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

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N Av A L H E R I TAG E J OHN PAUL JONES set the pattern for aggressive, resolute fighting which has always been the ideal of the U. S. Navy. The heritage of our modern Navy is a vast montage of individual maritime achievements. Whether the ship be wooden, sail, armored, or atom powered, the indomitable spirit of fighting, sea faring, American men have made our country the bastion of the free world today. To John Paul Jones went the honor of first hoist- ing the Stars and Stripes over an American man-of- war, the USS RANGER, of receiving the first na- tional salute in Quiberon Bay on February 14, 1778, from France. In command of the BONHOMME RICHARD he defeated and captured the SERAPIS off Flamborough Head, giving our Navy its famous fighting words upon an invitation to surrender, I have not yet begun to tight. With such inspiration thousands of American sailors have followed in his wake, making individ- ual courage collectively the spirit of our Navy. Commodore Edward Preble, like John Paul Jones, tilled his oHicers and men with esprit and fighting courage. Some of Preblets boys became the great leaders of the War of 1812, Stephen Decatur, James Lawrence, Thomas Macdonough. Perry swept Bri- tish sea power off Lake Erie. Hull and Bainbridge in the CONSTITUTION, along with Decatur in the UNITED STATES, established American naval power on the high seas during the first year of the War of 1812. As our nation grew in stature in the family of nations, so did our naval officers grow in stature as diplomats. Typical of their exploits was Commo- dore Matthew Galbraith Perry's negotiations with the Emporer of Japan in 1853-54. Our war between the states developed the same kind of lighting men. David Dixon Porter became famous on the Mississippi River. Captain Raphael Semmes in the commerce raider, CSS ALABAMA, alone captured sixty-nine union ships before he was destroyed off Cherbourg, France by Winslow in the USS KEARSAGE. Perhaps the outstanding Civil War naval hero was David Glasgow Farragut CtDamn the torpedoes, full speed aheadl'h, whose fleets enforced the blockade of the Confederacy. JOHN PAUI. JONES, 1747-1792 tCECEl-IA BEAUXi One generation of fighting men breeds its suc- I HAVE NOT YET BEGUN TO FIGHT , JOHN PAUL JONES' QUAlIFICATIONS 0F REPLY TO CAPTAIN PEARSON OF THE SERAPI THE NAVAl OFFICER IT IS BY NO MEANS enough that an officer of the Navy should be a capable mariner. He must be that, of course, but also a great deal more. He should be as well a gentleman of liberal education, refined manners, punctilious courtesy, and the nicest sense of personal honor. He should be the soul of tact, patience, justice, firmness, and charity. No meritorious act of a sub- ordinate should escape his attention or be left to pass without its reward, even if the reward is only a word of approval. Conversely, he should not be blind to a single fault in any subordinate, though, at the same time, he should be quick and unfailing to distinguish error from malice, thoughtlessness from incompetency, and well meant shortcoming from heedless or stupid blunder. Reproduction of paintings in this section are by courtesy of the U. S. Naval Academy COH'iHUEd ex, page Museum, the United States Naval Institute, the Naval Photographic Center, Chief of Naval Operations. the Commandant of the Marine Corps. and the Electric Boat CompanyJ

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THE NI'I'ED STATES CONSTITUTION AND HMSV .IAVA q December 29, 1812 uTo the Senate and House of Representatives. AI lay before Congress a letter with accompany- irom Commodore Bainbridge, i ' VResolved by the Senate and House of Represen- g his captur e tatives of the United States of America in Cone a. The circumstances of g mbled, hat the President oi the United the issue of this combat afford another instance a is hereby, requested to p of the professional skill and heroic spirit which i i ' ' preva of b0 b ommodore Bai and crew command the highest prais ing the second instance in which the condition I 0 the 0f the captured ship, by rendering it impossible 'g d b 0 of the gal- to get her into port, has barred a contemplated i d vices of Captain reward for successful valour, I recommend to the ' i ' , hi d crew, in the consideration of Congress, the equity and pro- p h irigate java, after a success- priety of a general provision allowing m such C3565! both P35 : a fair proportion Oi H. Clay, Speaker of the House of Representatives the value whim e to the captors on W. H. Crawiord, Pres. of the Senate, Pro, Tem. the safe arrival and sale of the prize. March 3, 1813 James Madison Approved: James Madison

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CAPTAIN JAMES LAWRENCE'S thG WORDS FLOWN BY COMMODORE OLIVER HAZARD PERRY, IN HIS FLAG SHIP DURING THE SEA BATTLE FOR LAKE ERIE 1813. AVAI- HERITAGE CONTINUED cessors. Dewey, and Sampson, our naval leaders in the Spanish- American War at the turn of the century, led and bred the naval leaders of our next war, Wilson, Simms, Hart, Taussig, and many others next guided our Navy in the defeat of the German U-boat menace and convoyed our armies safely to France in the war with Germany during 1917 and 1918. Between the wars the Navy devoted its meager resources and manpower, ships and funds to research and development in aviation and submarine warfare. Stricken at Pearl Harbor and the Philippines in 1941, practically blockaded by German sub- marines operating off our East coast ports, the nation built, in three short years, the most powerful naval force in the history of the world. The indomitable spirit of our carrier dive bomber and torpedo plane pilots turned the tide of the war in the Pacific in the Battle of Midway, June 4th, 1942. From that day on, naval power in the Pacific slowly but surely drove the Japanese im- perial forces into their home waters. Powerful Amphibious forces, protected alike by carrier air power and our submarine forces, swept the Japanese armies off the Pacific Islands. Our fast carrier task forces destroyed the Japanese Fleets. Possibly the greatest air battle in the naval annals was the 44Mariannas Turkey Shoot, in June 1944, in which the carrier pilots 0f Admiral Marc Mitcher's Task Force 58 and antiaircraft fire COMMODORE MATTHEW CALBRAITH PERRY IN THE USS SUSQUEHANNA ENTERING YOKOHAMA, JAPAN 1853. was r' THE CONSTITUTION DEFEATS THE GUERRIERE tFRANK VINING SMITHl. CAP- TAIN ISAAC HULL, IN PROBABLY THE MOST FAMOUS SINGLE SHIP ENGAGE- MENT IN THE ANNALS OF THE U. S. NAVY PROVES OLD IRONSIDES. accounted for most of the 346 Japanese planes destroyed. After the war the exploits of our silent service, the men who fought under the sea in our submarines, was finally publicized. Ranging throughout the Pacific and into the very harbors of Japan itself our fighting submarines sank 214 Japanese naval vessels $77,626 tonsy and 1,178 merchant vessels 61,053,491 tonsy, a monument to the greatest submarine force in history. During this period the Atlantic Fleet was rapidly breaking the back of the German Navy by sweeping from the sea the greatest submarine menace ever to threaten this nation. Our convoys were supplying the allied armies in Europe and our ships were conducting landings in Sicily, Italy and finally Normandy. The greatest lltwo ocean Navy in the world had played a large part in bringing victory to America and the free world. And this war, like all wars, led to the development of new inventions, new techniques and new weapons conceived by American genius and perfected by men of vision. While industry COMMODORE MATTHEW CALBRAITH PERRY NEGOTIATING THE TREATY WITH JAPAN 1853-BRILLIANT FEAT OF DIPLOMACY THAT OPENED THE DOOR 'I'O WESTERN COMMERCE AND TRADE.