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Page 67 text:
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broader purposes. flur first is the immediate one of supplying qualified third officers and engineers for the merchant lnarine with thc broad and underlying view in mind, to equip the midshipmcn for a career at sea. A second and perhaps equally important pur- pose is to create a pool of men, so qualified that they are able to be called to active duty in the Navy as commissioned officers. To accomplish this, all the midshipmen are enrolled in the United States Naval Reserve. The subjects embraced in the curriculum are attacked from both the theoretical and practical approaches. For the deck midshipmen, Navi- gation, the science of sailing a ship safely and economically receives chief emphasis. For the engineers, steam is the equivalent. Wltiltz at the Academy, stress is placed on the theoretical background. The practical application is dem- onstrated while cruising. Tl1e subjects as taught at the Academy aim to arrive at a real under- standing, as opposed to teaching merely by rote, with its consequent dependence on IIICIIIOPY instead of intelligence. To obtain this understanding of Navigation, a comprehensive course in Trigonometry, both plane and spherical, ranks next in importance. This course gives the student the proofs of the various navigational formula- and processes. Seamanship, stowage, signalling, sea law, first aid are other subjects covered by the deck force. For the engineers there are Deisel, elec- tricity, machine shop, shop math and also first aid and naval science. The course in Naval Science deserves special notice. This study equips the midshipmeu to attain the rank of Ensign U. S. N. R. ln this course, gunnery, naval customs, drills, and naval regulations are taken up in detail. The entire course of study originally covered three years. However, the emergency has caused it to be shortened to 16 months. The phenom- enal thing in this respect is that nothing of lllllJOI'ltlllC6 has been left out. To finish a three- year course in a year and four months, a tre- mendous amount of study has been necessary. Vacations and leaves have been either cut out altogether or sharply curtailed. The various courses themselves have been shortened and intensified without leaving out any of the essentials. The history of the school itself reads almost like current affairs. lts very lack of ancient tradition and customs has helped us. We have been able to forge ahead, use new methods, and go our own way until today our Academy, both st-holastically and militarily ranks second to none. The Academy was founded upon passage of an enabling act by the State legislature. The passage of this act we owe to the endeavors of Wlr. Ralph Leavitt, who is today President. of the Board of Trustees of the -Xcatlcnty. XVith thc hill passed, Castine was selected as the site for tht- Acadctny. R1-ar Admiral Douglas E. Dismul-:es was chosen as superintendent. That this was a wise choice has been proved innumer- able times. Admiral Dismukes has given lav- ishly of his time, energy and experience to the building of the Academy, lroth materially and spiritually. Following the Admiral's appointlnent, other oflicers were detailed to the Academy as i11- struetors. The first class arrived twenty-eight strong and were quartered at a former hotel, the Pentagoet. XVith the outbreak of war on December 7, 19-flfl, things started to change. The course was cut from three years to sixteen months. Aca- demic subjects were cut out and more emphasis was given to Naval Science. The Eastern State Normal School Buildings were taken over and preparations were made to admit a class of 200 in .luly - our class. In days to come our class will be long remembered by all those connected with it. Two hundred strong at. first, our 1111111- ber has dwindled to one hundred and forty. Those tl1at are left can in all truth point to themselves as the ones that have built the Acad- emy. For, after all, the second class of the Maine Maritime Academy as the first large class was an experiment that turned out admirably. First under their seniors direction and then under their own ratings they labored to redee- orale and beautify the Academy buildings and grounds. At times hard to manage, our class has retained its individuality. However, when- ever the occasion arose for action, we always Cilllltf through with flying colors. The first few days of the summer of 1942 were bewildering and discouraging ones, but we quickly adapted ourselves to new ways of life. Hardest of all was learning how to take orders. ln a very short time, however, things were running smoothly and we were all set for our first cruise. After the cruise we settled down at the Acad- emy for six months of uninterrupted study. Then, theoretically proheient, we set' out for our second cruise, where we received thorough, practical experience in all phases of our work. New hack at the Academy with only weeks to go until graduation, our long-sought-after tical is just ahead. Each member of our class, with tht- confidence bred of thorough training, is ready to go out and do his job .,......
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Page 68 text:
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IZIIQST CIQIJISE This is the log of our first cruise. Late on the night of Tuesday, September 1, 1942, some one hundred and ninety midshipmen, the first and second classes of the Maine Maritime Academy, arrived at Pier Sixty-one, New York City, to board the M. S. T. S. Alleghany. We had a long, tiresome train ride that day, and after we stowed Kuhn. all our gear aboard, each one of us climbed wearily into the nearest bunk, some going below to stretch out on the deck of number five hold. The next morning we had our first muster on the boat deck and during this time watched the ship pull away slowly from the pier down the North River, around the bend of Man- hattan Island, up the East River to Fort Schuyler, which was to be our home address for the following three months. We soon organized, stood regular Watches, attended class, did our ship s work and mess duty. It was on this good ship that we stood our first quartermaster watches on the bridge, our fireman and Water tender watches in the engine and fire rooms. We had some really practical seamanship classes, wherein our work took on an entirely new meaning. As engineers we studied the alittle blue bookso' and then put that information into use by tearing down and then putting back together again all the machin- ery of the engine room. Our machine shop was a wonderful aid to training, too. Ship's work was shipis work no matter how We looked at it, but it was during that time that we picked up angles, ideas and knacks of doing our job that would carry on for years. lt was here that we first chipped paint in large quan- tities, painted, holystoned, cleaned boilers, bilges and condensers to such an extent that we thought that we were masters of the art. Mess duty here was the easiest on record. And, speaking of mess, I could go for a plate of Pangello's spaghetti right now with plenty of meat sauce and grated cheese, or another Thanksgiving Day dinner as we enjoyed late in November, but no rowing afterwards, please. M ' an---ew rr 1 By the time we were ready to go back to Castine, we had our own Castine officers. We had become competent watch standers and had increased our understanding of our future positions to the ntl1 degree. After having spent our liberties in New York, we thought that we knew the big city well. We had completed an important period of our training successfully and were ready for whatever lay ahead. A 1 ,.,,. 5 . ,F .M . ,e ,WWF ily' Y .f s algifggggjts, em: 4 .s . W
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