showing a want of suitable preparatory knowledge, of
aptitude for study, or of will and desire to learn. A portion of those
who fail the first year are put back for a second year’s trial, and in
some instances for a third, and the proportion of those thus put back
who finally succeed in graduating is very small, thereby causing a total
loss of the thousands of dollars expended upon each. From data gathered
from the annual reports of the Department, it appears the annual expense
of a pupil of the Naval school exceeds $1,500, and that each graduate
who has been four years in the institution costs the government over
$10,000. But the pecuniary loss is not the only consideration--the
places filled by pupils, no matter what their courage or general
ability, unable or unwilling to profit by the opportunities of
scientific and professional instruction so lavishly provided, might be
filled by competent, ambitious, diligent, and courageous young men, if
they could have had their qualifications tested by a competitive
examination.
_Daily Routine._
The morning gun calls the cadets up at 6 o’clock. Inspection of the
rooms follows, when the bedding must be found arranged, the rooms swept,
and every thing in order. Ten minutes are given to chapel services, and
half an hour to breakfast, which is over at 7.15. Forty minutes
recreation are then allowed, during which sick-roll is called and such
as report themselves indisposed are marched to the hospital and reported
to the surgeon. At 7.55 the sections are formed under the supervision of
the Officer of the Day, assisted by the section leaders, and at 8
o’clock, on given signal, they are marched in close order to their
recitation rooms, in perfect silence and with strict military decorum.
All who are not engaged in the recitation rooms are expected to be
preparing their lessons in their own rooms, and it is the duty of the
superintendents of floors to see that they are there. The dismissal and
re-formation of sections at the end of each hour are conducted with
similar formality and regulated by special signals. Study and recitation
continue until 1 o’clock, when the cadets are formed in order by the
captains of crews, (the whole corps being organized in nine guns’ crews,
for the purposes of discipline and practical instruction,) all special
orders and rules for the day are read, and they are then marched into
the mess hall for dinner, which occupies forty minutes. From 1.40 to
1.55 recreation is allowed and the sections are then again formed as in
the morning for recitation and study. At 4 o’clock ten minutes are given
to preparation for drill, as may be the order of the day, and then
follow instruction in fencing, infantry or artillery drill, and
recreation until parade and roll-call at sunset. Supper immediately
succeeds, to which half an hour is given, and recreation until
study-call at 6.30 or 7.00, according to the season. Study hours
continue until tattoo, at 9.30, during which time the cadets must all be
in their rooms, and after inspection of rooms all lights are
extinguished at 10 o’clock.
The routine on board ship is as far as possible the same. No control is
exercised over the occupation of the time by the cadets during study
hours, provided good order is preserved. No studies or exercises are
required on Saturday afternoon and one-half of each class may then be
allowed liberty beyond the limits of the Academy. A vacation is given at
the close of the second year, the only one in the whole course. As means
of recreation, chess, draughts, and all games of chance are strictly
forbidden. On the other hand, every facility is afforded for games of
ball, boxing, fencing, boating, &c.
_Course of Instruction, Examinations, and Merit-Rolls._
The course of instruction at the Naval Academy is comprised in eight
departments, with their special branches, as follows:--
_First Department_, in six branches--Practical Seamanship, Theory and
Practice of Gunnery, Naval Tactics, Infantry Tactics, Howitzer Drill,
and the Art of Defense.
_Second Department_, Mathematics, in seven branches--Arithmetic and
Algebra, Geometry, plane and solid, Trigonometry, Mensuration,
Descriptive Geometry, Analytical Geometry, and the Differential and
Integral Calculus.
_Third Department_, in four branches--Astronomy, Practical Astronomy,
Navigation, and Surveying.
_Fourth Department_, in eight branches--Mechanics of Solids, Mechanics
of Liquids, Pneumatics, Acoustics, Electricity, Heat, Chemistry, and the
Steam-Engine.
_Fifth Deportment_, in seven branches--English Grammar, Descriptive
Geography, Physical Geography, Outlines of History, Rhetoric, Ethics,
and Political Science.
_Sixth Department_--the French Language.
_Seventh Department_--the Spanish Language.
_Eighth Department_--Drawing and Draughting.
These studies are distributed into four annual courses for the four
regular classes, each class being subdivided into convenient sections,
usually according to the relative standing of the members. During the
last year the first class, of 36 cadets, has been graded into three
sections; the second class, of 59 cadets, into five sections; the third
class into six sections; and the fourth class, during the first term,
with 176 cadets, into fourteen sections, and in the second term, with
156 cadets, into twelve sections--each section receiving separate
instruction.
The more difficult portions of the several branches may be reserved for
the higher sections of the classes, and it is frequently the fact that
in certain branches no instruction whatever is given to the lowest
sections. Deviation from the general rule for the admission of cadets
only in the month of September has made the formation of “Intermediate
Classes” necessary, so that there are now two divisions of the second
class and two divisions of the third class. By this means the number of
sections is increased, the labors of instruction augmented, and much
inconvenience in other respects created. The demands of the times have
also introduced other irregularities into the course, hurrying the more
forward sections through their studies and detailing them into active
service at the close of the third year, with or without a graduating
examination, while the lower sections are retained through the whole
four years.
The Commandant of Midshipmen and the several professors are each at the
head of a special department, with such assistants as may be necessary.
