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professor of mathematics and navigation. When employed, Professor Chauvenet was only twenty years of age; but he instituted reforms, introduced order and system, and extended the scope of studies. Despite Despite the failure of efforts which had been made since the navy was created to obtain authority of law for the establishment of a school for the education of midship men, Professor Chauvenet threw himself into the project with all the enthusiasm of youth, and drew up a plan requiring no legislation and no additional cost, for an institution the curriculum of which included every subject a naval officer of the day required to fit him for his duties. Mr. David Henshaw, Secretary of the Navy in 1844, adopted the scheme, which contemplated a two years' course of instruction, but it did not not go into operation because Secretary Mason, Mr. Henshaw's successor, revoked the order. This action was taken upon advice given by older officers of the service, who insisted that the midshipmen were needed on board ships, and that as their future duties were connected with the sea, the sea was the only school in which they should be taught.

Many causes were operating to bring into life the seed which Professor Chauvenet had sown. The introduction of steam, the scandalous conduct of many officers, the lax discipline, brutality, and oppression which existed afloat, and finally the tragedy of the brig Somers, when Midshipman Spencer, son of the Secretary of War, and two enlisted men were hanged on the charge of plotting mutiny, established the necessity of a method by which reputable boys could be appointed, and receive a moral and mental education which would enable them to conduct themselves with honor and dignity, and reflect credit upon their country and service. Loudly as the press and citizens called for action, Congress did not respond, and it was left to the patriotic and far-seeing George Bancroft, of Massachusetts, to establish the Naval Academy.

Shortly after Mr. Bancroft entered the Navy Department, Professor Chauvenet brought to his attention the need of systematic education for midshipmen. The Secretary saw that to effect the adoption of the plan he must first conciliate the older officers of the navy. The service was

induced to give its assent through a board of officers, to which Mr. Bancroft diplomatically referred the subject, and after the school was established and in operation on the military reservation of Fort Severn, at Annapolis, jurisdiction over which had been ceded to the navy, the Secretary asked Congress for an appropriation "for repairs, improvements, and instruction." The appropriation was promptly made by the House, but rumors were current that the Senate would decline to concur.: Having great personal influence, Mr. Bancroft exercised it, with the result that the appropriation was granted and the Naval Academy legally established. From that day until the present there has been gradual improvement in the curriculum of the institution. It was one of the most important acts of my time when Congress, in compliance with urgent recommendations, authorized in 1898 the reconstruction of the Academy, at a cost not to exceed eight million dollars. The reconstruction is now in progress, in accordance with a plan prepared by a Board of Officers appointed by Secretary Herbert, although that official, on account of the condition of the National finances, considered it too comprehensive for immediate adoption. When the Academy is rebuilt, it will be an institution superior to anything of the kind in the world, and will meet every requirement of instruction and convenience. Prince Henry of Prussia, on the occasion of his visit to the United States in 1902, inspected the Naval Academy, and expressed to me surprise that we should be spending such a large sum of money on an educational institution rather than for men-of-war. It was with a feeling of patriotic pride that the response could be made that the resources of our country are so great that it can undertake, without anticipating embarrassment, the construction of an academy worthy of the personnel of which it is the source of supply, and yet have ample funds with which to continue the building of ships.

Since the establishment of the Naval Academy, more than two thousand five hundred midshipmen and cadets have been graduated, and the cost to the country has been about eight million dollars—a sum equal to that which will be paid for its reconstruction. That the organization of

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THE ADMIRALS IN COMMAND OF THE NAVY DEPARTMENTS

DURING THE WAR WITH SPAIN

the school has amply repaid the country is shown, first, by victories gained by our navy in the Civil and Spanish wars, and their far-reaching results, and, second, by the progress made in naval science, with its tremendous effect upon industrial development, for which many officers are to be credited.

The very nature of an officer's duties necessitates constant study of the subjects which they embrace. The course at the Naval Academy covers four years, and the cadets are then sent to sea for a two years' cruise, upon the expiration of which they return to undergo final examination. There is no good reason for more than one year's cruise at sea. At the end of that time, even if not at once upon graduation, the cadets should receive commissions as ensigns if found qualified upon examination. During his career at the Academy the cadet performs the duties of seamen and officers of every grade. He is carefully instructed in gunnery, navigation, and seamanship. He learns English and French, and now Spanish, as well as something about international law and history, becomes a proficient mathematician, and acquires a knowledge of physics, chemistry, and hygiene. Because the naval officer of to-day must be an engineer, he is thoroughly grounded in marine engineering, electrical and steam, and naval construction. When commissioned, he is on occasions given tours of duty at the torpedo station at Newport, where he receives in struction in the construction and operation of the torpedo, and at the Washington Gun Foundry, where he takes part in assembling forgings into great guns. He under

