The rapid expansion of tilt navy and the continued policy of keeping a maximum number of vessels in commission is the chief cause of the stress in the course of instruction at the Naval Academy, and scarcely secondary, are the effects of the personnel law of 1899. The latter with its resulting amalgamation, requiring much additional time for the study of both theoretical and practical engineering, being always opposed by the former with its demands upon the personnel at Annapolis to keep the ships manned.
Not only is this tension apparent in engineering, but in ordnance and electricity as well, for these have already far overstepped the allotted portion of the curriculum and both with a wide range of development still ahead.
It is being said in our ships that midshipmen do not know as much as they used to; that they are unable to put theory into practice; that, professionally, they do not acquit themselves with that thoroughness which has so generally characterized an officer of the navy.
This, aside from engineering duties against which these charges are not directed, is in great part true.
And true in an era when midshipmen must know more to cope successfully with all that advancement in science has installed upon our ships.
The causes are not obscure. One, of course, is the eliminating of that keen element of competition from Annapolis, and with it the consequent loss of ambition for high class standing. Every midshipman who has attained a satisfactory mark is graduated and every one graduated is commissioned It is no longer a case of one hundred struggling for ten vacancies, and certainly the desire for high standing for its own sake can in no way compare with it when a commission is at stake. Moreover, midshipmen cannot be expected to realize the effects of such standing upon future promotion.
Yet this cannot be the principal reason, for the caliber of the young men at Annapolis, gathered as they are from the length and breadth of this ambitious land, cannot be materially altered.
Consider another cause: amalgamation has forced into a course of four years already filled to overflowing, the element of engineering which absolutely demands a great deal of time for its comprehension and investigation—its importance is assured in the world to-day and its status in the navy (and, therefore, in the curriculum at Annapolis) is defined by law. With what result? The course is overcrowded. Ordnance, of which a completer knowledge is more essential at present than ever before; electricity, with its gigantic strides; navigation and surveying, with increasing requirements to keep step with our expanding country. All of these, struggling under old conditions to meet the new.
With all this, the cry of more officers to man more ships, cutting down the almost bursting course. For some time, midshipmen have been graduated at the end of three and one-half years, cramming into the last half year what was previously taught in a whole one, losing completely a great deal of the most professional and practical instruction received at any time during the entire course preparatory as this was, to their entrance upon active duties on board ship.
Even under former conditions, when the professional subjects were better covered in section-room than to-day, the daily work assigned was often of necessity long and consequently, improperly assimilated by the average mind and the practical work was limited. What must it be now, with so much more exacted and yet both theory and practice so distressingly curtailed? Is it his fault that the midshipman is not as fully equipped as once he was?
There are those who are proving amalgamation a failure, yet they cannot gainsay the fact that the chief detriment to its efficiency is the lack of time and opportunity available with the young naval officer for the study and practice of engineering. The many who proclaim amalgamation a success must admit this same barrier to present higher efficiency.
The question of time is not as vital in the large engineering schools, however, though it is obvious that, despite the length and thoroughness of such a course, the graduate is, in no wise, the master of his profession until experience with its practical application, supplements it. In the case of midshipmen time is the retarding factor for both, yet it certainly admits of remedy, and such remedy would be applicable to all other professional branches.
The law has decided that all under-graduates at the Naval Academy shall be taught engineering, and every effort is being made to carry out that law to its fullest extent within the limits of the time allowed.
The shops, the laboratories, the drafting-rooms of the engineering department at Annapolis are completely outfitted and modern methods prevail throughout, the model-room being replete with latest designs of machinery. The possibilities of practical application are clearly outlined. The interest demanded of the student for successful pursuit is unmistakably manifested.
And more time, alone, is needed. With time will come opportunity, and amalgamation, as far as Annapolis is concerned, cannot possibly fail.
Previously, the line cadet actually learned enough engineering to ornament his education. He knew that the outboard delivery, for instance, ought not to be closed down just because there was a boat alongside; that one lone deck-pump could not supply every wide-open outlet in the ship at the same instant; that cinders covered the quarter-deck through accident and not design. Of the practical use of a valve diagram or an indicator card, he had not the slightest conception.
Now, how changed? In the drafting rooms, midshipmen begin drawing matching parts as soon as they can hold their instruments and are at work on valve-gears before the first year is finished. From the vise-bench, through the pattern shop, foundry, boiler shop, machine shop, to the laboratories; there setting valves, calibrating springs, testing engines, operating turbines.
How simply, then, could the success of amalgamation be assured—even to the matter of designing engineers—and with what ease could be met all the growing demands in every branch of a naval officer's profession?
The remedy suggested is this: "A five years' course before commissioning as ensigns with practically the same curriculum as at present maintained; two practice cruises in modern vessels during the course, each of about five months' duration and under the auspices of the Naval Academy authorities."
The expanding of the four years' work into five would necessitate various readjustments and admit of many needed changes.