The professors, instructors, and assistants are responsible for the
regular and orderly conduct of their respective classes and sections
while under instruction, and must report all want of preparation,
absence, or misconduct. Daily notes are taken of the progress and
relative merit of each pupil in each of his studies. The assistants must
make weekly reports of such notes to the heads of their departments, who
in turn report to the Superintendent, recommending such transfers as
should be made from one section to another. The scale of daily merit in
each study embraces seven grades, with corresponding values designated
by numbers, as follows:--Thorough, (4.0)--Very Good, (3.5)--Good,
(3.0)--Tolerable, (2.5)--Indifferent, (2.0)--Bad, (1.0)--Complete
Failure, (0.) The average standing for the week in each study
accompanies the report. Monthly reports are drawn up by the Academic
Board for each month in the academic year, showing the relative standing
of the members of each class in their different studies, and also their
conduct or demerits. These reports are based upon the weekly reports and
upon the results of the examinations, when such are held within the
month, and are posted for public inspection. The examination weeks are
considered of equal weight with those of the month.
The examinations are held by the Academic Board in the months of
February and June, and are sufficiently thorough to enable the Board to
decide upon the proficiency and relative merits of the members of the
several classes. After each June examination a “general merit-roll” is
formed for each class, for which purpose a maximum number or value is
assigned to each of the principal branches in the several departments.
The total amount of these maxima throughout the course is 1,000, and
they are distributed among the departments and branches, for the
different classes, as follows:--In the first year, to mathematics,
20--grammar and rhetoric, 10--geography, 10--history and composition,
10--drawing, 10--conduct, 5--total, 65;--In the second year, to
seamanship, 20--mathematics, 35--grammar and rhetoric, 15--history and
composition, 10--French, 30--drawing, 25--conduct, 15--total, 150;--In
the third year, to seamanship, 40--gunnery, 20--infantry tactics,
25--howitzer drill, 20--mathematics, 45--general astronomy,
25--practical astronomy, navigation, and surveying, 15--mechanics,
30--physics, 25--moral science and international law, 20--French,
40--conduct, 30--total, 335;--In the fourth year, to seamanship,
100--gunnery, 60--naval tactics, 30--practical astronomy, navigation,
and surveying, 75--physics, 30--steam-engine, 35--moral science and
international law, 20--Spanish, 50--conduct, 50--total, 450. The minima
values are fixed at one-third of the corresponding maxima.
The “general merit-roll” includes only such as pass a satisfactory
examination in all the principal branches of their class and have not
exceeding 200 demerits recorded against them. In the formation of the
roll, the individual having the highest standing in any branch for the
year receives the corresponding maximum number, while the one who has
the lowest standing receives the corresponding minimum. The intermediate
members of the class receive numbers proceeding by equal differences
from the maximum to the minimum, in the order of their relative merit as
fixed by their “class merit-rolls.” The gradation for conduct is
determined by allowing the maximum number to such as have no demerits,
and for others diminishing that maximum by 1/300 part for every demerit
recorded against them. All the numbers thus assigned to the several
members for the different branches of study and for conduct are then
added together, and the members are arranged in each class according to
the aggregates thus obtained. For the graduating class a “graduating
merit-roll” is formed by adding the aggregate numbers of each member
upon the several “general merit-rolls” for the four years and arranging
the order of the members according to these new aggregates. The highest
number reached upon the “graduating merit-roll,” by any one of the class
just graduating, was 859.
If any student at any examination fails to pass a satisfactory
examination in any principal branch, or has recorded against him more
than 200 demerits since the commencement of the academic year, a report
is made of the case to the Secretary of the Navy, showing the habits of
study, aptitude for study and for sea duties, and his general habits and
conduct, and upon his decision the student is dismissed, or upon
recommendation of the Academic Board, allowed to continue at the Academy
for further trial.
The final graduating examination is held by a special Board and occurs,
by a recent regulation, not less than one year after the close of the
course. This examination embraces seamanship and naval tactics,
practical gunnery, navigation, and management of steam-engines, and the
standing in these branches is combined to determine the relative merits
of the candidates. In assigning numbers, 1,000 is considered the maximum
and 333 the minimum for such as are considered qualified for promotion,
and the Board assigns such numbers within these limits as will fairly
express the relative qualifications of the members of the class. The
numbers thus assigned, when added to the numbers already assigned on the
“graduating merit-roll,” determine the standing of the graduates as
ensigns; the highest number taking precedence.
_Text-Books. Studies of the past Year._
The method of teaching as at present pursued is almost wholly by means
of text-books and recitations. A series of lectures is delivered in
connection with the recitations in Natural Philosophy and Chemistry.
Without underrating the office of the text-book, the success of the
French Polytechnic method of teaching even the higher Mathematics by
lectures, collateral study, and examination, and the experience of all
schools, of the power of the human voice and of the human eye to win,
hold, and harmonize attention should not be lost to this institution,
many of whose pupils need the influence of such a method to vitalize
their powers of thinking and to bring within their grasp the general
principle or doctrine of the subjects taught.