goes a post-graduate course at the Naval War College-an institution established at New London, Conn., almost simultaneously with the reconstruction of the navy. The Naval War College, like the Naval Academy, was not brought into existence by authority of Congress. Secretary William E. Chandler, under date of May 3, 1884, organized a Board of naval officers, consisting of Commodore S. B. Luce, Commander W. T. Sampson, and Lieutenant-Commander C. E. Goodrich, to report upon the subject of a post-graduate course for officers of the navy. Explaining to the Senate the reason for the establishment of the institution, Mr. Chandler stated that "the constant changes in the

methods of conducting naval warfare imposed by the introduction of armored ships, swift cruisers, rams, seagoing torpedo-boats, and high-power guns, together with the more rigid methods of treating the various subjects relating to naval science, render imperative the establishment of a school where our officers may be enabled to keep abreast of the improvements going on in every navy in the world." In its report recommending the organization of the institution the Board expressed the opinion that "a cogent reason for such a school is that there may be a place where our officers will not only be encouraged but required to study their profession properwar-in a far more thorough manner than has ever heretofore been attempted, and to bring to the investigation of the various problems of modern naval warfare the scientific methods adopted in other professions." The course at the College is divided under two headsthe science and art of war, and law and history. and history. The College has been in successful operation for fifteen years, and has been of much benefit in fitting officers not only to command single ships and squadrons, but to perform properly numerous other important duties with which they are charged. I am confident that the training many officers received at the College has been of great service to them in times of peace and war. Toward the close of my administration instructions were given for the establishment of a post-graduate course in steam engineering at the Naval Academy. This was done upon the recommendation of Rear-Admiral G. W. Melville, the engineer-in-chief of the navy, and the course will enable officers of the new line to perfect themselves in the science of their profession. The medical officer was not overlooked, and a medical school was established in Washington. Arrangements were made with the War Department for harmonious cooperation with the medical school of the army. Medical officers of the navy have had no sufficient opportunity to study their profession, and co-operation with the army will not only fill this want but create a healthy mutuality which will stimulate. both services.

In the navy to-day there is missing from the list of titles of officers one which

for half a century occupied an honorable and increasingly important position upon it-that of engineer. The introduction of steam into the navy caused the appointment in 1836 of Mr. Charles H. Haswell, of New York. He was the first engineer of the service. In spite of the element in the navy and the country which clung to sails, it speedily became apparent that steam propulsion must be adopted for men-of-war, and about 1842 Congress had authorized the construction of four steam vessels the Fulton, Mississippi, Missouri, and Michigan-and one steamship, known as the Engineer, had been purchased. For the design of the machinery of the vessels the construction of which was authorized, and for its care and operation after installation, twenty engineers were appointed. The engineers were dissatisfied with their status and pay, and the appointment of a man who was not familiar with the principles of their profession; and an appeal was made to Congress for adequate recognition. Agitation was effective. Congress, by the Act approved August 31, 1842, created the staff engineer corps of the navy. This act provided for the appointment by the Secretary of the Navy of one chief engineer, two first assistant, two second assistant, and three third assistant engineers for each steam ship of war, to be paid salaries ranging from $1,500 to $500 per annum. Three years later a law was enacted authorizing the President to appoint engineer officers, and in 1860 Congress granted substantial increases in pay to officers of this corps. In the meantime the question of the relation of the staff to the line had become a subject of controversy, and Secretary Toucey, in January, 1859, issued an order announcing the relative rank of officers of the staff corps. This order explicitly stated that it conferred no authority to exercise military command "except in the discharge of their [officers of the staff corps] duties, and no additional right to quarters." Congress enacted Mr. Toucey's order into law, striking out the words "except in the discharge of their duties," and thus, the engineers claimed, increased their embarassment and difficulty in controlling and disciplining the men of their divisions. The value of steam propulsion had been demonstrated before

the Civil War, but the events of that struggle emphasized its superiority over sails, and established the fact that men especially trained in the manipulation of engines must be employed. When the Naval Academy was founded, Lieutenant James H. Ward, a member of the faculty, foresaw the important part steam would play in the future service, and arranged that it should be one of the principal subjects of the course. With his detachment from the Academy less attention was paid to steam, and it was soon made a subordinate branch of the department of Natural Philosophy. During the Civil War Secretary Welles called the attention. of Congress to the desirability of educating steam engineers, and a law was enacted in 1864 authorizing the instruction at the Academy "as naval constructors or steam engineers of such midshipman and others as may show a peculiar aptitude therefor." Secretary Welles was not satisfied with the law, and he asked, before the plan was put into operation, whether steam engineering should not be made to constitute a necessary part of the education of all midshipmen, "so that in our future navy every line officer will be a steam engineer, and qualified to have complete command and direction of the ship." Here was the first official suggestion for the present consolidated line of the navy. The young men appointed under the Act of 1864 and enactments in the years immediately following were styled cadet engineers, and in 1882 they were transformed into naval cadets of the line.