Taking first the non-professional subjects. Modern Languages, consisting of French and Spanish, is apportioned through the present course, and covers the ground fully enough. English studies require no more time, though certainly could profitably be readjusted to embrace the elements of international law and naval procedure,—for some reason, now lacking. The former is essential, and, as for the latter, how many midshipmen have any but the vaguest idea of conducting a summary court-martial, specifications often being handed to them for delivery their first day aboard ship? It is not their fault, yet the captain's wrath at resulting errors is visited upon their heads.
Mathematics and Mechanics of all departments demand simple expansion. No addition of subject-matter to these all-potent branches required (or desired). An extra year with the present scope would make a wonderful improvement in the application of these subjects in all professional departments: the calculus is treated by the average midshipmen as a rara avis when encountered in any but a mathematics section room.
The important factor of electricity in an officer's requirements brings the Department of Physics and Chemistry into the class of professional departments. As it is now, a midshipman is not taught the first principles of electricity until he has been two and one-half years at the Academy. Long before this, he has handled electric primers and fired guns with them without knowing how it was possible; operated searchlights by turning this wheel or closing that switch, absolutely mechanically. Not that there should be less physics or less chemistry necessarily, but unquestionably, more electricity to keep the pace set by that marvelous science, and begin it, too, at least one year sooner.
With the professional departments, the addition of a year would mean as much practically as theoretically. Section-room work could then be interspersed with frequent application, assuring full comprehension of the subject in hand. As an example, in engineering, the working model would supplement thz text-book description; or in navigation, the extended practice with the sextant, would solve any question of adjustment.
The fifth year would furnish one more year of drill and practical instruction—welcomed by all these departments, especially if a modern armored vessel and several destroyers were permanently attached to the station, vessels whose batteries and machinery may be entirely disassembled, :f desired, for the better instruction of midshipmen, and not kept standing by for a gale of wind at all times.
Seamanship wants more time on the water, it has enough section- room work. So with navigation. It needs more actual work with the sextant and the compass. Of course, much practical work in navigation is obtained on the summer cruises, though these are so short, and changes from ship to ship so frequent, that best results cannot be gained. Useful, also, would be practical exercise in harbor surveying: how many young officers to-day could, without preparation, make an expeditious survey of a harbor?
In Ordnance, thorough knowledge of the ordnance material, varied as it is, and of its care and manipulation, is a positive requirement. This is the day of the hitting-shots, nothing else counts, and to attain this, practical ordnance should extend over every year of the course at Annapolis, with ample provision for target practice with great guns, small arms, and torpedoes.
The Department of Marina Engineering includes naval construction. Enough of this subject is taught all midshipmen to make them familiar with the types and construction of our ships. Excellent models are available and, if need be, a post-graduate course could easily be established for those selected for the construction corps.
To a great extent, the solution of the question of amalgamation—a success or a failure—remains with the Engineering Department at Annapolis. More time, more time is the cry there, with its magnificent plant. With what time there is, results are already gratifying and marked co-operation exists between student and instructor. Still the field of engineering daily is widening its borders, and the allotted hours for research do not permit Annapolis to keep in the van where it had been for decades.
Thus it is: more knowledge constantly imposed and less time as steadily allowed in which to gain that knowledge.
Surely one years' more instruction will help greatly. The midshipmen would be commissioned in five years instead of in six. The effects of the present method of cutting down the four years' course is to commission him only about three months before the time defined by law. He still does his two years at sea before commissioning, performing the same duties then as later, when an ensign.
What has the midshipman gained? Nothing; he has lost. He feels it, his seniors feel it. Nor has the Navy Department gained. One more officer aboard a ship, yes; but does he add one more officer's worth?
Now with the five years' plan—a plan in which the government gains a year's time. The present three short practice cruises aggregate eight months, each cruise split up among various ships comprising the squadron for that cruise, scarcely enough time to get acquainted with one's shipmates. Substitute two cruises, one near the beginning and one near the end of a five years' course. Vessels from the Atlantic Fleet or from the reserve list could readily be prepared for this duty—slight changes in outfit alone being necessary. Or better yet, enough vessels attached to the Naval Academy the year round to accommodate the entire body of midshipmen for the practice cruise. In either case, officers on duty at Annapolis to be in charge, so that a uniform system of instruction and discipline will obtain. Then, in these five-month cruises, with their uninterrupted opportunities for actual experience, in ordnance, engineering, navigation, electricity, seamanship—target practice—what gain will be the midshipman's, and what the government's? Surely more than the simple year's time, and certainly a gain for both.
These, together with the accrued benefits of the more nearly complete absorption of the curriculum at Annapolis, must needs insure the efficiency of the entire newly-commissioned personnel of the navy.
Then, too, as far as amalgamation is concerned, the Navy Department surely cannot fail to perform its share of the contract under the law of 1899 and insist that the graduates of the United States Naval Academy be given every chance to utilize their splendid equipment in marine engineering.
Then if the law stands, it will thus receive a fair test—and its adherents can well be sanguine.
It is submitted that with some such change in the course of education of the midshipman, his value to the service would be decidedly enhanced and his standing in his chosen profession unassailable.