The division of the classes into small sections of 12-14 midshipmen
each, of nearly equal standing, tends to secure the personal and
thorough instruction of each and all. The attempt was made, by
furnishing prepared blanks to the several departments, to ascertain the
character and actual amount of the studies and exercises accomplished by
the several sections during the eight months of study of the year
1863-4. The returns made are not complete, but it appears that the
English studies of the lowest class (in 12-14 sections) have consisted
of one lesson a week in Spelling and Derivation, four in Bullion’s
English Grammar, four during the first term in Cornell’s Geography, and
during the second term in General History, with daily exercises in
Composition and the exercise of the Voice; in Mathematics, five lessons
a week during the first term in Greenleaf’s Common School Arithmetic,
and during the second term in Davies’ University Algebra. In the upper
sections, the Algebra was commenced within the first term and more or
less nearly finished at the close of the year. The highest section had
also five lessons a week for three weeks in Davies’ Elementary Geometry
(5 books) and instruction twice a week in Drawing. The space in the
several textbooks actually gone over varied considerably in the
different sections. It will be seen, therefore, that the studies of this
class, with the exception of Algebra and Geometry, are simply those of
every common school, and yet the lower section is reported as having
succeeded but “imperfectly” in Grammar, and “very imperfectly” in
Algebra. It is also to be stated that a part of the class had received
eight weeks additional preparatory instruction during August and
September, 1863.
In the third class, of six sections, there were three lessons per week,
during the first term, in American History, and during the second term
in Rhetoric. The lower section prepared six English compositions each
term--the highest section, weekly compositions through the second term.
All the sections prepared three lessons weekly in French during the
first term and four lessons during the second, but with very unequal
progress. In Mathematics, (five lessons per week,) Algebra was completed
by the lower sections and reviewed by the higher in the first four or
five weeks, when Elementary Geometry was taken up by all, and completed
in the first term by the highest section. In the second term, Elementary
Geometry for three weeks by the lowest section, and Trigonometry for the
rest of the term--in the highest section, Trigonometry for ten weeks,
Mensuration two weeks, and Analytical Geometry commenced, for three
weeks. The first section had also three lessons a week in Marine and
Topographical Drawing, and during the first term one lesson a week in
Seamanship.
In the second class, of five sections, during the first term, five
lessons a week in Analytical Geometry, replaced in the highest section
by the Differential and Integral Calculus for five weeks; four lessons a
week in Statics, to which the first section added Dynamics, three weeks;
five lessons a week in Surveying, three weeks in each term, with
practical exercises. The lowest sections had also four lessons a week in
French, and the first section weekly lessons in Seamanship and Infantry
Tactics, and two lessons a week in Gunnery. In the second term, five
lessons a week in Dynamics, Hydrostatics, Pneumatics and Acoustics, with
twelve lectures, Surveying, three weeks, and Astronomy, ten weeks. Two
lessons a week in Wayland’s Moral Science. The first section had also
two lessons a week in Gunnery.
The first class, consisting of the three more advanced sections of the
second class, and in its third year of study, during the first term were
pursuing chiefly second class studies, having five lessons a week in
Physics, including Statics, Dynamics, Hydrostatics, Acoustics,
Magnetism, and Electricity, with sixteen lectures; four lessons a week
in Theory and Practice of Navigation (six weeks) and General Astronomy
(eleven weeks;) two lessons a week in Seamanship, and two in Gunnery,
Naval Light Artillery, and Field Fortifications. In the second term,
four lessons a week in Heat and Chemistry, with nine lectures; three in
Wayland’s Ethics and Kent’s Constitution of U.S., and International Law;
three in the Theory and Practice of Navigation; two in Seamanship; and
one in Gunnery, &c. Two lessons a week were given through the year in
Spanish, by means of the French.
In addition to the daily lessons of each class are the general practical
exercises by divisions, by the higher classes on shore embracing daily
exercises in Fencing, three exercises weekly in Infantry Drill, Howitzer
Drill once a week, the Great Gun Drill upon the Practice Ships twice
weekly in favorable weather, and a certain amount of Target Practice by
the first class. The younger classes on the school-ships have also their
special drills. Special instruction is given them in boating, and the
numerous cutters and launches belonging to the ships afford ample
opportunity for recreation and practice of this kind at suitable times.
The use of the “Rainbow,” a schooner-rigged craft of 15-20 tons, is also
not unfrequently allowed to pleasure parties made up from the cadets.
Weekly bathing is enjoined and practiced throughout the year as a
sanitary regulation, but the absence of the cadets from port during the
summer months, while on the cruise, prevents the attainment of that
knowledge and skill in the art of swimming, which seem to the Visitors
so essential a requisite.
The general results of the examinations and exercises as observed by the
Visitors, may be stated as in general very favorable. The examinations
of the classes were made by sections and conducted by the individual
professors of the departments, with great fairness and impartiality,
without any purpose of embarrassing the pupils, and for the single
object of eliciting the extent, accuracy, and vividness of the pupil’s
knowledge of the topic. Written lists of questions were furnished to the
cadets on entering the examination rooms, which were usually answered in
writing upon the blackboard, with opportunity for oral explanation. The
difference in the proficiency shown by the higher and lower sections, in
all except the first class, was very strongly marked. In the written
answers, the writing was fair and legible, and the spelling and
composition very creditable--revealing in these respects an immense
improvement upon the entrance examination papers of the same cadets. The
Visitors would suggest that in future examinations there should be more
of paper, even if there should be less of blackboard work, and that a
portion of the questions should be handed in on slips by the Visitors
and answered in writing with ink, in presence of the Board, by every
member of the section present.
The practical professional exercises of the cadets upon the parade
ground and on board ship, embracing all the different branches of shore
and ship duty, (including a harbor cruise on board the Practice
Steamer,) and designed to exemplify the proficiency of the classes in
seamanship, gunnery, and naval and infantry tactics, were performed in
the most satisfactory manner, justifying the professional pride
manifestly felt by those taking part in them. Moreover, these exercises,
instead of being executed under the direction, as heretofore, of the
respective Academic officers in command, were conducted under the charge
wholly of officers appointed from the midshipmen themselves.
