Four American Naval Heroes Part 24

The marines have their own mess and their own sleeping s.p.a.ce, forming a community of their own.

Perhaps some boys and girls may think that the captain and his officers have a much easier time than Jacky or the marines. This is not so. In the first place, they had many studies to master before they could be officers. They had to learn a great deal about mathematics, mechanical and electrical engineering, navigation, gunnery, and international law.

And then these studies are never ended; the progress that is made in them, each year all over the world, must be known by each officer.

The officers are responsible for the lives of the crew and the safety of the ship. They must be ready to think and act quickly in emergencies. In hours of peril they never leave their posts.

XI.--SOME FACTS ABOUT THE NAVY OF 1898.

The Const.i.tution of the United States provides that the President shall be commander-in-chief not only of the army but also of the navy. His chief a.s.sistant in the management of naval affairs is the Secretary of the Navy, who is also a member of his cabinet.

In 1898 the Navy Department of the United States was just one hundred years old, having been organized in 1798 with Benjamin Stoddert as Secretary.

The work of the department is divided among eight bureaus, as follows:

1. The Bureau of Yards and Docks, which is intrusted with the construction and maintenance of docks and wharves, and with all civil engineering work in the navy yards.

2. The Bureau of Navigation, which superintends the education of officers and men, controls the enlistment of men and apprentices, and directs the movements of ships and fleets.

3. The Bureau of Equipment, which attends to the manufacture of ropes, anchors, cables, and other articles required for the equipment of naval vessels, purchases coal for their use, and controls the Naval Observatory.

4. The Bureau of Ordnance, which has charge of the manufacture of guns and ammunition, also of torpedo stations and magazines.

5. The Bureau of Construction and Repair, which is charged with the building and repair of small boats and of the hulls of ships, and attends to the purchase of turrets and armor.

6. The Bureau of Steam Engineering, which directs the building and repairing of machinery in any way connected with the ships.

7. The Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, which designs, erects, and maintains naval hospitals and superintends their management.

8. The Bureau of Supplies and Accounts, which is responsible for the purchase and supply of all provisions and stores, and of the accounts relating to the same.

Each of these bureaus is presided over by an officer of skill and experience, who, while he holds the office, has the rank of commodore.

The United States has navy yards at Portsmouth, New Hampshire; Boston, Ma.s.sachusetts; Brooklyn, New York; League Island, Pennsylvania; Norfolk, Virginia; Washington, District of Columbia; and Mare Island, California.

At these navy yards ships are overhauled and repaired, machinery is adjusted and renewed, and stores of all kinds are provided. Here, too, on the receiving ships, the recruits are received and instructed.

There are naval stations at Newport, Rhode Island; New London, Connecticut; Port Royal, South Carolina; Key West and Pensacola, Florida; and Puget Sound, Washington.

At Indian Head, Maryland, is the naval proving-ground for the test of armor and guns.

The Naval Observatory is at Washington, and was at first merely a depot for naval charts and instruments.

In 1898, the highest officer in the American navy was the rear admiral.

The other officers in their order, ranking downward, were commodores, captains, commanders, lieutenant commanders, lieutenants, lieutenants junior grade, and ensigns. All these are known as officers of the line.

At the close of the year there were seven rear admirals, ten commodores, forty-one captains, and eighty-five commanders.

The rank of rear admiral is equal to that of major general in the army.

A commodore is equal to a brigadier general; a captain in the navy ranks with a colonel in the army; a commander ranks with a lieutenant colonel; and a lieutenant in the navy is equal to a captain in the army.

The law provides that when an officer reaches the age of sixty-two years he must be retired from active service. One who has been disabled in the service, or who has served honorably for forty years and requests release, may also be retired. Officers on the retired list receive three-fourths as much pay as when on active duty at sea.

Rear Admiral Dewey will be retired on the 26th of December, 1899. In 1898 there were thirty-three rear admirals on the retired lists.

The officers while at sea receive more pay than when on sh.o.r.e duty. The salary of an ensign at sea is $1200 a year; that of a rear admiral is $6,000. The salaries of the other officers range between these two extremes.

Previous to 1898 the number of enlisted men in the navy was limited to ten thousand. These men are received for a period of three years; and any one after serving continuously for twenty years may be a.s.signed to duty in the navy yards, or on board receiving ships, or to other duties not requiring them to go far from home. All who have served thirty years are ent.i.tled to admittance in the Naval Home. The wages of enlisted men vary from $16 to $70 a month, according to the kind of work they perform.

The law provides that seven hundred and fifty boys may be enlisted as apprentices in the navy. These are received only with the consent of their parents or guardians, and are required to serve until they are twenty-one years old.

Besides the regular navy of the United States there is a naval militia organized in eighteen states. This militia is under the general direction of the a.s.sistant Secretary of the Navy; and its duty in time of war is to man the vessels designed for coast and harbor defense.

At the beginning of the year 1898 there were more than four thousand men and officers in the naval militia. During the war with Spain, most of these were mustered into the naval service and did duty on the war vessels or in the signal service along the coast.

At the close of the year there were belonging to our government nine battleships, all of which had been built since 1890. Four others were in process of construction. The average cost of vessels of this cla.s.s is about $3,500,000.

Of other vessels in the navy of 1898, there were two armored cruisers which cost $2,986,000 each; one ram, the _Katahdin_; six double turreted monitors; thirteen single turreted monitors; seventeen protected cruisers; four unarmored cruisers; fifteen gunboats; and ten torpedo boats. Many other vessels of different cla.s.ses were being built.

All these were in active service, or soon to be so. But there were also several other vessels of the old-fashioned style which, although of little use in battle, were valuable in the various peaceful enterprises in which the navy is always engaged. Of such there were six old iron vessels and ten wooden frigates, all propelled by steam, and seventeen old wooden sailing vessels, some of which were used as receiving ships.

During the war with Spain, many temporary additions were made to the navy. Eleven merchant vessels were bought or leased and converted into auxiliary cruisers. Among these were the four fast steamers of the American line, the _St. Louis_, the _St. Paul_, the _Yale_, and the _Harvard_.

Twenty-eight yachts also were purchased and turned into auxiliary gunboats or torpedo boats. Among these was the _Gloucester_, which did such fine work during the destruction of Cervera's fleet. It had formerly been a pleasure yacht belonging to Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan of New York.

In addition to the vessels just named, the government also bought twenty-seven tugs to be changed into gunboats or cruisers; and it obtained seventeen steam vessels of various sizes to be used as transports and for many other purposes.

Altogether the navy of 1898 comprised an imposing collection of vessels of many kinds and of various degrees of efficiency. Of the work which it accomplished we have already learned.