As a logical result of the schools afloat, Congress later authorized the appointment of one hundred enlisted men annually as midshipmen at the Naval Academy. In the first class after this law made it possible, the honor graduate at Annapolis came from the enlisted personnel. Others have since attained high standing in their class and in the service. The day will come when all appointments to the Naval Academy will be made from the ranks.
The educational system, adopted in the Navy in 1913, became part of the army system of training before the American Expeditionary Force returned from France, and Secretary Baker made such instruction an integral part of the training for men enlisting in the Army.
With the advent of war the educational work of the Navy was greatly enlarged and changed to meet war conditions. In addition to many technical schools the fleet at Yorktown was utilized for intensive training, and prepared over 45,000 officers and men for important and varied duties afloat. The older type of battleships became virtual training schools, devoting particular attention to gunnery, navigation and engineering, qualifying men for various duties requiring experience. When ordered to sea the men who had enjoyed this special training gave full proof of the practical schooling through which they had passed.
It required war to bring appreciation of the school as a necessary part of military instruction. The Navy had started schools for sailors in 1914, but it was not until 1919 that the Army and Marine Corps felt the necessity of such schools, which they then established, though in 1913 General Butler, in command of the Marines at Panama, was teaching them Spanish. "It opened my eyes to what might be done," said Judge Garrison, then Secretary of War, upon his return from an inspection trip, "and I am going to advise Army officers to go down to Panama and learn from General Butler how to teach men in the Army." Upon their return from France General Lejeune and General Butler established schools for the teaching of Marines at Quantico, a plan which is being extended to all Marine bases and attracting a superior type of recruits.
In 1866 General Lew Wallace outlined a plan of education for soldiers, approved by Charles Sumner, declaring that the "military system as respects the rank and file is founded on egregious errors." The chief error was that no system of giving the rank and file the same character of instruction as imparted at West Point was at that time offered in order that they might win commissions. He urged that the hours of service of a private soldier be "so divided as to give him time for study and meditation without interference with his routine of duty." The "proverbial idleness of military life" which then prevailed was due to lack of schools and proper instruction. By the addition of the education and promotion policy suggested, General Wallace said, we would "not only get better military service, but as an act of wisest statesmanship you offer in a constitutional way the coveted opportunity for education to every youth in the land."
The Navy, having given trial to the policy, found that all that General Wallace claimed for it was true, and now that the Army and Marine Corps have established like schools, educational advantages as a part of military duty have become the accepted American policy.
The war emphasized the worth of education for military efficiency. While excellent officers were obtained from every source possible, the main dependence for all-around naval officers was upon the Naval Academy graduates. In the test of war they more than justified what was expected of them. In order to secure more officers with Annapolis training, the course for midshipmen was reduced, during the war, to three years and made more intensive, upon the recommendation of Rear Admiral Edward W. Eberle, the able and resourceful superintendent of the Naval Academy. He and his associates, anxious to get into the active fighting, were doing more by the instruction of the increasing number of midshipmen and the zeal with which they inspired all who came under their influence.
Before the war, plans had been adopted and appropriations made for greatly increasing the Naval Academy. A new Seamanship and Navigation Building that cost $1,000,000 was constructed. Four million dollars was expended in enlarging Bancroft Hall, which was more than doubled to accommodate the increased number of midshipmen. In 1912 there were 768 midshipmen at Annapolis. Legislation adopted before the war increased the number to 2,120 in 1917. The enlarged facilities will accommodate 2,400.
Two special courses were established at the Naval Academy in the spring of 1917, one for line officers and the other for men of the supply corps. A total of 1,622 were graduated as ensigns for line duty and 400 as supply officers. They went right into the fleet, and though they had received only a few months' drill, they carried the Annapolis spirit into the service—a spirit of valor and invincibility. The institution at Annapolis, the pride of America and the admiration of all visitors to our country, is easily the greatest naval school in the world.