NAVY AND NAVAL AFFAIRS.
Bythe Constitution of 1789, Congress is empowered “to regulate commerce, to provide and maintain a navy, and make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces.” The initiatory steps for establishing and regulating a navy were taken by the Continental Congress in November and December, 1775. The management of naval affairs was first assigned to a Marine Committee of Congress, appointed Dec. 11, 1775, which in 1779 (June 9), was converted into Commissioners, and before the close of that year, into a Board of Admiralty, which consisted of five members, two of whom were members of Congress, with a secretary, who was appointed by Congress. In 1781 (Feb. 7), a Secretary of Marine was created to execute all the duties and powers of the Board of Admiralty. In the condition of the public treasury, and “in the dilatory and parsimonious action of the several States in forwarding funds for the construction of ships, docks, and naval arsenals, and for the support of the naval service,” Congress voted in August, 1783, “that it was not advisable to purchase ships for the present.”
The necessities of a disordered commerce, and of a sufficient naval force to protect the navigation of the country, and repel the first approach of a hostile army from abroad, were among the motives for establishing a more efficient federal government. But until the danger of war with England became imminent, a large party in the country, in and out of Congress, opposed the necessary appropriations for putting the Navy of the United States on a respectable footing.
In constituting the executive departments of the national government under the Constitution, the administration of the navy and naval affairs were committed to the War Department, where it remained till 1798, when (April 30) an Act was passed “to establish an executive department to be denominated the Department of the Navy.”
The Act of March 27, 1794, by which the construction and manningof four ships of 44 guns each, and two of 36 were ordered, was called for by the depredations on our commerce, and particularly in the Mediterranean Sea. In this Act the appointment of eight midshipmen, to rank with the warrant and petty officers, was authorized, and the Navy Register bears the names of only eight officers holding that rank prior to 1800. In 1801 the naval force of the United States consisted of 13 ships, viz.: 4 of 44 guns each (United States,President,Constitution, andPhiladelphia); 4 of 36 guns each (Chesapeake,Constellation,Congress, andNew York); 5 of 32 guns each (Benton,Essex,Adams, andJohn Adams); and by an Act of that year all others were ordered to be sold, and the completion of any more in the yards, was suspended. But the insults to our flag and destruction of our commerce by the Barbary powers, and the privateers of England and France, aroused such a feeling in the country that Congress ordered a squadron to be fitted out for the Mediterranean in 1803, which proved to be the school in which the seamanship of the Navy was trained, and the gallantry of its officers signally displayed. In the legislation of this period originated the “gun-boat” policy as an auxiliary means of harbor defense. In 1805 the first vessel of this class was added to the Mediterranean squadron, and in 1806 the President announced that 50 more could be relied on for the naval service. Gun-boats, properly constructed and armed, are now part of the system of harbor defense in all countries.
By an Act of Congress approved April 21, 1806, the whole number of able seamen, ordinary seamen and boys, for the United States Navy was not to exceed 925. March 3, 1807, the President was authorized to employ 500 additionals, increasing the authorized number to 1,425. January 31, 1809, the President was authorized to employ 3,600 able seamen, ordinary seamen and boys, in addition to the number of petty officers, seamen, etc., previously authorized, which increased the number of enlisted men allowed to 5,125.
In 1810 an appropriation was made to test the value of torpedo or submarine explosives, as engines of war, and in 1842 to test the submarine battery ignited by a submerged electric wire, devised by Samuel Colt. The introduction, of these “engines of war” into the defense of Southern harbors, in 1861-65, demonstrated their efficiency and inaugurated a new system of not only harbor defense, but of attack.
March 30, 1812, the President was further authorized to increase the seamen, etc., and as far as necessary to equip the frigatesChesapeake,Constellation, andAdams, any law to the contrary notwithstanding.In this Act provision was made for the appointment of a schoolmaster to each ship having a complement of 12 midshipmen.
March 3, 1813, he was authorized to have built six sloops-of-war, and to have them manned and equipped, and to employ the number of seamen which were necessary for such vessels as were authorized by law to be put in commission.
In 1816, in the appropriation annually of $1,000,000 for eight years to the gradual increase of the Navy by nine 74 gun-ships, and twelve 44 gun-frigates, provision was made to procure the steam-engines and build and equip three steam-batteries for the defense of ports and harbors—the introduction of a new element into the naval service. In 1839 the Secretary was authorized to construct three steam-vessels of war, “according to the best advices that could be obtained.”
In 1837, after strenuous efforts to enlist Congress in some systematic plan for supplying the navy with well instructed andthoroughlydisciplined seamen, the Secretary was authorized to enlist under certain conditions, boys between the ages of 13 and 18, who should receive special opportunities for school and professional training.
In 1844, $100,000 was appropriated to build at Pittsburg an iron steamer (theAlleghany); and the appearance and exploits of theMerrimacand theMonitor, in the waters of the Chesapeake, in 1863, introduced a new system of naval construction and armament, not only into our navy, but in less than ten years revolutionized the ship-yards and ordnance foundries of the world.
By Act of March 3, 1845, it was provided “that the whole number of petty officers, seamen, ordinary seamen, landsmen and boys, in the naval service, shall not exceed 7,500 at any one time during the fiscal year,” for which appropriation was then made.
