United States Merchant Marine Academy - Midships Yearbook (Kings Point, NY)

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Cadets celebrating the Permanency Act. Accreditation and Permanency With the return of peace, the United States again faced the same problem it was confronted with after World War I—a surplus of ships. Fortunately, the provisions of the Shipping Act of 1936 enabled steamship operators to keep some 1800 vessels in serv- ice. Not since the days of the clipper ships had so many modern American vessels sailed the high seas in competition with the carriers of foreign nations. It was realized that the Cadet Corps and its graduates were to play an ever increasingly important role in this move forward. To meet this challenge, the Academy at Kings Point returned to a four year curric- ulum which introduced courses in humanities, the social sciences, and the economics of shipping. Facilities for the teaching of those professional subjects which had been stressed during the war were expanded so that training would be up-to-date with the technological advances in the maritime industry. As a result of these efforts, the Academy was formally accredited in 1949, and authorized to grant a Bachelor of Science degree to its graduates. On February 7, 1956, the Cadet Corps and its backers won a 10-year fight to put a bill through the Congress which made Kings Point a permanent institution with the same status as the other Federal Academies. Until this time, the Cadet Corps had existed on a year-to-year basis under the direction of the Maritime Administration. 12

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Kings Point Builds Too Fulton Hall under construction. CCC shacks in background housed Cadets while permanent buildings were being erected. Partly completed Academy seen from the air in February of 1943. Buildings between Barney Square and the Oval served as barracks. In order to meet wartime needs, the course of study was reduced to 18 months. From January of 1942 to January of 1943 the Cadet Corps grew from 411 to 4638 men. Coaling the old EMERY RICE. This gallant vessel served both as a training vessel and as a barracks for 100 Cadets. She made weekly cruises up and down Long Island Sound on which many a Cadet got his first taste of seafaring. 11

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A Look to the Future The last frontiers of the continents have been conquered. Man, in his search for new conquests, looks toward outer space and the sea. The millions of square miles of unexplored ocean bottom are only now beginning to be tapped for the minerals and resources in which they abound; resources to supply mankind’s needs as continental reserves diminish. In a climate of peace and prosperity, international trade and ocean shipping have grown and will continue to grow in order to meet the needs of the com- munity of nations. The importance of the sea has not diminshed, nor has the need for men who are willing to face its rigors and accept the challenge which it offers. The sextant and chronometer are now rivaled by electronic navigation systems. Here Deck Cadets learn to operate gear which was just a dream when the Cadet Corps was first started. The steam lab is a working model of a ship’s engineroom and a far cry from the greenhouse in which the first Engine Cadets worked on secondhand diesels. 13 The nuclear engineroom simulator, used to train the engineers who will operate the atomic powered merchant ships of the future, has personified the coming of the nuclear age to Kings Point.