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

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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.

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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 CONSPICUOUS little Mexican War monument midway between Bancroft Hall and the academic group, honors the midshipmen who fell in the war with Mexico. A short distance away stands the obelisk erected to the memory of Commander JVilliam L. Herndon. The story back of this stone is a poignant one. As the captain of a ship which was foundering off Hatteras on September 12, 1857, Commander Herndon, seeing that nothing more could be done to save his ship and his men, went below, donned his full dress uniform and returned to the bridge. A few minutes later the ship began to sink rapidly. As the vessel plunged beneath the waves he came to a rigid attention and proudly raised his hat, — a gesture that for true majesty is unparalleled in naval history. : The oldest and most ornate monument found on the grounds of the Academy is the Tripolitan monument commemorating the intrepidity of the six gallant young officers of our infant Navy in its war with the Barbary pirates. The names of Somers, Caldwell, Israel, Dorsey, Wadsworth, and Decatur are indelibly im- pressed on the minds of all new Plebes in their first days at the Academy as are their exploits. Each and every monument found at the Academy has its story of devotion to duty, self-sacrifice, courage, and determination to add in some way to the rich heritage of tradition that forms the solid foundation of our Navy. THE MAGNIFICENT CHAPEL BUILDING was completed in 1908. This im- posing edifice, in the form of a Greek cross, with a huge dome over two hundred feet high, was built at a cost of over $400,000. The splendid bronze doors were given to the Academy by Colonel Robert Means Thompson in memory of the Class of 1868. Once inside the Chapel one is awed by the richness and beauty of the architecture and espe- cially the stained glass windows. The main windows are memorials to the Navy ' s first three admirals — Porter, Dewey, and Farragut; the two flanking windows portray the mission of the Chapel. One, dedicated to Lieutenant Commander Theodorus B. Mason, shows Sir Galahad with his sheathed sword before him. The other portrays a newly com- missioned ensign being shown by Christ the beacon he must follow as an officer. In 1939 it was decided to enlarge the Chapel in order to accommodate the increasing size of the regiment. Accordingly an extension was added which changed the plan from a Greek cross to the more familiar Christian cross. On March 16, 1941, the Construction Corps of the Navy presented a church ship model to the Naval Academy on behalf of the alumni of the Academy who were members of the Construction Corps when it was amal- gamated with the Navy the previous year. This votive ship model, measuring more than ten and one half feet overall, hangs from a heavy steel chain in the arch of the nave near the entrance of the new extension. The history of the votive ship model goes back to the earliest days when man associated the sea and the ship with an unseen deity who would look out for They that go down to the sea in ships. As far as is known, this is the only real votive ship model in the Western Hemisphere. Below the new Chapel extension is St. Andrew ' s Chapel, named for the Patron Saint of Sailors, used for weddings, baptisms, Sunday School classes, choir practices, and other rites. The Chapel visitor will always find that the most impressive moments there are those during Sunday services when the regiment reverently sings the Naval Academy hymn.