US Naval Training Center - Compass Yearbook (Bainbridge, MD)

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U. S- No To C. CONTINUED military command of the Commandant, FIFTH naval District, whose headquarters are in Norfolk, Virginia. The Center was Erst activated on October 1, 1942, and ten days later was in operation training recruits. At the conclusion of hostilities on V-J Day, August 14, 1945, the Recruit Training Command had trained a total 01 244,277 recruits. From August 1945 to June 1947 the training activities of the Center decreased due to the eventual reduction in the strength of the Navy. 011 June 30, 1947, Bainbridge was deactivated as a Training Center. In the summer of 1950, when the Korean crisis made it necessary, plans were formulated to reactivate the Center to provide men for the rapidly expanding Heet and shore bases. On February 1, 1951, Captain Robert Hall Smith, U.S.N., assumed command of the Center. The Naval Training Center, under the command of the Center Commander, consists of four subordinate activities, each under a Commanding Officer. These ac- persons. A component activity of the Administrative Command is the Dental Technicians School, the mission of which is to provide graduated recruits and fleet per- sonnel with the technical knowledge and training re- quired to develop dental technicians for duty with the Heet and shore based forces. The Recruit Training Com- mand, the largest of the four subordinate commands, is responsible for the administration of the Recruit Basic Training Program the principles of which are to guide the recruit in the transition from civilian to military life; to introduce him to Navy life, naval customs, tradi- tions, disciplirie and esprit de corps, and, by intensive training and schooling, to fit him for naval service. The facilities of the Recruit Training Command con- sist of four large regiments, each named after naval heroes - Rodgers, Perry, James and Barney. Each camp is an entity in itself, - with its own drill hall, swimming pool, rifle range, mess hall, drill field, classrooms, bar- racks, and recreational facilities -and has the capacity to berth, mess and train a regiment of 5,000 population. All of the regiments are used to train regular male re- HEADGUARTERS, RECRUI'I' TRAINING COMMAND tivities are: The U. S. Naval Administrative Command, the Recruit Training Command, the Service School Com- mand, and the U. S. Naval Hospital. The Administra- tive Command serves as the staff of the Center Com- mander in his direction and administration of the other subordinate commands and performs for him all the administrative, operational, and logistic functions not specifically assigned to other commands. These various functions include security, fire protection, supply, dis- bursing, commissary, Navy Exchange, personnel, and religious administration, medical and dental care, main- tenance and repair, transportation, communications and other vital services essential to the efhcient and effective operation of a community totaling approximately 35,000 cruits; one regiment camp contains special facilities for training male recruits attached to the Recruit Prepara- tory Training Unit and for male reserve recruits ordered to active training duty for a period of two weeks; it also contains the only WAVE Recruit Training School in the Navy. This school, previously located at the U. S. Naval Training Center, Great Lakes, Illinois, was established at Bainbridge in October of 1951. The Service School Command, the third major ac- tivity, provides further training for recruits and fleet personnel in the technical knowledge of ratings required by the operating forces, and prepares them for more ad- vanced education and training in such special field as gunnery, hre control, radio and other technical subjects. Continued next page

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CAPTAIN WILLIAM J. CATLETT, JR. U. S. NAVY Commanding Officer, Recruit Training Command CAPTAIN WILLIAM JACKSON CATLETT, JR., U.S.N., Commanding thcer of the Re- cruit Training Command since 21 November 1953, was graduated from the Naval Academy in 1932. Following a tour of duty aboard the USS COLO- RADO he reported to the Naval Air Station, Pen- sacola, Flofida, for Hight training. After further sea duty, he returned to Pensacola as 3 Navigation Instructor in both flight and ground training of pilots. His war sewice included duty aboard the USS PEARY; he was commended for aiding the PEARY'S escape from a three-hour bomb and tor- pedo attack by Japanese planes. He later served in the ofhce of the Chief of Naval Operations and the ofhce 0f the Director of Aviation Training. Follow- ing staff duty at the General Line School, Newport, R. 1., and a tour of sea duty in the USS OKA- LOOSA, he served as Chief of Training for the Military Air Transport Service. Captain Catlett was the Commanding Officer of the attack cargo ship USS DIPHDA prior to re- porting to Bainbridge. During his career he has served in training of pilots, navigators and flight personnel for eight years, and the training of offi- cers and enlisted men on board ship and ashore for fourteen years. He was designated a Naval Aviation Observer tNavigatiom in 1945 and, among other awards, holds the Commendation Medal Pendant.

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A component activity of the Service School Command is the United States Naval Academy Preparatory School which, during the Fall and Winter months prepares en- listed men from all branches of the Armed Forces for the entrance examination to the U. S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. During the Summer months this School also trains and selects enlisted men of the Navy and Marine Corps for entrance in the following Fall to the Naval Reserve thcers Training Corps Pro- gram at a college or university of their own choice. The fourth major subordinate activity is the U. S. Naval Hospital, a separate and detached command. The Hospital provides medical and surgical facilities for the proper care of all recruits, students, and permanently assigned naval personnel of the Center and their de- pendents. Operating in conjunction with the Hospital is the Hospital Corps School, with about 1,200 students, whose function is to provide the technical knowledge and training necessary to develop these young men into Hospital Corpsmen for duty with the fleet and shore based forces. 51'. PAUL'S CHAPEL AND CENTER SALUTING BATTERY CAMP RODGERS' SALUTING BATTERY IN ACTION 7 A CLASS IN DAMAGE CONTROL harp