_Physical Training._
The unavoidable exposures and risks of the naval service require not
only a sound mind--a mind well informed, quick, and accurate in its
operations, but a sound body--a body supple, athletic, and tough to
resist the rapid alternations and continuous exposures of wet and cold
weather. Although careful and continuous training can do much to
develope and strengthen the qualities referred to, the records of the
Academy and of the service, as well as the present appearance of many of
the cadets, show that sufficient regard has not been paid to vigor and
elasticity of physical constitution, in the original appointment, or the
entrance medical examination. The regular military drill and evolutions,
the small arm and other exercises, in which the whole corps
participates, the professional practice in gunnery and seamanship, all
help to supply these deficiencies. There is still room for more careful
scrutiny for inherited tendencies and hidden defects, in the entrance
medical examination, as well as in the regular course of naval
education, for a well arranged system of gymnastic exercises and
athletic games, to give suppleness to the joints, steadiness to the
nerves, hardness to the bones, and elasticity to the sinews. Such games
and sports as the young universally accept with eagerness and pursue
with unflagging interest, should be systematically introduced. Ample
time, room, and encouragement by rank, prizes, and publicity, should be
given to make a fondness and indulgence in such games as cricket,
football, leaping, boating, &c., the habit of every member of the lower
classes at least. An hour a day devoted to these healthful sports, even
if taken from the study and class-room,--even more, if taken from the
idle lounging, or the listless walk, or vulgar scuffling, will give at
once health and strength, increased capacity for study, and valuable
social qualities and manly virtues--all results of emphatically the
highest professional value.
As part of the physical training of naval cadets, the expansion of the
chest and the culture of the vocal organs should receive more special
attention than the word of command on parade, and the questions and
answers in the examination would indicate they had received. A clear,
full, decisive voice is an element of influence on the deck at all
times, and of power in the hour of danger, as well as on the field or in
the senate chamber.
The first beginning of habits, secret or open, which waste the vigor of
the mind and body, should be watched with professional skill as well as
parental interest, and those cadets in whom such indulgencies have grown
into habits, should be cut off from the institution and service without
hesitation and without reprieve.
_Domestic and Sanitary Arrangements._
The institution is peculiarly fortunate in having had for years a
Commissary who understands his business and gives universal satisfaction
to all concerned. The neatness of the kitchen, the supply, preparation,
and serving of the food, the geniality, good order, and enjoyment of the
mess-hours, and the fact that no complaint reached the Visitors from any
one of the 450 boys, blessed with good health and plenty of physical
exercise, makes the record of this department an exception to similar
departments in other large collegiate institutions. This comes from
having the right man in the right place.
The hospital arrangements on shipboard and on shore, although not as
large and quiet as would be desirable or as would be provided specially
in permanent quarters, are sufficient for the demands on their
accommodations. The location of the institution and the judicious
arrangement and management of the Academy as to cleanliness, exercise,
and diet, as well as the presence of a surgeon and two assistants on the
Academic staff, and numerous attendants for hospital service, would seem
to act as a preventive of accidents and disease, the mean daily
percentage of sick on ship and shore from Oct. 1st to May 31st being
returned at a little more than three per cent. out of an average
attendance of 447 midshipmen. In calling for the annual reports to the
Department of the medical condition of the institution, the Visitors
were informed that a duplicate copy or abstract was not retained. Such
copy or abstract would be highly convenient, and would seem to be even
necessary, if it is deemed advisable to have a periodical inspection of
the sanitary condition and requirements of the school.
_Religious Observances and Instruction._
The regulations require that the students shall be assembled in the
chapel for prayers daily, fifteen minutes before the breakfast hour, and
that divine service shall be held on Sunday, which officers and students
are expected to attend, unless excused on the ground of conscientious
scruples, declared in writing by the former, and by the parents or
guardians of the latter. These daily and Sunday exercises are conducted
by the regular Chaplain of the institution. He is at the present time
assisted in these and other such voluntary religious labors by three
other chaplains of the Navy, who are now in residence as assistant
professors. There are four Bible classes composed of cadets, and over
one-eighth of the members are communicants in the different
denominations of Newport. The student who brings, in his moral culture
from home, religious convictions and habits, can easily preserve and
strengthen them here, and no amount of instruction in the institution
can compensate for the neglect of parental example and teaching in this
respect. The absence of the religious element in the character and
training of youth is a fundamental defect, and no institution of
learning, special or general, can safely, for any length of time,
dispense with appropriate and adequate means of religious instruction
and a practical recognition of religious obligations, consistent with
due regard to the religious convictions of individuals and the equal
rights of all religious denominations. Such individual convictions and
denominational rights can be best respected, not by ignoring the
subjects themselves, but by selecting the chaplain from time to time so
as to represent different religious denominations, and in all cases, in
reference to his ability to be useful as chaplain in this institution.
The reading of the Sabbath, and one of the exercises of Monday morning
might be so arranged as to harmonize with the religious observances and
uses of Sunday, and the whole be made to unfold and enforce the great,
definite, and unchanging obligations of every human being to his
fellow-men, to his country, and to God.
As part of the religious and moral instruction of the Academy, more at
least should be attempted to prevent, and if these unfortunately exist,
to eradicate certain vulgar and vicious habits, whose beginnings are
small, but which ultimately take complete possession of the individual.
