File:The naval history of the United States (1896) (14597777980).jpg

Identifier: navalhistoryofun02abbo (find matches)
Title: The naval history of the United States
Year: 1896 (1890s)
Authors: Abbot, Willis J. (Willis John), 1863-1934
Subjects: United States -- History, Naval To 1900
Publisher: New York, Dodd, Mead and company
Contributing Library: University of Massachusetts, Boston
Digitizing Sponsor: University of Massachusetts, Boston

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ficers and men did not under-stand her wonderfully complicated construction nor know how to handle her.The officers of the United States navy are given this important instructionat the Naval Academy at Annapolis, and the rank and file of the men of thenavy, those who fill the positions of seamen and petty officers, are trained atthe station in Coasters Island Harbor, near Newport, R. I., and in the train-ing-ships when cruising. The training-station is designed to ensure the thorough efficiency of thecorps of men enlisted in the service, and to provide for the manning of thevessels by American citizens instead of by foreigners. There was a time, and not a great while ago, when the gunners andcrews of United States men-of-war were, with very few exceptions, aliens,who spoke the English language with difficulty, and who did not have, andcould not be expected to have, any of the patriotic spirit which makes effec-tive fighters in naval engagements. While this condition still exists to816
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i LUE-JACKETS IN TIMES OF PEACE. 817 some extent, the growth of the apprentice system is bringing about a gradualchange. As early as 1837 an attempt was made to establish a naval apprenticesystem. In that year Congress passed an act making it lawful to enlistboys for the navy, not under thirteen nor over eighteen years of age, to serveuntil twenty-one. Within a few months several boys were received as ap-prentices aboard naval vessels. Six years later, however, the system wasabandoned as a failure, owing to a false impression which had gained widecurrency that the apprentices would receive commissions in the navy. Capt. S. B. Luce and the officers of the practice-ship Macedonian in-vestigated the apprentice systems at Portsmouth and Plymouth, England,twenty years afterward, and made such favorable reports that SecretaryWelles was induced to revive it in the United States navy. This was done,and during the civil war the system was in successful operation, but soonafter the close of the

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