US Navy Recruit Training Command - Helm Yearbook (Newport, RI)

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HISTORY engagement of the Revolutionary IVar when a Colonial sloop and a British frigate fought a battle near the island. In the same year the island was the scene of the British defense in the Battle of Rhode Island. The earthworks used by the British still stands today. The transformation of Coasters Harbor Island from a possession of the City of Newport to a Naval Training Station began in 1880 when the city ceded the island The hrst Commandant was Commodore Stephen B. Luce, the man who originated the present method of training men for life aboard ship in the U. S. Navy. The Naval Training School at Newport was a direct result of Commodore Lucels efforts to establish a shore station for the training of men in the U. S. Navy and Merchant Marine. In September, 1883, the first recruit building was erected for use as a drill hall and gymnasium, but all recruits con- tinued to live aboard ship until 1887, when the function of training men on shore first began. Until that time recruits had been quartered aboard the U. S. S. New Hampshire. In 1894 the famous fighting ship, the U. S. S. Constella- tion, arrived at the Newport Training Station and has been to the State. Rhode Island, in tL1l'll, ceded the site to the Fed- eral Government in 1881. On june 4, 1883, William E. Chand- ler, the Secretary of the Navy, commissioned the Training Sta- tion. A. Ab 1 so . ji ' . ' 1 -' . , . h - 1, . - r 1 T ' : , I I i . , 'XXX 3 h I -.X I Ns . V ' . 4 . ,Lac , ji, .1 A K 2 .,,,g:a:ts V , 7.. ' ' '43 M1137 - , .Q ,mf -,e ' ...pig -, V M A ,... .pw omfaul u. s. Navy mm., The USS. Constellation I ,Mg,,,j.,..,. M.,-

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me . e . ll' g g . - A a -A ex ll 'q 59' IM un' efras ifi .az .1, ,. . Q9 qI ' 5 Q 'I n bguggfmf,-., I ' , at vw.,-..i,1g4-:Nui 9 g by N 9 -I. -549' ' N - fit:-.. S 5 9 . gl I- I -.94 0 Q. .9 Oglls . K. Ydxtyii ...Q E Sift S 1 ' if? TZ? I .Fw 'f xy e 294' if, EQ Lf v fj 1, ' Wg: - -rf ' 1 X, I ' . fgiiij 1: XX . Q -1 X ' ,wax-LUN? K X! tx . . -Li -, A::1.Qfjff x KL J I tx I -ffsesvft, .Q-I , fffww.. I, k X X C R. We f'77f'39T'f3f.'?if-fzi?11'Sf ' X I f , . . -.. F ff I .xx-J lf! 5 K ., rfg 1 fig , a y V 1 - nf t I I Jkf' rw it f W- ,-,.- fff' - , J ' ' ' I1f1c'lZ2?35i CCi'.f7-+V-nf,ffrrf'ffC' 17 v , , , ,Jw Station at Newport properly begins with the first recorded sighting of Coasters Harbor Island in April 1639 by Nicholas Easton and his two sons. Nineteen years later the island in Narragansett Bay was sold to the great grandfather of Benedict Arnold, and to history of the U. S. Naval Training John Greene of Newport, by the Indians for six pounds and ten shillings. Newport received the future site of the recruit training station in 1673 for the same price originally paid to the Indians. Coasters Harbor Island, in 1778, had the distinction of being the scene of the first naval Marker on the Station comrneinorating the land- cgi . cy 25455 7, X U ing of the Eastons on Coasters Harbor Island XXX J P F

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so assigned since that time. However, at the close of Mforld lfVar II the Constellation was sent to Boston to undergo repairs. Recruit train- ing at Newport continued steadily throughout the Spanish-American VV'ar and liVorld YVar I, supplying the Navy with thousands of men. From l933 until 1935 no recruits were received at the station, but after the resumption of HISTORY training the program expanded and accelerated until at the height of XN'orld XVar ll more than l6,UOU recruits were receiving their training at the same time. The recruit training program closed down for a second time in 1944, but was reopened in August, 1950 and is once again supplying the U. S. Navy with well trained men for duty ashore and afloat. War College ' N Wal uits . States du Reef United Rhode lslan day, me NSWPOTL' tudents here SO HWY b e COYHC S United St Slafffs N Bgltisn Newport Xgal Trammg -In mlnlstratl OD