Although the Visitors can not, from their own knowledge, speak of its
existence, they have had too many assurances from those who did know, to
have any doubt of the prevalence of the vulgar and immoral practice of
profanity, and that several of those addicted to it are among the
youngest members of their classes, who came here entirely pure in this
respect. The medical and police experience of the institution detects
the occasional existence of other tastes and habits more directly
affecting the health and morality of their victims, and which should and
doubtless do receive the considerate and vigilant attention of the
authorities, especially of the Chaplain, Surgeon and Superintendent.
_Discipline._
The Superintendent is charged with and held responsible for the good
order and discipline of the Academy, and it is made the duty of every
officer, professor, and instructor, having knowledge of any violation of
law or regulation, or of any crime, irregularity, neglect, or other
improper conduct, of which any student or any other one has been guilty,
to report the same without delay to the Superintendent. Offenses are
defined with great minuteness and precision, and the circle of
punishments embraces demerits on the roll of conduct, private and public
reprimand, confinement to Academy grounds, to room, or to guard-room,
and withdrawal on necessity, or dismission. In the administration of
discipline, the Superintendent is clothed with much power, which is
exercised by the present incumbent with great discretion and the
happiest results. The private memorandum and letter book of this
officer, respecting every case of discipline during the year, was placed
before the Visitors, and they can bear willing testimony to the
preventive admonition and parental regard with which he has exercised
his authority.
Demerits, to be considered in making up the conduct-rolls, are assigned
for all offenses. Such delinquencies as are not deemed deserving of
severer punishment are grouped into four classes, which count ten,
eight, six, four, and two demerits respectively, besides a miscellaneous
class counting from one to ten demerits according to circumstances. The
_total_ demerits of each cadet is expressed by the sum of all demerits
standing against him on record for the year, increased for the third
class by one-sixth, for the second class by one third, and for the first
class by one-half.
No punishment of any kind can be inflicted by other authority than that
of the Superintendent. Report is read at evening parade of all demerits
and other punishments that have been inflicted during the day, and
opportunity is always given for excuse or explanation. Full record is
made of every case of discipline, and a monthly conduct-roll is publicly
posted showing the number of demerits against each cadet. It is evident
that this conduct-roll does not fairly represent the character and
conduct of the cadets, as a large number of demerits may be gained by
numerous minor offenses, which involve neither immorality nor
lawlessness, while a cadet who has been guilty of most flagrant acts of
vice and disobedience may still be charged with but few demerits. Yet
the conduct-roll has but a subordinate influence in determining the
general merit-rolls, and in the question of dismissal the fuller record
of punishments, as well as the demerit-roll, has its weight in
determining the action of authorities.
_Financial Affairs._
All money appropriated for the support of the Naval Academy is drawn for
by the Paymaster and by him deposited with the Sub-Treasurer in Boston.
The Paymaster draws upon him, from time to time, to make his
disbursements.
The principal heads of expenditure for the fiscal year ending June 30th,
1864, are as follows:--
Pay of Commissioned and Warrant Officers, Midshipmen,
Seamen, and others, $241,771.71
Pay of Professors and Assistants, 35,000.00
Expenses of the Academy, School and Practice Ships,
Surgeon’s necessaries, contingent expenses,
and repairs of all kinds, 72,753.84
The total of all expenditures from 1st July, 1863, to May 31st, 1864; is
reported at $383,419.41.
From the pay of the midshipmen, which is $500 per annum, $100 are
reserved yearly to be paid upon graduation, though this sum is sometimes
diminished by unavoidable circumstances. There is also deducted from
their pay, the amount of board--at present $16.50 per month--and $3.00
per month for washing. The aggregate of these sums is paid monthly by
the Paymaster to the Commissary. Articles of clothing for the midshipmen
are provided under contract by the Storekeeper with the approval of the
Commandant. All other articles for their use are purchased by the
Storekeeper, from funds provided by the Paymaster, at prices sanctioned
by the Commandant.
The midshipmen receive such articles as they desire upon requisition
approved by the Commandant, and no other articles are permitted to be
sold to them than those which the Storekeeper is authorized to have.
Each midshipman has a pass-book in which his purchases are entered, and
regular report is made by the Storekeeper to the Paymaster, who charges
against each the aggregate amount of his purchases. On the 30th April,
1864, the amount of balances still due to the midshipmen was $44,579.93,
the aggregate of indebtedness by them being only $111.90. The amounts to
the credit of the members of the graduating class vary from $180 to
$400.
The accounts of the Commissary are examined quarterly by a committee of
three officers appointed by the Superintendent, to whom they make
report. The Visitors deemed at their duty to go behind the reports of
this committee, and deputed one of their number to examine personally
the original accounts of the Commissary and Storekeeper. As the result
of this examination, which was conducted with the most rigid scrutiny,
it is but justice to state that they found the accounts correct in all
their details, and the prices of all articles as low as they can be
purchased at wholesale in the city of New York, and the Visitors
consider the financial affairs of the Academy as conducted with
commendable skill and fidelity.