By Act of March 3, 1857, the Secretary of the Navy was authorized to enlist 8,500 men for the Navy, instead of 7,500. During the late civil war the limitation of enlisted men was suspended; and in his annual report, December, 1862, the Secretary states the number of persons employed on board our naval vessels, including receiving ships and recruits, as about 28,000; and in his report of December, 1865, he says the number was increased to 51,500 at the close of the war, which in 1867 had been reduced to 11,900.
In 1864 the Secretary of the Navy revived the system of naval apprenticeship, which was inaugurated under the Act of March 2, 1837, but suspended because the favorable results anticipated from a fair trial were not realized at once, under various disadvantages of a new enterprise, and because Congress, in 1845, by limitingthe whole number of persons employed in the naval service, compelled the Department to discharge boys instead of men.
By Act of June 17, 1868, the number of persons enlisted into the Navy, including apprentices and boys, was limited to 8,500—a limitation actually below the maximum which existed prior to the war, and compelled the department to reduce the number of naval apprentices, and finally to again abandon that system.
The number of line officers is now (1871) limited by law to one admiral, one vice-admiral, 10 rear admirals, 25 commodores, 50 captains, 90 commanders; total flag and commanding officers, 177. To these are added 80 lieutenant commanders, 280 lieutenants, 200 masters and ensigns—making the total line officers of all grades, excepting midshipmen (309 including those at Annapolis), 737.
The medical staff consists of 180, viz.: 15 medical directors (captains); 15 inspectors (commanders); 50 surgeons (Lieut.-commanders), and 100 passed assistant and assistant surgeons.
The engineers’ department (total 250) includes 10 chief engineers (captains); 15do.(commanders); 45do.(lieut.-commanders); 100 assistants (masters and ensigns). There are 126 paymasters, 13 ranking as captains; 13 as commanders; 50 as lieut.-commanders. The number of chaplains is limited to 24, and of professors to 12.
Although, strangely enough, not under the administration of the Navy Department, the inauguration of the Coast Survey in 1807, and its thorough prosecution since 1844, when the employment of officers of the army and navy in the work was authorized; the recognition of the Naval Observatory at Washington city, and authorizing the making astronomical and meteorological observations, in the Act of August 3, 1848; the assignment of a competent officer of the navy to the preparation of the Nautical Almanac; the institution of the bureau of Hydrography and Ordnance, in 1842; the employment of three suitable vessels of the navy to test and perfect the plans of Lieutenant Maury in his investigations of the winds and the currents of the ocean, by Act of March 3, 1849; the concentration of the teaching staff of the corps of midshipmen preparatory for their examination at the Naval Asylum at Philadelphia, and their removal to separate accommodations at the old military station of Fort Severn, in Annapolis, by order of Secretary Bancroft in 1845, and the formal recognition of the institution as the Naval School, in the appropriations for the navy in 1847—these and other acts of Congress, and the action of the Department under them, are important data in the history of the Navy and Naval Education—especially of their scientific character.
GROWTH IN SHIPS, OFFICERS AND MEN.
The following Tables, prepared by Capt. George H. Preble, U.S.N., which are copied from the Army and Navy Journal for Nov. and Dec., 1871, exhibit in a condensed view the expansion of the military and merchant marine of the United States, from 1816 to 1871 inclusive, as well as its condition in each year from 1816.
Table I.—Naval Vessels, Tonnage, Officers, Seamen, and Cost. Tonnage.
NV Number of Vessels United States Navy.NG Number of Guns.TV Tonnage of Vessels belonging to the United States Navy.TNO Total Number of Navy Officers, including Midshipmen and Mates.TPO Total Number of Petty Officers, Seamen, etc.Exp Total Expenditures for the Navy and Marine Corps.Total = Total Tonnage of U.S. Enrolled, Licensed and Registered.
NV Number of Vessels United States Navy.
NG Number of Guns.
TV Tonnage of Vessels belonging to the United States Navy.
TNO Total Number of Navy Officers, including Midshipmen and Mates.
TPO Total Number of Petty Officers, Seamen, etc.
Exp Total Expenditures for the Navy and Marine Corps.
Total = Total Tonnage of U.S. Enrolled, Licensed and Registered.
* Change of the fiscal year.† From this number should be deducted 130 mates not permanent officers of the Navy.
* Change of the fiscal year.
† From this number should be deducted 130 mates not permanent officers of the Navy.
Table II.Line Officers—1816to1871.
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.Total = Total Line Officers.
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.
Total = Total Line Officers.
* 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.
* 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.
B Boatswains.G Gunners.Cr Carpenters.S Sailmakers.C Colonels.LC Lieut-Colonels.M Majors.Cp Captains.L Lieutenants.SL Second Lieutenants.
B Boatswains.
G Gunners.
Cr Carpenters.
S Sailmakers.
C Colonels.
LC Lieut-Colonels.
M Majors.
Cp Captains.
L Lieutenants.
SL Second Lieutenants.
* 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.
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.Total = Total Staff Officers.
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.
Total = Total Staff Officers.
STAFF OFFICERS, 1815 TO 1842 INCLUSIVE.
* Sixteen acting assistants.
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.Total = Total Staff Officers
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.
Total = Total Staff Officers
STAFF OFFICERS, 1842 TO 1871 INCLUSIVE.