United States Naval Academy - Lucky Bag Yearbook (Annapolis, MD)

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THIS IS THE STORY of ducks who learned to swim in a garret; the story of men who learned about ships, ashore. This is the story of men who fooled the experts, men who found in books the ways to make a fighting man-of-war. It is the story of men who should have been students, and yet were men of action. They are men like Dewey Sampson, Schley, Sims, Hart, and Halsey, But the Naval Academy which produced these men did not spring into being overnight. It was the work of men who persevered, who set an excellent example, and who guided the institution with a firm and knowing hand. EX SCIENTIA DEN

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4NE hundred years ago the chances for the establishment and survival of a Naval Academy were relegated almost entirely to the realm of mere f ossibility. Many there were indeed who favored the new undertaking, but many more there seemed to be who discredited any attempt designed to produce sea-going ' officers in shore-based schools. The chief objection brought forth by this latter group was at the time a purely natural one — we didn ' t need a new school. All our officers were produced at sea; this period was the Golden Age of our naval history. With such fine examples as Decatur Perryy and Macdonough — all products of shipboard education — it is not hard to realize that the forces opposing the establish- ment of a naval school comprised a large and influential group. This bloc was known as the Old Navy. i But the pendulum was swinging. Steam began to replace sail, and instruction in steam engineering became an important consideration. The fleet provided no opportunities for the midshipmen to learn about this new imple- ment, and the necessity for shore-based schools soon became apparent, even to the die- hard captains of the Old Navy. By 1833, schools for instruction of midshipmen had been established at Navy yards in New York, Boston, and Norfolk. But these schools did not train officers; they merely prepared midshipmen for their examinations for promotions, and attendance was voluntary. The more progressive elements in the Navy won the first round in their fight for a permanent officers ' training school in 1838, when a school was established at the Naval Asylum in Philadelphia. Midshipmen on shore duty were ordered to the school for instruction in mathematics and navigation. For four years the school plodded along. Then in 1842, one Professor fVilliam Chauvenety young, energetic, and full of ideas, arranged new and more thorough courses in mathematics and attempted to give the newly founded school a truer orientation by changing it from a cram school into a realistic institution for professional naval education. Although he was a few years ahead of the times, his ideas eventually reached fruition when the Naval Academy was established at Annapolis. IF WE CAN SINGLE OUT one man who contributed the most material assistance in establishing the Naval Academy, that man is George Bancroft, Secretary of the Navy from 1845 to 1847. He conciliated the older elements of the Navy, allowed the younger board a free expression of their ideas, pulled a few strings of his own, and finally re- ceived the approval of all factions in the Navy for the establishment of the new school. He understood the position the Old Navy held regarding the training of land- lubbers, so the original plans provided that only midshipmen on shore duty would be accepted for instruction. Bancroft displayed a shrewd sense of evalua- tion in selecting as instructors those men who he knew would promote the ideas of the new undertaking. He named Commander Franklin Buchanan, an educated and efficient officer as well as a stern disciplinarian, to the post of Superintendent. To assist Buchanan, eight men were selected, three of whom— Lieutenant James Ward, Professor