While the Visitors bear willing testimony to the fidelity with which the
financial affairs of the Academy, as well as the departments of
subsistence, discipline, and instruction, are and have been
administered, they can not but express their disappointment at the very
small number of officers of the lowest rank which the institution has
contributed to the naval service. With an aggregate annual expenditure
of several hundred thousand dollars, the aggregate number of graduates,
since the opening of the four years’ course, in 1851, including the
three classes of 1858, ’59 and ’60, which were ordered into active
service in 1862 and ’63, before completing their studies, is but 269, or
at the rate of less than 22 each year, at an expense to the country of
over $12,000 for each graduate. If the 93 who entered the service with
only two or three years’ residence had completed their course, the
aggregate expense for each graduate would have exceeded $15,000. This,
as it appears to the Visitors, small result, is due mainly to the want
of care in selecting candidates, and the very low standard of general
scholarship required for entering the Academy. The experience of this
institution is the same as that of others of the same character; any
mode of selection which does not test in advance the natural aptitude
and preparation for the special studies of the course, and exclude
rigorously all who are found deficient, will burden the institution with
a number of students which will have to be thrown off after months and
sometimes years of struggling to incorporate them into the regular
classes and to the manifest injury, in the meantime, of the scholarship
and character of the institution. While a nomination by patronage, and a
pass examination have a direct tendency to reduce the average ability of
the selected candidates to the minimum required, a competitive
examination raises the general average to the maximum ability of all who
apply.
_Graduating Class of 1864._
The present graduating class (consisting after the final examination
of 31) at the close of its third year has completed the whole course
prescribed, excepting that the Calculus has been omitted and that
Surveying has been limited to instruction in Harbor and Coast Surveying,
from Bowditch. Steam and the Steam-engine have received fuller attention
from this than any preceding class, embracing six weeks of theory and
practice on board of the steamer Marblehead--altogether too little
attention for a department so important. Two summer cruises have been
made by this class--both coast cruises--the first on board the John
Adams, from June 6th to Sept. 30th, 1862; the second from 16th June to
25th Sept., 1864, in which the following vessels were united, viz.:
Flagship Macedonian, sloop of war Marion, screw steamer Marblehead, and
the yacht America. Upon these cruises the midshipmen were practiced in
all the regular duties attaching to the posts of lieutenant and master,
taking by turns upon themselves the working of the ship, in the
different vessels; making and calculating observations for determining
the ship’s position, going through all possible manoeuvres and
performing the duties incident to the management of ships in action, in
heavy weather, or in the many emergencies which arise requiring superior
skill in seamanship. They were engaged in instructing the crews in
gunnery, in infantry and sword-drill, and in drill of the battery. They
were also detailed for actual boat service, and for the transferring of
howitzers and marines from ship to shore. During the last cruise Meyer’s
code of signals was used by the graduating class as signal officers, in
communicating from vessel to vessel in the fleet, and instruction was
also given in the Naval Code of signals, and in Navigation throughout
the cruise to all cadets on board. In addition to these cruises the
yacht America, in charge of cadets of this class, as commanding
officers, has been engaged in the performance of despatch-boat duty, and
also special “coast picket duty” in search for the Tallahassee.
The experience of this class--made up of three advanced sections of what
is now the second class (the graduating class of 1865,) would seem to
indicate, that under a system of appointment that should admit from the
start only those who had maturity of mind and requisite scholarship, the
professional studies of the Academy might be completed in three years.
This is one year longer than the course of the French Naval School at
Brest, the entrance examination of which would exclude most of the
graduates of our Academy.
III. RECOMMENDATIONS.
The Visitors close their report with the following suggestions, as the
results of their examinations and conferences, in reference to the
further development of the Naval Academy and the extension of nautical
education generally, for the consideration of the Department.
I. Until the pupils of the Naval Academy have gone through the
theoretical and practical course of instruction provided in this
institution expressly to qualify them to act as Midshipmen, the Visitors
recommend that they be designated as _Naval Cadets_--simply _candidates_
for the lowest official rank in the Navy--and that no cadet be rated as
midshipman, no matter how well up he may be in his studies, until he has
had at least eighteen months of professional practice afloat, towards
which time the actual time at sea of each experimental cruise shall be
credited.
II. As the most direct blow to the hindrances which practically exclude
a large portion of the youth of the country, no matter how strong may be
their predilection or great their acquired fitness for the naval
service, from even a chance of being admitted to this national
school;--as the most effectual preventive of the disappointments now
experienced by individuals and families in the failure of many
appointees to pass the entrance examination, or to meet even the low
requirements of the first year’s course;--as the only effectual way of
ridding the institution of the low average ability and attainments which
characterize the lower sections of every class, and of bringing up the
talent and scholarship and conduct of the whole corps to the average of
the first two sections;--as a sure guaranty against the early
resignation of officers educated at the public expense for a life
service in the Navy, and of a progressive and honorable career as long
as life and health last;--as a powerful attraction to draw to this
department of the public service a fair share of the best talent and
loftiest ambition of the youth of the country, and as a stimulus to
their best efforts for self and school improvement for this purpose--the
Visitors recommend the immediate abandonment of the custom of selecting
candidates for admission by individual patronage, in consideration of
neighborhood, relationship, or party connection, or the better motives
of the poverty or the public service of parents, and that all
appointments be hereafter made in consideration of the personal merit of
the applicant, ascertained by a public competitive examination,
conducted before an impartial tribunal, constituted as shall be
prescribed by law. Admission, sought and obtained in this way, will be
honorable to the successful candidates, a source of pride to the
neighborhood and State from which they come, a reward to the teachers
who have prepared them, and a stimulus to the industry and good conduct
of their comrades at home. The classes of the Academy, replenished every
year by new recruits, all of whom have sought the service from personal
choice and won their place by personal merit founded on natural aptitude
and vigor of mind and acquired knowledge, and who regard the diligent
improvement of these opportunities of professional study and practice as
the true road to honorable promotion hereafter, to be gained by farther
industry and devotion--will at once have an average ability and
scholarship equal to that now attained by only five or six out of every
one hundred, and a large proportion of the cases of discipline, the
“dead weights,” the reëxaminations, and the failures from inability,
distaste, or want of preparatory knowledge, will forever disappear from
the records of the Academy.
