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

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Sea Year has seen a few changes as the Academy has grown over the years. The original four year curriculum has changed from three years at sea to one year at sea. After spending one year learning the basic fundamentals. Third Class year came around. All Third Classmen were sent out to sea, some aboard the multitude of commercial merchant vessels, a few onboard Academy training vessels. Vessels like the TV Kings Pointer or the TV Verna hold many memories for graduates who sailed upon them. During their shortlived service as fully operated training vessels, they called on such exotic ports as Halifax, Rio de Janerio, and many more. In April and August 1942, the other points officially opened. Pass Christian in Mississippi and San Mateo in Cali- fornia were the offspring of the Gulf and Pacific Coast Re- ceiving Stations. When they finally opened in 1942, they were designed to give basic training to incoming plebes. Both facilities flourished and peaked in the Fall of 1944, when the Cadet corps numbered 4000. Each was its own entity, San Mateo was declared an outstanding example of recent American architecture by the Museum of Modern Art. It lay in the shadow of Hollywood and prominent actors and radio personalities frequently visited and performed. Pass Christian Cadets contented themselves to entertain young ladies from a nearby college. At the end of the war the need to maintain two Cadet Basic Schools on either coast began to wane. The budgetary sword of Damocles hung over the heads of the Cadet Schools. San Mateo saw its end at the close of Fiscal year 1947. Its end came very quietly, neither San Mateo's Bear- ings or Kings Point's Polaris took advanced notice of it. Polaris' September issue reported the arrival of 122 fourth classmen transferred from San Mateo. The Coyote Point base reverted to the original donors and today is known as Coyote Point Park. The only remaining evidence of the school is a monument erected by Kings point's San Francisco Alumni Chapter. Pass Christian survived. But its survival only turned out to be a stay of sentence. As its Battalion was preparing for a half-holiday September 18, 1947, to celebrate the fourth anniversary of the Dedication Day, it was warned of the approach of a hurricane. The celebration was cancelled and all possible efforts were taken to secure the school. A tidal wave swept over Hendersons Point making it a total con- structive loss. After spending a wretched night among the soaking debris, five army trucks rolled into the Point, loaded the refugees and a few salvaged possesions, and started them on their way to Kings Point. On September 2, 1948, a cadre of sixty-six Kings Point Cadet-Midshipmen arrived at Pass Christian to start clearing the wreckage. By November of that year the school was able to re-open, on what many felt was borrowed time. Time came to an end on March 1, 1950. On March 21 the school would detach its last class of gradu- ates at sea, the remaining plebes would travel to Kings Point. This time there would be no return. Third Class year came to an end in 1954 when the split Sea Year was introduced. Now, half of the second and third class went out to sea for the first half of the year. When they returned to the Academy for further training the remainder of their class ventured out to sea.

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No story about Kings Pointers at war would be complete without mention that about the time they ceased to re- ceive DSMs, Cadet Corpsmen who died in service began to be honored in a different way. This was the assign- ment of their names to Liberty Ships, which by rule could only be name for deceased persons important in this country's history. Five cadet-midship- men and at least two graduates were so commemerated. The fabled Liberty Ships of World War II, are remembrances of an era that has passed. Today these memorial Lib- erty Ships have all gone to join the namesake Kings Pointers who gave their lives on other Liberty Ships. Like the Battle Standard, however, the ship registers of the forties and fifties still bear silent witness that they served and died. In the history of human institutions, changes of direction have a way of coming about very quietly, almost sur- eptitiously. It is doubtful whether any cadet-midshipmen at Kings Point, or for that matter, any officer noticed any differences between the Academy of October 1 and the Academy of Sep- tember 29, 1943. Nothing had really changed by the official announcements of the Dedication on the 30th. Yet, a virtual 180° course change was taking place. All effort had gone into making Kings Point a sea college to create what the Academy has become today. Em- ' phasis was placed exclusively on devis- ing and perfecting a stripped-down, high speed instructional machine. The Sea Project, which was intro- duced in late 1942, was a self study course, deck or engine as appropiate, which supplanted the correspondence courses of prior years. It replaced the theoretical approach and treated the ship to which the student was assigned like a laboratory in which he could truely learn by doing. Clockwise from left: Cadet Edwin J. O'Hara. Capatin J.H. Tomb, Superinten- dent, addresses guests at USMMA Dedi- cation Day ceremony. Getting help with the Sea Project. Cadet with blue print traces out lines. The American Mariner enroute to Kings Point for live storage; the only liberty ship completed for use as a training ship. Battle scene from Ac- tion in the North Atlantic; the story of Cadet Edwin J. O'Hara. Survivors flee a sinking ship.

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Today, the United States Merchant Marine Academy is the only four year accredited college which includes in its curriculum the Sea Year Program. As part of the professional training, each midshipman participates in a coopera- tive educational program consisting of two quarters of the sophomore year and two quarters of the junior year at sea aboard commercially operated merchant ships. Every effort is made to assign midshipmen to different vessels during their two periods of training. They thereby become familiar with the performance and operating character- istics of various classes of ships and with rN mold the midshipman's professional and personal character in a real life en- vironment not generally available to the average college student. Opening 17 the diverse operating requirements of different trade routes while at the same time gaining valuable practical experi- ence in the performance of shipboard duties. This type of training exposes the midshipman to the skills, knowledge, and professional attitudes required of a licensed ships officer. It allows the mid- shipman to study the important differ- ence between classroom study and practical ships operations. The mid- shipman is exposed to the demands and benefits of a maritime career first hand and can thus judge if, in fact, it is a suitable career choice. It is also helps to