This last law was intended to settle the line and staff controversy, which had been raging on board every war vessel of the navy, and which had already attracted the attention of thinking men of the country. So long as the engineers of the navy were appointed from civil life, it was plain that there could be no agreement between them and officers of the line bred in all the traditions of the service. The antag onism extended to the students at the Naval Academy, the cadet engineers among whom had been by law organized into a separate class, and the amalgamation of the cadet engineers and the midshipmen failed to produce the desired effect. Those graduates assigned to the Engineer Corps speedily became out of harmony with the line, and there was

little disposition on the part of the line to promote harmony by co-operation with the Engineer Corps. The difference in views between the two branches of the service appears very clearly in the testimony given before the House Naval Committee when it was investigating the question of reorganization of the personnel.

At the beginning of my term in the Department the discussion between the line and the staff was a matter of immediate importance. Naval officers naturally felt keen interest each in his own corps. The engineering profession throughout the country had become a party to the issue, and was demanding that its representatives in the navy should receive that measure of official recognition which the high character of the calling requires. Secretary Herbert had prepared a bill for the reorganization of the line, which contemplated the removal of a large number of officers by transfer either to a reserve or to the retired list, and by increase of officers, principally in the higher grades. A bill was also introduced granting actual rank, military title, and adequate numbers to the Engineer Corps. Neither the Herbert Bill nor the Engineer Bill had been adopted, and the condition I found was that of stagnation in promotion, with its train of evils, and the existence of friction between the line and the staff, which not only produced inefficiency, but which, through its effect upon Congress, almost endangered the upbuilding of the navy.

Representative Francis H. Wilson, of New York, the recognized champion of the engineers in the House, had frequent conferences with the Department in regard to the action which should be taken for the restoration of harmony in the service. Mr. Theodore Roosevelt-now President was then Assistant Secretary, and was especially active in this direction, obtaining the views of rival factions.

As

a result of full consideration of this matter, I appointed a Board to which was confided the preparation of a plan for the reorganization of the personnel. Mr. Roosevelt was made president of this Board. Had a line or an engineer officer been named, the Board at the outset would have been embarrassed. By designating the Assistant Secretary, who was recognized as an earnest friend of the

service at large, the line and the staff were certain of fair rulings upon questions which might arise between them. Mr. Roosevelt was intended to serve, and did serve, as moderator. The line was represented by two chiefs of Bureaus, Commodore Crowninshield and Commodore W. T. Sampson, and four other officers of standing and influence in the service-Captain A. H. McCormick, Captain Robley D. Evans, Commander J. N. Hemphill, and Lieutenant-Commander Richard Wainwright. The Engineer Corps, which comprised fewer officers than the line, was represented by four officersCommodore George W. Melville, Engineer-in-Chief and Chief of the Bureau of Steam Engineering-a man of common sense, judgment, and possessing the implicit confidence of his subordinatesChief Engineer Charles W. Rae, Chief Engineer George H. Kearny, and Passed Assistant Engineer Walter M. MacFarland. The Recorder of the Board was a line officer-Lieutenant Albert L. Key. No other corps were given representation on the Board, because the main question was between the Line and the Engineer Corps.

and

The Board was in session for about a month. The representatives of both the line and engineers manifested an earnest desire to come to an understanding. Commodore Melville submitted a proposition for an independent engineer corps, which should comprise 303 officers, who should have positive rank and military titles, and the same right of absolute command over their own divisions which watch division officers of the line have, the chief of the Bureau of Steam Engineering to have the rank and pay of a Commodore. This proposal was rejected, and then Captain Evans submitted a plan which had all along been in the mind of the Department and of the Board, for the amalgamation of the line and the engineers. This solution, though at first sight revolutionary, was really the final step in the process of evolution through which the navy was passing. The fundamental studies of officers of the deck and engine room at the Naval Academy were identical; the younger line officers served in enginerooms on torpedo-boats, and line as well as staff officers underwent training in machine work, if not in the engine-room, in departments devoted to electrical and

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