These suggestions have not the merit of originality nor the objections
of novelty. The principle recommended has stood the test of seventy
years’ trial in France in naval and similar public schools, and is now
in successful operation in England, as well as in most of the military
schools of Europe. It has been again and again urged by thoughtful
friends of this institution and of our other national school at West
Point, as the most effectual remedy for the evils complained of. The
Academic Board of this Academy, in answer to a request from a committee
in 1858 for its opinion on this point, replied:--“The Academic Board has
long been of the opinion that the present system of appointing
midshipmen without care in their selection, was undermining the very
existence of the institution. The records of the Academy show that
scarcely more than one-fourth of those admitted graduate. The fault lies
with the appointing power, which has not kept the institution supplied
with the proper material, and the Board has been powerless in applying a
remedy. It has done all in its power by recommending a higher standard
of proficiency.” The Visitors for 1862, in the Report of their
examinations, remark:--“After a careful examination of the subject, the
Board has been forced to the conclusion that the selection of candidates
has not been made with sufficient reference to the wants of the public
service, but has been and continues to be regarded as a portion of the
patronage of the members of Congress making the nominations. The evil
does not stop here; for in many cases, after they have been appointed
without regard to talents or fitness, and have obtained admission to the
institution, and subsequently have been found incapable to pursue the
studies of the class to which they belong, the influence of the same
member of Congress originally nominating them is successfully used to
continue them at the institution, in obtaining authority for them to
recommence their studies by joining a lower class; thus retaining those
wanting in talents and fitness, to the exclusion of others of suitable
qualifications that might be presented. An institution like this, in
which the students are educated and supported by the government, ought
to have them selected from the highest and most promising youths of the
country.”[27]
[Footnote 27: An early friend of this institution, on learning the
fact stated in the same Report of 1862, from which the above
extract is taken, “that in the course of six years one hundred and
twenty-four students were turned back to pursue a second time
portions of the academic course,” and of this number only six
passed the final examination, (thereby costing the country over
$300,000 in pay, salaries, and equipment, for absolutely nothing,
and at the same time depriving the naval service of an equal
number of competent young officers,) writes to a member of this
Board as follows:--“I have had the curiosity to question fifty
middies, as I happened to meet with them, without selection, and
representing different classes in the institution and different
States, as to the circumstances of their appointment--and of these
fifty, forty were the near relations or sons of political friends
of the parties making the nominations, and five were the sons of
persons in official stations at Washington, although appointed ‘at
large,’ leaving but five for selection from other sources. In
several cases the answers were significant--‘My father had to
bleed freely for my appointment.’ ‘My brother worked hard for his
election.’ ‘I had the promise of a cadetship at West Point, but as
there was no vacancy that year, I got an appointment here.’ ‘I am
an exchange. Senator ---- got an appointment for Mr. C.’s nephew,
and Mr. C. nominated Senator ---- friend’s son for the
place.’”--[_Ed. of Amer. Journal of Education._]]
The same general principle, selection by merit, ascertained by the same
general method, competitive examination, conducted on such conditions as
Congress shall authorize or prescribe, has been recommended for
appointments to the kindred national institution--the Military Academy
at West Point--with the view of removing the same hindrances and
remedying the same defects in the practical working of that school. That
eminent military teacher and administrator, General Thayer, under whom
the Academy, notwithstanding many hindrances and defects, attained its
highest development, recommended the adoption of this principle at the
outset of his administration, after having seen its successful operation
in the military schools of France; and he has recently, after the lapse
of nearly fifty years, all of them spent in actual experience or
observation of the practical results of a different principle, renewed
the recommendation in a communication to the Secretary of War. He has,
within the present year, declared his belief that the adoption at the
start, and the continuous recognition of this principle, the selection
of candidates for admission on the ground of personal merit and aptitude
for the special purposes of the institution, in appointments to the
Military Academy, would have more than doubled its usefulness, would
have avoided most of the difficulties of administration which it has
encountered, would have prevented the popular prejudices which
demagogues and disappointed parents and Congressmen have fostered, and
would have gained for it a larger measure of the popular favor.
The Visitors of the Military Academy for 1863, in their Report to the
Secretary of War, go into an extended discussion of the advantages and
objections to this principle and mode of making appointments. To this
document reference is made as embodying the convictions of this Board as
to the probable working of the same principle in admissions to the Naval
Academy.
