Army and Navy Uniforms and Insignia / How to Know Rank, Corps and Service in the Military and Naval Forces of the United States and Foreign Countries

by Dion Williams

MIDSHIPMEN

Midshipmen are appointed officers undergoing the course of instruction at the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. Each senator, representative and delegate in Congress has the appointment of three midshipmen to be at the Naval Academy at any one time, the President is empowered to appoint two midshipmen and the Secretary of the Navy is empowered to appoint one hundred midshipmen each year to be selected from enlisted men of the Navy and Marine Corps who are not over the age of twenty years.

The Corps of Midshipmen consists of four classes, the First Class corresponding to “seniors” at universities, the Second Class corresponding to “juniors,” the Third Class corresponding to “sophomores,” and the Fourth Class corresponding to “freshmen.”

The regular course of study is four years although the President was authorized by the act of Congress of March 4, 1917, to reduce the course to three years for a period of two years from the passage of the act, owing to the urgent need of more officers in the Navy.