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

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-xxi- formation of a brigade composed of two battalions of four companies each. This organ- ization was maintained until the outbreak of the first World War when the midshipmen were formed as a regiment of four battalions. At that time there were three companies to a battalion. By the simple expedient of varying the number of men in each company it became an easy matter to handle changes in the size of the regiment. Since 1914 the battalions have varied in composition from two to the present five companies. » 5; THE FIRST DECADE of the New Academy was a busy and eventful one. Even foreign countries took note of the educational prowess of the Naval Academy. Japan sent some fifteen students here during the course of several decades. The first one, Jiro Matsumulla, had entered in 1869 and eventually became Vice-Admiral of the Imperial Japanese Navy. The Class of 1900 graduated Hiroaki Tamura the last of the Japanese to attend the Academy. In the next four or five classes were graduated the men who today guide the destiny of the most powerful Navy that history has ever recorded, men like Admiral Ernest J. King, Admiral William F. Halsey, and Admiral Harold R. Stark. The ragtime era of American history found the life at the Naval Academy highlighted by visits from representative squadrons of foreign navies. In 1905 the remains of the Father of the American Navy, John Paul Jones, were brought to the Naval Academy for final interment. A search had been underway for several years before the grave was definitely located in France by General Horace Porter, then American Ambassador to France. In 1913 Dahlgren Hall was first filled to capacity for the impressive ceremonies when Admiral Jones ' remains were taken to the splendid sarcophagus located in the crypt beneath the chapel. A very solemn crowd was assembled to pay honor to the memory of our greatest naval hero and heard President Theodore Roosevelt close the historic day with the Olympian statement that the man who never surrenders never has to make excuses, — an appropriate corollary to the fighting words given the Navy by Jones. The tomb itself is surrounded by eight massive monolithic columns of Pyrenean marble. On the marble floor around the tomb are arranged the names of the seven ships Jones commanded or captured during the Revolutionary War: Serapis, Alliance, Providence, Bon Homme Richard, Alfred, Ariel, and Ranger. DURING THIS SAME YEAR the famous battle song of the Navy was born. Bandmaster Charles A. Zimmerman had long made a habit of composing a march for each graduating class and playing it during the June Week festivities. For his efforts Lieutenant Zimmerman was rewarded with a medal by the honored class, a practice that eventually made the rotund bandmaster the butt of many jokes by the midship- men because his marches usually were soon forgotten and never played again. One day Midshipman Alfred H. Miles, a member of the First Class Choir, approached him and offered to collaborate for the purpose of composing a march that would be inspiring, — a march that would live. The two men sat down at the chapel organ and worked out the stirring words and music to the immortal classic Anchors Aweigh. Navy men ever since have been steadfast in their belief that no college can boast of a marching song to match it. The song was first sung by the Regiment at the Army-Navy football game of 1907, at which time the midshipmen won the second successive victory over the EARLY 1900 ' S AT THE NEW ACADEMY y ri ' nninrf=»rf -= HB i f

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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

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MEMORIALS TO OUR NAVAL GREAT -nil- fFest Point cadets. This march has been the football fight song of the Academy since its first singing. A stirring hymn, Navy Blue and Gold was composed in the middle twenties by Professor J. W. Crosley to serve as the Alma Mater song. The true sentiments of the Academy graduate for his Alma Mater are nowhere more nobly expressed than in this hymn. This same year saw the completion o( Maury Hall, the home of the Depart- ment of Mathematics and the Department of English, History, and Government; Sampson Hall, the home of the Department of Electrical Engineering; Mahan Hall, the scene of all lectures, stage productions, and movies for the midshipmen; and the new Administration Building. ONE OF THE MANY TASKS confronting the duty officers at the Naval Academy was that of developing the midshipmen from school boys to polished gentlemen with the strictest sense of dignity and honor. The close attention to detail which this required can be seen by examining the dancing regulations which th e Department of Discipline (forerunner of the Executive Department) formulated in 1913: 1. None of the modern dances will be performed under any circumstances. 2. Midshipmen must keep their left arm straight during all dances. 3. A space of three inches must be kept between the dancing couple. 4. Midshipmen must not take their partner ' s arm under any circumstances. 5. Midshipmen will not leave the ballroom floor until the dance has been completed and all officers and their guests have left. With such restrictions it is not surprising that midshipmen did not acquire grace on the dance floor. Smoking was also strictly regulated by the Department of Discipline. It had been a hard and fast rule for many years that midshipmen would not be permitted to smoke in their rooms, but later years brought the extraordinary privilege for First Classmen of keeping their smoking articles in cabinets in Recreation Hall, where they could congregate after dinner for a smoke and a chat. It is from this privilege that Recreation Hall acquired its more popular name of Smoke Hall. The NAVAL ACADEMY grounds have always been a Valhalla of American naval heroes and it is to these men that the numerous impressive memorials are erected about the Yard. The first object of interest to the visitor in Bancroft Hall is the flag hung high in Memorial Hall. It is under this flag that all midshipmen begin their naval careers as they take the oath of office. The flag is simple, but it has a message of fighting courage and determination in its blue folds. The uneven white letters stitched on the faded blue field spell out the words always present in the subconscious mind of the Naval Academy graduate as he takes on the mantel of an officer— DON ' T GIVE UP THE SHIP. These undying words of Captain Lawrence of the Chesapeake, flown on this flag by Com- modore Perry at the Battle of Lake Erie significantly confront the midshipman on his first and last day at the Naval Academy — initially as he takes the oath of office as a midshipman, and finally as he is commissioned an ensign in the United States Navy.