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

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-m- Academy station ship. Hazing broke out anew and was accompanied by almost routine court martials. But the changes were intrinsically good, and soon the silver lining began to appear. In 1884 the First Class were commissioned full ensigns immediately upon graduation. According to a new law, the students were reclassified in an officer ' s status. Ramsay ' s chief improvement upon the buildings and grounds was the demolition of the Superintendent ' s house, which had stood since 1790. THE FAMILIAR FACE of Commander fTimam T. Sampson appeared at the Academy for the fourth time, in 1886 — this time as Superintendent; previously he had been stationed here as a midshipman, as assistant professor, and later as head of the Department of Philosophy and head of the Department of Physics. Sampson succeeded in smoothing out Ramsay ' s many reforms. Midshipmen in their senior year were divided into two groups, engineers and line, each pursuing their respective professional studies. Today midshipmen take pride in their posture and physical condition. Not so in the 1880 ' s. The class of 1887 looked so bad June Week that morning exercises were established the next year. Alumni took a keen interest in the midshipmen and in 1890 organized the NAA — Navy Athletic Association. Under its auspices, the first Army- Navy football game took place on Thanksgiving Day, 1890. The Navy won the game, the first in a long and traditional rivalry, by a score of 24-0. In 1892 the Academy adopted blue and gold as its colors replacing the maroon and white; blue symbolized the dark sea waters and gold represented the ornaments and braid of the naval uniform. Rowing came to the fore in 1893 when Naval Cadet Winston L. Churchill of Mis- souri made a special trip to Yale to learn the fine points of the sport. In 1894 the Acad- emy claimed the first midshipman to hold a world ' s record. Cadet Izard won the fifty yard swim in 3l| seconds. Robert Means Thompson, Class of ' 68, presented the Academy with a silver loving cup, whereon was to be inscribed yearly the name of the cadet most eminent in athletics. «k On July 4, 1897, the entire Fourth Class found themselves on the receiving end of a demand request for their temporary presence aboard the Santee. They were indicted for firing the ship ' s guns in celebration earlier that morning. This custom of assigning midshipmen confinement aboard the Academy station ship remained a standard punish- ment until 1940 when the Executive Department decided to confine the midshipmen to their rooms in Bancroft Hall in order to accommodate more enlisted personnel on the ship.

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The cumulative effect of stagnation in the navy required the fullest effort of the next Superintendent, Rear Admiral C. R. P. Rodgers, to keep the Academy on its feet. He worked against great odds. Midshipmen saw no future in the Navy — a period of five to eight years as passed midshipmen awaited them upon graduation. Hazing again broke out, and many new pranks were found with which to annoy the officers. A few excerpts from the misdemeanor book of 1877 illustrate the general character of the times: BED, pouring water in another cadet ' s 2 demerits CHAIR, chalking, for benefit of sitter 2 demerits LOOKING GLASS, casting reflections with 2 demerits POCKETS, in trousers 1 demerit Commodore Foxhall A. Parker of the earlier Civil War incident, took the reins in 1888. The most salient feature during his term of service was the great Annapolis fire to which the battalion repaired with all available fire-fighting equipment. So gallantly did they perform that the privilege of smoking was granted to all midshipmenvyt A t A i Thirty-five years had passed since the opening of the naval school and progress was quite marked. In 1880 the Naval Academy was acknowledged to have the best course in marine engineering in the country. The older men in the Navy congenially derided the new learning with verses such as: « ' Now we ' ve had quite enough of the antique ideas Scarce one of all those who with Farragut fought, Of those chaps who are nothing but sailors; Or with Porter stood fire stout-hearted, They were well in their way, but this is the day Is versed in Keramics or Thermo-dynamics, Of Science, Aesthetics, and Tailors. So the day of their use has departed. DESPITE THE PROGRESS of the Naval Academy, the Navy reached its lowest ebb in 1882. A law was passed which made the students naval cadets, taking away any officer status that they might have attached to their title of midshipmen. Further- more, no commissions in the lower grades were to be given until vacancies existed. This same law provided that Marine Corps officers should come from the Academy. As a result of the depressing conditions, only twenty-one of the sixty-three graduates of 1881 were kept in the Navy. The rest were torn from their profession after six years of prepara- tion and returned to civilian life. For two years even the time-honored title of mid- shipman dropped out of the Navy, as graduates were made junior ensigns. And now to the Academy came Captain Francis M. Ramsay, a reformist with definite ideas and an inflexible determination. Practical drills were incorporated into the academic program; the course itself was divided into two three-year periods, basic studies occupying the first half, professional subjects and experience afloat comprising the second. New coefficients were assigned to the various studies, and conduct counted almost as much as foreign languages. Previously cadets had been quartered by classes; now they lived by divisions. More authority and responsibility was placed in the hands of cadet officers, and the title of gun captain was changed to petty officer in order to conform to fleet organization. These far-reaching changes produced more friction in the system. At one time the entire First Class were confined aboard the SanteCy