III. In connection with a change in the mode of appointment, the
Visitors would commend to the consideration of the Department a revision
of the conditions as to the age, bodily vigor, and general knowledge of
candidates. The old system of training naval officers, by placing boys
at the early age of twelve or fourteen years on shipboard in the daily
and constant practice of the routine of the ship, when accompanied with
the parental oversight of the captain as to conduct, and with regular
and progressive instruction in the science and art of his profession, on
ship and shore, by the teacher of mathematics and navigation--has
produced many capable commanders, out of the larger number who have been
ruined for the want of proper supervision and instruction, or grown up
into men of mere routine. Some of the brightest names in the records of
our own and of the English naval service had no other education or
training than this. But these are the exceptions, and their success was
as much due to opportunity and original genius, as to their early and
continuous ship experience. That system of training officers is,
however, everywhere abandoned, and the present aim of every naval power
in the world is to seek out young men having a fondness for sea-life,
with a generous ambition for naval distinction, with an aptitude for the
sciences which qualify and adorn the naval officer, with vigor of body
to bear the inevitable exposures of the service, and with a large amount
of general knowledge, and then subject them to a special course of
professional study and practice in a naval school. For every stage of
promotion, additional knowledge as well as professional experience,
tested by successive rigid examinations, are required. The experience of
this class of schools indicates that those original qualities and
acquired qualifications deemed indispensable in candidates for the
proper mastery of a thorough course of naval instruction, can not often
be found in young men under eighteen years of age.
IV. With an advance in the average age, maturity of mind, and
preparatory attainments of the cadets on admission, the Visitors believe
a revision and readjustment of the subjects and course of instruction
can be advantageously made, which in connection with the new schools of
naval construction, and of marine engineering, would greatly extend the
range, depth, and practical value of the education of the naval officer,
without prolonging the time now devoted to its acquisition. 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. At this point the
Visitors recommend to the consideration of the Department the
establishment of the following departments, or schools, in each of which
the course of instruction shall be far more comprehensive and thorough
than is now practicable where the branches constitute parts of a single
course:--
_First._--Of Navigation and Seamanship.
_Second._--Of Naval Ordnance and Practical Gunnery.
_Third._--Of Hydrography, Marine Surveying, Astronomical Observations,
Construction of Charts, &c.
_Fourth._--Of Drawing, Naval Designs, Construction of Ships, Naval
Machinery, Docks, &c.
_Fifth._--Of Steam and Marine Engineering.
_Sixth._--Of Naval History and Strategy, International Law--especially
of belligerents and neutrals--and the Law of the Sea, Consular Duties,
&c.
_Seventh._--Of Modern Languages.
Into each of these schools let the cadets be drafted, the choice to be
determined by their own predilection or comparative fitness, at the
close of the second year, and after completing such number of these
courses, not less than four, as may be prescribed, let them have the
privilege of an examination.
Each of these departments or schools might be opened to a certain number
of candidates, on competitive examination, from each State--no matter
where they may have received their education--and permission might be
given to officers of any rank to review and extend their knowledge of
either of these departments with the more advanced text-books and means
of instruction. By this arrangement the service will secure the highest
development of any special aptitude, preparation, or experience--and
will more frequently get “the right man in the right place.”
The importance of these great departments of the naval service, and of
special preparation for them, is fully appreciated by the Academic
Board, but any attempt to give this preparation to all the members of
the present classes, with such unequal and deficient preparatory
knowledge and with such diverse aptitudes for particular branches, would
be futile. The attempt to teach as much as is now done, under the
circumstances, only produces confused and unsatisfactory results with a
large portion of the class. The remedy for this state of things seems to
the Visitors to be in:--
1. More thorough preparation, higher average ability, and greater
maturity of mind on the part of the cadets.
2. A thorough scientific course up to a certain point, for all the
cadets, to occupy two years.
3. The requiring of linguistic training (in one or more modern
languages,) only of those who show some aptitude or previous preparation
for the same.
4. An option of two or three of the above courses, and a thorough
proficiency in those selected before being permitted to pass as
midshipman.
5. And finally continuation of study as well as of practice after
graduation in the directions for which there is a demonstrated fitness
and ability.
V. The Visitors deem it desirable to concentrate in and around the Naval
Academy the largest amount and the highest quality of teaching ability,
naval experience, and the apparatus and opportunities of practice of
every kind connected with the naval service. But they would also commend
to the consideration of the Department the encouragement of Naval
Institutes, or temporary courses of instruction, at suitable seasons of
the year, in some of the great departments of naval education specified
in the foregoing classification--for the benefit of officers on
furlough, or connected with the National Dockyards and Depositories,
especially those in the neighborhood of large collegiate institutions,
on the request of a certain number of such officers. Private naval
architects and shipmasters might also be invited to attend these
Institutes. Something of this kind should be provided, especially if
continued study and examination is required by law and regulation at
every stage of promotion in the naval service.
VI. The absence of elementary naval schools and of any regular
instruction in navigation, the want of nationality and the low condition
of the seaman-class generally, prevents any considerable demonstration
or recognition of that nautical taste and aptitude for sea-life in the
great mass of the population, which ought to be the basis of all special
nautical training. To remedy this state of things, to develope and
cultivate, where it exists, a desire for a maritime career, to provide
at once a supply of intelligent, hardy, and well-trained seamen, mates,
and masters, for the national as well as for the commercial marine, in
time of peace as well as in the emergencies of a sudden Or a great war,
the Visitors recommend the inauguration, under the auspices of the Naval
Department, of a system of navigation schools and naval instruction, in
addition to and in connection with our present system of naval
apprenticeship, commensurate with the demands of the service, the
country, and the age. As the basis of this system, they recommend the
immediate offer of pecuniary aid to encourage the establishment of a
class of navigation schools in all the large seaports of the country,
subject to thorough national inspection in order to secure uniformity
and efficiency. They do not deem it necessary to consider here the
organization, management, and instruction of this class of schools,
farther than to present the outline of a system.