Lock in the Panama Canal
The Department of the Navy was created in 1798. At its head is a secretary, who, like the head of the war department, is usually taken from civil life. Like the war department, the navy department is organized into the Office of Naval Operations and a number of bureaus.
The Bureau of Navigation has charge of the recruiting service, the training of officers and men, the naval academy; schools for the technical education of enlisted men, apprentice schools, the naval home at Philadelphia, transportation of enlisted men, records of squadrons, ships, officers and men; the preparation of the naval register, preparation of drill regulations, signal codes, and cipher codes. Under this bureau falls the publication of the Nautical Almanac, charts and sailing directions, the naval observatory, and the hydrographic office.
The Bureau of Yards and Docks has general control of the navy yards and docks belonging to the government, including their construction and repair, and also of the construction of battleships whenever such construction is authorized by Congress. The navy yards are located at Washington, Brooklyn, Mare Island (California), Philadelphia (League Island), Norfolk, Pensacola, Cavite (in the Philippines), and various other places.
The Bureau of Ordnance has charge of the supply of armament and ammunition for the ships. It supervises the manufacture of guns and torpedoes, installs armament on the vessels, and has charge of the naval proving ground and magazines, the naval gun factory, and the torpedo station.
The Bureau of Construction and Repair has charge of the planning, building, and repairing of vessels, and of their equipment, excepting their armament and engines.
Other Bureaus of the Navy Department, whose general duties are indicated sufficiently by their titles, are: the bureau of engineering, the bureau of medicine and surgery, and the bureau of supplies and accounts.
The Judge-Advocate General is the law officer of the navy department and performs duties similar to those of the judge-advocate general of the war department.
The Major General Commandant of the Marine Corps issues orders for the movement of troops under the direction of the secretary of the navy.
The department of the navy also has general charge of the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis. The academy was founded in 1846, by George Bancroft, then secretary of the navy. A specified number of midshipmen are allowed for each member of Congress and each territorial delegate, and certain numbers from the District of Columbia, from Porto Rico, and from the United States at large.[90] Appointments are made by the President after a physical and intellectual examination by a board, and an allowance is made for maintaining each midshipman while in residence at the academy. The course lasts four years and includes instruction in gunnery, naval construction, steam engineering, navigation, mathematics, international law, modern languages, etc. After the completion of the course, midshipmen spend two years at sea, after which they receive subordinate appointments in the navy or marine corps.