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THE NEW ACADEMY IS BORN -xx- IT WAS TIME FOR WAR AGAIN. One day in April, 1898, the First Class were unceremoniously handed their diplomas at noon meal in the mess hall. A month later the Second Class left and seventy-five more underclassmen joined their comrades in June and July. Practically the entire battalion was in the war; many of our present admirals received their first taste of battle in the Spanish-American War. Admiral Cervera of the defeated Spanish Navy and his captive officers lived along Buchanan Row during the latter part of the war. Probably no prisoners of war ever received better attention; they attended dances, bicycled around the Yard, and thoroughly enjoyed their two months ' sojourn. - -5! In May, 1899, the Personnel Bill amalgamated the engineers and the line; since then the midshipmen have all taken the same basic course. The Academy Crest, designed by Park Benjamin, Class of 1867, was adopted in 1899. The trident is the ancient symbol of sea power; the motto represents the purpose of the Academy; the book depicts the scholastic ideas; and the shield exhibits a Roman galley coming bows on into action, truly a distinguished crest for a now famous school. THE TURN of the century saw a great transformation at the Naval Academy. Just as the ancien regime had passed out of existence in the town of Annapolis, so was the old Academy destined to close its career. The New Academy was presaged in the report made by the Congressional Board of Visitors in 1895, which condemned the existing buildings for further use, even stating that they were a menace to health and safety. Colonel Robert Means Thompson, Class of 1868, a friend of the Academy and a member of the Board, engaged Mr. Ernest Flagg, a New York architect, to draw up a complete plan for a new Naval Academy. Congress appropriated one million dollars and on March 29, 1899, the rebuilding of the Academy began. The inevitable con- troversies involved in making changes in an existing organization were manifest, but obstructionists were slowly defeated as the old buildings were torn down, one by one. New land was made available for the new buildings by dredging mud up out of Chesa- peake Bay. The Flagg plan was drawn up to permit expansion of the various buildings and this phase of the plan later proved to be of great value. Luce Hall, Melville Hall, the Natatorium, the new Mess Hall, and Ward Hall have all been erected since the first World War. Bancroft Hall itself, the largest dormitory in the world, has had four wings added, and today houses over three thousand midshipmen and their activity rooms. When the famous little pill box known as Fort Severn was condemned in 1909 to make way for the new halls, the physical transformation of the Academy was completed. The survival of the old Fort until the last was due primarily to reasons of sentiment. It was the birthplace of American naval education and probably should have been spared as a museum for that reason alone. Only the monuments survived the transformation, for they were already firmly embedded in naval tradition as symbols of the unconquer- able spirit and lofty motives of the men whose names they bore. ; : In 1902 the title of naval cadet was officially abolished by an act of Congress and the traditional nautical title of midshipman was restored. During this period of rebuilding the midshipmen were quartered in wooden barracks along what is now Chauvenet Walk. An increase in the number of midshipmen in 1903 resulted in the